A roll call of sorts

RG53Hornet

My apologies in advance if this has been done before or is breaking any rules. The forum seemed a little slow lately and I thought this would make an interesting thread. What Hudson(s) do you have now and how long have you had them? (stick a picture up if you can.)

I’ll start it off. 1953 Hornet 4 door sedan. Slightly modified with a Chevy 350/TH350 combo. If it still had the Twin H six and Hydro I would leave them in, but they were long gone when I got the car. Had it for about three years now. Hauled it with me when I moved from San Diego to Missouri.

Unknown

I only own (1) Hudson. A 1948 Super Six. I bought it in 1999, because I thought it was a Mercury, at first. It was sitting out in a field, along I-30 in Texas. I got in touch with the owner, and asked,"How much do you want for that Mercury, sitting in the field"? He replied," It's not a Mercury, it's a Hudson, so you're probably not interested any more". I told him," I don't care what "make" it is, I just like the body style. I took some pictures of it, to see if my wife would like it too. (see attached#1) She did, so I bought it. I drove it for about a year, deciding if I should restore, or modernize. I chose to modernize, and put in a Ford 9in rear w/disc brakes,Chevy motor,LaBuds disc conversion on front, and Chevy tranny.(see attached #2) After driving it all last summer, without a single problem, I've taken the engine compartment apart, "AGAIN", getting ready to do the final painting and detailing. (see attached #3) It'll be a while before it hits the road again, because I get to work on it, when there is nothing else to do, and with 2 teenaged daughters, that's not very often. I made all these changes to the car, because when my wife and I retire, we want to travel the country in this Hudson, instead of a Winnabago. I want it, so that if I breakdown in California, Florida, or Maine, I can go by the local Napa store, and get "in stock", over the counter parts, right then! Great post Robert! It gives us a chance to "strut our stuff:, and see what other peoples cars look like. Kind of a "Virtual Hudson Meet"!

rambos_ride

I own a 1949 Hudson Commodore 8 (though sometimes I believe it is the other way around!) I bought this non-runner in Sept 2004 after some late night crusing on Ebay - I saw the body lines and really fell in love - so I put a bid in on it and won! Here is how it looked then...







The 49's new home...





and now...





I just pulled the original rear axle today - I'm looking to put a 9" Ford in (anyone know an exact fit?) My hope is to get it running soon and drive it while I finish the outside.



There is also a website I created detailing the purchase, plans and ongoing work on the Hudson it currently hosts 100+ mb of pictures 49C8.Com (I'm a bit behind on adding new pictures but just made an update this week!)



I love the engineering in these stepdown Hudsons and look forward to building more down the road - they'll still be on the road long after I'm gone!



Rambos_Ride

Unknown

Hey guys. I'm new to these parts. I have a 1926 Hudson coupe that I got from my grandfather 6 years ago. I have pictures somewhere of me helping him with the restoration back in 1979.



As the story goes, he sold the car new, then got it back in a re-possession from the bank some years later. He did all the restoration and it is running condition. He had the interior re-upholstered, etc. I'm currently working on some parts of the electrical and fuels systems so that I can get it back on the road. I expect over time I'll redo some of the restoration.



After 6 years, I finally decided to start working on it. I'm hoping to use this forum to find parts and information pertaining to the original since my grandfather has since passed away.



jc

Jon B

Welcome, JC, and I hope we can give you some help. Meanwhile, if you're not a member of the Hudson club you might find that beneficial in gaining technical advice and parts; the home page is at http://www.hudsonclub.org/ .



In future postings, don't be afraid to start your own Forum thread, giving it a title pertinent to the subject of your message. You'll get more responses that way!

Unknown

Howdy

Got a '50 Pacemaker Tudor Sedan, that will soon have a Chevy 350/350 powertrain. It will be a mild street custom. Also am working on buying a '53 Hornet fordor w/ the twin carb set-up. I plan to restore this one because its all there, and almost running.

Billy

[Deleted User]

Got a 54 Hornet Special Coupe and a 54 Hornet Special sedan..The coupe is getting a 300 ci Ford 6, R&P steering, disc brakes, and custom interior.

