What's the fastest you've ever gone in a Hudson?
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;)Ok, Gents. Here's one that ought to get some blood flowing.
How fast have you EVER gone in a Hudson.
I have a rather blurry picture somewhere of my speedometer somewhere of my '36 'plane showing 75 MPH, but I can't seem to find it. (Really I do)
Back in my younger days I drove a 18 wheeler a bit and there is a place I know on the other side of the state, toward the bottom of a major pass that you can see for miles and there are no more curves in the road. I had learned from my truck driving days this was a GREAT place for kicking it into neutral and letting your ride gain speed on the downhill before the road levels out and begins to go uphill.
Last summer while traveling to a car show at my old stomping grounds in the '36 I tried to pull it off again.
I discovered that after 30 years I had lost a lot of my nerve and with Amy riding shotgun, it didn't feel as good as I remembered it.
I'm all hunched over the wheel, the fenders are a'flappin' and my hands are a'shakin', I knew better than get into a situation where I had to hit the brakes, so I'm paying very close attention to sounds and vibrations ready for any problem. (Now is when you think of every disasterous thing that can happen--a front tire separating from the wheel, a wheel bearing blowing, etc)
Amy is not cooperating at all with this experiment, and is quite explicit in vocalizing her objection over the now deafening noise of the car shaking and rattling. This seems like warped speed now, Captain, and "shes comming apart at the seams. I donno how much longer I can keep her together!":D
I allowed my eyes to glance down once and see the speedo reading 75 plus, and we're still gaining speed. (Gawd, I'm glad I have new tires)
I feel we probably gained enough speed after that to hit 80 but I never saw it. Somewhere in here I began to think about the fact that I have a loving wife, two grown kids, a little bit left of a 401k, and oh--that jug of quarters under the basement stairs that no one knows about.
Hitting the level, I finally got her shut down and pulled over at the next chance I could.
Amy was giving me the business about how old the car was and how this was not a particularly prudent thing to do, but for some reason, I couldn't get this huge SMILE off my face;).
So how fast have YOU gone?
How fast have you EVER gone in a Hudson.
I have a rather blurry picture somewhere of my speedometer somewhere of my '36 'plane showing 75 MPH, but I can't seem to find it. (Really I do)
Back in my younger days I drove a 18 wheeler a bit and there is a place I know on the other side of the state, toward the bottom of a major pass that you can see for miles and there are no more curves in the road. I had learned from my truck driving days this was a GREAT place for kicking it into neutral and letting your ride gain speed on the downhill before the road levels out and begins to go uphill.
Last summer while traveling to a car show at my old stomping grounds in the '36 I tried to pull it off again.
I discovered that after 30 years I had lost a lot of my nerve and with Amy riding shotgun, it didn't feel as good as I remembered it.
I'm all hunched over the wheel, the fenders are a'flappin' and my hands are a'shakin', I knew better than get into a situation where I had to hit the brakes, so I'm paying very close attention to sounds and vibrations ready for any problem. (Now is when you think of every disasterous thing that can happen--a front tire separating from the wheel, a wheel bearing blowing, etc)
Amy is not cooperating at all with this experiment, and is quite explicit in vocalizing her objection over the now deafening noise of the car shaking and rattling. This seems like warped speed now, Captain, and "shes comming apart at the seams. I donno how much longer I can keep her together!":D
I allowed my eyes to glance down once and see the speedo reading 75 plus, and we're still gaining speed. (Gawd, I'm glad I have new tires)
I feel we probably gained enough speed after that to hit 80 but I never saw it. Somewhere in here I began to think about the fact that I have a loving wife, two grown kids, a little bit left of a 401k, and oh--that jug of quarters under the basement stairs that no one knows about.
Hitting the level, I finally got her shut down and pulled over at the next chance I could.
Amy was giving me the business about how old the car was and how this was not a particularly prudent thing to do, but for some reason, I couldn't get this huge SMILE off my face;).
So how fast have YOU gone?
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Comments
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since i was planning on removing my engine i thought i would see just how fast my stock '35 t-plane would go. open stretch of 4 lane road, no traffic, at a time of day where there would be less chance of seeing any white tail deer and i was off! 75 mph on a speedometer that seems pretty accurate. tp p.s. no incriminating photos exist0
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Back in the summer of 1953, on US 24, the only four lane divided highway around, my '38 H8 sedan showed about 115 on the speedometer. Tachometer reading and calculations for gear ratio and tire size showed it was an actual 104 (with the 4.11 rear end ... turning 5200 rpm !) This was the car that was running 84 and 17 seconds in the quarter at Chicago's Half Day drag strip. Not too shabby for an 'ol Hud. And yes, it was a pretty exciting ride. I only held it long enough to see whether the new Chrysler Saratoga that I'd run away from during the "acceleration phase" was going to catch up at the top end. He did, but barely.0
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I've had my Super Wasp w/tired 2 barrel 308 as fast as the speedo would register.
