ClassicCar

Don't really have any horror stories (other than bees), but are your critters the ones that build small, open cell nests, just attached by a very thin "stalk"? Look like a long, skinny yellowjacket, but more colorful? They're not very aggresive and are very sluggish in the cold, early mornings we are having right now. Tomorrow, at 6:30 AM, go out and open the trunk and reconnoiter the situation. Maybe take some wasp spray with you, and do the job on the spot, or figure out what preparation you have to make for the next morning to finish them off.

Sarah Young wrote:

With getting ready to put new headliner and windlace into my Jet, I went out to my parts car to take some pics and inspect how the windlace was installed before jumping into the task. I've taken a raincheck on that. With the back up light "delete molding" off, the hole for the wires makes a perfect entrance for unwanted guests. Some hybrid wasps, the skinny kind with long legs have made the trunk their home. So, I'll be doing some exterminating before I start disturbing anything!



So, I thought it might be fun to hear some "horror stories" from others who've found something they didn't want to come across!

Wasps are just trying to find the RIGHT MODEL Hudson. LOL.



Hudsons seem to attract all sorts of critters as they lay awaiting the HETers to find them again. During my Hudson Hunting forages I have encountered, Rats, Raccoons, a Badger and the occassional snake. All of my encounters have been accompanied by ... OH MY GOSH or !#(%&# depending on the aggressiveness or amount of surprise I get from the experience. The worst of all was a Momma Raccoon who thought I was gonna harm her babies. She tried very hard to run up my pants leg. Her perssistance was rewarded with a swack from my hickory walking stick. After opening the doors and spraying the car with some WD40, the raccoon lead her brood out the door and into the nearby brush. Even the Badger was more cooperative.. he just backed out through a missing truck lid and scampered off. All of these expereinces have led me to carry a stout stick and a can of insect spray when investigating old Hudsons.

About 12 years ago, I had my '59 Chevy Apache cab acid dipped. I realized after the fact that the defroster ducts were pot metal thus dissolved by the acid. I located an unmolested truck at a salvage yard in Virginia while on vacation. I came back the next day with tools to remove the needed parts. As I was lying under the dash removing the duct screws, I turned to my right and low and behold, a black hornet or wasp nest the size of my head was under the dash about an inch from my face. As soon as I tried to escape I was attaked by one with the same wingspan as a small aircraft and it stung me right in the lower lip. Needless to say, I couldn't eat, drink or talk properly for several hours. I returned to the yard one final time armed with brake cleaner which was used as a "forced evacuation" of said nest. The salvage yard owner gave me the ducts for free because of my determination.

Two words from me: "fire ants".

Something I didn't want to run across...oh boy!

When I was a young apprentice in the bodyshop - one of the 1st completes I got to do was a 65 Mustang.

With the normal rust in the quarters I needed to cut out some spot and weld in patch panels.

Now - remember, this was in cough, cough... circa 1980-81.

No plasma cutters, no die grinders with cut-off discs...it was stone age ~ all we had was the Hot Wrench (Oxy/Act) with a cutting tip.

My boss took the car in and forgot to get the keys - but he wanted me to get started on it anyway.

I said - uh, no because there might be something that was down inside that could catch fire - that I'd just work on something else until the owner brought the keys down.

Long story short - when I got the keys and opened the trunk there was a full gallon can of gas - glad I followed my instincts on that one

Other things I didn't want to find over the years...

Syringes
Crack Pipes
Crack
Cocaine
Heroin
Weed
Condoms
Dead domestic animals

On the upside...nothing weird found in either of my Hudsons - 'cept some spent bullet casings in the 49 :eek:

Back when I was running stock cars, a friend put me on to an abandoned 76 Monte Carlo. The hot chassis to have at the time. I contacted the property owner that the car was "resting" on. He gave me permission to take it . Upon getting it home, there was a bad smell comming from the trunk area. Like something DEAD! I called a friend on the local police department and he was with me when we forced the trunk open. Someone had forgotten a bag of groceries that had, what was left of, a FIVE pound pkg. of hambuger . UGH!

hdsn49 wrote:

I learned many years ago to take a couple of cans of hornet/wasp spray, after being attacked by a swarm of hornets once when looking at an old Hudson in someones backyard.

Words of wisdom.....

I've had my share of run in of wasps and hornets and yellow jackets. over the years the scarriest being a quarter panel i grabbed and it sounded like i started a lawnmower - of course i was in a ladderless barn loft with nowhere to go. Turns out the inside of the panel was full of wasp nests and the fabric beneath it was full of yellow jackets.

But the reason I decided to post was the suprise I got this afternoon moving some parts next to my hornet. I was struggling to move a roll of plastic mesh and thought it was caught on a couple starters, well it was and in a mouse trap. The mouse trap was not the spring loaded type but a 4 foot black snake that had gotten itself tangled in the mesh and died.

AND when my Dad worked for the local Hudson dealer, a customer ask that her car be cleaned up. Dad was on that job, or any job assigned; driving to Cincinnati OH for more new cars, working on cars the mechanics didnt want(power windows), collecting bad checks and cars for nonpayment. Back to the cleanup, Dad found a Winchester single action 20gauge shotgun under the back seat. The customer didnt want the gun, told him to keep it. Not valuable, but nice clean varmit gun. Bob

Oh, can't forget the '87 Shelby Charger I hauled home last year! After unloading it off the trailer, I heard a noise coming from under the hood, and it wasn't a car sound. A little black kitten had hid up between the steering rack and the engine block! We kept him, but he recently ran off.

hudsonguy wrote:

When my '49 was still in my uncle's possession, he kept it up in Northern Wisconsin in the garage at the cottage. He'd been working on the brakes and inadvertently left the little round master cylinder cover off one winter. The red squirrels were seemingly attracted to the Hudson, as they proceeded to put at least 15 holes in the (new) headliner. Years later when I replaced the headliner, I discovered their 'food pantry'. Inside the A-pillars were acorns on one side, mushrooms on the other. The C-pillars contained pine cones on one side, and some other type of food in the other side. Oh, and behind the kick panels was filled with stuff.