The sedan is all original and has 30K miles and other than a paint job, I intend to keep it that way.

Bob Hickson

BJ--TN

Unknown

'52 Hornet Sedan will go back all orginial. '51 Hornet Sedan will probably end up with the 300 Ford 6 that I had for my race car; 4bbl and headers. Bob, do you have any photos of your install?

RG53Hornet

BJ__TN wrote:

Got a 54 Hornet Special Coupe and a 54 Hornet Special sedan..The coupe is getting a 300 ci Ford 6, R&P steering, disc brakes, and custom interior.

The sedan is all original and has 30K miles and other than a paint job, I intend to keep it that way.

Bob Hickson

BJ--TN

Ya, I'd like to see how you did the R&P. I'm using an AMC Pacer clip w/R&P in my '50 Chevy truck. I planned on staying stock with the Hudson but hmmm...



Rambo-your putting me to shame here. Looks like you get more done on your car in a week than I do in a year! Cool website by the way. Wkitchens, I have double the daughters, so I guess I have half the time? (Three are teenagers) My progress seems oh so slow compared to you guys.



Anyway, keep 'um coming guys. This is what I had in mind!

TOM-WA-

For what it's worth just thought I'd add my 2 cents worth. I waited over 40 Years to get my first Hudson.. Wanted one since I was a kid and My mother got a 46 Hudson from her father.



Over the years I had many opportunities to buy the Restored Mustangs and a number of Street Rod Conversions, but to me they were a dime a dozen and I wanted something ORIGINAL..



I just have a tough time thinking of a HUDSON with a Chevy Engine, a Ford Rear end and any other number of UPDATES....Guess I'm just an old stick in the mud, but as we UPDATE we dilute and they become a dime a dozen Whatchamacallit street rod that are SOOOOOOOOO common at every car show you attend





http://www.classiccar.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1439&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

Unknown

Howdy

Well, I was delt this hand. When I got the '50, it had a 460 Ford motor in it, and Chrysler rear end and front end. The 460 was supposed to be freshly re-built, with all sorts of trick stuff, but was a stock 460 bored .060 over, and 5 of the cylinders were full of water. Idiots installed it, so, it came out. Interior was gutted out, so, what I have is a '50 Pacemaker hull. Now, the '53 Hornet fordor that he has is all stock, and if I get it, I plan to keep it that way

Unknown

I got this one last year. It is a rumble seat coupe. It is unrestored and all original including the upholstery and the engine has never been apart. It runs OK. I haven't driven it beyond my farm yet and really haven't had time to do much with it yet. I plan on keeping as much original as possible.



Have a good day

Steve :rolleyes:

tigermoth

i guess it is all a matter of personal choice, but for what it is worth i am of the keep it the same school. drive, fix 'em and drive 'em some more. for me the thing is a time machine..warts and all....bias ply tires, drum brakes,leaf springs,vapor lock...all part of what gives a 70 year old car character. mine is a '35 terraplane sedan deluxe. previous owner did a driveway paint job in the late eighties, (he did nice job on the interior though) and i just did the engine and freshened up the trans. i just love tooling around in it. not a complete 1930's experience because all our roads are paved...." drive 'em if you got 'em!!.."....tom

rambos_ride

I think ORIGINAL is best when it makes sense for the condition of car and the desires of the owner. My 49 was mostly complete, non-running (engine wouldn't turn over by hand), all the 6Volt wiring was brittle, broken and missing many parts - etc...



To me this was a perfect candidate for a resto-rod with newer components. But I can guarantee you if the 49 was running when I bought it or better yet a rare model such as a convert or coupe I would have gone for a restoration.



RG53Hornet - Thanks for the kind words on the website! I pretty much have been working on the car during the day and programming by night! Having limited distractions - 1 Dog (Rambo) and 0 kids - definetly helps the progress!



I say RESTORE the worthy ones and ROD the rest - but let's get as many of them back on the road as we can and show people what cars should look and perform like - instead of the generic clone cars the auto manufacturers make today!

