Fellow 39 Owners or Anyone who may know

Val

I was reading the History of Hudson by Don Butler and in the 1939 section where it talks of the Hudson Six Touring Sedan it reads " painted auxiliary grilles beside the Chrome central grille" So am I to understand that the side grilles were painted? Would that have been the body color?   Do any of you have a picture of this?  

KEL 39

Val
As far as I know I do not remember seeing any 91 or 92 series ever being painted over.
I Have seen 91 and 92 grills with the inner part painted flat black with the outer faces being chromed.  
I have seen 112 side grills being painted over that looked original.
Interesting to note in the Master Chassis Group Parts Book it lists side grills under 
Radiator Grill Assembly for 91,92,93,95 &97 and for 90&98 are listed under Sheet metal. Does this mean you could specify color for sheet metal? 
It is possible this could have been a dealer option?

Ivan L.   

hudsonsplasher1

Val said:

I was reading the History of Hudson by Don Butler and in the 1939 section where it talks of the Hudson Six Touring Sedan it reads " painted auxiliary grilles beside the Chrome central grille" So am I to understand that the side grilles were painted? Would that have been the body color?   Do any of you have a picture of this?  

The ones on my 92 are not painted. 

Glowplug

I do not know if the painted grills were the result of WWII materials control but that makes sense to me.  The replacement of painted items during restoration could account for the limited or no experience with these pieces on current 1939 Hudsons?  

Geoff

U.S. did not get involved in W.W.2 until 1942.

onerare39

I had collected a few spare auxiliary grilles when I had my 39 112 Panel Delivery (90) and never came across any that were painted the body color, just the black spaces between the chrome on the "fake" grilles as mentioned by KEL 39.  These were made out of some metal alloy, I don't think they were like other Pot Metal pieces, what comes to mind is something similar to Zamak metal, a little softer than pot metal.  I had one auxiliary grille that was dented and bent, it was definitely a cast piece not sheet metal.

46HudsonPU

Geoff said:

U.S. did not get involved in W.W.2 until 1942.

Actually, the U.S. was involved before 1942, just not 'actively' or 'officially' at war.  The U.S. provided material, weapons systems, ships, fuel, etc., to its allies while staying 'neutral', up until the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor.  Subsequently, the U.S. declared war on Japan, and shortly thereafter Germany declared war upon the U.S.
That said, I don't believe that there were any wartime restrictions imposed (until 1942) that would have impacted manufacturing - unless it was 'market imposed' (supply and demand)..

Glowplug

After writing my response ... I used the GOOGLE intelligence methods to determine what if anything was actually imposed during or before 1939.  My memory was right ... according to Wiki... the US was as Rick stated... preparing for the potential of being pulled into WW2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_and_Critical_Materials_Stock_Piling_Act_of_1939

Val

I appreciate everyone's response. I have never seen the side grilles painted either but reading that I had to wonder if that was the case. I think that may look pretty good. and would definitely be different