HET Club Project- How Many Of Each Hudson Model In The Club?

[Deleted User]

If there is a registry that shows how many of each particular Hudson, year, model and body style registered in the club then I'd like to see it.



Seems to me that someone who has the time and desire could compile this information. In other words, take the club roster and sort it by year, model, body type, etc. It would be nice to see it in a report format such as how many were made in a particular year Vs how many are now listed in the club, how many in each state, etc.



Once this info is created on an Excel type program then the club could easily keep it maintained when adding or deleting members. It could be easily sorted any number of ways. Using the car serial numbers as a base would prevent duplicates and could maintain ownership changes.



If someone with Excel skills could develop the report format, then it would be an easy project for HET to find a few volunteers to simply enter the information in the data base. Niels

rambos_ride

nhp1127 wrote:

If there is a registry that shows how many of each particular Hudson, year, model and body style registered in the club then I'd like to see it.

Seems to me that someone who has the time and desire could compile this information. In other words, take the club roster and sort it by year, model, body type, etc. It would be nice to see it in a report format such as how many were made in a particular year Vs how many are now listed in the club, how many in each state, etc.

Once this info is created on an Excel type program then the club could easily keep it maintained when adding or deleting members. It could be easily sorted any number of ways. Using the car serial numbers as a base would prevent duplicates and could maintain ownership changes.

If someone with Excel skills could develop the report format, then it would be an easy project for HET to find a few volunteers to simply enter the information in the data base. Niels

I can do this stuff with both hands tied behind my back! Excell is not the program you want - to do sorting and such you need a database backend.

A CSV or Tab delimited file with the roster information is all you need to get started...

Unknown

Seems to me that whoever prepares the club roster should be able to do this. Shouldn't be difficult as other clubs have such reference in their membership rosters.

[Deleted User]

nhp1127 wrote:

If there is a registry that shows how many of each particular Hudson, year, model and body style registered in the club then I'd like to see it.



Seems to me that someone who has the time and desire could compile this information. In other words, take the club roster and sort it by year, model, body type, etc. It would be nice to see it in a report format such as how many were made in a particular year Vs how many are now listed in the club, how many in each state, etc.



Once this info is created on an Excel type program then the club could easily keep it maintained when adding or deleting members. It could be easily sorted any number of ways. Using the car serial numbers as a base would prevent duplicates and could maintain ownership changes.



If someone with Excel skills could develop the report format, then it would be an easy project for HET to find a few volunteers to simply enter the information in the data base. Niels

Responding to your post I offer the following realities....



For five years I was the 1952 Hudson registry person who volunteered to keep the roster and registry information. This time overlapped when I had NO computer to a time when I had acquired a very expensive excel equipped MAC. The register form and format got better ... I could format and print the results any way I liked, but this did not matter..as the form of the roster was set by the printing company. Email was not normal then and most of the club members did not know what a computer was. But the real part of the activity most fail to recognize is: HET members DO NOT keep up with the register information... ask the club membership and registry person... they get renewals... with and without information about their cars. Many in the club DONOT want to advertise what types of cars they own.



During the time I was doing the 52 support function I often received letters asking for information about a particular car where the letter writer specifically stated that I NOT add their car to my records. So, it is a Grande idea to have this type of information at your finger tips... but it will not be accurate nor will it even be up to date. Over the years I have grown to understand most of the HETers are private folks who actually find little need to publicize their ownership.



Remember ... all of the HET Club officers and support folks are volunteers and most do not receive any assistance from the club. They are always out of pocket for expenses and the time they dedicate.

[Deleted User]

I agree with what Ken is saying and add that you will find that only a small percentage of HETer's use computers. In my own area with our small group of Hudnuts only a tiny fraction of us use computers the rest have none. When I advertise for our events the safest way is snail mail. I would love for the day when I could just email this stuff but it ain't going to happen soon.

Jon B

The individual roster-keepers vary in their expertise and commitment. Some simply sit back and wait for folks to contact them...while others agressively go after the information and enlist the help of "agents" who keep their eyes open and forward information on hitherto-unknown Hudsons to the registry keeper. Among these agressive roster-keepers are Charlie Woodruff, whose list of surviving 1951's is somewhere in the 600- or 700- range, and Robbie Williams, whose list of 1937's is somewhere in the 400's, I believe. Other lists only contain a few names.



