Hardluck1377

Ohhhhhhh boy. I need that! Here's a couple pictures of Miss Molly on top of the Dam at our local lake yesterday. Still waiting for the parts I ordered from Russ to come in. Looks like another 6 weeks for the center point steering parts though. I've had her on the road for a little over 1000 miles in the last two weeks. I've honestly never been happier (or more in love) with a car.

Definitely the rear main and pan gasket from what I can tell.

I'm with you on oil not just disappearing. I'll pull put some spare posterboard I have laying around and put it under the motor. Then maybe I can see where it's leaking. Probably going to be a combination of old gaskets/seals that dried out from it sitting before I got it. That was the story with my Galaxie. From what I can see in the service manual I should be able to tackle this. Just going to have to get the necessary gaskets once I figure out which ones are the culprit. Definitely want to get it under control sooner rather than later. The pictures are a big help. I'm not really familiar with these engines, but they remind me a lot of some of the marine diesels I've worked on in the past. As always Xander, a million thanks! Speaking of someone messing with my car, someone did try to steal my hood ornament while at lunch on the city over the weekend. I guess it was a little more well secured than they assumed.

I've had an eventful few days. Over the weekend I ended up taking a short trip with a lady friend (about 200miles round-trip). I had checked the Wasp's oil that morning, and it was sitting right in the middle of the fill/full line. I'd put about 400 miles on her in the last week and I've been watching the oil closely. Trip went well, no problems. On Monday I checked the oil again and noticed it was down to the fill line. Added two quarts, and figured it was good. Noticed some oil droplets on my white plug wires at the distributor cap. Maybe a small weep around the filler neck. Yesterday I checked the oil again and it was very, very low. Didn't see any more oil around the motor anywhere. I'm guessing(hoping) its just the pan gasket.

I finally got time away from repairing hydrants and water-lines around my Rancho Not-so-Grande. I drove the Hudson to Buds Salvage, about 90 miles from here. Huge selection of classics. I had called on Monday and confirmed they had 3 Hudsons that they would only sell as complete cars. I won't get into how bad an experience this turned out to be. Here is a picture of the one Hudson I found. So I figure whatever, there are some bits and bobs on it I can use, assuming its a reasonable price. Nope. They wanted $3k. No floor pans, no drivetrain/engine, no interior. Needless to say, I didn't bring this home. I also had my heart set on coming home with a Fulton Sun Visor. They probably have at least a hundred of them, possibly more. Wouldn't sell me one without buying a whole car. I didn't accomplish my main goal, but the 3.5 hour trip was through some of the more dramatic landscape around here. The old girl purred along just fine, and I thoroughly enjoy any time behind the wheel. Even when my knuckles are occasionally white from the current steering issues! I crawled under the car this morning and located where the center point steering parts are that Xander kindly explained. So now I've got the rebuild kit on the way, as well as new tie rod ends, a wheel bearing, and an assortment of bushings. I'll continue my hunt for some bumper guards. I just got a call from a friend who found a Hudson in a field about 20 miles from me, and he said it looks like a complete sedan. It's going to be in the 70's and sunny with very mild wind today, and I plan on taking advantage of it!

Steering play (really, really bad). Hudsy noted in the 'Not Mine' listing where I found this car, Hudsons have center point steering. I looked in my service manual (which covers several makes in the early 50s), and found this picture of the steering box. I'm trying to figure out which parts from the center steering kit from https://21stcenturyhudson.com/hudson_chassis_parts.html Need to go. Are these in the column at the wheel or in the steering box itself?

I just realized I'm missing those too. I wasn't sure it came with them until I looked closer at the bumper and realized there are four really shiny spots where they should be. I didn't even realize that the hood was so much shorter, I thought it was just a trim level thing. Like ford custom vs. XL in the 60s. I'm guessing the Twin-H carbs and manifold were added when the engine rebuild was done. I am still shocked at how much easier those carbs are to live with than the edelbrock performer on my Galaxie. I really don't like that carb. The Hydra-matic has been an eye opener too. I find I prefer it to the CoM that's in my galaxie also, but I miss the limited slip rear end.

I brought home my Wasp late last night. Spent the day getting her legal, then stretching her legs a bit. Still so much for me to learn, luckily an original hard cover service manual came with this beauty. I spent an hour or so figuring out if I was missing anything, and inspecting the wiring done for the 12 volt conversion. Nothing shocking or worrying discovered there, thankfully. My girl only has two 'all the way through' rust spots, both below the headlights. I can weld, but I don't have metal working equipment, so I'm probably going to have to find some donor pieces to make patches. Other than that, I'll be getting her up in the air at some point for surface rust chemical treatment. At some point in her life, a rocket surgeon put a modified 10 gallon jeep fuel tank with a 60's ford sending unit in. So I think fixing that will be a priority. I've definitely got to get the steering box under control. It makes for a pretty interesting drive over 55mph. So steering and tie rods ends, bushings, etc, going to be priority one I think. Here's my girls meeting for the first time this morning.

