Since 2012 I have been revisiting your video of this very beautiful Hudson. Your really quite descriptive narrative, enhances the video (favorite part is that stunning interior). Obviously the restoration was long, stressful and a thrashing to the pockets. But quite honestly, I think the tenacious bull dogged determination of you as an Englishman is inspirational. As a maori guy from New Zealand I solute you mate, well done!
A wonderful restoration on this car. As a little kid in the 1950's I well remember the day my father brought home the first car he ever owned. It was a 1951 Hudson Commodore Six with a dark green metallic paint job. He had bought it in early 1953 when the car was a year and a half old. To me, age 5 at the time, it looked like the most exotic thing I had ever seen and seemed gigantic. The interior of these old Hudsons were quite spacious and comfortable and they had a unique smell due to part of the upholstery being made of a substance called "mohair." I was fascinated with everything about the car and I well remember little details like the starter button that you pushed after inserting the ignition key. Even today these old Hudson cars are, to me anyway, the most iconic cars in the world.
My dad had a 1950 Commodore 6 and bought it in 1952. Kept until 1960..bought a 1958 Dodge Sierra wagon and gave the Hudson to my oldest brother who had just turned 18. My brother kept it about 6 months and then it the head gasket went so it was towed off to the local wrecking yard ..about 2 months later it was back on the road. A guy who lived two streets over from us owned a bunch of them and bought this one for his son..who just happened to be dating one of the girls who lived upstairs from us. Imagine my surprise when that car came up to the front of our house. I''ve always had a special affection for those.. There was another guy in our neighborhood who owned a ''50 Commodore and it was painted gold.. and our neigh across the street had a '54 in two-tone blue. aw man..
The Hudson Hornet has a unique character that sets it apart from all other cars from that era, it has handsome clean lines that look good today, a big comfortable interior, and a big inline 6 cylinder engine. I like your improvements that you have made.
Beautifully done! Yes the fan has no shroud. I had a '51 Hornet in about the same color.. the color of buttered toast as my son once said.. I had to sell it. I now have a '55 Packard Clipper and it is slowly coming back together...no shroud on that fan blade either. Cheers!
I really enjoy watching your videos Hudsoninbury... you actually go to the trouble of showing off everything... the car, and all the interior works... it's almost hypnotic... thankyou for posting
I’ve owned quite a different lot of vehicles and recently bought a Hudson and I must say it’s a class of its own. The handling is leaps ahead of cars from that era. I do feel that these cars will be appreciated more and more, even if most popular classics are always the cars that were new when 40+ men were kids (so nowadays ‘80’s cars are getting popular). Nevertheless a lot of kids grew up with the movie cars and Doc Hudson made quite the impression on a lot of kids. I’m in love with the styling of my ‘49 Buick but a Hudson is a car that can be driven in today’s (European) traffic and the Buick really struggles with corners, speed and speed bumps. Hudsons excel with their lower center of gravity and stiffer unibodies. Their handling is actually better than some sixties cars and almost all fifties cars. Drive it, love it, show it and cherish it. 😊
What a beautiful restoration!! And what an even more beautiful tour of the car you gave! VERY much appreciated, thanks so much for sharing it with all of us in RU-vid land.
Wonderful and well worth the restoration cost, imho. You've done a fabulous job. Re the fan shroud...most cars in the fifties and early sixties just didn't have shrouds at all. Mechanics just learned to keep their hands clear and stickers warned of the danger (especially GM cars).
MY dad owned several Hornets. After they went out of business, he bought a Cadillac DeVille and always complained about it. He used to take his sheep to market in the back seat of the Hudson! I used to watch the Hornets win the stock car races on dirt tracks.
Excellent restoration. The paint scheme and color look very appropriate. The CHMSL is an excellent addition, when I first saw it I thought it might have been a Hudson option. 👍
Hi - thanks for your comment - actually a similair thing happened to me on my 1955 Plymouth -- I stopped suddenly and then there was no battery power. The battery had moved and the metal bar had touched both terminals and shorted it. - jump started car and drove it a bit and all was ok :)
Fantastic job...Good idea to paint the blades...I would have tried yellow or orange though. Co-worker of mine, his grandfather worked at Hudson and was there when it closed.
I actually prefer a restoration to an original. I appreciate the effort placed into the rebuild. If this car is still the UK & ever passes me in the street I'll tell you it was worth the effort, although I'm sure it didn't always feel like it during the process. The car does indeed look better in the final two tone paint scheme with two tone interior.
hudsoninbury Just for your information, the 1954 Hudsons and earlier did not have fan shrouds. I am a Hudson fan from way back in the mid 50s. Your vehicle is a nice example of the '51 Hornet.
Very nice job! By restoring this car, you've done a great service. My father owned 2 1949 Hudsons. I remember them as a small child. However, they weren't the Hornet model. But I do remember my father talking about the Hornet as a very fast car. Your car looks very similar to my father's.
