SoCal HCCA Year-End Event Report

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I was able to participate yesterday in the annual year-end tour of

Pasadena staged by the Southern California Chapter of the Horseless

Carriage Club of America (HCCA).



This event is limited to participation by vehicles build before Jan. 1,

1935, so I was unfortunately the only "official" Hudson participant.

There were probably more Ford products than everything else put

together (both Model T-s and Models A-s), but also a number of Packards

and a fair number of Studebakers, Cadillacs, and Lincolns. The

restorations ranged from concourse quality to barely-running rust

heaps. It was quite an event!



A highlight for everyone involved was a chance to see as magnificently

restored 1925 Doble steam car owned by Jay Leno. When I got home, I

Googled Leno + Doble and found a fascinating article about the car by

Jay, published in Popular Mechanics magazine. Upon reading it, I

learned that there's a Hudson connection! All the Doble bodies (and

there were only 40 or so made before the company went out of business

in 1931) were made by Walter L. Murphy in Pasadena, who made bodies for

the Duesenberg company's US sales, and also made a number of high-end

Hudsons over the years. Indeed, the HCCA tour went right past the

building where Murphy's business formerly was housed (now part of the

Rusnak Auto sales complex on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena).



Jay's entire article about the Doble is available online at:



http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/sub_coll_leno/2003/5/

a_case_for_steam/print.phtml



During a rest stop on the tour, I also had a chat with a young man

named Craig, who knows Paul O'Neil, and who had visited my web site

devoted to the '29 Hudson.



All in all, it was a really fun event. Maybe some other older Hudson

owners in Southern California can participate next year! It's normally

staged on the last Sunday of December, but since that is Christmas Day

in 2005, the tour will be held on Dec. 31. Paul, Jeff and others: mark

your calendar! Let's get a real Hudson contingent going at this event!





All the best to everyone for the new year!





Lew Phelps

Pasadena, CA

1929 Hudson Town Sedan

http://www.phelpsclan.com/Hudson/