ClassicCar

Pretty good, I would say. I'm assuming you have the original '39 Hudson tranny, right? In that case you would simply pull out the top-shift lever and plate and replace it with the column-shift cover plate (it has the column shift levers on top, not on the side as in the 1941 or later transmissions). I have a couple spares if you need one.



Then you have to get the Handi-Shift setup from a derelict Hudson. It just clamps onto the transmission. The hardest part may be the connection at the transmission, for unless you find the Handi-shift off a '39 or '40, the connection may be different. As I said, the '41 and up had the levers (connecting to the Handi-Shift lever) at the SIDE of the transmission; the '39 and '40 had the connection at the TOP.



I have not actually done this myself, but I am quite sure that it's not a major operation. Hudson in fact offered a kit to owners of 1937-39 cars, for converting their cars over from floor shift to a column shift. So it was something that the average layman could probably do.

Well, if your transmission has a floor shift, and your car is a 1939, I'd say there is a fairly good chance that it's original. The only other possibility is that it's



1) from something completely different (in which case the engine, too, is from a Chevy or Ford),



2) it's from an earlier Hudson (unlikely, since few people transplant older mechanical parts to their cars), and



3) that it's one of those 1952-Hudson-and-up Borg-Warner trannies with a Jeep or Studebaker floor shift. (Best way to tell item # 3 is: do you have synchromesh? If the gears clash when shifting, it ain't #3.)