The Club of course adds whatever information happens to come in along with applications or renewals, to its master database. However, it is the individual roster keepers, diligently compiling lists of their particular year, who are 'out there in the trenches'. They will add a car even if the owner isn't in the H-E-T, and they often know when a car has been sold (even if it's fallen out of the Club) and to whom it went.



Some of these guys are still working on 3x5 cards. Computers are great, but even primitive means of recording cars will suffice if you have the fire in the belly and some gumption.

EssexAdv

Gosh folks, if you send your car information into the membership chair, the club WILL have the records you request. The National Database is already set up to do this. As a matter of fact, they have been doing it for years.

[Deleted User]

EssexAdv wrote:

Gosh folks, if you send your car information into the membership chair, the club WILL have the records you request. The National Database is already set up to do this. As a matter of fact, they have been doing it for years.

Lew,

What are they doing with this National Data Base? If this info is indeed available then why isn't or can't it be published in the WTN for informational purposes? Even better, make the info accessible via the internet on the HET website or someone elses like Ken's. As Dan said this is all very simple stuff.



To all: If there are members where their car information is lacking, then have a couple volunteers call members to get the info. Calling cards for this commitee would be cheap at Walmart or Costco and the club can afford it. To address the posted concerns on the privacy issues or the technologically challenged, this seems to me as nonsense. Why join a Hudson club if you don't want people to know you own a Hudson? Asking for serial number information while registering a new member should not cause anyone legitimate privacy concerns and having the serial number compiled and sorted is easy. The club has enough money to do this but this wouldn't be about money because it wouldn't cost much. The club needs to get with the 21st century.The only thing that prevents this from happening is club members not wanting change. Perhaps if we tell the membership that this program will help sort all the obituaries then they'll understand the necessity... Niels

Jon B

Extensively collecting this sort of information, and making it readiliy available in some form, is a noble goal and one that we should indeed strive for. The problem is the sheer manpower needed to do so, and the lack of volunteers available to do it.



Much of this information is indeed available out there, in the Club's membership database and in the individual registries listed in the back of the WTN. But in order to coordinate it, and to aggresively seek out the 'missing links' (who haven't bothered to list their car information) you need folks to roll up their sleeves.



Many volunteers already give a great deal of their time to the Club, but they simply can't do everything. Their numbers are indeed small, relative to the overall membership. What we need is more people to step up to the plate and offer to do their share.

[Deleted User]

Jon B wrote:

Extensively collecting this sort of information, and making it readiliy available in some form, is a noble goal and one that we should indeed strive for. The problem is the sheer manpower needed to do so, and the lack of volunteers available to do it.



Much of this information is indeed available out there, in the Club's membership database and in the individual registries listed in the back of the WTN. But in order to coordinate it, and to aggresively seek out the 'missing links' (who haven't bothered to list their car information) you need folks to roll up their sleeves.



Many volunteers already give a great deal of their time to the Club, but they simply can't do everything. Their numbers are indeed small, relative to the overall membership. What we need is more people to step up to the plate and offer to do their share.

Once this info is collected and fairly up to date then on going maintenance is not an issue. I would think that the club would be wise to make this a key project as any club revolves around this basic information AND easy ACCESS to it. Get rid of the individual registries, they won't be needed anymore once the data has been entered. There need not be alot of volunteers to do this. It is just project management. A HUGE gap in missing info can be filled by just a couple phone calls a day. Also, publish the missing info member names in the WTN and solicit their response to a key contact, Chapter Presidents can work on their chapters via their local newsletters, etc. If all this were done, then we could have a solid info base in just a few months. Worse comes to worse, PAY someone professional to help do it. It would be money well spent.



Dan, if interested, what would you charge the club to create a new report format (that can be sorted by state, yr, model, serial number, etc), transfer the existing HET data base to it and post it on a website where it is accessible to members? Once this was all done then it would only take the HET Club membership person to enter in new members for maintenance.

PAULARGETYPE

I For One Take Care Of The 1957 Hudson Registryi've Been Doing It For Almost 10 Years I Have Made My List Of Cars And Owners Available And I Try And Up Date My Databace Any Time I Can





If You Look Inside The Wtn There Is A Page In Every Issue That Lists Techical Advisors And Registry Keepers



Now I Will Ask A Question Of Those Who Are Asking For Info Have You Ever Emailed, Snail Mailed Or Called The Guy Who Is Taking Car Of A Registry List I Will Answer For The Bulk Of You With A Big No!!!!!!



Yes The National Club Does Have A Data Bace And It Has Cars And Owners On It But To Many People Do Not Up Date There Cars Every Year



There For The Data Is Flawed



I Guess What I'm Trying To Get Across Is The Guy Doing A List Is At Your Mercy He Doesn't Know If You Sell A Car And Who Bought It Please Let Us Know Thank You Very Much Inadavnce

rambos_ride

nhp1127 wrote:

...
Dan, if interested, what would you charge the club to create a new report format (that can be sorted by state, yr, model, serial number, etc), transfer the existing HET data base to it and post it on a website where it is accessible to members? Once this was all done then it would only take the HET Club membership person to enter in new members for maintenance.

Keep it simple and I wouldn't charge anything. The HET club would just have to decide what data is sensitive and what is not - export it in a CSV format and send it to me.

I would then do a prototype and see what happens...

Jon B

Well, I would respectfully disagree that individual by-year registries should be abandoned in favor of one huge electronic database.



Under ideal circumstances, registry keepers would 'dump' their accumulated information annually into the master database. This can only help the master database, because those who maintain registries are assembling them themselves, via communication with Hudson owners who are both H-E-T and non-H-E-T members. Remember, not everyone who owns a Hudson is in the H-E-T. Non-members don't submit application forms with car info. on them. And, cars are sold, members die, drop out of the club -- in short, the master database is obsolete the day it is assembled. Without this grass-roots constant detective work by the registry keepers, the master list can never be accurate. You cannot simply rely on raw material from membership applications / renewals, plus a couple of people on the phone making various calls to members to see why they haven't listed their cars.



Those who keep individual year registries, fulfill another function as well. They serve as clearinghouses of valuable technical information about those years as well. Someone who keeps (for example) a 1952 roster is in constant communication with people who own 1952 models. He himself knows a lot about 1952 Hudsons (that's why he took on the roster). He cannot help but know who is working on what, who has what rare options on his car, whose 1952 is a low-mileage original car, where scarce 1952 parts are being reproduced, etc. If you need to know something about a particular year of Hudson, the fellow or gal keeping the registry could be in a very good position to answer your question.



Someone presiding over an enormous database of 5,000 - 10,000 Hudsons, is neither going to have that kind of specialized information, nor is he going to have the energy to answer the hundreds of people who approach him for information.



At present our system of registries may not be hitting on all six cylinders but it is something worth keeping, and worth improving.

Unknown

As far as the roster, it is at best innaccurate on many of the cars owned by club members, mainly due to them not filling in the proper information on the requested form.



Also, I can see where it would be a nuisance for some members and the reason why some of them would not want to let everyone in the club know what may be lurking in the garage.



Can you imagine the hounding if someone caught wind of "someone" having the lost Italia, or even the elusive 52 Commodore 6 convertible :eek:

rambos_ride

hudsonkid wrote:

As far as the roster, it is at best innaccurate on many of the cars owned by club members, mainly due to them not filling in the proper information on the requested form.

Also, I can see where it would be a nuisance for some members and the reason why some of them would not want to let everyone in the club know what may be lurking in the garage.

Can you imagine the hounding if someone caught wind of "someone" having the lost Italia, or even the elusive 52 Commodore 6 convertible :eek:

I wouldn't expose anyones contact information or names unless they agreed to it for just those reasons you site.

As far as the database being "instantly outdated" why is that a show stopper? I would set it up to provide historical information on the car ownership - when or if the new owner signs up they would just be the top one on the list.

Think of that digital historical information on your car...how 21st Century

Unknown

rambos_ride wrote:

I wouldn't expose anyones contact information or names unless they agreed to it for just those reasons you site.



As far as the database being "instantly outdated" why is that a show stopper? I would set it up to provide historical information on the car ownership - when or if the new owner signs up they would just be the top one on the list.



