1930 Hudson hot rod build

[hudsonhotrod]

Here are some of the pics I took during the Hudson build. Please bear with me as I have to do a bit of hunting around on the puter to find some of the pics. I bought the Hudson from a friend of mine who was diagnosed with brain stem cancer and promised to follow through with his plans and build a 50's style hot rod out of it. I originally got this coupe body, a roadster body, a frame and a bunch of parts. I am not a roadster guy so I chose to use the roadster as trading stock to help build the coupe. This is what I started with.

I originally started with a bare frame. This is after I have already installed the MII front suspension and the 87 Camaro diff with '72 Toyota Corona leaf springs.The MII front end came with the car and was designed for a Model A so it took a little trimming and adjusting to fit it in the Hudson frame. The original plan was to run fenders and the MII came with the car so I used what I had.

 

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After the body was blasted and primed it was time to fit the two together. The Hudson frame is built more like a truck frame than a car and is really sturdy! I have pics of the car from a couple of owners ago and it sat outside for countless years but the body was in super shape!

 

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The body was already chopped when I got it and at first I thought it might have been chopped a little too much. It is a little tricky to see some of the street lights sometimes especially with the visor on it but I think it looks pretty cool.
Here are a couple of the front suspension install. In the end I used a manual rack and it handles like a dream at any speed!

 

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With the body bolted down it was time to put the floors in and start making some of the parts that I didn't have. used an ammo box to hold the battery.

And then started to make a trunk lid. I just bought some 3/4 square tubing and used a couple of blocks of wood and a rubber hammer and with a little patience I had the start of a lid.

 

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Oh, the fuel tank is a poly tank for a 35-36 Ford coupe. Time for the motor and tranny install. The motor is just a small block we had layin around the shop and the tranny is a 2004r out of an 82 Olds 98. Before I tucked that in there I had to fix over 100 holes in the firewall!

 

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A couple more after the motor was set in place. I don't like the look of stock SBC motor mounts on open cars so I made up one of those mounts that bolt to the front of the block.

I used a chunk of 2" solid brass shaft for a spreader out front. It used to be a propeller shaft from an old fishing boat. It looked a little plain so I drilled and beveled a few holes in it.

 

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I have always liked the look of cycle fenders and wanted to try and build a set that i thought would blend in instead of the " stick em on to make it legal look" The fenders started life out as a spare tire cover from a 57 T-bird. Split em, widened em 2"s and made some brackets to bolt on to the MII spindles.

I was pretty happy with the way they turned out.

 

[hudsonhotrod]

After the fenders where done I made a set of headlight stands/ licensed plate holder and installed the rad(1970 Dodge pickup) and the grill shell. It is the original Hudson grill shell and the louvers still open and close like new!

The headlights are out of the box H4 halogens with amber LED signal lights from Speedway motors (around $125 a piece).

The electric fan was layin around the shop so I trimmed it up, made a few brakets and bloted into a 60's Pontiac shroud.

 

[hudsonhotrod]

Steering column is from a 77 Chev van and used Borgeson u-joints and 3/4 double d shaft for the steering.

I was pretty happy with the way it was coming together.

Had to paint on a set of white walls on the mockup tires just to see what it would look like.

 

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Finally it was time to pull it outside to and have a look at it from a distance. Some times you just need to step back and have a look after you have spent so much time on it up close.

 

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With drive train, steering and brakes taken care of it was on the making a couple of things for the body. Back to the trunk lid that I started a while back. I wasn't planning on going for the aircraft effect but one of my buddies works at an airplane repair shop and said he had rolls and rolls of aircraft aluminum that he has taken off of planes and replaced with new stuff so he dropped off some skins as well as is riveter and a couple of thousand aircraft rivets in different hardnesses. Another friend photo shopped a little something up for me just for fun.

More pics of the finished trunk in a bit.

 

[hudsonhotrod]

Next was the roof insert. I wanted to do something a little different than a vinyl top so I started playing around with some more of that 3/4 square tubing and this is what we started with.

A few more sheets of free aircraft aluminum and uh........not quite happy with that!. After sitting in the car I figured I was going to need a little bit more visibility especially with the street lights so I saw an idea in a magazine a while back and thought that it would work really good with the airplane skins. I don't like copying another guys idea but I really needed to do something so I thought put in a sun roof from another car or copy a really cool idea. They say imitation is the best form of flattery right? So replica b-17 cockpit windows it is.

