Xander Wildeisen Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 I thought that this would be an interesting post to do. I am not a writer, so I will skip the whole story. If any of you ever run into me, ask me about this story and I will tell it to you. You will laugh at the story, but it has a sad ending. It will be interesting to see other pictures people have to post. I went with some friends to go and buy a 1949 Hudson Commodore convertible. The seller lived up a mountain road, I could not get my truck and trailer up there. Parked down below his house, went up the road. We looked the car over, while looking it over it was clear the car had no brakes. My friend made a deal to buy the car, seller drove me back down to my truck and trailer. And we talked about how he was going to drive the car down to me, so I could load it in the trailer. The last words I said to him was " do not hit my truck, You do not have any brakes". He looked at me funny, and went up the hill. I could hear the car start up, could not see it through the trees. What I could hear was some one say O'SH#T, O'sh#t, O'sh#t. Then as the car came into view, it launched off the last corner and went right in the trees. Flew out about 40 feet, and down about 20/30 feet. Took out three trees and totaled the car. The dent on the leading edge of the dash was from his fore head. After he stumbled up to the road, with a shell shocked look on his face. You could look down at the car, and see lamas now able to eat the leaves from the trees that he knocked over. Really funny story if I could tell it to you. He did not get hurt, just a goose egg on his fore head the size of a soft ball. Any one else have pictures of day gone bad with a classic car? Give me a few minutes to post all the pictures be for replying. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auburnseeker Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 I live up a hill/ driveway. The first thing every car I get has checked over is the brakes and the handbrake must work as well. My Hudson pickup will not go down my drive until I know it has good hydraulic and hand brakes. What an idiot. Why would you not check that before moving the car 1 inch. There is no going back once you start experiencing the laws of physics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Are you sure your friend wasn't already brain damaged before he hit his head on the dashboard? What, exactly, was his plan? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Gregory Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 This is very upsetting to me as here was a car that looks like it was in good condition . It had survived 67 years and is destroyed not by time and the elements but by the so called the intelligent species . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 My friend did not drive it down. They were up at the house, would not ride down with him. We all knew it had no brakes. I said it many times up there. All I got was harped on , that I was trying to sink the sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 (edited) 32 minutes ago, Xander Wildeisen said: y You will laugh at the story, but it has a sad ending. Why the HELL would anyone find it funny??!?!! If they do, they have either a sick or evil mind! First, we can be thankful no one was killed! Second, a few good lessons to be learned from this incident, not to mention the loss of what appeared to be a very nice, rare car. Sorry to hear of your friend's loss. Now I supposed the battle will be with the seller and the buyer over who's at fault. Craig Edited August 11, 2016 by 8E45E (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 I did not mean what happened was funny. If you were there, how it all unfolded was funny. Poor choice of wording on my part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capngrog Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Xander; Had your friend, the buyer, already paid the seller in full before the seller destroyed the car? This is one of those situations that will make the lawyers happy. Please let us know how this eventually works out. Unfortunately, a nice looking rare car was destroyed, but the situation as you have described, is not unknown to us in the hobby. I hope your friend comes out of this deal O.K. Hoping for the best, Grog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Ah, I mis-read it. I thought his friend drove it down. It was the seller?!? Oy. That's going to be ugly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capngrog Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 13 minutes ago, 8E45E said: Why the HELL would anyone find it funny??!?!! If they do, they have either a sick or evil mind! Craig Since when does one not laugh at someone who does something really stupid; especially if nobody is seriously injured? That is human nature and is neither sick nor evil. Remember the adage: "If we cannot laugh, we must surely cry". I prefer to laugh while I'm learning my lessons. Cheers, Grog 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Harwood Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 This is why you're own your own when you buy a car from me and want to tow it home yourself. I'll help load a car if there's a professional driver involved, but if you and your buddy are trying to take a car home on the cheap, I don't want anything to do with it--the liability is too great. I'm stunned that the seller decided to drive it down the driveway; there's no way he's going to keep any money in this deal and no way the insurance company is paying him for that car. These two yobbos showed