Update on my 28 Hudson LeBaron bodied roadster

Unknown
Unknown
edited November -1 in HUDSON
Well it's been roughly a month since I got "Miss Crabtree" in my garage,(Miss Crabtree was the teachers name in a couple of episodes of the Little Rascals in which she drove a Hudson roadster of 28-29 vintage. Anyway, I had an experienced "barnfind" auctioneer inspect my car and he assurred me that my car is an authentic LeBaron bodied Hudson as he has seen the characteristics of my car on other LeBaron bodied cars of the same era.I was able to clean a few contacts, tape a few wires, replace a couple bulbs and a wire which got my entire electrical system working.I was surprised to find that's all I needed to do. Then I set out to see if the engine would turn so I put the crank in and..... frozen. Jumping on it did no good. So I took the flywheel pan down and used a big screwdriver to move the flywheel and it "moved" phew! So, I did everything you're supposed to do to free an engine. I sprayed pb blaster in the spark plug holes then some oil, took off the valvecover,more oil and then proceeded to crank. Well, oil pumped into the engine and after a few long cranks it started loosening up enough to hand crank.Now, with the engine loosened I turned to the intake/exaust manifold. It absolutely had to come off. There was a rotted interior part on the intake that I was lucky to be able to replace, a frozen exaust butterfly and tons of flacked rust. The carb had to be cleaned but was all there and in great shape. I put it back together with new gaskets and put it back on the car. Turning to the ignition, I checked the wires with the original coil and they all worked fine (What am I, blessed?). I filed the points, they looked good. I cleaned the contacts on the dist cap and wire ends. Redid the connections of a couple of wires and reinstalled everything. I dismantled the vacuum gas canister, checked that it was working, loosened up the drain valves and reinstalled it after checking the gas lines. Now, I only need to wire up a switch for the ignition, take a compression reading and if the reading is good, put my new D-16 Champion plugs in connect the spark plug wires. At this point I just need to either inspect and clean the gas tank or fix it if necessary or hook up a temporary gas can, time the engine,and CRANK! I think it will run everthing points that way. Wish me luck. I'll keep everyone posted! Thanks for your interest. Phil

Comments

  • ArkieJazz
    ArkieJazz Member
    Learn something every day! I thought all the roadsters in '28 were bodied by Biddle and Smart.:)
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This one probably got sent by more then likely the original owner to the LeBaron Coachworks co. to be customized. Finding the history of this car wil be a daunting task. I have investigated the possibility of this car being an authentic Lebaron. It turns out that the badges are real LeBaron. The Fenders have 5 chrome strips approx. 12 in. long where the side mount spares would be. this car is featured in Don Butlers History of Hudson on page 114 and in his description of the car you get the feeling that he is acknowledging the fact that it is a lebaron bodied car. Yes a one off. The information I've accumulated weighs more towards the the fact that the car is a LeBaron bodied car and I'm accepting this with the burden of proof being on someone else to refute the evidence. I only wish that I could find those vent windows the car has in the picture,and those sideview mirrors!thanks for your comments, Phil
  • Geoff
    Geoff Senior Contributor
    Before you fire the engine up it would pay to drop the oil pan and check that the troughs are all intact and holding oil. Would be a shame if any of these had acid holes in them after sitting for so long, as can happen, and you melted a bearing.

    Geoff.
  • hudsonsplasher1
    hudsonsplasher1 Senior Contributor
    phil walsh wrote:
    This one probably got sent by more then likely the original owner to the LeBaron Coachworks co. to be customized. Finding the history of this car wil be a daunting task. I have investigated the possibility of this car being an authentic Lebaron. It turns out that the badges are real LeBaron. The Fenders have 5 chrome strips approx. 12 in. long where the side mount spares would be. this car is featured in Don Butlers History of Hudson on page 114 and in his description of the car you get the feeling that he is acknowledging the fact that it is a lebaron bodied car. Yes a one off. The information I've accumulated weighs more towards the the fact that the car is a LeBaron bodied car and I'm accepting this with the burden of proof being on someone else to refute the evidence. I only wish that I could find those vent windows the car has in the picture,and those sideview mirrors!thanks for your comments, Phil



    Phil;

    Congrats on your barn find. Please, post some pictures, and keep us posted on your progress.

