33 Essex 5 window coupe

Glad to hear you'll keep it original. Even as a "stock" car it would be more turn more heads than a hotrod, I think. Restoration of these things isn't that hard when you've plugged into a support group like the H-E-T Club. For example, every member gets a membership roster showing members and their cars, so you can determine who has a car similar to yours, nearby. Usually these people are happy to let you look over their car, and in this way you can answer a lot of your questions. Often these car owners work on their own cars so they'll have ideas on how to restore, where to find parts, interchanges with other cars, and so forth.

You may just want to get your car running and driving first, so you can enjoy it. Then worry about restoring it cosmetically later. A lot of us are driving cars that would never win any trophies at a car show, but we are having fun with them. (The H-E-T Club, as you may know, has always had a policy of giving no trophies for best-restored car, in order to foster a spirit of cooperation between its members.)

Do come to the Forum often, with your questions, and we'll try to help. Better yet, get out to a Hudson meet near you. There are chapters all over the country, so even if you can't make it to a National or Regional meet, you may have the opportunity to meet some nice fellow Hudson owners at a backyard barbecue, tech session, or car show. My advice would be to go to the list of chapters (on the Club website) and find a contact person for the chapter nearest you, then call him or her, and find out when and where the next local get-together takes place. They go on all year (for example our local club is having a mid-winter get together at a restoration shop this coming Saturday.)