up to take a Ferrari home. The young guy in the car was the "player" who bought it on a loan co-signed by his mom and his buddy obviously owned the truck and trailer. I saw that rig and handed him the keys. "See you later and good luck." Ten minutes later I smell brakes. Like going down the Rocky Mountains with a trailer full of rocks burning brakes. Outside, the Ferrari is engulfed in smoke. Not brakes... CLUTCH. Then the car lurches up the "ramps" they've made and there's a sickening grinding sound as the nose cone scrapes along the two parallel vertical rails on the inside of each tread plate--you know, the ones designed to keep the tires from falling off the inside edge. There's not enough ground clearance so the rails are cutting grooves into the carbon-fiber nose cone. No idea how much that might cost, but I'm pretty sure a clutch is $7500. Yeah, dude, you're definitely a player with your co-signed loan and your cut-rate trailer. I could have delivered the car professionally and enclosed for $800, but this was much better because you saved, what, $400 after gas and tolls? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Perhaps the ONLY time I would laugh maybe is if I learned the seller is a graverobber, and 'stole' it from a little old widowed lady for pennies on the dollar value of its market worth, and then attempted to sell it for what it was worth. Then, maybe, he would get what he deserved. (Yes, there are some like that out there.) Bottom line is the loss of a rare car which is probably beyond salvaging. The seller, I suspect, may have owned it for several years with fond memories before finding a good home for it where someone was going to appreciate it, and give it many more years of exposure. Too bad it had to have an ending like this, whether 'stupidity' played a role or not. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercer09 Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 guy is very lucky to be alive...........................................................................! who knows, maybe insurance will pay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Before you start it, make sure you can stop it! This goes for every thing, drill presses, hand grinders, snow blowers and even horses. When I get into a car, the first thing I do is place my foot firmly on the brake pedal and leave it there until it starts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpage Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 I noticed the large amount of body putty on the passenger side door, maybe the rest of the car looked like that too! Just be thankful that no one was more severely injured or killed and now the owner's out a car and money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 33 minutes ago, jpage said: I noticed the large amount of body putty on the passenger side door, maybe the rest of the car looked like that too! The door sure does, but the rear quarter panel does not. Perhaps early step-down convertible doors are difficult to find. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Skyking Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 The sorry part of this story....These people vote! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 1 hour ago, Roger Walling said: Before you start it, make sure you can stop it! This goes for every thing, drill presses, hand grinders, snow blowers and even horses. Does it also apply to a woman when you ask her a question? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 This all happened about three years ago. Going back a little farther, I had seen this car while it was being restored for the guy. And at that time I met the owners as well. We were taking our Packard to Forest Grove for the show they have there. Car was in the middle of being restored, they guy working on the car was ill and passed away a few weeks later. Fast forward to the day pictured, when we got up to his house to see the car. I started looking it over for my friend, if he were to purchase the car. I would have been the one to finish the car. Looking the car over, you could see that the restoration bounced all over the place. This was done, that was not, and so on. I checked the brakes, had none at all. Strange, because Hudson's have a duel braking system. It is really neat if you have not seen one. After the brake peddle goes down so far, it starts to pull the e-brake cables. This had nothing. Looking under the car, you could see that none of the safety system was hood up. My opinion was to pass on the car, told my friend that I would have to redo to much on the car to get it where he would want it to be. The owners then started coming down on me, talking about how much money they had in the car. And the brakes became a big topic, I said you have none. They said we rebuilt all of that! And this went back and forth for awhile. This is where the story got funny, you could just tell some thing was going to happen. It was just in the air, like in a horror movie all the writing was on the wall, My friend wanted to buy the car, they went back and forth on price. A deal was made. Seller asked if I wanted to drive the car down, I said no, my two friends said no. So he said he would drive it down, payment for the car would be made at the bottom of the hill. As you can guess, no payment was ever made. Seller drove me back to my truck and trailer in his other car. I said to him "do not hit my truck, you have no brakes". He never had a chance to hit my truck, could not make the last turn. To his credit he went about 50 yards and made a 180 degree switch back then about 75 yards, all on a dirt road with a very step down grade. The last turn in the road was a hard 90, and it would have been coming up fast on him. I do not think Tim Flock or Herb Thomas in a 1952 Hornet would have made that corner. And to make it worse, I am guessing that in a panic with no brakes. Both feet pressed down on the pedals. Pushing in the clutch as well, loosing the chance to use compression from the engine to slow down. As I ran up the road to the corner he launched from, I thought he was dead. Thick skulls must run in the family. I guess in the end we all learned, if you end up doing a Dukes of Hazard style jump off a mountain road . A two ton Hudson is not the best car to be driving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 So where is what's left of the car now? Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 Car showed up on coparts web site in Portland OR, about a month later. Some one bought it for around 2,000-4,000 dollars if I remember correctly. My guess is they wanted to use it as a parts car for a rusted up convertible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lornfours Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 Oh wow. Can't say that's a surprising outcome though ... what did he think would happen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Dobbin Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 (edited) This whole thread is a message to all of us, to THINK before we act! During my 30+ year career on the insurance business, I would often get questions with stories like this, ending in their question, "Is it covered?" My reply was, sadly "there is no stupidity exclusion", and now you know why insurance rates are so high. My question to you guys on the Forum is: If you were his agent, would you want to renew him? Edited August 11, 2016 by Paul Dobbin (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GARY F Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 How did Einstein think he was going to stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 I guess he thought the brakes would stop him. He wanted top price for the car, that meant it had to be in perfect condition including the brakes so in his mind, they were. You can ignore reality. What you can't ignore, are the consequences of ignoring reality. What is astonishing to me is the number of people living in fantasy land who somehow get away with it. The seller has probably gotten away with his bullshit all his life and now has some kind of job distant from reality where bullshit and paper shuffling are all you need to be a success. It never occurred to him that anything bad would happen. Since nothing ever had. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capngrog Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 2 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said: You can ignore reality. What you can't ignore, are the consequences of ignoring reality. How can you say that when the most popular TV shows are "reality" series? Anyone who regularly watches "reality" TV must be well acquainted with the concept of reality ... right? As to "consequences", what are those things? Are they good to eat, or are they the latest thing in fashion or I-phones? I feel a rant coming on, but I'll resist the impulse Don't get me started, Grog 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Hubler Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 It's interesting to read this as I knew the parties involved except for the potential buyer. THe owner called me right after this happened as I was an editor for the Hudson club newsletter in the area and he wanted to advertise the parts (I happened to be in CA at the Hudson National Meet when he called). He was shook up, and wanted to sell everything he had. He also had a 37 Terraplane pickup stashed in the garage. I think the owner IS a lawyer, but he was no mechanic. My concern was that he wasn't seriously injured. It's funny but not really. We all make mistakes and poor choices at times and when your turn comes, it won't seem very funny. I'm not critical, I think the potential buyer presented his view of this in a respectful manner (especially by waiting a number of years after this happened). We all need to learn as another said above to take nothing for granted -- people can get seriously hurt. I actually saw the car at the man's house who was ill and was restoring it. I actually was there to visit him the day he passed away -- that was Sept or Oct 2010 -- car wrecked less than 3 years later. He was the nicest person, and well known in the Hudson community. It was tragic that he became so ill -- he couldn't really do anything on the cars. Wish he had been able to finish the brakes though. Someone would have a nice Hudson convertible and the entire incident could have been avoided. But again, luckily, no major injuries. