Something Different: 1952 Hudson Hornet

[Louisville86]

A guy at work brought his old car in yesterday. A 1952 Hudson Hornet, aka "Doc Hudson" from "Cars." Unbelievable car!

He got it in Salt Lake City, so it's relatively rust-free (besides the cool-looking surface rust). Check out this emblem. Amazing.

Under the hood is a big (334 CID) straight six, mated to a GM-sourced automatic transmission. It seemed to run really well; he has the "Twin H-Power" dual carb setup that he plans to install over the winter. Check out the Jack Daniels bottle used as overflow reservoir.

Just a funky old car, but it kind of made my day so I'm sharing her with you.

 

[Mark_88]

Cool car...I'd be interested seeing it sanded and primed if he ever gets around to it...but it's only 59 years old...or so...no rush...lol

 

[Mac]

That's a great find! They ruled NASCAR in the early '50's. He ought to paint it like this one

http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Hudson.htm

Dave of hte Nord

 

[Louisville86]

Yeah, the Hornet was very successful in the racing world because it had a low center of gravity. From Wikipedia:

The first-generation Hudson Hornets featured a functional "step-down" design with dropped floorpan and a chassis with a lower center of gravity than contemporary vehicles that helped the car handle well – a bonus for racing. The Hornet's lower and sleeker look was accented by streamlined styling. The car's "unique, low slung appearance and silky handling earned Hudson an image that – for many buyers – eclipsed luxury marques like Cadillac's."

This soon caught on and cars became lower in general.

I kind of like the "lived-in" look, or even primer gray.

 

[jhammel85]

That is a sweet car! I love those.

 

[det107]

so it's relatively rust-free (besides the cool-looking surface rust)

It's called "Patina"-

 

[shane96ranger]

Nice car! I sure wish newer cars had that much room under the hood.

 

[Downey]

to bad its not a 2 door

 

[Funnyman141]

theres a guy around here that has a couple of those beauties sitting back in the woods, along with a couple 50-70's fords, dodges, chevys, and pontiacs i think. he won't sell any of them, he says he is keeping them for parts for his hotrod (never seen him driving this "hotrod" though )

 

[ZMan]

Cool car...I'd be interested seeing it sanded and primed if he ever gets around to it...but it's only 59 years old...or so...no rush...lol

no way, he should leave it just like it is. You can only have that cool patina look once.

 

[Mark_88]

That's a great find! They ruled NASCAR in the early '50's. He ought to paint it like this one

http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Hudson.htm

Dave of hte Nord

That was a really interesting article...just before my time, but I used to hear about those older cars quite a bit...and my uncle actually collected some for a bit...

no way, he should leave it just like it is. You can only have that cool patina look once.

True...wonder how long it would take it to go through...and what gauge metal they used back then...my 62 Ford Galaxy had more metal in one quarter panel than most new cars have in total...or so I was told...lol

 

[ZMan]

That was a really interesting article...just before my time, but I used to hear about those older cars quite a bit...and my uncle actually collected some for a bit...



True...wonder how long it would take it to go through...and what gauge metal they used back then...my 62 Ford Galaxy had more metal in one quarter panel than most new cars have in total...or so I was told...lol

19 gauge is what the older cars are made of, most cars these days are around 22 gauge. It would take quite a while for that to rust all the way though, the worst spots for rust are places where water can sit, like the door bottoms, wheel lips, rocker panels, etc.

 

[adsm08]

We had an Escape some in for some sort of noise from the door around turns.

Turned out they had the rockers and door edges rhino-lined. The jokers that did it didn't bother to not block off the door's drain holes. It was full of water.

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

Amazing car!! i would just make it run like a champ in the mechanical aspects and leave the looks as it is.

 

[03ranger30]

Good looking car, really does remind me of the movie "Cars"