Think of that digital historical information on your car...how 21st Century

I would trust you Dan, but you know how information always seems to "find" it's way out. I guess it's not the people that members don't trust, rather the system. (and I don't know why...)



I doubt that you will ever get full buy in on any other form of tracking who has what hudson in this club, or even a real accurate picture otherwise.



would be nice to see it moved into the 21st century though...

Aaron D. IL

Me and Jon have discussed this issue before and there are an enormous amount of benefits to be gained from having the registries be more up-to-date and accessible. For one thing, people thinking of reproducing parts could gear their products to to most commonly owned years of Hudsons in the HET club.

Part of the reality is that most of the club is not wired or computer literate yet. These things take time...and it also does require a lot of updating to the registries on the part of owners when they buy or sell cars. Sort of the honor system. I make it a point to register every car I get though and I ask the registry keeper if he has any existing info.

As far as privacy goes, some people once in a while Email me looking to buy a specific Hudson, often of a rare year or model and the only way to find out who owns one that you could ask if they would sell it, is to get a copy of the registry. I tell them join HET first because there are members who will not sell outside the club and do not want to see the car leave the club.....and it makes no sense to make registries available to non-members.

except perhaps to give the raw numbers of known surviving examples of a given year and model of car........ oh that's another thing....some people do not tell the club specifically what model and body style they have, they might just say simply "'51 Hudson" rather than "51 Commodore 6 4 door sedan etc"

EssexAdv

The information is somewhat available. The real problem is the worry about publishing a list of who has what toys in a public forum. Placing the information on HudsonClub.,org is very easy. But each member would have to agree to have it published to eliminate possible liability by the club.

We have discussed indexing the Roster (where all the information is currently published) by year.

[Deleted User]

Aaron D. IL wrote:

Me and Jon have discussed this issue before and there are an enormous amount of benefits to be gained from having the registries be more up-to-date and accessible. For one thing, people thinking of reproducing parts could gear their products to to most commonly owned years of Hudsons in the HET club.

Part of the reality is that most of the club is not wired or computer literate yet. These things take time...and it also does require a lot of updating to the registries on the part of owners when they buy or sell cars. Sort of the honor system. I make it a point to register every car I get though and I ask the registry keeper if he has any existing info.

As far as privacy goes, some people once in a while Email me looking to buy a specific Hudson, often of a rare year or model and the only way to find out who owns one that you could ask if they would sell it, is to get a copy of the registry. I tell them join HET first because there are members who will not sell outside the club and do not want to see the car leave the club.....and it makes no sense to make registries available to non-members.

except perhaps to give the raw numbers of known surviving examples of a given year and model of car........ oh that's another thing....some people do not tell the club specifically what model and body style they have, they might just say simply "'51 Hudson" rather than "51 Commodore 6 4 door sedan etc"

Good points by all but here are my comments:

1. It is too time consuming and inefficient to track down a registery keeper for info. Secondly, they are all human volunteers and therefore vary on their competentcy. It should be standardized. Let's free up these volunteers. they can help "massage" this report.



2. Privacy? This is an non issue. A car's serial number in a data base can be made to offer absolutely no personal info or location. IMHO, so what if it does? The current club roster has personal info in it! Anyone can go to their local DMV and look up your infomation. You lose significant personal info when you use your club card at the supermarket or try entering your own name in ZABAsearch.com and see all the public information on you. If someone owns a secret Italia and doesn't want anyone to know about it then why would we care about that person? This is ridiculous! The point of the club is to exchange information, commeraderie, sourcing parts, etc. Your secret Italia guy is an anomaly and should not be a consideration for the good of the masses. If he still wants to keep his car a secret then who cares, screw him.



4. Detailed make and model information access would be membership only. I would think that it would benefit HET to make total production and existing # of known cars available to the public.



5. Too bad for the those older members who are tehnologically challenged. Are we going to let them control the level of technology we use to efficiently run an organization? They probably don't use this info anyway and if they did they could write the club for a print out. Maybe they still use Dixie cups instead of telephones? If I were a Grandparent, I'd have a computer and I would be getting e-mails from my Grandkids!



