Early custom built HET Trucks

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  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    And that's just that web site. There was an Essex pickup (1) built by the factory around 1922, 1923 to haul parts and supplies around the factory area; Cantrell built some station wagon bodies around 1934; I have a picture of an early 30's home built Essex panel truck, I think it is. And of course, like the picture you posted of the Hudson screenside express, there were a lot of sedan to truck conversions thru the 1920's and into the 1930's (think Grapes of Wrath, for example.) And there's a 1929 Hudson flatbed of that type running around Kansas somewhere - unless it's moved somewhere else.



    Hudsonly,

    Alex Burr

    Memphis, TN
  • oldhudsons
    oldhudsons Senior Contributor
    the 2nd one a '29 Hudson that someone probably put the canopy section onto as the '29s Hudson built were "Dover" which is a '29 Essex.
  • oldhudsons
    oldhudsons Senior Contributor
    none of those shown were "custom built" but factory offerings by co's. that built bodies for Hudson exc. for the last one, as previously noted, which either was custom built/ordered, or a '29 Hudson chassis or sedan that someone stuck a body onto.
  • Lee ODell
    Lee ODell Senior Contributor
    The last picture reminded me of what I saw at Jack Miller's museum. There was a plank of wood leaning against the wall. I believe the sign said something about it being a front bumper. The wooden bumpers were installed when Hudson ran short on steel bumpers. When there was a new supply of bumpers the dealer would replace the wooden one with a steel one.



    Have a good day. Lee
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    I found that history of Biddle&Smart interesting, though I've a question about the reference to the bodies for Rolls Royce. Many years ago, Alex Burr and I interviewed Alphonse Barcelow in Amesbury. He had been the lead body man at Biddle&Smart's shop which built the first of every new design to check that everything went together as planned. Mr. Barcelow mentioned that they had tried making bodies for Rolls Royce, but the standards imposed by Rolls Royce, such as no filling of seams with lead, and other requirements, caused the filling of orders for Rolls Royce to be not profitable for Biddle&Smart. As I recall, Mr. Barcelow said they, at most, only made a couple bodies for Rolls Royce, if any at all.

    Has anyone any figures on production for RR by Biddle&Smart? Or is the mention in the article of their producing for RR a mistaken memory?



    Middletom
  • 53jetman
    53jetman Senior Contributor
    Lee O'Dell wrote:
    The last picture reminded me of what I saw at Jack Miller's museum. There was a plank of wood leaning against the wall. I believe the sign said something about it being a front bumper. The wooden bumpers were installed when Hudson ran short on steel bumpers. When there was a new supply of bumpers the dealer would replace the wooden one with a steel one.



    Have a good day. Lee



    Lee, the wooden bumper you saw at the Ypsilanti Museum was installed at the factory on early '46 models. After the initial shortage during late 1945 and early 1946, the factory never again shipped incomplete units without the correct bumpers



    Jerry

    53jetman
  • oldhudsons
    oldhudsons Senior Contributor
    Muchos anos ago I bought a '46 S6 bus. cp. from the 2nd owner. He told me that story about the car which he'd gotten from the original owner, and after a while the dealership called him up & they replaced the wood front bumper. However this car did not come with the package panel either & they never did get him one, LOL! I bought the '46 approx. late '60s & drove it for years - one of my buddies purchased a '41 with the package panel so I copied it to make the '46 complete (+ quiet as got a lot of road noise thru the back end without the package panel).

    I sold it to one of my buddies probably in the early '70s & he still has it - was used in his daughter's wedding last year! It was just perfect for "potting" around town & I often drove it to work as didn't take freeways.

    "oh well", deja vu!
  • Lee ODell
    Lee ODell Senior Contributor
    Thanks Jerry. I could not remember what years the wooden bumpers were used.



    Oldhudson information cleared up my thoughts I had, that only the PU's had them.



    Are there any old original wooden bumpers in somebody stash for the 'Pickers'?



    Lee
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