1950 Hot Rod article about the Hudson 8

50C8DAN

I ran across an old 2 pg article by Don Francisco in Hot Rod March '50 titled "Engine Conversions..." about the Hudson straight 8. It covers an over view of the engine, performance possibilities and what can be done to hop it up. Basically they say the engine is one of the best of its breen out there for the time. Also it has one of the best power to displacements in the straight eight league. The Hudson 8 had the dubious honor of being the last splasher auto engine put into an American car. The author apparently was not aware of the Edmunds head or dual intake available for the 8. If anyone would like a scanned copy let me know

terraplane8

Dan, Yes please can you send me a copy to dpalmer@slingshot.co.nz.



I saw a quote today from Reid Railton (Railton Cars bore his name) in 1937 saying that the H8 engine was in his opinion THE best engine existing in the world for silence and smoothness, among other performance attributes. He told the Rolls-Royce Chief Engineer in 1933 that he was "tremendously impressed by the qualities of the engine". He would know. The Rolls-Royce Chief Engineer also stated in 1933 that the Essex engine was the most outstanding straight eight he had ever driven. Rolls-Royce bought a Terraplane Eight to go over (as they did with other cars as well).

rambos_ride

terraplane8 wrote:

Dan, Yes please can you send me a copy to dpalmer@slingshot.co.nz.

I saw a quote today from Reid Railton (Railton Cars bore his name) in 1937 saying that the H8 engine was in his opinion THE best engine existing in the world for silence and smoothness, among other performance attributes. He told the Rolls-Royce Chief Engineer in 1933 that he was "tremendously impressed by the qualities of the engine". He would know. The Rolls-Royce Chief Engineer also stated in 1933 that the Essex engine was the most outstanding straight eight he had ever driven. Rolls-Royce bought a Terraplane Eight to go over (as they did with other cars as well).

Although quite running cars is not my thing (I like the rumble ) and I've never had an original Hudson...however the small car show I went to in Issaquah had a couple of original Hudsons and a black stepdown convert that I was standing right next to was running and I didn't even know, it was so quiet...not even any valve train noise! Pretty impressive!

BigSky

Dan,



I would love to have a copy of the article you have found!! It is right up my alley, and as a matter of fact I just received a replacement cam for my 8 cyl in the 37 Hudson. As you know this is the direction I am going with this old girl.



Thanks,

Brian

Aaron D. IL

I'd be interested in a copy... I'm putting the 8 back in my 47 Commodore 8.

I know what you mean by "the strong silent type". I've seen one 8 that was so quiet the distributor was louder than the cylinder noise.

mars55

I would like a copy also. HETsierram37@hotmail.com (Drop the HET)