new owner

Unknown

Hello people and i hope you welcome me.. Ijust purchased my 1st hudson and am looking for a source for sheetmetal reproduction repair panels? Can anyone help me? 1954 wasp?well thank you in advance and hope to get it back into shape...

Aaron D. IL

there are no reproduction repair panels for a '54 that I know of. There might be one company that have rocker panels but I'm not sure. best thing you can do is get sheetmetal from a parts car or repair what you have. Joining the HET club would be a good 1st step to making the contacts you need if you are not already a member. What panels specifically do you need replaced?

rambos_ride

j_desforges wrote:

Hello people and i hope you welcome me.. Ijust purchased my 1st hudson and am looking for a source for sheetmetal reproduction repair panels? Can anyone help me? 1954 wasp?well thank you in advance and hope to get it back into shape...

Congratulations on your Hudson purchase!



I would try Ken Amman [kamman@power-net.net] for floor pan replacments - I just ordered a set of front floorboards for my 49 Commodore http://www.49c8.com



Rocker Panels - Thanks Dave S

dave s wrote:

1954 Rocker panels They have reproductions of 48-54 2 & 4 dr. and also Jet!! Fab-Tech, 21 Hercules Drive,Colchester,Vt.05446. ( Listed in Hemmings as Green Mountain Parts) You must order through the vendor.Ph.802-948-2082 (I got Barbara) She tells me that they make 54 Rockers for coupes (2004 prices: 48 inches long $98.00 ea. plus shipping) for 4 dr.sedans(72 inches long $98.00 each, plus shipping)

Unfortunately - those are the only sources I have seen for replacement panels of any type for stepdowns.



The rest will be up to your fabrication skills or shop that you take the work to.



If you end up making your own patch panels - a bead roller (lower quarter panel edges, bead rolls...) and a shrinker/strecher for doing compound curve pieces are bare essentials.



Good luck!

Unknown

Hi:

The 1954 Body is different from any of the other STEPDOWN Hudsons. From the firewall back the panels are welded onto the body. The Hudson is a unit body or unibody construction. This means the whole body takes strength from pieces of metal welded together. Repair procedures used for todays cars incorporate assessment and then careful removal of the damaged part. The replacement part is usually a factory produced. When the repair involves a hard to procure, unavailable or just too expensive replacement part some repairs are based on donor car parts. The 54 model car is a prefect example of a car that can benefit from donor car parts. You have not stated the body style, but it is possible to remove parts from different body styles and make the required repairs. You will have to make the determination.

A fellow Hudson owner in Alabama accomplished a very well thought out and properly executed repair of a rare Hudson Hollywood coupe. The following pictures attempt to show you the extent of that repair.







Not shown in these pictures is a 1954 4 door sedan body that donated the rear section of the body needed to repair the damaged Hollywood body. Careful planning, cutting and reassembly returned the Hollywood to use. Obviously you will have to have the skill sets or find them to complete these types of transplants. My point is to enlighten you to the possibilities.

Good Luck and welcome to Hudsoning.

Cheers;)

[Deleted User]

Welcome to The Wonderful World of Hudsons. Like AAron said, I hope you will join the Hudson club. The white triangle magazine is worth every penny of the membership fee. The 54 model year is a stand alone year, so not many body parts are reproduced. There are however many parts cars out there, and the good news is that many of the mechanicals can be swappped between the other stepdown years. It may take some searching but if you keep at it you can find ALMOST anything you need. You will find the people in the Hudson club are the most helpful around.

Where are you located? There may be help that is closer than you think.

Bob Hickson

Newport TN.

Unknown

well much thanks to everyone.. i live in westport massachusetts.. also was wondering if anyone has converted front brakes to disc using the same spindles that are on the car.. my two young children are planning to be in the car and i would like to have a safer brake without changing spindles or other major steering parts.. i know i will need to change the master cyl... well i will appreciate all the help i can get... 20yrs as a ford tech and built many circle track late models.. just hudsons seem to be very unique...

Jon B

Welcome to Hudsonworld! Don't hesitate to come here and to the chatroom http://www.classiccar.com/hudson_chats.htm (nighttime is best) . And I'll also add my vote to joining the H-E-T, it's an invaluable connection to the Hudson network!

Club Coupe

j_desforges wrote:

well much thanks to everyone.. i live in westport massachusetts.. also was wondering if anyone has converted front brakes to disc using the same spindles that are on the car.. my two young children are planning to be in the car and i would like to have a safer brake without changing spindles or other major steering parts.. i know i will need to change the master cyl... well i will appreciate all the help i can get... 20yrs as a ford tech and built many circle track late models.. just hudsons seem to be very unique...

There are a couple of retro-fit aftermarket kits for the disc brake conversion, but the rear brake assembly from the 1990s models Lincoln Town Cars (only) will work and is less costly. If you are interested in lap belts, take a look at www.julianos.com Also, the 1954 models did have power brakes as an option and every now and then they appear for sale on E-bay and such but they are rare and costly. Welcome to the board

Jon B

Someone is making a disc brake conversion kit, I've seen it. With any luck, somebody will post his name here!

rambos_ride

Jon B wrote:

Someone is making a disc brake conversion kit, I've seen it. With any luck, somebody will post his name here!

Heart Of Texas wrote:

color]



For the front brakes on Hudson Stepdowns:



Contact Bill Labud, 38049 Rolling Acres Rd., Lady Lake, FL 32159 Ph: 352-753-7229. He has it perfected! Uses stock Hudson Master Cylinder, Easily reversible back to drum brakes



For information on how to use the Linclon Disc brake rear in a Stepdown go to this URL.



http://home.earthlink.net/~hetclub/disc/brakes.htm



Good Luck

Happy Holidays

Information from other posts...

[Deleted User]

Hi.--- If you should decide to go with the Hudson power brakes, you will lose your rear wheel mechanical brake back-up system. Headley Bennett recently removed a power brake unit from his 54 & returned the brakes to the standard hydraulics which he likes better. Thought this bit of information may be useful in making your decision. Cliff Minard.

russmaas

Richard Pridemore out of N. Caolina?? Has done as nice job, even has new CNC hubs to go with. Also a picture illustrated instruction sheet with all the part numbers for advance auto. Dont have his # in front of me

[Deleted User]

HI MY NAME IS HUDSON DAVE

bert schworts writes a news letter for the modified hudson club( mac.rag) he did a piece on disc brakes. i converted my 1946 hudson com.over 1991 to 1997 lincoln crown vic or a grand marque rear disc brakes fit on the front very easy.you simly take the front drum off take the four bolts out of the backing plate. take the hose out of the w/c you use the stock hudson hose.take the ford mounting plate an grind off the rivits that hold all the parking brakes on and discard. then put the mounting plate on the hudson using the same bolts it will be necessary to drill the two rear holes out one size bigger.now you must grind the rivits off of the hudson brake drum and remove the drums, voila, you are geting close. take the hubs to your local machine shop and have them turn the hub down to fit the ford rotor. i drilled three holes from the hub side and taped and installed 1/4 bolts to hold the rotor to the hub. turn the hub and rotor as a unit for best oprerations.pack bearing and replace seals if you have a good napa store in your town thay can get you updated seals . install hub and rotor install pads all most have to bleed one side off the car just open the bleeder an hold the caliper with the bleeder up when the fluid comes out and no bubbles in stall on car .you use the ford hoses you can buy an adapter from napa to join the two hoses together and all done . my cost for everything was about $125.00 with new pads i hope this helps.

HUDSON DAVE