 |
 Home Community Members options Forums Search Web |
|
|
|
|
| 2009 Canadian National Cardston Alberta |
This year we held our 8th Annual Canadian Hudson meet in Cardston Alberta in conjunction with the Temple City Cruisers 4th Annual Show and Shine. Many thanks go out to Steve Walsh and his team for hosting a fabulous event. Cardston is a scenic town located close to the Montana border. The meet was held at the local park with the cars nicely situated on the green grass with a special area setup by Steve for the Hudsons. Steve treated all of the Hudson folks like royalty and it was much appreciated his attention to the marque. Of course Steve is a die hard Hudnut himself driving a 38 right hand drive convertible. Talk about rare. A beautiful car which shows its age well.
The event was two days of beautiful weather and beautiful cars. The highlight of the trip for me was driving down to the meet from Lethbridge with my three cohorts in crime Tom, Jim, and my daughter Romy. Tom was bringing two cars so we got to cruise down in his rare 53 Super Wasp Hollywood which ran like a dream. My daughter loved this. Tom and Jim each drove a 54 Wasp sedan. We were quite the sight three Hudsons motoring along at a nice clip. Driving these cars is what its all about. I can't tell you how much fun that was (If you drive a Hudson you know already). We got into town in the evening and parked the cars to register. Of course that turned into a Hudson gabfest as more Hudsons arrived. We were quite the sight in the middle of town all these Hudsons lined up outside the NAPA dealership.
Steve and his crew did a great job of getting everyone processed and handing out the meet goody bags. The polishing cloths came in very handy. There was also a draw for a Camaro convertible that some lucky winner took home. Nice door prize don't you think. After registration we all continued the talking until we got hungry. We went over to the Creekside Eatery which I must give a shout out to Kareem the owner and Chef for the great food and the great hospitality. If you are ever in Cardston please drop in and have a meal you will not be disappointed.
Saturday we cruised over and parked the cars in the VIP section Steve had setup for the Hudsons. We got out the cloths and shined up the cars. As you can see in the pics they do look good.
The shade tents were setup and the business of solving the worlds problems got under way. Hudson stories were soon filling the air. Lots of people came over and asked questions and shared their own stories of Hudsons. These stories are always a treat to hear. Steve got on the PA and gave a nice welcome to the Hudson group and a nice shout out to me for my help. This was much appreciated and I thank Steve for that. Later Steve read a letter of congratulations from Mike Cherry the President of HET who wished us well at our meet.
As the afternoon came Tom and I had to get going so we loaded up the Hudsons and motored back to Lethbridge in style. Many thanks to Tom for just throwing me the keys of his Super Wasp and saying you drive that. Tom is a true Hudson guy and many of you probably knew his Dad George Price who was the center of Hudsoning in southern Alberta.
We are already planning the 9th Annual Hudson meet which will be once again held in Cardston and hosted by Steve Walsh. As many of you know the 51st Annual HET National is in Spokane next year and we are running our meet a couple of days before the HET meet. We are offering to host any Canadians who are coming across Canada to attend the US meet so come on down to Cardston enjoy our 9th and we will all motor down together to the US HET meet in a caravan of Canadian Hudsons. Stayed tuned for more info about this meet. We are also planning a driving tour of Waterton National park as part of the meet. Let me tell you that is some beautiful scenery you will not want to miss. With lots of photo ops for you and your cars.
Thanks to all those involved who made our 8th Annual Canadian meet a wonderful time.
More Meet Photos here 2009 Meet Photos |
|
Posted by 51hornet Monday, July 27, 2009 (21:10:50) |
|
Folks,
I am reposting here a nice writeup by Mark Hudson on the upgrading of the Dana 44 rear ends for Hudsons. Its really great info for the Hudson community and I wanted it easily accessible. Here it is:
I wanted to resurrect this thread to bring some more information to light regarding the Dana 44 rear end.
As you may know, the Fairborn Axle conversion to update to flanged axles is available even now. However, budgets being tight for yours truly, I wanted to do something a bit more sequential in terms of spending my money and eventually getting to the same place. The Fairborn Kit is $495.00. The original tapered axles are 19 spline to work with your existing carrier, or they can have axles made that have the newer 30 spline end.
I called the folks at Reider Racing, as Park suggested. The reason was to hunt down the different carriers that are still made for 19 spline axles.
Something interesting came up in the discussion. The original limited slip carrier as used by both Studebaker and the original 427 Shelby Cobra (Dana 44 equipped), is still available new. And guess what, its 19 spline. And, its the preferred piece for restorers of the previous mentioned vehicles as it is able to be certified as original. Reported by Reider also to be the best limited slip/positraction carrier out there for street driven vehicles.
Link to the Carrier in question:
http://www.reiderracing.com/danapowrlok.htm
Its an original Dana Powr-Lock. Cost is $400.00
This means, you can replicate the Jack Clifford hop up of using a Studebaker Twin-Track (Its actually the Dana Powr-Lok) with the rear ratio of your choice, which is also Dana original gears @ $159.00.
By using a 19 spline carrier, you can get up and going with your original tapered axles and be able to switch to the Fairborn flanged axles of 19 spline later.
Or, all at once.
You will also have to buy a new pinion yoke for the finer pinion splines produced currently.
Dana Power-Lock = $400.00
Dana Ring Gear and Pinion = $159.00
Dana 44 Overhaul kit = $100.00
New pinion yoke = $30.00
For $689.00, you have a posi-traction Dana 44 rear end of the ratio of your choosing. That you can also update with flanged axles for and additional $495.00. If the flanged axles are a bit much, you can run your original tapered/hubbed axles.
If it was good enough for Carroll Shelby - I think it will hold about as much as anybody here is going to unleash upon it.
and the good thing is, nobody will be able to tell anything about it - Its all Hudson from the outside with no fuss in the swapping.
Mark Hudson
|
|
Posted by 51hornet Tuesday, October 10, 2006 (21:54:25) |
|
| Restoration vs Buying a Nice Hudson |
You have to ask yourself why you want a to own a Hudson. There are some of us myself included that would try to rebuild a complete car if the only part you had to start with was the left rear lug nut. I like to tinker. I grew up in a garage. I started hanging out in my Dad's garage when I was six. By 12 I had rebuilt many engines and stripped down a lot of cars. So I like to work on old cars.
Not every one has the skills necessary to do the work. Don't let that deter you. Join a club like HET find owners in your area and go out, join in and learn. Then just take your time and you will find its a fun and enjoyable pastime.
If you love Hudsons and you are weighing the option of buying a nice car versus buying a fixer upper. Look at how much money and effort you want to expend. You can spend more fixing one up than you can if you just look for a nice example. There are a nice set of Wasps on ebay now and I saw a 54 Hornet go for cheap that would have been nice with a new paint job and some minor maintenance.
Always make the decision yourself and don't let people deter you. Preserving a Hudson is a noble cause, at least thats what I tell my wife. 
Find a nice site (like mine,shameless plug) join, get stuck in and ask lots of questions. There is nothing a Hud owner likes more than talking about their cars. Hudsons are all about community so don't be afraid to join in.
51hornet |
|
|
|
| |
|
Main Menu
Latest: 
New Today: 0
New Yesterday: 0
Overall: 336
Members: 0
Visitors: 4
Total: 4
1: 