Hudson custom & mild custom

1951 Hudson Pacemaker

1954 Hudson Hornet Special 4 door mild kustom.  I've had it since 1989, and am the third owner.  Pics show the condition, please feel free to ask questions and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

FEATURES:

ENGINE / TRANS:

Bolted in, not some hack job.

1977 350 cid Chevy 350, 202 heads, solid lifter gear driven cam, never rebuilt but still runs great.

Edelbrock 2-4 polished tunnel ram w/2 Holley 600cfm carbs & two parallel fuel pumps, custom throttle linkage

Cal Custom ribbed valve covers

Tight tuck aluminum coated headers

Chrome alternator brackets

Turbo 350 with shifter on the column

Glass pack mufflers with exhaust up and over the rear end and turning out at the rear bumpers

Flamethrower tips (4 sparkplugs w fuel injectors) wired but disabled, needs coils and fuel pump/plumbing

One peice larger diameter drive shaft (was two piece)

Original Hudson radiator


CHASSIS / SUSPENSION

Original unibody step-down car (no frame)

Original independant a-arm stock front suspension with sway bar

Original front drum brakes, rebuilt a few years back

Power brake booster with dual master cylinder and pedal assembly out of a 1980's Firebird, the brake pedal arm could be longer as it is not right next to the gas pedal.

9" Lincoln Versais Ford rear end with disc brakes and air shocks

15" Supreme wheels with 3" whitewalls

BODY:

Original Hudson Hornet Special four door with shaved door handles and some of the stainless trim on roof removed and filled.

I never installed door solonoids, if I can find them I will include them with this auction.  Now, I just leave the window down enough to reach in the car and open the door.

Painted black with flames in 1993, the paint is in good condition with a few small dings and chips that are touched up (the paint job is 20 years old!).

Pinstriping on trunk and  hand painted / pinstriped flying eyeball on hood by PeeWee of Oroville CA.

All side glass has been replaced, the driver and passenger doors are the original blue tint new glass and the rear doors and rear opening wing windows are a limo tint new glass.  The back window and windshield are original.  All window up/down actuators were rebuilt and new felt channel installed.  The front passenger cranking wing window works but the drivers side is disabled, and needs the hinge replaced or spot welded and the crank mechanism re-installed.

Side stainless steel and chrome trim are there and in good shape, but there are a few small dings.

Grill is in very nice shape.  The grill center Hudson emblem lights up (cool original feature).

Front bumper in good condition.  The center bumper peice (not shown) was bent when I first bought the car, so I left it off, but it is included.

The rear bumper is in good condition.

One tail light lens was missing a small piece when I got the car, I repaired it with epoxy.  I have another one it took years to find, and I am including it with this auction.

Original functional ram air hood scoop is in good condition.  I added a trophy top front engine dragster as a hood ornament.

The cowl vent works, and has crazy eyeballs inside that show when opened.

I added "bullet holes" decals on the paint and rear window.

INTERIOR

The dash is original, in original blue metalflake paint.

Original speedometer and odometer are there and work.  I have only put approximately 5000 miles on the car since 1989.

Original chrome on dash is all there.  No original radio installed, if I can find it I will include it.

Aftermarket tachometer with rev-limiter mounted on dash.

Original glove box and Hudson manual are there and in good condition.

Original steering wheel in good shape.

Door panels are black diamond tuck / charcoal carpet.  '50's Dodge door handles and folding window cranks.  Bench seat in front and rear are out of a 1977 Malibu, and the front needs to be redone as it has a few tears and is split.  They are both maroon in color, and I have always covered them with mexican blankets (included).   Aftermarket lap seat belts.

There is no headliner, but I did install insulation.  Rear package shelf has 6 x 9 speakers, diamond tuck (same material as doors) and has a mounted skull in the center that lights up when you step on the brakes.  Also room for two club plaques.  The two shown are not included.

AM/FM cassette stereo with booster and 4 speakers, two on the dash and two on the rear package shelf.

Small 12v fan mounted under dash.

