Well, it's about time...Hudson progress.

So, I was supposed to have taken all last week and all this week off. Because of some hellacious wind, rain, and now snow in the area, my claim load has been horrendous. (I'm a field claim adjuster for a large insurance company).

I was asked to work through Wed. of last week, and then my boss called today and asked me to work Wed. through Fri. of this week. So much for 2 weeks of vacation!

Anyhow, I took the opportunity of the time I did have off to get some work done on my Hudson. Those of you who have known me for a while know that I have had this fucking car for 7 years and have drug it from place to place always hoping I'd have the time, tools, and money to get something done on it. That time has finally arrived.

I am doing a full chassis swap on the car. The old chassis on the Hudson was cut up, parts were welded in crooked, some pars were 50 years old and junk, etc. It needed a "makeover" (ha ha).

I picked out an 84 Merc. Grand Marquis as the chassis donor. This was a low mile car, no rust, no issues...I cut it up. Basically, I am using the frame, suspension, and floor pan of the Mercury and putting the Hudson body over top.

The first pic is what the whole mess looked like at 10 am this morning, the last pic is what it looked like an hour ago. It is sitting about 4" off the ground. I thought I would be able to make things work without too much fit and finish issues, although it looks like I'll have to stretch the chassis 7" or so. That process will have to wait until next month, as I lunched my sawzall today and won't have the $$ till the 15th to buy a new one...ha ha!

I feel good!!!

Pics to follow!

 

This project has been a long time coming. I decided that if I was ever going to get anything done on the car, I needed to have a place to work on it. I built a 4 car garage in my yard this spring. Finally, I am starting to make progress.

This car has seen me graduate college, 2 cross country moves, 2 house purchases, a marriage, the birth of my daughter, a divorce, and now it is finally time to work on the damn thing...

 

Oh, and a quick teaser of the next projects....

 

Cool! you got any pics of the inside??

 

Not at the moment, but I can certainly take a few...

 

Awesome!! I would like to see how close/far things line up from the floors to the rockers.

 

When I head back out there tomorrow, I'll take some pics (there's about 18" of snow on the ground I don't feel like wading through again).

The Hudson has sort of a perimeter frame, where the rockers are about 6" tall and circle the perimeter of the body in sort of a horseshoe shape. It actually goes on the outside of the tire, although it gets much thinner around the tires and across the back.

I cut the donor car's rockers and pans about 1" on the outside of the frame rails. This puts the frame of the donor car about 2" inside (on each side) of the Hudson's perimeter frame/rockers.

If I line up the floor pan of the donor chassis to the top of the perimeter frame (the bottom of the door opening), the car sits about 6" from the ground on cut coils in the front (2 loops = 4") and the rear(2 loops = 6"). I'm going to go ahead and channel the body at least an inch, maybe an inch and a half lower than the floor pans. Any more lowering necessary can be achieved by cutting a bit more coil.

I'll get things situated perfectly and really decide how low I want the car after I stretch the chassis....

 

Here's a quick photochop of the car. I am planning on a 2" chop once the car is a roller again...

 

Looks like that will be a nice setup. Are you gonna keep the Ford driveline? I just got back from the Turkey Rod Run with my '49 coupe. Not many Hudsons this year. Nice to see somebody doing one.

 

nice to see that you are making progress on it again, its looking good. that body is in real nice shape!

im getting ready to do a complete overhaul on mine, hoping to finally get some paint on it and some side glass cut. just need to scrape some more $$ together.

 

sad day for me, I sold mine .......end of an era. looking good, that thing is gonna drive like a dream

 

Borrowed a Sawzall...tomorrow the frame gets stretched. Stay tuned...

 

Sort of. I'll be running the donor car's rear end. I've got a built 460 and C6 that are going in it.

 

Fucking beautiful....I love it. I have always wanted a Hudson...ever since I was a kid. Everyone I know wanted a Merc, but I've always wanted a Hudson. Dammit, now I'm jealous.

 

Sold aready? That was fast....I'm bummed I never even got to see it in person. I was on "hurricane duty" in Florida the year you brought it to our Poker Run...

 

I had a long line of assholes waiting for me to get bored with it, like I do every other car, I even just sold my 32 five window last night, now I'm down to only six projects....sad.....very sad

 

Oh jeez...Sold the 32 huh? Hope you got good $ for it.

 

going too a friend, so I don't mind

 

nice car,hey is that a beezer in the pic with the sedan?

 

Thanks. That particular bike is a 70 Triumph trophy (500). My BSA isn't pictured, but it is a runner...

 

i've just built harleys but if i could find a cheap brit bike i'd build one.What year is the truimph,and stock frame with aftermarket hardtail or?

 

Ok, did some more work on it today., I lengthended the chassis.

 

And a couple of the interior / frame rail section showing the gap I'll need to close. Things match up pretty freakin good...

 

looks great brother!!! glad to see you finally making some headway on that thing. when you get going, you don't fuck around.

 

Man, it's been a LONG time coming. I had to build a garage to get this far...ha ha!

I did a quick photochop of the car and also rounded off the skirt openings as I've been toying with the idea of not running skirts. What do you think?

 

i actually really like the way that looks!

i have been contemplating making some scooped bubble skirts for mine

 

Good to see some progress my brother. That´s a huge step, go man go! --mika