 

[hudsonhotrod]

Here's couple of vid's of the first time moving under it's own power and a quick little spin down the road. Think I was exicited?!! One guess!!! I think my wife was more excited than I was! Now that it's on the road she doesn't want to take any thing else to town, she loves riding in that coupe! Am I pretty luck or what?![cl

 

[hudsonhotrod]

Well after I finally scraped the smile off my face and calmed down enough to hold a spay gun it was time to give the little hot rod some color.
Went to the John Deere dealer and bought a gallon of Blitz black. Waited for a nice afternoon, pulled the coupe outside, thinned out the paint and a couple of hours later it was black. Used about a half a gallon(four coats) so the grand total on the paint was, including the thinner about $50.00.

 

[hudsonhotrod]

Next was put the roof insert back in and finish that trunk lid. I used As1 safety glass in the roof, the same as the windshield and glued em in. I took a full day of drilling and riveting to put all those air craft rivets in. It was a lot of work but was not going to go the pop rivet route just to save time. The airplane skins were painted different colors so I went and got some industrial strength paint remover, gooped it on and pulled out the pressure washer. I was happy with the way they looked so on they went, and then the riveting began............

Oh' that spot on the visor? I was waiting for the paint to dry a little before taking off the masking tape and paper an eagle flew over and christened the Hudson!!! It was just dry enough to wipe off but wet enough to leave his mark...

 

[hudsonhotrod]

On to that trunk lid finally. Yup, you guessed it, more drilling and riveting!
It must take YEARS to build an airplane!!! Trunk lid handle.....garage door opener handle with the key..$17.00

 

[hudsonhotrod]

Off to the alignment shop, glass shop, safety inspection and then let the fun begin! Did a little touring around town to get some of the bugs out of it and the more I drove the more I wanted to drive it so the next day off to pick up my wifey from the college in Prince George (60 miles from home) on her last day of nursing school! I could hardly sleep that night and you guessed it the forecast was for rain! Well with the fresh paint and hardly any miles on the car I thought maybe I better just take the pickup....YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!! My buddy Ron hopped in his 54 Olds, we gassed up the cars and off we went! Yup it was cold (no heater yet) rainy and wet and off we went, smiling like we had just won the lottery!!!

Ya! it was friggin freezing and wet that day but I'd sooner be drivin my hot rod in the rain than on a warm beach in Mexico! The best part of all was my wife was as happy as I was!!! I am one of the luckiest guys out there!

 

[hudsonhotrod]

A few weeks later it was time for a little holiday so guess what we took. I had a couple of weeks of driving time on the coupe by then so off we went to southern BC. A couple of our friends were going too but would be a few days behind us, I thought well......we can wait for them in case we have trouble or........we drive that sucker! I didn't build it to sit there and look perdy!!!
Loaded up the car with some of our luggage and some basic tools and off we went!
This is what I did for the next week solid, DROVE THAT SUCKER!!! Put on about 3000kms that week and only needed a little carb and trans linkage adjustment.

The wifes aunt and uncle live in Penticton BC and he is a helicopter pilot so we went to see him at his work, oh our Friends had caught up with us by then with the trusty 54 Olds 88.

Spent some time on the beach breathing that lovely forest fire fresh air!

Had to go watch the sunset on the lake and a whole bunch of really nice cars guys had to come check out the new kid on the block.

 

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From there we went to the Vernon car show and parked between a bunch of nice shiny cars, met some fellow car club member as well as a bunch of really nice folks. Wasn't there and hour when some guys came by and took a bunch of pics of the Hudson for a magazine.

Fellow car club member and friend Kelly laid some stripes on the Hudson as well as Ron's 88.

 

[hudsonhotrod]

Later on that evening we were invited to another fellow car club members house and had a bbq and a good old fashioned bs session.

Well that's how a hot rodder with a very small budget and a burning desire to build and drive a hand built hot rod spent his summer. I was having so much fun driving my hot rod that I guess I might have waited a little to long to park it this fall!

Don't worry, she's tucked away safe and sound for the winter with last years summer cruiser.

COME OOOOOON SPRING!!!!!!!!