The car was originally 6v +ground.  It has been completely re-wired for 12v - (negative) ground with new style fuses.

The original driveline tunnel was too small for the larger diameter one piece driveshaft, so I replaced it with a wider bolted in aluminum tunnel.

There was some rust on the front floor due to a broken driver's window before my time, so I removed the rusty areas and added aluminum panels over the holes, screwed in place (I didn't weld at the time so I used aluminum sheet metal).

The battery is located in the trunk.

The center of the floor of the trunk and spare tire well was removed and an aluminum tub mounted in their place with a 15 gallon fuel cell.  No gas gauge (sender and gauge needed).

Spare tire is mounted behind rear seat in trunk.



OTHER FEATURES:

I installed a trailer hitch I use for taking my 18' drag boat to local car shows.  With added front disc brakes, I would have travelled farther, but the weight of boat and trailer was a lot for the current braking system.  It stopped, but not that well.  There is a working 4-prong plug that is wired for trailer lights.

I am including the California personalized blue and gold license plates, but I have blurred them as I did not want to publish the plate ID.

There are strobe and neon lights under the car for showing at night.  There are three horns: an air horn, an AH-OH-GA horn and a vintage siren, all work.

Included are the original rear fender skirts, painted black.  I used to run them (one picture of the car driving by shows them), but when I installed the Supremes / wide whites, one tire was a little too close to the skirt, so I left them off.  I figured out the parallel arm on the rear end could use new bushings to center the rear end up perfectly.

The Hudson Motor Car Company was known for producing durable, well engineered but conservatively styled automobiles. That reputation was to be forever changed on December 7th, 1947 when Hudson introduced their new 1948 models in nationwide showings. Banners proclaimed “This Time It’s Hudson”. The cars won instant acclaim from the public. Production had actually begun on October 12th. The tremendous factory conversion effort took only 23 days. Hudson spent $16,000,000 for development and new production equipment. The new car was revolutionary in that virtually no parts interchanged with the 1947 models, except the eight cylinder engine, which was essentially the same. The car had the lowest center of gravity and the lowest roofline of any American car without sacrificing headroom, due to the floorpans being attached to the bottom of the frame members instead of the top as all previous American cars had been. While the 1941 Nash 600 had been the first production unibody car, the new Hudson was significantly more rugged in construction and offered a sleek new design that was way ahead of the competition. The new body design was termed “Monobilt” because the body structure was of welded all steel construction. The cars were available in Super and Commodore trim levels with either a Six or Eight cylinder engine. Hudson did not get around to building Stepdown convertibles until August 1948. There were a few 1948 models. The 1949 models were the same except for the VIN.





I CONDITION

No expense was spared in building this car. It has a Fatman front suspension with Power rack and Pinion steering, Master Power front disc brakes, a Pete and Jakes four link rear suspension with a Ford 9” differential and drum rear brakes. Power comes from a 1970 Chevy 402 Big Block totally rebuilt and mostly stock. The transmission is a TH350. There is Chrome and Billet everywhere under the hood. There is a large crossflow aluminum radiator. We got stuck in a traffic jam going to the NSRA Nationals in 2012. We sat in traffic at 96 degrees for over an hour and it did not overheat even running the AC! It has electric Power windows, Solenoid push button door poppers, a Power decklid actuator, a Power convertible top, electric wipers and a Vintage Air Conditioning and heat system that performs flawlessly. There are a complete set of Dolphin brand gauges. The front seats are from a modern Cadillac and are very comfortable. It has a Kenwood Cassette Stereo with hidden speakers. There is an Optima battery in the trunk. It sits on American racing Smoothies with Coker Classic Radial wide whitewall tires. !

1948 Hudson Commodore 4 door sedan, 472 cubic inch Cadillac V8 engine, 400 Turbo Automatic transmission, Camaro front clip, Ford 9” rear end, 4 wheel power disc brakes, Air Bags, nicely restored interior done in gray cloth, good glass with 40% tint, JVC stereo with 9 speakers and a base amp, Power windows and remote doors. Beautiful blue and black paint and the body is straight and solid.