Clifford Headers

Well, I just got off of the phone from a 45-minute conversation with Larry at Clifford Performance. The purpose of the call was to let him know that I would be interested in a set of headers and to put my name on the list if he intended to do a run of Hudson Headers, and if he got enough orders to warrant the run in the first place.

Fortunately, he told me that he has all ready placed the order for a run of 25 sets (which gets farmed out to a local mfg.). There is a Jeep order in front of the Hudson order, but the Hudson Headers should be ready in 2-3 weeks. He took my name, address, phone number and told me he would call when he received the headers for stock. No money has changed hands, but he told me I could pay for them when he had the headers in hand. Price was $359.00 + shipping (shipping is $70 to Texas, and varies accordingly to locale).

What a great guy! We then talked Hudson shop for the next 40 minutes or so. Some information I gleaned on the headers is that Jack used to make changes on the headers whenever someone complained about something. Every time he made a change, he would assign a new part # to the new design. So there wasn't only a "long" set and a "shorty" set, but there were actually about a dozen different designs. Larry, has taken one of the "long" sets, shortened it, and only makes the one style of header now. Beneficial to everyone, this new standard set of headers is designed to work in both the LWB's and the SWB's. Additionally, the headers are coated in a High-Temp black paint before they are shipped to the customer.

In my infinite wisdom, I forgot to ask whether or not a gasket (header to block) is needed for the headers, maybe one of y'all can fill me in on that one.

Additionally, Larry told me that even though Hudson parts are not in the catalog, there are scores of parts available for Hudsons, including lifters, pistons, valves, heads, headers and cams. One needs only to call him and give him one's needs. Also, he told me that Jack often didn't list Hudson parts in his main catalogs, but usually had a supplement that listed all the Hudson-specific parts. In my ignorance, I assumed that they used to only make Hudson parts, as I have an old Hudson catalog from Clifford, which, it turns out, is apparently one of the supplements.

Larry is still very much interested in continuing to supply the Hudson folks with parts, but realizes, especially as time goes on, the Hudson market is getting smaller and demand is not what it used to be. But he, and his family are still rooted in Hudsons, and the family still owns several of Jack's old cars. He was extremely helpful and I look forward to buying many more parts from him in the near future.

VGeorge-

Can't answer that question with any certainty, until my headers are in my hands. Not sure if all six pipes fit into a single collector, or 3 pipes each into two collectors. Regardless, setting up either single exhaust or dual exhaust should not be a problem, as this could be done past the point of the end of the headers.