ClassicCar

I was over on Facebook this morning and saw a msg that wished Kelly Hinegardner Happy Birthday and how much he was missed - Kelly left us back in, what, August 2005.

Kelly was an original - there's never been anybody quite like him in the HET club and there never will be anybody like him. He could easily qualify for "Most Unforgettable Characters" stories that used to appear in Readers Digest.

Stories about Kelly are legion - he was an expert at changing the timing gears in 1937 Terraplanes, for example. I'd like to bore y'all to death with a few stories of my own.

I knew Kelly going back into the 1970's - as I recall I was looking for a lifter for an old Rambler and Kelly found out about it. Didn't have the lifter, but did drop me a letter telling me where I could find one. When I founded the New England Chapter Kelly was forming the North Texas Chapter at about the same time. Our chapters became sisters with North Texas people belonging to New England and vice versa.

In the 1980's there was some dissension and political upheaval in the club and I dropped out of both club and the New England Chapter. One day about a year later this fellow on a motorcycle showed up in my driveway - I met Kelly for the first time and by the time he left he'd convinced me I should rejoin club and chapter - he said I had something to contribute. Must have known something I didn't.

One of the fondest memories I have of Kelly is the first National meet I attended at York, PA, in 1988. Was going to the banquet, but ended up at an all you could eat place nearby with Kelly, Lou Backhaus, Charley Woodruff and Bill Hafker. Came about 9 or so they wanted to close the place for the night - by then a fellow from New York and his wife had joined out table. Our waitress had also joined out happy bunch of HudNuts and was learning all about Hudsons from Kelly.

Yeah, I miss Kelly very much. My wife was not wild about roving HET'ers staying overnight at our house - but Kelly was the one exception, which says a lot. He was always welcome at our house.

I know you're up there at that big Hudson meet in the sky still raising cain and having a blast. And Kelly, I still got that Rambler hub cap you sent me back in the 1970's!!!!

Hudsonly,
Alex B