I dislike the mentality "That's the way we have always done it" therefore it must be the best way. Let's treat this issue like a business seeking a report that contains information to conduct its business. Stop focusing on the exceptions and look to using modern tools that make sense.



We all know the benefits of using this forum and its technology. Imagine if a good portion of the club got addicted to it and its technology. Would this be a benefit?

This club will die along with its aging membership unless it is ready and prepared to look forward.

PAULARGETYPE

now we just need one you you guys who like to find falt and complain



step up to the plate and take on this job if it's so easy



'If someone with Excel skills could develop the report format, then it would be an easy project for HET to find a few volunteers to simply enter the information in the data base. Niels'



'I can do this stuff with both hands tied behind my back! Excell is not the program you want - to do sorting and such you need a database backend.

A CSV or Tab delimited file with the roster information is all you need to get started...Dan & Rambo the Dog'



'Keep it simple and I wouldn't charge anything. The HET club would just have to decide what data is sensitive and what is not - export it in a CSV format and send it to me.I would then do a prototype and see what happens...

Dan & Rambo the Dog'



SOUNDS LIKE A MAN HAS STEPED FORWARD



SEND ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND I;LL SEND MY 1957 REGESITRY TO YOU SO YOU CAN GET STARTED WHEN I TOOK IT OVER 10 YEARS AGO IT WAS ALL ON LITTLE SLIPS OF PAPER THAT I GOT FROM JACK MILLER IT'S NOW IN PRINTED FORM



GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR NEW PROJECT DAN

HUDSONLY

PAUL

rambos_ride

PAULARGETYPE wrote:

now we just need one you you guys who like to find falt and complain

step up to the plate and take on this job if it's so easy

'If someone with Excel skills could develop the report format, then it would be an easy project for HET to find a few volunteers to simply enter the information in the data base. Niels'

'I can do this stuff with both hands tied behind my back! Excell is not the program you want - to do sorting and such you need a database backend.
A CSV or Tab delimited file with the roster information is all you need to get started...Dan & Rambo the Dog'

'Keep it simple and I wouldn't charge anything. The HET club would just have to decide what data is sensitive and what is not - export it in a CSV format and send it to me.I would then do a prototype and see what happens...
Dan & Rambo the Dog'

SOUNDS LIKE A MAN HAS STEPED FORWARD

SEND ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND I;LL SEND MY 1957 REGESITRY TO YOU SO YOU CAN GET STARTED WHEN I TOOK IT OVER 10 YEARS AGO IT WAS ALL ON LITTLE SLIPS OF PAPER THAT I GOT FROM JACK MILLER IT'S NOW IN PRINTED FORM

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR NEW PROJECT DAN
HUDSONLY
PAUL

Your 57 Registry would be an excellent place to start!

I sent you my contact info (also available if you click on my user name and look at my profile...of course that link doesn't work on my browser...along with all the other broken links and features...:mad: )

[Deleted User]

Am I missing something? What is so important about people knowing the serial number of my Super Jet? For that matter, who cares who owned the car before me? It's mine now.

[Deleted User]

Ya see Royer when we attached the tracking device to your Jet it makes it a lot neater if we can list it and the serial number of your car as it makes our records neater.

Right now we have it crossed matched to the DNA sample we took while you were sleeping. Next time we arrive in the middle of the night we will get the serial number ourselves so don't worry about it.


51hornet
Part-time HET Ninja

[Deleted User]

royer wrote:

Am I missing something? What is so important about people knowing the serial number of my Super Jet? For that matter, who cares who owned the car before me? It's mine now.

A serial number will document and confirm the existence of a car. It can also tell the yr of production, model, when it was built, etc. Owners change but serial numbers don't.

Unknown

Go for it Dan!! I think it's a great idea. I would like to know how many of certain cars are out there and certainly don't have the time to go through the entire roster!:D



On another note, I have always encouraged the purchasers of my Hudsons to join the HET club if they weren't already a member. By reporting sales and names of new purchasers, perhaps this would be an opportunity to grow the club by having Sam send a copy of the WTN! :cool:

[Deleted User]

PAULARGETYPE wrote:

now we just need one you you guys who like to find falt and complain



step up to the plate and take on this job if it's so easy



'If someone with Excel skills could develop the report format, then it would be an easy project for HET to find a few volunteers to simply enter the information in the data base. Niels'



'I can do this stuff with both hands tied behind my back! Excell is not the program you want - to do sorting and such you need a database backend.