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 So did the seller really try to drive the car down a steep hill with no brakes, after being told it had no brakes, because he was pretending it had good brakes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Bollman Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 Scary/sad story. I think of brake loss almost everytime I go down our driveway in my old cars. Our drive is not anywhere as bad as that fellows but a similar fate if I missed one 90 degree turn after a mild downgrade and a similar fate at the end of a long steeper straight away before a 90 degree onto the dead end road my drive goes off of. I always go down in first gear but have had both of my drivable old cars and my 49 8N tractor pop out of gear going down and had to depend on brakes. I try to remember to hold them all in gear now going down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 2 hours ago, Doc Hubler said: We all need to learn as another said above to take nothing for granted -- people can get seriously hurt. We can always focus on the ones that are left. V While at the same time, not let common sense fall by the wayside. [/IMG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted August 12, 2016 Author Share Posted August 12, 2016 (edited) The man who passed away was a good friend of mine. His name was Jim Harmon. Getting involved in cars (Hudson's) at the age of 16. I was the only young guy at the time in the club around here. The guys in the Hudson club and Jim Harmon were very kind to me, and went out of their way to help me out. They were, and still are all top shelf guys and I will never forget them. I left his name out of the post because the restoration that was done on the car was not reflective of Jim And the work that he did. He was getting very ill. The pictures that you see below were taken the day I was at his house, on our way to forest grove. I was there to get some parts for a 54 Hornet coupe that I was building. And as Jim always did, he treated me very fair on the parts. The Hudson you see in the wreck was there at that time as well. I was not sharing this story to make a joke out of what happened. These are things that happen to all of us in the car world. Some good, some bad. But sharing the stories about people that make up this hobby/industry is a good thing. So many great people get lost in the pages of time. These pictures were taken two weeks before Jim died. After getting home from the trip. One day I had a feeling to call Jim. His wife answered the phone and asked Jim if he wanted to speak with me. She gave the phone to Jim and he said to me. "It looks like they are going to pull the plug on me, I just want to thank you for being able to get to know you". Toughest thing some one has ever said to me, hit me like a ton of bricks. It is a small car world out there, Help each other out. Jim would have laughed at my post. Rest in peace my friend. Xander Edited August 12, 2016 by Xander Wildeisen (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trulyvintage Posted August 12, 2016 Share Posted August 12, 2016 (edited) I have gotten many cars out of tight spots to load ... If you have a car with no brakes on an incline. Put a vehicle behind it with a matching bumper height - pad between bumpers - use the vehicle to ease it down far enough so you can get a vehicle in front & attach a tow strap to slowly back it down under controlled descent. Jim Edited August 14, 2016 by Trulyvintage (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Hubler Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 Xander, thanks for sharing. BTW, I'm over in the Tri-cities, WA area, so look me up sometime -- always wanting to try and get the meager ration of Hudson folk together in the "area." Seems like you're in Idaho, though I'm not sure where. Fred Conners and I went over to see Jim, and happened to be the day he passed. Very sad for all. He was truly a great guy and will always be in the pantheon of Hudson lore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted August 13, 2016 Author Share Posted August 13, 2016 Jim was a great guy. The car did not go off the road because of anything Jim did, or didn't do. The car was in the middle of a restoration that was being done to the level the customers wanted. He just got very ill, and passed. I talked to him the same day. The owner/seller was lucky he did not really get hurt, or worse.The reason for the post was just to bring to light a topic that any car guy/gal does not want to talk about. Some cars do not make it, wrecked, caught in a flood or fire, old barn falls down and so on. It is all ways interesting to see pictures and hear stories about things that have happened. When I was 17 and had my 52 Hudson Wasp, a neighbor walked over and we started talking about old cars. He told me that he worked in California in the late forties on the big produce farms. All of the workers stayed in little tiny shacks, when farming was done they just left. And would leave cars and every thing else behind. He said on year there was about 25 cars left behind. He asked the owner what he wanted him to do with the cars. Owner said take the dosser, dig a trench and push them in. He said the one that really hurt to push in was a 1937 Packard convertible, that just needed a new starter. Sad story, but true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capngrog Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 2 hours ago, Doc Hubler said: Seems like you're in Idaho, though I'm not sure where. Doc; Why don't you post your location as part of your avatar? I've always been curious as to why folks don't at least post the State where they live. Proud to live in Paisley, Florida, Grog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 Those orphan cars do attract their own breed of owner. My Mother noticed that when I was 16 years old and had a Kaiser Traveler for sale.She lived over 50 years after the man came to see the car and never forgot him. I always wonder about Darwinian incidents that happen to people beyond reproductive ages. Bernie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
28 Chrysler Posted August 13, 2016 Share Posted August 13, 2016 By any chance did some one say "here hold my beer I think I can do it" ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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