Nice job! The centre-mount brake-light looks like it belongs there and the interior is tastefully done. The paint and bright-work just ooze quality! This bucket is gonna cause a few raised eyebrows...;)
You have to be in love with a car to restore one, as most aren't "worth" half the restoration cost. Body-wise, these were well ahead of their time with the lower center of gravity, and the Twin H Power is the ultimate! They even beat out the Big Three is stock car racing as I'm sure you've learned due to the lower body "Step Down" design. BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Shrouds werent seen on US cars until about 1970ish unless it had air conditioning or trailer towing package.
Personally, I believe you've done a superb job. I have a Pacemaker which has had the door panels re -done in steel and lead & entire body repainted - with a lot more to do
..... no progress for 3 years!. Your presentation gives me encouragement to one day continue. Also a complete Super Six with great body condition awaits my attention!. I have been tempted to sell to a good home, but not yet made a move - just love these cars to an obscession!.
The aluminum head for these cars I believe, raised the comp: ratio to over 7.0:1. There was also a special camshaft you could order back then. That put the horsepower up somewhere to 170, maybe a bit more. There's not many of these Hudson's left now, but it's surprising how many I've found on 'You Tube'. I must ask, do you live in England? I was born in Tottenham. Back in those days my brother was running a V8 Pilot. Over the years I've owned many great American cars, many of which I've enjoyed
The Custom Coupe is a genuinely lovely car- you are lucky --- the story of that car of mine in the video had a strange outcome as shortly after the video was posted, a man contacted me who had a possible terminal illness and wanted to buy it off me - he offered a good price and his predicament was sad, so I sold it on to him and to this day think I did the right thing but regret that I never really had the chance to enjoy all the work . -- thanks for the comment
I love Hudson Hornets and this one is a beauty! I think Hornet's just might have the largest interior of any sedan ever. There's more room that a mini van. The trunk is also humongous . . . a family of four could live in one. -hehe! Well done restoration. I don't believe you actually mentioned how much you paid to restore it, so its hard to say if it was worth it, but even if it wasn't, you at least have the consolation of driving that honey around. 😉
Definitely a labor of love. Once you make the dive, you have to carry through. Even though you may want to chuck it, I mean 12 years, that's a big commitment. Really like the hood stripe, seen those on Packard's, Buick's from the late 40's. Not crazy for that stop light. If you did a diecast of this car, you'd have a lot of potentially missing extremities.
Excellent restoration, beautiful car. Interesting to hear that Rolls used 50's-era Hydramatics. While a beefy transmission, the shifting had a very mechanical quality to it with some strange choices in ratio spacing. (All of which I love btw. Just not the smoothest automatic box.)
stewieiommi shut it off in drive, then move shifter to reverse, the parking brake was extra insurence .... too complicated for some of today's drivers, eh? I had a 1955 GMC station wagon with a Pontiac 288 CI V8 engine, yep, not the smoothest of transmissions!
Merle Morrison Part of the charm of an older car, the tactile/visceral/mechanical nature. New cars are neutered by comparison. If you haven't already, take a look at Jay Leno's Garage/his Nash Airflyte. It's equipped with a Hydra-Matic, and despite the car's anemic 6 cyl, you can see him being pushed back in the seat on the upshifts. I hope you've been enjoying your car. Cheers!
+Merle Morrison Parking brake is certainly more than extra insurance, it prevents so much wear to your transmission, even if you do have park gear you should always apply the parking brake!
yes - I do live in England and this particular car has been in the UK for over 20 years at least as I originally purchased it in 2000 approx. - it had was black when i first had it but had been dark blue many years before that
one of the things we did with ours was to replace just the battery from the 6 volt to a 9 volt. ...well lived in the north of the country, and the battery was week in the north for starting ..... with the 9 volt it was still capable of running on the 6 volt system.
fantastic comment - thank you - I've owned thirteen old American 6 volt cars and never heard of nine volt battery system .. thanks .. I spent over $35,000 plus the cost of the original car to get it finished ... and was almost immediately offered $30,000 for it ... so perhaps sadly ... I sold it .. but it was a great car .. and I was proud of what I did to bring it back from a basically scrap vehicle. ..interesting to hear about the down force fact ... thanks
Yes the down force was why the NASCAR of the 50's .....was primarily won by Hudson! ..... I also believe if you go to a battery store you can still by the nine volt batteries. You might talk with a mechanic who worked on them also, because he may have some tricks to get more power out you your six volt generator. I know I had no problem charging nine volts from a six volt charger. (they put out more than 6 volts to charge your battery, I just can't remember if we did anything to get more volts of out put) .... glad to be of help my friend.