A CSV or Tab delimited file with the roster information is all you need to get started...Dan & Rambo the Dog'



'Keep it simple and I wouldn't charge anything. The HET club would just have to decide what data is sensitive and what is not - export it in a CSV format and send it to me.I would then do a prototype and see what happens...

Dan & Rambo the Dog'



SOUNDS LIKE A MAN HAS STEPED FORWARD



SEND ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND I;LL SEND MY 1957 REGESITRY TO YOU SO YOU CAN GET STARTED WHEN I TOOK IT OVER 10 YEARS AGO IT WAS ALL ON LITTLE SLIPS OF PAPER THAT I GOT FROM JACK MILLER IT'S NOW IN PRINTED FORM



GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR NEW PROJECT DAN

HUDSONLY

PAUL

Paul,



It is unfortunate that you feel putting forth a legitimate suggestion is complaining, or that honest dialoge on trying to improve the club is sacrilege. Perhaps it is time that we work smarter and not harder. Thank you for doing the 57 registery and taking information from little slips of paper and putting it to printed form. Maybe we can take the process to the next level with Dan's help. Kudos to Dan for offering his expertise for a beta test. Niels

[Deleted User]

nhp1127 wrote:

A serial number will document and confirm the existence of a car. It can also tell the yr of production, model, when it was built, etc. Owners change but serial numbers don't.

Why do you need to confirm the existence of my Jet?

What benefit will you get out of the hours and hours of the volunteers compiling this "great" database?

Jon B

I think it's splendid that Dan is offering to do a beta test. Let's see what can be done. If it's successful on a small scale, maybe this will trigger some other folks to step forward and help, as well.



Might I suggest that you contact our membership lady, Charlotte Sargent, to let her know your ideas? She, or some other official of the Club, might be interested in your ideas, and might have some helpful input for you in terms of how the Club's current database is put together.



I speak only as an interested Club member, of course, but it never hurts to let our leaders know what's on your mind.

Aaron D. IL

Bare in mind that HET is basically a democratic organization and as such things just do not happen fast and efficently. In fact it's sometimes like herding cats and so yes we need change but it takes time....it will not be fast and effiencent. Ideally HET needs to steer change rather than be dragged along by it kicking and screaming. It will take time though. PATIENTS! Guys who drive 50 + yr old cars are by definition somewhat conservative. We keep the best of the past and add to it advantages of new tools.



Why should we wanna know serial numbers and cars? For continued preservation of them of course.

If I have something rare I wanna know who to call to help me put mine back together....and if I'm going to reproduce something...I want to help the largest number of people and keep the costs down.

faustmb

I am all for a searchable database. These is one of these I have used for VW's that was pretty basic, but functional.



In this case, I registered a pretty rare 1963 VW camper that I had purchased in this on-line database. A few weeks later, someone from half way around the world e-mailed me looking for a few interior photos. They also had a 1963camper of the same model as mine, the next consecutive SN. Without that registry, we never would have been able to share information.



I think that if anything, this DB would help keep the information more current. If the SN is the master record, each car can only exist once in the database. The last owner to report would show up as the most recent owner, but past owners could be traced also. If privacy is that mush of a concern, don't register your car. For that matter, don't join HET and keep your car safely locked up so know one will know...



My $.02



Matt

[Deleted User]

royer wrote:

Why do you need to confirm the existence of my Jet?



What benefit will you get out of the hours and hours of the volunteers compiling this "great" database?

By confirming existence, I mean that your car will be tagged and accounted for. It will be one of X number of Jets still KNOWN to exist. Isn't this one of the reasons there is a Hudson club? Benefits? This is Hudson historical information. How about being able to see how many 53 Hornet Coupes are located in California, or in the whole country? Or a search for just Hornet coupes in general? Or what is the earliest known Jet or the newest? Or how many four door 1948 Commodore 6 sedans VS Super Sixes, etc, etc. You can sort by any number of criterion.

Right now the only thing you can do is go thru the Roster manually and it is not updated in real time as a data base is. Much of this info already exists and can be merged into a new program.