StillOutThere

Two bumpers on the car now. That's a plus.

'55 Willys Bermuda comes to mine immediately.

Correct that these long wheelbase '55 and '56 Imperial Model 70 cars were built in house at Chrysler. You may recall that Ike and Mamie Eisenhower were very fond of Chrysler products. They had Chrysler send a '55 Imperial limo to Derham Coachworks in Rosemont, PA and made into a presidential parade car. NOT referring to any of the three 1952/1956 parade phaetons. The completed '55 car had a large sunroof for standing during parades and the C-pillar was "hardtopped" with butted glass panels in door and quarter. And of course interior upgrades. Multiple press photos of this car found online. This car is in the car barn in Pennsylvania. Then Mamie wanted a personalized '55 Imperial Derham for, you know, White House shopping trips and the like. It was used for less important state functions as well. Derham created this car as well and Mamie's particular specification was an elongated quarter window so she could wave to the public as well as be seen. A third Derham was also done for the Eisenhower's this year and was, outward visibly, a standard limo. Some interior upgrades were built in. When the Eisenhowers left the White House it was in this car headed for Kansas. This car is not known to exist. In '56 Derham did two more Imperial limousines. Both were identical with the Derham signature blind quarter window padded tops. And had coachcloth passenger compartment with leather chauffeur seating. Both were privately owned. The CCCA (Classic Car Club of America) photo archives have photos of the above cars in the Photo Archive section under Derham.

By equipment, this is a Model 72, "Super Terraplane". That model far less often purchased than the standard Model 71. The equipment upgrade on the "Super" was the dual winged front fender ornaments and two taillights. 72 may have included the very desirable banjo steering wheel but I just can't recall for sure. No electric hand shifter on this. No clock. No radio. On the FB page, owner states "no hubcaps". No one has asked if he has the second bumper (not shown).

1952 Chryslers, including this car are "Korean War chrome" cars and when they have not been replated somewhere in their history, this is a truly major problem because the few NOS spares were used up long ago. Quite obvious in the pictures that many pieces of chrom have been painted over with perhaps Rust0Leum silver. Of particular note, the front and rear fender side trim on these cars are NOT stainless steel. These are pot metal castings. Add the painted grille, headlight doors, taillamp doors, grille, bumper guards and other incidentals and at today's chrome prices you could be quickly looking at $10,000 just for plating those mentioned. And the car needs a LOT more than that to make it a nice presentable hobby car. Hard pass on this one for me.

Any of you who have had postwar Hudson know that the company used sheet metal trim retainers of various lengths that were then Phillips screwed to the body panels. Clearly visible on this car is the fact that these retainers are rusting and the rust is spreading away from the stainless trim under the factory paint (lacquer). The Hudson hobby has made some replacement retainers but my concern is what you will have happen ongoing in the future with this rust and anyone who has worked on this trim with these retainers will agree that they are a major pain as the rust has expanded within the stainless trim. Miles of Hudson stainless trim has been damaged trying to replace retainers. And Hudson stainless trim is not easy to find today. Having previously owned two '54 Hornet Specials, I do like the car however.

