Rarest HUDSON? that was built for production?

Here's a '31 Hudson Boattail with Barney Oldfield at the wheel, taken in Toronto, Canada in 1931. This would be a nice one to find under a dusty tarp in your grandfather's shed...:cool:

That is a great '38, and I have never seen anything like it here in the USA. I notice differences between it and the American models in the hood ornament, bumper guards, absence of the "8" emblem in the center of the front bumper, to name a few. Do you think the car was originally produced that way, or could it have been modified later in its life?

This right here is the rarest of them all: a 1959 Hudson...1 of 1:



http://westslope.craigslist.org/cto/1590433406.html

That is a great '38, and I have never seen anything like it here in the USA. I notice differences between it and the American models in the hood ornament, bumper guards, absence of the "8" emblem in the center of the front bumper, to name a few. Do you think the car was originally produced that way, or could it have been modified later in its life?

I think, IMHO, the first thing you have to do is define rare. Then you have to figure out the difference between rare, scarce or what-ever. Hudson only made, in round figures, 3,500,000 cars - total!!!! GM or Ford does that in a couple months, or less.



So. It only figures that with 3.5 mil cars there's going to be a lot of years that are "scarce" - pick any year between 1910 and, say, 1942. Of course 1942 models are very low production, so how do you determiine if they are scarce or rare???



There are a lot of step-downs running around simply because they were the last built, thus easier to find over the years. There is a case to be made for the few 1952 Commodore 8's that were produced as 1953 models. I would put them into a "rare" catagory, since nobody seems to have seen or heard of one. (I found two, one in Oklahoma and one in either North or South Dakota. One was scrapped - the other destroyed in a flood.)



There is also the 1929 DC Sport-Phaeton. This is another I would consider "rare" since so few were produced to start with. Perhaps the 1927 and 1929 Essex boat-tails could be considered rare along with the 1931 (??) Hudson boat-tail. And as somebody pointed out there is that ever elusive 1941 (and perhaps 1940 as well) Hudson delivery (Divco style) van. No one, including myself, has ever seen, or heard, of one. Tho someone did come up with some pictures that were posted here on the forum, I think.



So, do we determine rarity based on specialized models (like the Dual Cowl and the possible delivery van). In that case, then, we couldn't consider Jerry Hoffman's 1916 Six-40 as rare, because they were not specialized. In the specialized catagory could we consider commercial vehicles, such as Dover, Essex and Terraplanes, as rare. They were production line vehicles, but I think they should be considered specialty, designed for a specific market.



Makes for interesting debate if nothing else.



Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

RL Chilton wrote:

Alex!! Dredging up old threads, are we? Well, that's o.k., 'cause this was one of my favorite threads. You know what a sucker I am for the rare ones.B)

middletom wrote:

Twenty or more years ago, I went to Kittery, Maine to look at a 1921 Hudson Biddle and Smart limousine. It had the partition and speaking tube and was in very good condition. It was for sale but I was not in a position to buy it. I don't know what happened to it but have not heard one word of its existence since. That would certainly be a rare one.

Geoff Blake