My first Hudson

Dug

Hello I am both new to this forum and new to Hudson. Hopefully this is the right forum to post this. My apologies if it's not.

I am purchasing a 1939/40 Hudson. The current owner knows very little about the car; it's a four door, rare 1939 model year, and has a straight six.

Can someone identify what model this is?

Also I read that 5x114.3 inch rims will fit, is this correct? I know it will potentially have a locator pin that I'll have to contend with.

Does anyone know the actual wheelbase and dimensions of this model? I have read 113, 118 121 inches on wheelbase.

Thanks in advance for your time and help.

Toddh

That’s a 1940 Hudson Six, the entry level model for that year  

http://hudsonterraplane.com/tech/1940/1940HudsonSalesBrochure.pdf

Dug

Toddh said:

That’s a 1940 Hudson Six, the entry level model for that year  

http://hudsonterraplane.com/tech/1940/1940HudsonSalesBrochure.pdf

Great link, thanks Toddh. I was guess-timating that it was the base model Six. 



Edited - pdf loaded oddly the first time and didn't have all the pages.

Toddh

The specifications are in that brochure and below.   If you look at the hood ornaments on the car you are looking at, it’s clearly a Hudson Traveler or Six Deluxe. The VIN tag is on the A pillar inside of the passenger door which will dictate the model; 40P (Deluxe) or 40T (Traveler)

Toddh

As to wheels and tires: 

Toddh

The Engine number will match the serial number.  This will tell you if you have the smaller 175ci Six or the 212ci Super Six

2manyprojects

did you research what it worth running ,driving, stopping with nice interior and nice paint. \hudson parts are not on ebay  as chevy and ford has many ebay vendors. not trying to rain on your happiness but you will have thousands more in it then it will ever be worth.  a nice running example worth 10 k to 15 k. this entry car is called a traveler.

Jon B

Yes.  Before you embark on this project, you need to ask yourself some questions.

Are you doing this because you enjoy fooling around with old cars?  Or do you wish to fix this up, sell it, and then move on to another car?  If you just want something to play around with, this would be perfect.  But it's not a car you can flip, and make money on.

If this is the car that you intend to put your heart and soul into (and some spare pocket change as well) is it indeed a body style you like, or is this something that happened to land in your lap?  (I'm not putting the car down, I like the pre-war years also.  But, it would be a shame to start spending time and money on this only to discover later, to  your sorrow, that what you really wanted was a '58 Chevy or a '31 Model A instead!)

The biggest thing that gives me pause about this car is its present condition.  You could pour a lot of hours and dollars into just getting the body and frame up to snuff, before you're even ready to consider paint, chrome and upholstery.  If you truly enjoy this year and body style, you might want to look around: you might discover a similar car, but one that's in great shape, and running and driving at that, for way less than what you would plow into this one.

But again, if you're excited about fixing (or rodding?) it, go ahead, and you'll probably have a great time.  (And if you do, consider joining the H-E-T Club, where you'll find a lot of other people who bought their Hudsons for the fun of it, and who never for a moment even considered selling their cars.)

KEL 39

If you join the HET Club you will find a lot of very friendly people always ready to help you out free of charge!
You come for the cars and stay for the friendly people. 

Ivan L.

Dug

Thanks for all the information. You've all been a big help. I am buying the car for $300, a price that in my area is unheard of. Typically nothing goes for less than $1000 in the same condition as this car.

I am buying it to practice body work. I want to practice chopping, sectioning (possibly), and converting it to a two door. I also want to take on possibly mounting the body over a newer(ish) car, like a town car.

It's basically a very affordable car for me to make my mistakes on, and either have a drivable car at the end or a cheap scraper with gained knowledge. I am not looking to flip this or drop thousands of dollars into. I was considering rebuilding the motor but there are a lot of important bits missing, so I may just go with a SBC 350 or equivalent. 

Thanks for being real with me. I do appreciate that. I figure for the price this is a great opportunity to get my feet wet and not break the bank.

And crap it looks like the rims I bought might not fit - bummer. I should have checked here first instead of trusting a quick web search.

I will definitely join the HET club if I go through with this purchase.

Jon B

Do keep in mind that -- within the "Hudson network" -- there are a lot of parts out there, both used and new.  You just have to know where to look (usually among members of the H-E-T but also in public forums, Craigslist, Ebay, etc.).  And the prices are reasonable, so don't jump at the first thing you see.

New / rebuilt Hudson engine parts are available, rims shouldn't be a problem.  Lots of stuff out there.  If you go the custom route, of course, then you have a much greater range of choice.  

I went the "stock" route when I bought my '37, back in 1971, and really haven't had a problem finding parts since then.  The hardest parts to find would be body parts; the engine and running gear parts are easiest to find.

Do come here (to the Open Forum) for advice, before buying Hudson parts.  We can help you, because we know all this stuff blindfolded, and are happy to share our knowledge with newbie Hudson owners.

Dug

I am certainly glad I did come here. It's great to know that engine parts are easy to come-by; makes me rethink my plans a bit.

Thanks everyone for the information and to Toddh for both taking and posting pics of your spec sheets.

I look forward to interacting further with everyone in the future.