From '60-64, "short ram" intake manifolds were the hottest of the "ram induction" offerings. In the years 1963-64 those manifolds were painted blue like those displayed on this engine. Some of you may know that there are "long rams" and also "short rams". Externally, both long and short are 30" runners overall. Internally defines the type. Long rams have an internal divider from carburetor to cylinder head -- all 30 inches. Short rams are internally divided for only the last 15 inches. The driving change is that the torque curve moves from the low-end of the long ram manifold to the high end with the short ram. Basically this means that the short ram intakes deliver top end high speed performance. A car for Bonneville or Daytona Beach Speed Week. This car is short ram and you can see the transition in the rams in the photos. A potential buyer should inquire about the casting numbers on the intake manifold runners. They are cast on the underside of the '60-62 short rams and would likely yield a "can't find" report. The '63-64 numbers are readily available on the top of the runners. There is a concern for this 440 engine with any '60-64 ram intake. That is whether the port shape of the intake manifolds matches the port shape of the cylinder heads. It is not mentioned what cylinder heads this car has. Port shape of the heads changed further by the time the 440 engine came around in 1966 and later. I would really hope there is paperwork with the car for the Mr. Norm shop work. So has this car, after Mr. Norm's upgrades been used for some sort of "top speed event"? What is the rear axle ration and is it Chrysler's Sure Grip differential (limited slip)? Now, with all that torque, how is the TorqueFlite transmission doing? Is the trans original to the car or was it from the 440 donor car? Trunk floors and seam sealer was all painted white at the factory so someone is fighting rust in the trunk of this "no rust" car. Reference for the above is my past ownership of one of the nine 300F Gran Turismo coupes which was 400 HP, short ram, 413" with 440 heads (mismatch of ports!) and the Pont-a-Mousson 4-speed manual transmission.

California's DMV has had ongoing licensing law changes forever. I haven't lived there for 25 years now, but I can tell you from personal experience that it was even possible to take a swap meet purchased pair of black CA "super hobby desirable" plates and put them on to a car from out of state and get it registered on those plates. California plates of any color series on any hobby car make it more valuable because of the ill-founded belief it near-guarantees the car is "CA rust free". Why did I do such a thing. Not to fool anyone. But because the people at the CA DMV were the most ridiculously inept people working with (back then) three HUGE bolumes of vehicle law, which none of them really knew or understood. So, depending on their DEMANDS when walking up to the counter, I did the least painful, barely legal thing I could do to get that car registered without trailering in to Highway Patrol inspection and going through the DMV lines more times on more days. They created their mess! In my opinion, old Calif plates on a collector car are almost IRREVELANT to condition or value. Heck, its a very desirable old wagon, by the way!

The "Dodge Brothers" still appeared on the cars as late as 1938. My first car was a 1938 Dodge Brothers sedan. But the two brothers named John and Horace both died from the flu. By 1925, without them, the company was floundering under the management of the brother's two widows and it was recommended they sell out. If I remember correctly, "Dodge Brothers" stayed on the cars into 1938 as a tribute to their mechanical and engineering skills. You will recall that Henry Ford said they were the best machinists in Detroit and indeed, pre 1914, Henry's car used drivetrains constructed by the brothers Dodge.

Chrysler used the French Pont-a-Mousson 4 speed manual in their '64 300F Gran Turismo. And did not have a MoPar 4 speed manual until 1964.

Its one of those nice old dry California cars by all appearances. I do have to question what I'll call "overall maintainence" if he never found the 15-20 minutes to polish the chrome of the vent window frames. Might be the first thing I'd do if it hit the ground at my shop. The car is showing dual exhaust. That was a new option in '54 and not often ordered. Or duals added to a Calif V8 car would be common. A '54 NYer should have an early WCFB four barrel carb but it isn't mentioned. Its a 2 speed Power-Flite car by the shift quadrant. Solid transmissions if serviced on schedule. At least one of the headlamp bulbs is of the factory GE "Bull's-Eye" type (right side) and no detail available to verify the other. These are extremely hard to come by today. If BOTH are still there, it would be a pretty strong indication that the stated mileage is genuine. Bull's-Eye bulbs are the old antiquated engineering of a steel reflector shell with the glass lens sealed to the front. Hobby retail on these is getting almost prohibitive. But they sure speak to being a MoPar ! Would have been all real leather or leather /cloth combination when new. Surely the current replacement trimming is vinyl. I like the car quite a bit. Realistically at fewer dollars.

