This past weekend, my friend Ryan and I brought home a running and driving 1951 Hudson Hornet. I know it has 4 doors , but I fell in love with the body lines. Plans include dropping the front with one coil removed , three inch blocks for the rear and a set of wide whites. The standard tire size for this car was a 7.10 X 15. I have access to a set of G 78 WW which are about .50 lower in diameter than the 7.10. I hope I can run with those. Any comments would be appreciated on the tire issue. Also, do the lowering blocks need to be special like they do on the early chevies where the axle is offset and the block needs to accomodate it? It would be great if I could just run down to the local shop and get some ready made ones. Any commnets would be appreciated.
Clone the Porky's car. It was a 52 but if you paint it pink and put a pig hood ornament on it, who's gonna argue? I love those cars. I'm jealous.
Good job bro, man it looks like a nice one. These are one of the hippest cars ever built. A few days ago in the Jalopy Journal feature picture a Hudson was running up front with the Olds V/8's in a stock car race, they were tourque monsters on the short track. Good luck with the project. That tire size should be ok. ~Sololobo~
Very nice car !!!! Just make sure you got clearance with the fenders in the back.Doesn't look like much room from the pic for to wide of a tire.
You may have to rebend the exhaust once you install the lowering blocks. I have a 49 Hudson, when I was pondering the lowering process that was a something we noticed right away
On that car it doesn't matter that it is a 4 door. Its a Hudson Hornet. Its got the export package? IE twin carbs and split exhaust? You could buy a '52 in betsy brown (two tone brown) don't know about the '51. They were rreal sharp in that particular paint option for sure.
Thanks for the comments gents. I need to figure out if I'm going to just leave the paint for now, or go with something different. I don't know if these were original colors. If so, if someone could guide me to where I could find the paint codes, maybe I should just put it back to the way it was. Suggestions are appreciated. If anyone wants to photoshop it with wide whites, some 4 bar hubcaps and paint of your choice. Have at it...
Beautiful! I may be burned at the stake as a heretic for this, but the Hornets are every bit as beautiful as anything Mercury ever produced.
One "secret" to making these cars LOOK low was that the designers used only DARK over LIGHT two-tone color schemes when the body style was introduced in '48 and the following '49 model years. Consider that whenever you decide on paint for your car, regardless of what you do to the suspension. You can accentuate the low look with a darker roof. As popular as stepdown Hudsons have become in the custom end of the hobby, one of these days somebody needs to cast up some 2" dropped spindles to properly lower the front of these cars while maintaining suspension travel and geometry. They would fit every model Hudson from '48-54 (except the compact Jets) and that is a heckuva lot of cars. Fatman? Jamco? anybody? Pics are about a hundred years ago when I had a very mild custom '53 Super Wasp brougham with Twin-H and factory 7X dual exhaust.
Looks like a great solid car! I'm running Firestone 6.70/15's on my car, but it's lowered quite a bit. When I first got my car, it had G78's on it, and it looked fine. My car had some home-made lowering blocks on the stock Hudson rear that were off-set. I don't know if standard blocks would work or not...it's been a long time since I got rid of the blocks. (My car is riding on a modern chassis now). Have fun with the car! Keith
The biggest steel wheels you can run under that (and still get the flat tire off!) is a 15x7 Mopar steel wheel or cop Rallye wheel. Ford wheels will not work, due to their smaller center (register) hole. If running radials, nothing larger than a 225-70R15 is recommended, because anything wider or taller WILL rub! If you put lowering blocks on the rear, your tire choices now become extremely limited!
My 49 has 1.5" blocks and no issues. The rear springs are splayed a bit,but it doesn't effect the blocks. The pin is centered. I'm running stock wheel centers with new 15x6 hoops that make it easy to use the stock hubcaps and trim rings. Tires are 235/75R15 Coker Classics with no clearance issues. With the 1.5" blocks I do have to disconnect the shock and let the air out to get em outta the fenderwells,but I didn't have to do either until I installed the blocks. Happy Hudsoning
LOVE IT! Hudsons are great looking cars. At this years Mich. Billetproof, I went though the car museum in Depot town. It was the last Hudson dealership in the world. They have all kinds of memorabilia, NOS parts (including some of their "severe usage" parts, heavyduty rearends, brakes, axles) and several cars. There is quite a collection of pictures/info about the factory and the life of the company. I was in sponge-mode, I could have spent the whole day in there. Definately increased my awareness of Hudson. Start hunting down a twin "H" power set-up, = Instant cool.
nice ride...... my buddy had one when we were kids,,,, it had sanders for the back wheels and tires ,,we used to fill the wells up with Pizza Flour,,, ride down the main drag then dump the flour and dust the street....
Nice score , I love those Hornets , ever since I saw one at the vintage fest. at NHIS years ago.They're just difer'nt from everything else,with a touch of class. Best of luck with it.
I don't think I would spend a penny on that car. Just waste your money. Tell you what I'll do, sell me your car and I'll help you find something else to work on. DAMN!!! Killer car, wish it was mine!
Just wondering if you had any luck with the Hudson. I just picked up a '50 Pacemaker yesterday, and I'm going to be looking for any tips and recommendations! Woodie
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