Aaron D. IL

Currently I have a 1950 Pacemaker Sedan that is mostly stock. It needs a little work but it runs and drives and looks good cosmetically. Had it for 2-3 years now it was a replacement for a '50 Pacemaker Brougham destroyed in an accident with a drunk driver.

My other car is a restoration in progress a 1947 Commodore 8 sedan that I prchased as a rolling shell from George Nell (who recently passed away unfortunately) It has a step-down 232 in it and it's getting close to completetion but the great news is I have just located the original numbers matching 8cylinder with drive master and I'm going to be buying it to put the car so it will be how it was in the long term.

You can see both cars at the following links.

http://groups.msn.com/HudsonEssexTerraplaneBulletinBoard/replacement50pacemakersedan.msnw



http://groups.msn.com/HudsonEssexTerraplaneBulletinBoard/ads1947c8restoration.msnw

Unknown

I have a 1932 Essex Hudson Terraplane 4 door.

I just got it last month and I am in the process of rat rodding it. You know 6" chopped top, 6" sectioned body, channeled 6" no fenders. Z'd frame rails front and back. The whole nine.

I'll have lots of stuff left over if anybody needs anything.

TOM-WA-

YIKES!! IT'S A WHATCHAMACALLIT.....No thanks I'll pass



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6472&item=4557034663&rd=1

Club Coupe

TOM-WA- wrote:

YIKES!! IT'S A WHATCHAMACALLIT.....No thanks I'll pass



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6472&item=4557034663&rd=1

The WHATCHAMACALLIT edition only came in purple. I think that this is either the "Miami Vice - South Beach" edition or, because it is located in Ft. Lauderdale, the "Spring Break" edition. LOL

JasonNC

I have 48 Commodore Six that I found for sale in Hemmings. It had sat for 30 years in a warehouse in Ohio. The engine was running when I got it, but had to be rebuilt within a few months. A friend painted it for the cost of the paint and I had the upholstery redone. The only mechanical upgrades I've done so far were to convert to 12 volts and add an overdrive. I'm in the process of trying to switch to electronic ignition.

Geoff

Phatboy is entitled to do what he wants I daresay, but to butcher a '32 model, which is probably one of the rarest years Essex/Hudson available I can in no way condone or encourage. What have you got when you finish? Why not start from scratch and mock up a modern monstrosity instead of carving up a piece of history. Just my biased opinion, from a preservaton perspective.

Geoff.

Unknown

TOM-WA- wrote:

YIKES!! IT'S A WHATCHAMACALLIT.....No thanks I'll pass



http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6472&item=4557034663&rd=1

I don't know, it's kind of well done, I don't like how he did the taillights, the frenched headlights don't look good, Poor color choice, but other than that, it is a well done custom.



Personally, I would have preferred to seen it saved for someone that wants to maintain an original coupe... (like me....)

Unknown

I agree with Geoff. I have been at this for 53 years.And am an old hotrodder. I hate to see someone butcher a decent car just to make what he thinks is a statement. Unfortuntly they usally loose interest in about a year and another bites the dust. Hudsons and terraplanes look funny as a rod, nothing like a Ford. By the way I have a 33 Terraplane 8 coupe that I have had for 40 years, not stock, but all Hudson. and not cut.

Club Coupe

Three cheers for Geoff!! To utterly destroy a rare car like a '32 Essex is criminal. It's bad enough to mess up a '50 Pacemaker and declare it the "best in the world" but to cut up an Essex goes too far. I have a '51 Pacemaker Club Coupe with the original engine and drivetrain but I have switched to 12 volt, electronic ignition, added seat and shoulder belts and radial tires so I'm not 100% pure but no way would I ever have put a cutting torch to my car, and I have owned it close to 40 years, buying it as a teenager.

Unknown

Also three cheers for Geoff!! I normally espouse doing what you want with your car. However, everybody's right; the '32 is probably one of the rarest. There's got to be lone bodies out there for rodding...



I bought my first Hudson as a teenager too. It is one of the very few cars I wish I still had. 1952 Commodore 6 sedan. The next one was a 1952 Wasp Hollywood. I'd take either back in a heartbeat.

[Deleted User]

Long time lurker and havn't posted here in quite some time until today.

