ClassicCar

As I speak with possible new members I often suggest that they join a local chapter and start asking questions and looking around. The Hudson's are an excellent buy today, and it is harder to find a better price than is in the Hudson monthly publication. My rule of scale is to decide how much work you can do, and how much you want to do. You cannot afford to pay someone today to build a car for you. What that means is that the better the shape, the more the cost, the more the cost the less you have to do to the car. The coupe that you speak of is a nice looking Hudson. To me the best feature of the car is the woodgrained dash. The price you mention is about normal for a car that needs a full rebuild. If you rebuild it to nice driving standards you will have about 15K in the car. You can find an excellent car of the same model in nice driving shape for much less. Then you could do a few minor things and have less invested in the car than you would have in it. Another good reason to Hudson shop with local members is that they can lead you to the good buys and tell you the good and bad about each car. Don't be in a big hurry to grab up a Hudson, there are a lot of them out there, and it is a true fact that if you get one that is rust free you are a long ways ahead of the game. However, if you want a challenge, any car can be restored--most of us have spent our lives buying cars in rough shape and doing a complete rebuild on the car. My car, shown on this page, started as a $500 Junk Yard Dog. Where you are today in the decision making process is a great place to be. Take some time and be sure that you find the exact body style that you want, the better the shape it is in puts you ahead, and I expect that the price will be right.

zacknolden wrote:

Is it true that these cars met with some success in drag racing, where their high power-to-weight ratio worked to their advantage. My father used to tell me this thing, is this fact or fancy?



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Furblog's Autopartswarehouse Blog

Probably more famous for circle track and NASCAR than for drag racing. Their low center of gravity gave great advantage on the circle tracks in the corners, and they dominated stock car racing from '51 to '53, with the advent of the 308 cubic inch "Hornet" engine. This engine had dual carburetors as an option, and also available was a 7X "Severe Usage" engine, which featured many racing modifications. Really, the first "muscle car". I have a Twin H 308 in a '48 coupe, was on a twisty mountain road last fall, and met a Mini-Cooper club rally coming from the opposite direction. I was going as fast up the hill as they were coming down. Got big smiles and "thumbs up" from virtually everybody. Its just amazing how fast you can put these old gals into the corners, with nary a tire squeal.

Mike (WA) wrote: »

Probably more famous for circle track and NASCAR than for drag racing. Their low center of gravity gave great advantage on the circle tracks in the corners, and they dominated stock car racing from '51 to '53, with the advent of the 308 cubic inch "Hornet" engine. This engine had dual carburetors as an option, and also available was a 7X "Severe Usage" engine, which featured many racing modifications. /QUOTE]



And, as Smokey Yunick said, they were "torque monsters." :cool: