Disappearing Vent Window of '34 -- New Gears?

StillOutThere
StillOutThere Expert Adviser
in Parts & Pieces
During restoration of my '34 Terraplane, the badly chipped gears on each front door that work during the motion of the disappearing vent assy were attempted to be repaired by welding them up and grinding them back.   Worked for a couple of years.   One has now broken again.

Has anyone ever made replacements or is there any current availability of new gears?    Anyone have a NOS gear for a pattern to have a bunch newly machined?

I think Nash also used a disappearing vent for a couple of years?   Same assembly and same gear?

Comments

  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    edited March 2015
    I'm fairly sure these were a Hudson-only feature.  The only good thing is that they were used from 1934 to 1938 (I think; at least 1937!) AND in both the convertibles and closed cars. (Though the gears might be different in the closed / open versions.  I dunno.)

    So there is always a chance that the gears might still exist, even in a lowly, rusting hulk of a sedan in some pasture.  Check ebay and Google "Hudson parts car" and see what pops up!

    As you may know, I maintain an online list of reproduced Hudson parts but I can recall no one ever making repro gears for this window.  The last I knew, Mike Whited was still selling repro gears that rotate the vent windows in and out, 1937-39, but I don't know if this would fit the top part of your disappearing vents.  You are probably looking for the gears that lower the entire cradle down into the door, right?


  • StillOutThere
    StillOutThere Expert Adviser
    edited March 2015
    Thanks Jon.   The disappearing vents are in '34-39 Terra and Hudson.   For certain Plymouth also used this same system in their 1934 PE model cars but that was the only year and model.    Without taking my door apart again just yet, memory is that this type has one gear per side and the motion is in the mechanics of the mechanism.  I have sent an inquiry to Mike W.    Photo set is of the Plymouth in action.   Photo credit Jim Benjaminson.
  • StillOutThere
    StillOutThere Expert Adviser
    Mike replies his gears are for '37-39 pivoting only - vent windows.

  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    Interesting, but Plymouth's vent is nowhere near as cool as Hudson's!  The vent is housed within a frame that also holds the regular window, apparently.  The regular window goes up and down on its own, then the frame (in which the regular window slides) goes down, taking the vent window with it.  Or so it seems.

    Hudson's vent windows (for the benefit of anyone one familiar with this) was controlled with one crank handle and was totally independent of the regular up-down window, being in its own cradle.  When the vent window was one, you started to turn the crank, closing the window.  Then you continued to "grind" and the entire cradle disappeared down into the door.  The "regular" window could still be all the way up....or down.  It didn't matter.

    So I would seriously doubt that the mechanism was the same between Hudson and Plymouth.  Although possibly the same window mechanism company supplied this and other mechanisms to Hudson and many other manufacturers.
  • hudrodguy
    hudrodguy Member
    hi there,

    if i was able to source a set of 34-39 disaapearing vent windows, would it be a bolt in for my 40 hudson ? there is a 37 hudson sedan availiable as a parts car locally with some of the parts visible ... the owner want the car gone but is asking a lot of $$ for a rusted hulk ... i may be able to buy the complete doors but they appear different from mine in the way the regular window mates with the vent window ... any ideas ?

    thanks

    mark
  • charles4d
    charles4d Expert Adviser
    Wish my 40 truck had vent windows
  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    Hudrod, what is your general location? It's possible that one or more Hudson owners in your vicinity might need various parts off that junk '37. And maybe one of them even has the room to store it and even trailer it home. In this case, everyone could feast off the dead carcass, rather than seeing it dispatched to a junkyard and the parts lost forever.

    I can't answer your question about interchangeability to 1940. I believe the basic door shape was the same from '37 to '40, but the innards might have changed in such a way that the vent windows are no longer a "bolt-in" possibility.
  • MikeSheridan
    MikeSheridan Member
    If you have an old gear, even worn or broken, I could give you the name of a guy to work with to get them scanned and a 3D file made. He then can get them3D printed in much better metal than they were made of back in the day. Not cheap, but we are making unobtanium parts available again using this method.
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