    Gene.
  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    Man oh man is LeBaron "buried" on the internet, at least regards to Hudson. Several Google searches turned up literally nothing except this little teaser:



    On the Coachbuilt web site, under LeBaron I found this interesting teaser: Early jobs built at the Meldrum Ave. plant included sedan limousines and town car bodies for Stutz as well as small series for Chrysler, Packard and Hudson.



    Another bit states:

    LeBaron-Detroit, as the Meldrum Ave plant was called, supplied untrimmed "bodies-in-white" to Stutz, Marmon and Pierce-Arrow as well as the many series customs turned out for Chrysler, Hudson, Packard and Lincoln.

    I think this was refering to the work they did in the early 30's. So there was some activity. Since, by 1928, LeBaron was part of Briggs it is possible that the Briggs bodied cars built for Hudson were in fact LeBaron designs.

    Guess we keep digging.



    Hudsonly,

    Alex Burr

    HudsonTech

    Memphis, TN
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    You have a very good point Geoff. All the bolts are easy to get at too. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure! I'd Like to point out though, that the gentleman who sold me the car didn't own it or drive it, it was his father who owned and drove the car till it was parked in 57 and by association with other cars sold from his collection it was found that before he parked any car he would completly drain the water and fill the crankcase with new oil.Smart man as when I drained the oil, yup brand new.I filtered it and put it back in. Even so it's better to know than find out later So thanks Geoff I'll take your advise and drop it. I'm no vintage engine specialist and thats why I'm here asking

    questions, so again Thanks much !! Phil
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Thanks for the info Alex. I too found very little on LeBaron coachbuilders, that's why I had the pro look at my car. It was the only way I could make a decision on it's authenticity. Thanks for your input Alex...Phil
  • Geoff
    Geoff Senior Contributor
    Phil, draining the oil only drains the sump, not the troughs, hence my advice. The last car I rebuilt, the engine had not been running for over 40 years, although the owner had regularly turned it over on the crank, and it was free. However, when I pulled the pan, No. 5 trough was empty, due to an acid hole. The splash feed system circulates the oil from the sump, to the oil trays, and if any of these don't hold oil, you are in trouble. Good luck,

    Geoff.
  • ArkieJazz
    ArkieJazz Member
    phil walsh wrote:
    This one probably got sent by more then likely the original owner to the LeBaron Coachworks co. to be customized. Finding the history of this car wil be a daunting task. I have investigated the possibility of this car being an authentic Lebaron. It turns out that the badges are real LeBaron. The Fenders have 5 chrome strips approx. 12 in. long where the side mount spares would be. this car is featured in Don Butlers History of Hudson on page 114 and in his description of the car you get the feeling that he is acknowledging the fact that it is a lebaron bodied car. Yes a one off. The information I've accumulated weighs more towards the the fact that the car is a LeBaron bodied car and I'm accepting this with the burden of proof being on someone else to refute the evidence. I only wish that I could find those vent windows the car has in the picture,and those sideview mirrors!thanks for your comments, Phil



    Phil, isn't it also possible that someone just took a LeBaron body tag off a Chrysler product back in the day and simply attached it to the Hudson because it looked good? Those chrome strips on the fenders migh also be later additions. As far as I know, LeBaron did the design work for Hudson on the '28 roadsters, but Bidddle and Smart did the actual build work.:)
  • oldhudsons
    oldhudsons Senior Contributor
    I'd just like to see photos of it, how does one do that?
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Well now Arkie, I thought of that and it's one possible truth and I have no proof otherwise so I'm on an ongoing pursuit to find out. So, I need to find some proof either way, but for the time being it makes me feel all toasty and warm inside to think I have a one off car. Not a terrible thing is it?As long as I face reality if it should come. Phil.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Dear Oldhudsons, I posted some pics. I'l l have some more shortly. If you go to microsoft office, select tools, then photo manager if you have it. In p/m select the (picture) heading at the top and at the bottom of the drop down you'll see compress pictures. select this and on the right hand side of the screen you can select, web or e-mail. E-mail makes them the smallest you'l have to experiment. Make sure on the left side of the screen where it shows the amount of pictures you've compressed, to right click and select save all or they will turn back to large pictures. Now when you post a new thread, at the bottom of the window(scroll down), there you'll see manage attachments. Click on this. You'll see the size you can make the pics. Browse for your pics you've downsized, select upload go back for more if you like.then post. Hope this helps, Phil
This discussion has been closed.

Categories

In this Discussion