I must have pulled twenty pounds of squirrel food out of that car.

Hudsons used as nut storage - another possible source of where the term "Hudnuts" came from, lol.

I think the deed is done, as I haven't seen any activity. On the other hand, I haven't ventured to pop the trunk open for a body count. I'll wait until the cold of winter to explore that.

I just remembered this thread.....On September 11-14th this year, I took my 1955 Flxible bus motorhome conversion to the 2nd Annual Texas Bus Roundup at Eisenhower State Park by Lake Texoma. The first night I parked and hooked up to the shore power and water near the woods. Since I was in an unfamiliar area and alone in the bus, I decided to leave my hearing aids on after going to bed, so that I could hear if anything unusual was going on around or in the bus. About an hour after turning the lights out, I heard a loud BONK! followed by a clattering from up front, near the galley sink. I didnt get out of bed right away........a few minutes later, the fan I had on the dinnette table blowing cool air back into the rear bed area quit blowing air. I figured maybe the shore power circuit breaker tripped or something, so got up and went to investigate. Well, the 110V light over the galley counter turned on fine, so shore power was fine....then I saw the MESS. The plastic zip-loc bag of sugar that fellow Bus Conversion fan Sue Davidson gave me ( I had forgotten sugar for my coffee) was gone, but the sugar was all over the counter, over the dinnette seat cushions all the way up front to drivers seat, and down on the floor where the parking brake handle (Johnson Bar) came up through an opening. The bag of food I left on the dinette seat was sawed open like, right down to where the electrical cord of the fan lay across it. I picked up the cord and as it flexed I could see strands of copper. The d@%$ed varmit chewed thru the cord , thus the fan quit. Then I saw that one of my bananas was half eaten, and from the shape and size of the incisor teeth marks, I realized I had a good sized rat get into my bus.

In the the morning, I told my fellow campers what had happened, showing them the half eaten banana. Randy Davidson had a good laugh seeing that. I also showed them the "crime scene" in the bus. So they went and got me some mouse traps (4 of them), and some fabric softener sheets ( supposedly the rodents don't like the smell of the fabric softener sheets). So that night, I set the traps up in a cruciform pattern on the counter, so they would snap in a domino effect style. I turned the lights off and went outside to chat with the other bus nuts. About an hour later, a fellow nudged me and pointed to a large rat scurying across the parking lot. I ran back to the Flx with a flashlight to check the traps. Sure enough, all four were flipped over on the counter, no rat, but hairs in each of them.....Guess he got snapped good, cause I never heard or saw any sign of him again. I went home the next morning.

After getting home, Paul Lawry, the organiser of the Texas Bus Roundup told us that the "critter" paid Randy and Sue Davidson a visit in their very nice , high dollar Prevost bus conversion Sunday night. I emailed Randy asking him about that. His reply :



{Hey Kenneth!



Indeed we did entertain your furry friend for a night. The next night he was captured and disposed of out-of-doors.



We purchased a trap the night we discovered our banana eaten just like yours. The trap was a 'glue trap' intended to stick the critter to the pan of goo once he walks across. It was a 10x4" tray with a layer of soft sticky material on the bottom. I was awaked at 3:30am by some noises that sounded like small feet with nails scampering about the motor coach. I used a flashlight and walked about but could find nothing. At 4:30am a regular thrashing was heard. Again I took the flashlight out and looked about. The rat was 'stuck' to the pan and his tail was whacking the mini-blinds each time he gained the strength to attempt another escape from the tray. His nose was at one end of the tray, he slightly curled along the edge with is back feet at the other end of the tray. His tail hung off the end so his body was at least 9" I would say!! His tail was another 6" or more. After a few more struggles his tail got stuck as well. That's when I realized that Sue should NEVER see this. I took the rat and tray outside by holding the light in his eyes (he would not move). I laid the combination 4 or 5 feet outside the door. I failed to take a picture! I know, dah!



The next morning rat-n-tray were gone! I never knew what happened. However, our tag from the post was missing so I suspect the Park Ranger that took the tag also picked up the rat for us.}



I was laughing pretty hard after reading Randy's story. I hope I never have a rat that big come into my bus again! Ken U-Tx

Several years ago, I had a parts car in the back of the yard next to a 30' Maple tree. All spring and summer I took parts off and of course had to mow the grass around it. One day as I was finishing up my mowing, my son (BJ2) said "Man you're braver then I am" I asked what He meant, and He said " I'd be afraid to mow under that Hornet nest" I said "What Hornet nest?" He said "The one in the tree right over the parts car." I looked and sure enough, ten feet above the car was a nest almost 30 inches around. The hornets never bothered me so I waited until after the first frost then collected the nest. I sprayed it with Polyurethane and even found a dead hornet, which I glued to the outside next to the hole. It freaked people out when they saw it on the package shelf at some of the shows I have attended. Unfortunately, with age it is beginning to deteriorate and I haven't been able to fix it. It may be in Pigeon Forge if it isn't too fragile. Guess it's time to start the hunt for another nest.......
Bob (shameless)

The worst is deer mice feces and urine which could contain the Hantavirus. It is more commom in the southwest.