I have a 50 Pacemaker coupe that came out of northern Oklahoma about

4 years ago. Orginally the car came out of NewYork but ended up in southern

Kansas, then moved into Enid, Oklahoma some time around 1961-62.

When I bought it there was a replacement 56 Hornet single carb 308 in it

with the stock 50 single lever overdrive. It must have been quite the runner!

Now the engine is stroked to 353 cubic inches, with a Clifford head & header,

a Randy Maas cam & timing chain set, fully ported-polished-relieved block,

Mallory dual point distributor triggering a MSD 6AL ignition and a custom make

dual quad intake with twin 585cfm Carter AFB's.

I'm running a B&M built 350 turbo tranny with manual valve body and Dany

Springs adaptor and hi-torque mini starter (works excellent!).

The rear end is a 8.8 T-Bird turbo coupe 3:55 with Ranger 5-lug brakes and

Moser Engineering axles and a T/A performance rear girdle cover.

Its about 70% done at this time and I was hoping to be at the drag strip

by now but have run into work related problems.

One thing for sure I can't wait to get the first time slip.

PaceRacer50

TwinH

I can't wait to see a timeslip from PaceRacer50 either. I'd love to see a tuner-boy

explain to his homies why his stickered-up,fart piped Honda just got waxed by a 55

year old car that came "pimped" from the factory.

I just got my 49 Commodore from an estate in Michigan this month. Epay deal and

I probably payed to much, but I got just what I wanted. 12 volt,electronic ignition,

TwinH, header, oil system mods,etc.etc. OK the clifford head has a crack but it still

runs great and is an easy fix. Now that being said 99% of the people that see it will

have no idea that it didn't roll off the assembly line like that. Its obviously been well

cared for and that's how I plan to keep it.

I see Phatboys 32 Essex post and i've

always been a racer/hot rodder, I've got five other rides and not one of them has

the original driveline in them much less all the other mods. I don't know how rare

a 32 Essex 4 door is, and I sure don't know what kind of shape it came to him in.

But I could guess that for what it would cost too restore to anything close to original

would be more than double what it would be worth. Either way it only has to make sense to him. I'd suggest that anybody that has any use to pick up his cast-off

parts and save those...

Unknown

Howdy

I have been a member for about 2 months now, and have really enjoyed this forum. I bought a '50 Pacemaker Tudor that had been "Hotrodded" (stripped & gutted)

In my endeavor to bring it back to a decent project, I advertized for some taillites and told of my other plans and got scalded by some of the "purists". Yes, I would hate to see an all-stock original '32 chopped, but if it was in the condition that my Pacemaker was in, there wasn't really much choice. I did locate a '53 Hornet that I plan to buy and restore, 'cause its all there

Billy

Unknown

I figured that after seeing all the Brand X stuff being done, this thread would turn into the old debate of Modify/Original. I was hoping to see lots of pictures of people's Hudsons, and the story behind them. Keep posting those "Pictures and Stories".

Unknown

That debate's going to go on forever...as I've posted before, I've gone both ways with Hudson as well as other makes and models. I strongly welcome all those that have posted here with the modified cars as they really are the future in keeping Hudson alive and visible to the public. Sooner or later, most of the Hudsons will be relegated to those parades and things like that. I remember when I was a kid, the brass era cars would only be seen on those type occasions. It would be a shame to see Hudson relegated to the same thing.



Thanks for the thread, it's been interesting. I'm still 'hunting and gathering'. That's what my wife calls it as I gather all of the pieces needed for a project before I start. Otherwise if I get stopped, I lose interest and it takes a while to get going again.

Unknown

My 33 Terraplane 8 coupe has column shift from a 46 with original wheel and steering , hydralic brakes from a 50 Hudson, pedal setup from a 36 Hudson , 54 Hornet rear. all Hudson , everything bolts in, I asked one fellow when was the last time he saw a 33 Terp. He didn't know. So how could he make comments on originality of my car. I loved it.

TOM-WA-

If this is an example of what you are talking about as the future of Hudsons I want No part of it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6472&item=4557030930&rd=1