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My new toy..not Military but :)


RattlesnakeBob

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Some eagle eyed person on here a little while ago noticed that I had added a 1946 Hudson Commodore 6 Sedan to my 'signature' vehicles and asked for more info so !. :)...

Now..I apologise in advance that she is not an 'ex-military' car but in my defence, Hudson Commodores were used by the US Army as Staff Cars during WW2 and there is one that I have heard about in the UK that has been restored in that guise.

My ol' girl was built and delivered in January 1946 after Hudson had resumed 'public' manufacture in September 1945 A little history....Hudson were a relatively small manufacturer who unfortunately were swallowed up by the bigger companies by 1958. They had a name for building a 'higher market' car than the others such as Buick or Chevrolet or any of their other major competitors and were very well thought of for many years. For a while in the early 1950s their 'Hornet' model also dominated track racing .

My particular car was delivered to a customer in the Mid West where she lived until 1963. Then she was sold to a chap from Florida and moved there to live until the old gentleman had to give up driving due to his ill health and she then came to the UK in 2010.

She's a Commodore 6 Model with a straight 6 cylinder motor of 3300cc running through a fluid clutch into a 3 speed column shift gearbox. Surprisingly , despite her size and weight she will shift when asked to ...2nd or 3rd is more or less the only gears you need with 1st being a bit low for everyday use unless on a steep hill.

When I bought her she was a runner but had suffered somewhat in the recent years from what I would say was simple ignorance and lack of maintenance rather than deliberate butchery. The steering was horrendous and needed immediate treatment but new bearings and track rod ends and tightening the adjustment on the box sorted that .Starting was a nightmare until I fitted a new priming pump and battery and the starter motor and dynamo was also overhauled and the fuel line completely replaced at the same time. Someone before me had started to re-upholster her so all I had left to do was the head lining and dashboard. More or less every light including the dashboard on her refused to work with any regularity so some serious re-wiring was also in order as was a general tightening up of the brakes. ...She now starts and drives beautifully and is a real head turner of a car so much so that we have started to offer her out for Film and TV work and are also getting a lot of bookings for her as a wedding car.

So ! here she is :)...........and I promise !.......... the next vehicle I buy will definitely be ex-army !

 

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Lovely looking bit of kit Miff, did you take it to the Speech house rally ? I can't remember seeing it there :-D all it needs now is a nice coat of olive drab paint and its sorted ( joking ;) )

Be nice to see it out and about at the shows next summer enjoy !!!!

 

RR.

Thanks Jerry! ...No mate :( with my usual ability to mess things up, I was on my way to California to visit Holly on that Sunday! typical ! One of the best rallys within our area and I couldn't do it ! :(

and yep I'm looking forward to the season with her too ! :)

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