Will do!

I brought home my Wasp late last night. Spent the day getting her legal, then stretching her legs a bit. Still so much for me to learn, luckily an original hard cover service manual came with this beauty. I spent an hour or so figuring out if I was missing anything, and inspecting the wiring done for the 12 volt conversion. Nothing shocking or worrying discovered there, thankfully. My girl only has two 'all the way through' rust spots, both below the headlights. I can weld, but I don't have metal working equipment, so I'm probably going to have to find some donor pieces to make patches. Other than that, I'll be getting her up in the air at some point for surface rust chemical treatment. At some point in her life, a rocket surgeon put a modified 10 gallon jeep fuel tank with a 60's ford sending unit in. So I think fixing that will be a priority. I've definitely got to get the steering box under control. It makes for a pretty interesting drive over 55mph. So steering and tie rods ends, bushings, etc, going to be priority one I think. Here's my girls meeting for the first time this morning.

Luckily all the bows are in the trunk. All the trim pieces are. The only thing I don't have is the twin H power badge. Edit: started a new thread in the Hudson board. Thank you all for the help so far! Feel free to join in on that thread as you have time/if you have the interest 😊

Brought this beauty home last night. 15 hours round trip. I ended up having to take my truck and trailer. I couldn't bribe, cajole, or trick any of my friends into making the trip so I could drive her back. Waiting for the temperature outside to come up, then taking a trip to Bud's Salvage to look at his hudsons to see what I need to do to get my headliner put back together. He won't part out his hudsons and only sells them complate, so I might end up bringing another one home.... I'll start a new thread in the Hudson pages to chronicle my (mis)adventures, and to hopefully keep up the discourse with you much more knowledgeable folks.

That is gorgeous, the extra gauges make a lot of sense.

I'm so thankful for the advice. Definitely a lot that wouldn't have occurred to me! We are tentatively planning to meet up on Friday, so as the days get closer I'm getting a lot more excited/anxious. I was wondering about the Wasp/Hornet naming convention. I was a Navy Corpsman attached to Marine units from 1999 through 2005. I hitched a ride on the USS Wasp (LHD 1), and have been to the Hornet floating museum in California. All insights/advice/comments etc are greatly appreciated! I know I'll be leaning on the community pretty hard to start out with. Bonus, my Hudson shirt arrived today in time for my road trip.

I'm actually buying the car in this posting. I've spoken with the owner for several hours, gone over the 3 ring binder full of build photos and work orders. I've also spoken with the mechanic that did the majority of the recent work at length. I feel about as confident as I can with it until I start putting miles on it and finding the gremlins.

Thanks Xander for the tips. Those are some fantastic pictures as well.

Thanks Ben, those are all very good points to consider. A little more about me. I live in northwest Oklahoma, very little rain and usually mild winters (until this year). I have a dodge 2500 diesel 4x4 that I use for trailering livestock and picking up my ever growing collection of 60's F100 fords. I also drive it in the nasty weather (snow/rain) when I absolutely have to leave the farm. I'm also getting an AWD honda CRV from a family friend who just passed that has a bazillion miles but will be a good winter beater. I don't drive gravel/dirt roads unless I'm going after a field find in the truck. 99% of my driving is 2-lane blacktop in good condition, with occasionally short stretches of interstate to get to the VA in OKC or cars and coffee/cruise ins etc.

I'm putting in an offer on this vehicle to replace my current 1965 Galaxie 500 XL fastback as my daily. My total mileage just passed 31k and I don't want to add any more miles to the clock. I just turned 38 and came from previously owning mostly 90s BMWs and toyotas. It's been very rewarding working on my old ford FE 390 and I've learned a lot. I'm a huge Hudson fan and feel like this car would be a great driver, and I look forward to learning all the quirks. Not planning on doing a restoration, just looking to keep her well sorted mechanically. I would love to hear any advice from the vastly more experienced contributors here on what I can look forward to and what I should watch out for. I know Xander said he daily drove one also so I would really love to hear more a about this. I'm a 100% disabled Vet, and currently volunteer to provide transportation to other vets to their VA Healthcare appointments. They really enjoy getting to ride in style to their appointments and going through drive-ins for a burger and shake on the way home in classics. I really think the Hudson would be a real hoot for everyone. And probably a lot more comfortable than my Galaxie as well. Thank you all in advance, I'm 100% new to Hudson and pre 1960's cars in general.