Who knows how accurate that is?
All I would voutch for was that experiance changed my views about the Hudson flathead - alot.
The '49 has been in the 90-ish range alot, according to a chart I made using the tire size, rpm, and rear gearing. Still not all that accurate, so I can't say with confidence.
This summer I attended a show that had a carload of fellas from Massachusetts, who came to Lebanon, TN in a yellow '49 Super Six sedan. They had tracked their trip using a GPS outfit. Averaged 89.9mph over their trip with a top sustained speed of 115mph (somewhere through the Shenendoah Valley). It was Twin-H 308 powered with a dual lever OD transmission, running a 3.07 hydramatic rear end. They hadn't looked at the GPS since starting out and were kinda amazed at what they read when they arrived. I saw the GPS unit, and they weren't kidding. They vowed to take it a bit slower on the way home.
Who says you have to hang in the slow lane with a Hudson?
Mark0 -
Back in the early 70's I had a 1953 Hornet sedan my Dad found - it was that car that got me into the Hudson club.
I was headed into MA, on I-95 headed for a meet with it - the cop said he clocked me at 82, but given the age of the car he was going to just give me a warning.
I wonder what I did with that warning ticket.
Hudsonly,
Alex Burr
Memphis, TN0 -
I am shocked and dismayed at the number of lawbreakers and sinister types that lurk here on this forum.... scary, very scary.0
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No worries here, only 50 for me, screams too much. Need overdrive!:(0
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Being from Canada we do everything in km and I had my 51 up to 100 on the speedo which is km right??? I was kind of worried as 100 km/h seemed very fast. I mean when you have a 51 in Canada that 100 on the speedo means km doesn't it......wait a minute was that was I was in the passing lane for 2 hrs.....
But oh boy the sound of the engine at that speed is glorious.....0 -
Had the '51 up near 100 mph just last autumn. Actually was quite smooth and predictable with the radial tires.0
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Bonneville Salt Flats in 1998 I drove my 1952 Hudson Hornet at 122.683 on a timed run averaged from two runs.0
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126 mph. But that's a story for a different day . . .0
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denverslim wrote:
My 53 Hornet Sedan with a calibrated speedometer, 3.07 rear and new radials 215x75R15 did 104MPH on a trip to MA. My 53 Hornet coupe, again with the speedometer calibrated traveled 109MPH on a stretch of 10 through Texas with 3.07 rear and 215x75R15 radials. Don't believe your speedo for after 50 the speed shown is faster than you are going. If you don't believe this take your car to a speedometer shop and have yours done. You will get a certificate, showing your speedo reading and what the actual speed is. They installed a tiny transmission between my trans and cable to correct my coupe. At 70 I was reading 79. Walt Mordenti;)Ok, Gents. Here's one that ought to get some blood flowing.
How fast have you EVER gone in a Hudson.
I have a rather blurry picture somewhere of my speedometer somewhere of my '36 'plane showing 75 MPH, but I can't seem to find it. (Really I do)
Back in my younger days I drove a 18 wheeler a bit and there is a place I know on the other side of the state, toward the bottom of a major pass that you can see for miles and there are no more curves in the road. I had learned from my truck driving days this was a GREAT place for kicking it into neutral and letting your ride gain speed on the downhill before the road levels out and begins to go uphill.
Last summer while traveling to a car show at my old stomping grounds in the '36 I tried to pull it off again.
I discovered that after 30 years I had lost a lot of my nerve and with Amy riding shotgun, it didn't feel as good as I remembered it.
I'm all hunched over the wheel, the fenders are a'flappin' and my hands are a'shakin', I knew better than get into a situation where I had to hit the brakes, so I'm paying very close attention to sounds and vibrations ready for any problem. (Now is when you think of every disasterous thing that can happen--a front tire separating from the wheel, a wheel bearing blowing, etc)
Amy is not cooperating at all with this experiment, and is quite explicit in vocalizing her objection over the now deafening noise of the car shaking and rattling. This seems like warped speed now, Captain, and "shes comming apart at the seams. I donno how much longer I can keep her together!":D
I allowed my eyes to glance down once and see the speedo reading 75 plus, and we're still gaining speed. (Gawd, I'm glad I have new tires)
I feel we probably gained enough speed after that to hit 80 but I never saw it. Somewhere in here I began to think about the fact that I have a loving wife, two grown kids, a little bit left of a 401k, and oh--that jug of quarters under the basement stairs that no one knows about.