OOPs! ...... I was mistaken it was an eight volt battery, not a 9...... this one! www.interstatebatteries.com/products/1-8v-vhd?productLine=agriculture&subcategoryKey=&ignorecategoryid=true
well that is very interesting ... I have never heard of an eight volt battery but I can see the logic of a battery which basically is a more powerful 6 volt but not perhaps too much to damage the system .. I will look into this .... thanks
Yes we had them for our tractor that we used all year round in Upper Michigan. I just got confused between the volts, until I looked it up and found it was 8 and not 9! .....as is the same with a 12 volt the generator generates more than the battery is rated for....a 12 volt is somewhere around 14 to 14.5 so the 6 volt would generating about 8.5 to 9.5 volts.
that rear stop light is similar to those used by t he Chrysler Corp. cars if the late 1940s but set a bit lower. this is a great car and I think you will be the envy of people at shows you bring it to...thanks for sharing :)
FYI, the reverse was the park gear when you shut the motor off in Reverse and holding the foot brake. My Father was a Hudson Dealer. The stripe down the middle of the hood is ugly!
If it's just a little knock when you 1st start it. Main bearings, if it runs good other then that. Just drop the pan and install new main bearings. Easy fix "as long" as the rest is good.
+Indiana Jones good question but there is another question - Why? -- what do you gain in an old classic which you are trying to keep looking and driving as original as possible -- you have to change wiper motor, starter motor heater blower and make allowances for all lights including dash lights, loom etc etc ... the car then starts a bit better but sounds 'newer' and the lights are better but most people do not drive around in old cars too much at night ... you can work things like sat nav off the 12 volt but there are other ways to do this from 6 volt system = okay - so my view is - there has to be a strong argument to do it and accept the car has lost part of its charm forever - thanks for the comment
Well I completely understand if that is related to preserving the originality of the car.Since you mentioned you changed the wiper motor and windshield washer motor etc I was hoping the 12 volts will adapt to newer electronics better or rather calibrate well.Having said that I love your car it really is amazing to see the efforts you put in.I have a Ford gpw 1945 I converted it into 12 volts.Best wishes.
+Indiana Jones Yes - in many respects converting the electrics and even some of the mechanics to modern technology makes good sense - when the car was still a basket case, I had considered doing just that, but also felt it for me was a waste of money so I decided to go the originality route as far as possible - I do however see the reasoning and the attraction in a beautiful old car that is reliable and drives compatible with modern traffic - the biggest problem is that we all make decisions that feel correct at the time but offer a weaker argument in the future :) -now ! - a 1945 Ford - that is cool !
+hudsoninbury My current special interest car is a 1939 Oldsmobile Series 60 that was converted to 12v before I bought the car. Now it has an alternator and an indicator/turn signal system to assist with driving to survive in modern traffic conditions. All the other pre-1950 cars I have owned over the years have had their original 6v systems. This seemed perfectly adequate and changing to 12v was not even a question that anybody really thought about. I note with interest the Jay Leno actually changed one of his cars from 12v back to 6v for originality. I think your Hudson is a marvelous car, a beautiful car resulting from a thoughtful and a respectful restoration. You will be enjoying this car well past the time when the expense of the restoration is but a distant memory.
I think it depends on what you intend to do with the car once you've restored it and how you want to go about restoring the car. Do you want it to be a daily driver you can drive once a week?
@bobandrayfan1 Thank you for the info... at least now I feel a little better as I could not see how a shroud was fitted with the position the top hose was in relation to the fan blades. I will just have to keep an eye on the wite blade tips :) - good luck with your Clipper !
That '51 looks like my great aunt's, except it had curly maple where something cheaper would've done. Even the last time I took a ride in this car when I was 8 or 9, I thought this is closer to a spaceship. No matter , what it means to me, the restoration would would cost too much, more that a nightmare. If you have a totally restored car like I describe, contact me thru here.
OH! .... and the other thing the Hudson was known for is the ground effects! ....the floor is lower than on any other American car of it's time! so it created lower pressure under the car and higher pressure over the car pushing the car down so the car gripped the road better the faster you drove ! ..... and that was why it was loved by RACE CAR DRIVER'S!
Being as I post date the Hudson, just where was this car in the automotive hierarchy? I mean, was it competing against Chevrolet or Ford, or was it going head to head with Mercury, Olds, DeSoto and the like, or was it higher? Just curious to know.
Based on original MSRP, Hudson Hornet fell neatly between Oldsmobile 88 and Oldsmobile 98. However, it was trying to compete at that level with only a straight 6 when both Oldsmobiles had "Rocket" V8 engines. The Hudson Hornet made a strong showing in stock car racing, but this was not enough to overcome its inherent marketplace disadvantage, lacking a V8. From 1955 onward, when even Chevrolet and Ford had V8s, independents were doomed without one. Hudson Hornet 4 dr sedan MSRP $2,568 Oldsmobile 88 4 dr sedan MSRP $2,328 Oldsmobile 98 4 dr sedan MSRP $2,765
The brakes are not that bad on this vehicle and also others with the same technology. Though I have sold this Hudson now and have sold most of my older American vehicles, I still run a 1947 Dodge and once you accept the limitations of the braking system, they are fine. --- the biggest issue is really high speed rapid slow downs that give the most problems.
I really enjoy watching your videos Hudsonbury... you actually go to the trouble of showing off everything... the car, and all the interior works... it's almost hypnotic... thankyou for posting