The red and white interior color scheme included red/white door panels from the factory. These are black and that is not very attractive. Jet Liners were top of the line, thus all the exterior stainless and pot metal add ons. Being top of line, they also came stock with the full disc 1954 Hornet wheelcovers. This car has the cheaper Jet "dog dish" hub caps. My usual comments on any Hudson Jet (having been the Tech Advisor to the HET club for these models decades ago). Suspension parts do NOT interchange with the full size Hudsons and are difficult to find. The Hudson engine's performance is directly tied to the brass oil pump gear, which is camshaft driven, which drives the distributor by a tang. That brass gear inevitably wears very badly under the multiple loads. Pop the distributor cap and check the rotor/shaft for backlash in this gear. Hopefully someone is making this gear currently - I don't know. Brakes are just adequate as is handling. They do get quite good mileage and the horsepower to weight ratio gives sprightly performance.

Chrome is looking pretty thin on those bumpers but I just sent away a '55 DeS Firedome sedan parts car that ran and drove with a Powerflite 2 speed automatic (but zero interior). ANY STICK SHIFT RUNNING HEMI car is a rare rare, almost hen's tooth car. This looks very desirable to me at this price.

Demco32, Thanks, i have found the answers I needed..

As a former Hudson guy, Xander, yours looks A WHOLE LOT better than the car on offer. Just sayin'.

Chrysler and Imperial first got the Hemi head OHV8 in 1951 DeSoto got it in 1952. Dodge got it in 1953. Plymouth did not get the first generation Hemi engine.

Comment on fuel mileage as I owned a '69 Coronet R/T convertible with the 440 (1x4bbl) and torqueflite for a number of years. So mine was slightly shorter in wheelbase only and otherwise very similar. With a good tune and with careful use of the loud pedal, I did achieve 13.5 mpg a number of times. It was just a heckuva lot more fun to push that pedal to the floor and get around 8 mpg.

Hudson stepdowns never offered bright trim on their rain gutters. The suspension photo reveals a missing anti-sway bar assembly which is critically important to have but hopefully was rebushed and replaced. The interior trimming materials are not anywhere near authentic nor is the pattern correct. Always check the free play in the center point steering at frame front center; there should be NO play. 1951 is a single range HydraMatic which is no problem but is the only year Hudson used this GM-purchased part. Hans1965, this is a pretty and desirable car and look forward to hearing what you find if you are able to inspect and test drive.

Surely those are Model A Ford taillight "heads" currently on the car. And just as surely, had I been the restorer finding originals missing, I also would have chosen the Ford units! Cute as can be.

Yes, the '61 Oldsmobile Starfire (which only came convertible that year) did have buckets and a console. So this car could have had the same seats and console very easily.

STILL looking.

Re the Hudson page utility coupe: Try this: https://tinyurl.com/3pwca9zc There was a FAR better 37 T utility coupe for sale for numerous weeks on FB. It was red. Was $12K I believe. Took forever to sell and did when lowered to $10K. The '37 Terraplane "business car" series starts with VIN # 70..... Meaning model 70.

The old addage "Buy the best car you can afford" certainly applies here. PASS this one!

The PLANS were in Mechanics Illustrated. Using existing used car parts, therefore (to my limited knowledge) I believe the car is ENTIRELY steel. My impression would be that several dozens of this plan were started and that a relatively small percentage were ever completed and roadworthy. In one certain and justified sense, this is a "historical" hot ord or custom car build. We can say that Ak Miller's early competition sports car build or an Allard, while both far more refined in engineering, are in overall appearance fairly similar to the untrained eye, don't you think. Very unlikely, but possible that this was professionally shop built. I'd guess it done by an industrious home builder on a budget: exactly the guy MI intended the article for.

And for the headlight police who are forever commenting on the early 1957 Chryslers and DeSotos coming out of the factory with TWO headlamps and changing to FOUR headlamps "after all the states approved the change in federal law", please note that the 1957 Ambassadors STARTED the year with FOUR headlamps and I've never heard a single story of the Feds swooping down on the owners for the equipment! Seller does state "some original paint". Assume this car is original paint from the firewall back which may indicate a past front end accident and that question should be asked and unibody concerns inspected. I do like this design but feel the colors could have been better chosen.