Hitting the level, I finally got her shut down and pulled over at the next chance I could.
Amy was giving me the business about how old the car was and how this was not a particularly prudent thing to do, but for some reason, I couldn't get this huge SMILE off my face;).
So how fast have YOU gone?0 -
walt's garage-53 wrote:
Forgot to mention, being a stock car driver, 155 MPH is slow for me. My wife still keeps saying, Walt, you are not on the race track now. Walt.My 53 Hornet Sedan with a calibrated speedometer, 3.07 rear and new radials 215x75R15 did 104MPH on a trip to MA. My 53 Hornet coupe, again with the speedometer calibrated traveled 109MPH on a stretch of 10 through Texas with 3.07 rear and 215x75R15 radials. Don't believe your speedo for after 50 the speed shown is faster than you are going. If you don't believe this take your car to a speedometer shop and have yours done. You will get a certificate, showing your speedo reading and what the actual speed is. They installed a tiny transmission between my trans and cable to correct my coupe. At 70 I was reading 79. Walt Mordenti0 -
Right after my brother got nitrous on his 36' he took me for a ride. On a back road full of pot holes and uneven pavement he got her up to about about 120mph. ...I won't do that again, unless he gets seat belts in it.;)0
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Back when I was a teenager, I had the 52 Hornet with Hydo and twin H , reading 105 Mph.
I was flying down the road in the 29 Victoria and the Super Six was singing loudly at 65 mph.
Now I that I read what Park says a Hudson 8 will do, I will take his word on that!
Sheldon0 -
Had my 54 Hornet Special sedan up to 105 indicated. I don't know what the actual speed was but it was fast enough for me.....I may have the speedometer calibrated some day but for now, it's fine with me the way it is.
Bob0 -
When I was about 15, my father, who bought and sold cheap used cars as a sideline, had a 1950 Pacemaker. This was probably 1962.
My friends and I drove it about a mile (no license) to a big cornfield that was rectangular, with sandy dirt roads along the perimeter.
This does not exactly qualify for top speed, but what we tried to do was flip the car on its side.
We would go as fast as possible down the long straightaway (probably 1/3 mile), and, keeping it floored, turn the wheel at the the end. The darn stepdown just went around the corner as if on rails! We did that all afternoon, same results.0 -
This past August on I-55 between Pontiac and Bloomington, Illinois I put my '50 Hudson Pacemaker Deluxe! sedan's gas peddle to the floor on a long, level, straight stretch of "double nickles". The best I could do with the 232 engine P'maker with overdrive was 85 mph. That's the fastest I ever went in a Hudson.0
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I've had the speedo over 100mph in my 53 Hornet sedan, Twin-H, 262 head, Dual Range Hydro, Clifford 6 into 2 header, and bias-ply WWW tires. My grandfather claims 112mph in the same car minus the header. Will have to check it with the GPS this spring.0
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GREAT place for kicking it into neutral and letting your ride gain speed on the downhill before the road levels out and begins to go uphill.
If you count sitting behind the wheel while rolling it off the trailer - I'm there with ya! No brakes, no power steering - quite the rush
Other than that - I have yet to ride in a Hudson, let alone drive one :eek:
....I hate you all
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Browniepetersen wrote:Bonneville Salt Flats in 1998 I drove my 1952 Hudson Hornet at 122.683 on a timed run averaged from two runs.
Browniepetersen, that is amazing, was that with overdrive? Do you know what rpm that was? Wish I was there, I'd love to have been standing at the finish line when you went by !!! Richie.0 -
I had driven the 49 SS I used to have up to indicated 85 before I put overdrive in it. It was wound up pretty good and I didn't stay there very long. My 50 Pacemaker drives very good at 70 to 75 and that is the speed I drive it at most of the time and that is just keeping up with the traffic. I have never tried to run it any faster, but it has lots of pedal left at 75 so it might get up there pretty good. Richie.0
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I got to second base in about 10 minutes at the Baseline Drive In back in about 1968, that was pretty fast in those days.
