Did Lynn Griffin ever work for Hudson

Unknown
Unknown
edited November -1 in HUDSON
Does anyone know anything about Lynn Griffin who worked for Hudson? He is my great-grandfather. I'm researching his life & found out he worked for Hudson as a master mechanic.

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  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    He worked for the Hudson car company in Detroit? Or at a dealership? I'm afraid that most of the Hudson company records are gone now. The only possibility (if you suspect he worked for the company, not a dealership) would be to contact Jack Miller of Ypsilanti, Mich., who (as a Hudson historian) has met and talked to many former employees of the factory and might have heard your great grandfather's name.

    Jack runs the Ypsilanti Heritage Automotive Museum http://www.ypsiautoheritage.org/ and you could look for some contact information on that website.
  • 37 CTS
    37 CTS Senior Contributor
    If Lynn Griffin work at a dealership and you know the city and approximate years I may have the name of the dealership in my book, "Your Hometown Hudson Dealer".
  • EssexAdv
    EssexAdv Expert Adviser, Member
    I checked my copy of the February 1948 Hudson Motor Company Phone book and did not find his name listed there. Maybe he worked there at a different time ... hopefully someone has a later edition of the phone book and can check it out for you.
  • RL Chilton
    RL Chilton Administrator, Member
    EssexAdv wrote:
    I checked my copy of the February 1948 Hudson Motor Company Phone book and did not find his name listed there. Maybe he worked there at a different time ... hopefully someone has a later edition of the phone book and can check it out for you.

    You have a phone book from the HMMC??? Wow. Do you know what that means??

    THAT MEANS . . . that near useless books from HMMC (and don't get me wrong, I think a phone book from Hudson would be uber-cool!), like a company phone book has survived, but body break-out production numbers are nowhere to be found . . .

    talk about irony.:woohoo:
  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    Not nearly so ironic when you think about it, Russell.

    The detailed production numbers would not have been widely disseminated. (Why bother to copy and disseminate multiple copies of the number of 112 convertibles produced in March of 1939? Who would possibly have been interested, outside of a small number of people?) Thus, only a few copies (typed or handwritten) would have existed, and only squirreled away in the company filing cabinets. When the files were emptied into the dumpsters after the Nash - Hudson merger, 100% of the copies went out of existence.

    The phone book, on the other hand, would have been printed in multiples and distributed all over the company. And some of them would have wandered home with employees. So it is no real surprise that a handful might have survived.
  • RL Chilton
    RL Chilton Administrator, Member
    Jon, I understand your point, and certainly agree with you, but, one would think (at least I would), that just perhaps, someone might squirrel away some production #'s, along with the phone book. One can hope, anyway . . .
  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    edited February 2012
    RL Chilton wrote:
    Jon, I understand your point, and certainly agree with you, but, one would think (at least I would), that just perhaps, someone might squirrel away some production #'s, along with the phone book. One can hope, anyway . . .

    My theory is that there was this young fellow, oh, about 16 or 17 years old that went to work in the mail room at the Hudson factory around 1910, 1911 or so and stayed there until the company merged. One of his jobs was to take outdated publications (from sales to service to whatever) and chunk it in the company dust bin. Instead he took it home and squirreled away. By 1954 he would have been in his 40's, not that old. So he hoarded this stash until he passed away - which could have been as late as the early 90's.

    So here's all this stash boxed up waiting to be uncovered - and hopefully his kids, if he married and had kids, didn't just toss it in the land fill when dear old Dad passed into the better world.

    Hudsonly,
    Alex Burr
    Memphis, TN
  • 37 CTS
    37 CTS Senior Contributor
    The man who saved what survives is the late John Conde, who was a histoian and was the AMC public relations person. He went to the closed and not very secure Hudson office building and by himself saved the HMC records and photo collection.
    He moved all this in a Rambler Station wagon, in so many trips.
    At AMC he had to stand up to preserve the history files from those who would have them tossed. The AMC collection is now part of the Chrylser Archives in the Chrysler Museum. Mr.Conde made the AMC family album series of books while with AMC and published other automotive history books in his retirement.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Thank you for the information! I sent him an email tonight. I am eager to hear if he has anything. I am running into stories I would like to confirm or put to rest a family folklore!
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    I know he lived near Corning, NY. His son was a graphic artist that designed the blue cornflower design on the white & blue Pyrex dishes. I am excited to see what Lynn did at Hudson!
  • EssexAdv
    EssexAdv Expert Adviser, Member
    well...this one came from the files of a Hudson exec..... sorry to burst the romantic, mail room boy dream...even big shots can be pack rats haha
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