Harry0 -
That's great, Harry!0
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I had my 48 commodore, 262 , three on the tree, up to 60 , no overdrive and to me the old six was getting along pretty good . When I get it all done I will try her out and see what she's got.0
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:cool:Back in the fall of '62, I bought a '49 Hudson Commodore Sedan from a gentleman in Seattle, he said " if it don't do at least a hundred" bring it back and I will give your sixty dollars back. That night out on the new unfinished section of the future I5 between Tacoma and Seattle, my buddie and I took the Hudson for the run. I remember burying the speedometor for a few seconds, when I looked up again I saw construction equipment in the headlights and I was getting there to fast. Hit the brakes and slid quire a ways. Got turned around and went home I do not think large tractors would have been a fair matcth even for a Hudson. That Hudson had the speedometor buried many times, Tacoma, Washinton to Reno, Nevada in just over ten hours. Almost an 800 mile trip one way. Now the gray on my head has me back to my senses, about 60-65. The engines get a bit noisey without overdrive. Enjoy the stories. Arnie in Nevada0
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Fastest i've going in a Hudson I owned was 85 in my '50 Pacemaker Brougham w/ OD (according to the speedo) Sounds like an airplane engine at those rpms. However I was soundly beaten in acceleration from a stop sign by another Chapter member's '33 Essex Terraplane 8 Coupe. He went 0-55 mph in an estimated 3 seconds and lost his hat out the window. This was a car nearly 20 years older than my stepdown mind you. Not sure about his car's top speed but there's not much body on those old coupes. Mostly chassis and they can't weigh a lot. Also there's fewer things faster than a Hudson caravan on the interstate in my expereince.
Chapter member Al James had a '47 C6 coupe powered by a Hornet 308 with a hydramatic. I was a passenger and he was zipping around interstate traffic at a steady 80mph with zero strain on the engine. He was getting irritated at gawkers slowing him down.haha I believe the car now belongs to a gentleman in Georgia who HAD TO have it.0 -
In 1951 My Dad bought a new Hudson Hornet. We took a trip to visit his friend in Fresno, Ca. on old HIGHWAY 99. Dad got out and hurried to get his friend to show him the speedometer. I remember the needle stuck at 120 and Mom mad for him driving so fast. My brother wqs 6 and I was 8. Power poles seemed close together at that speed. I remember tires were not very good back then. It seemed every vacation trip required at least one tire replacement because the tread seperated or a buble in sidewall. In hindsight, tire problem was probably excessive speed. If a car passed Dad the pedle hit the metal. There never was a car could stay ahead of him. That may have influenced my early driving habit. I would see how fast my cars could go. The fastest I have driven was in my 1969 AMX, THE GRANDSON OF THE HORNET, AT 158 mph. At that moment I thought of what could go wrong on old tires so I backed off without knowing it's full potential. Sared, you bet ya. So now I like to get the best gas mileage I can from my cars. On the highway the AMX gets 19 mpg. Bettie's 1994 Olds Achieva gets 37-38 mpg. On the 1997 Laughlin Economy Run her car got 54 mpg. Drive safe. See you at Laughlin. Lee0
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Ken U-Tx wrote:I am not one to brag too much. If you want to know how fast I have driven my Hornets, ask Ken Cates about the time I passed him in my '52 Hornet Coupe on the way to Big Country 1985, he was driving his '52 Pacemaker sedan in the far right lane, I was in the far left. He did say something about how the Clifford headers and dual exhaust made a distinctive sound, but I wouldn't know, as I am nearly deaf in both ears.
You can also ask Steve Traudt how fast I was going in my '53 Hornet Coupe on the way to Big Country in Elk City, think it was 2002 or 2003, on I-40 west of OKC. Steve was in the right front seat. There was a poor schmuck in a Dodge Ram Dually hauling a horse trailer about a mile ahead of us. Steve yells, "Ken slow down there's a State Trooper up there!" sure enough, as I'm hitting the brakes hard, the OK State Trooper does a U-turn and pulls the poor schmuck in the Dodge Dually over, as I go by at a much more sedate 70 mph. Steve turns to me and says: "That guy took your ticket for you!"
I am no longer doing this $#*^. I'm getting near 50 years old now. Kenneth
Hi Ken. That happened to me. Two SUV's past me on I 5 like I was standing still near Lebeck,Ca. They saw the Highway Patrol car and slowed and I eventually passed them going 70 mph. Here comes the Highway Patrol and I'm positive the SUV's will get pulled over. Not so, I got their ticket for 100 mph. Maybe a good rule of thumb would be NEVER PASS ANYONE! Life is not alway fair. I should have gotten my 47 hudson pu running. There's no way it could pass for doing 100 mph. On the other hand I might have gotten a ticket for going to slow. Ha Ha. Lee0 -
RL Chilton wrote:126 mph. But that's a story for a different day . . .
OK Russ, today is a different day, tell us the story!0 -
? The speedo stops at 100 mph on a '41;)0
This discussion has been closed.
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