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The Hudsonator


Chuck Most

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This was the 25th Hornet I've built, so it had to be at least an attempt at "epic", right? The idea was a late '90's Pro Touring style, with a few traditional custom touches. To that end, the top was chopped and "hardtopped', the hood was sectioned, tunneled headlights from an AMT '49 Mercury, a custom grille, shaved bumpers, and tail fins and lamps from the Foose Cadillac. Trim was eliminated and/or painted charcoal grey.  The rear window is the stock size, just tipped forward. The wheels and tires are from Jimmy Flintstone- the white metal wheels had the rims polished, while the centers were painted in the same charcoal paint used for the trim. Other than the wheel rims, the only other bright work is the slash-cut exhaust pipes cut from K&S tubing and set into the bumper.  After leaning toward a metallic silver paint job (hence the grey/black interior), I ultimately opted for a metallic red. I think that George Poteet's Trepainer-built "Sniper" '53 Plymouth may have influenced me a bit in a few areas on this one. 

The engine is the factory 308 block, but the idea was "What if somebody dropped off a Hudson block at Uncommon Engineering with a blank check and told Steve to just 'go crazy'". To that end, the engine is fitted with a scratch built DOHC head and manifolds, a turbo from Hobby Design, and an all new front cover/accessory drive with an alternator, A/C compressor, and power steering pump. The air cleaner is an open-element type with a factory Hudson air cleaner top. 

The interior is actually the most tame part- aside from a Detail Master gauge panel, a photoreduced CD player stereo unit, parts-box center console with shifter and hand brake, and Taurus SHO seats it's mostly out of the box. Now that I think of it I used a Momo steering wheel and a parts box column as well. With the car being red I wish I'd gone with a tan interior, but the dark grey/black one looks good enough, and it's barely visible from the outside anyway. After toying around with a few side mirror ideas, I ultimately opted to use the factory units, stripped of chrome and painted the same charcoal black as the rest of the "de-chromed" bits. 

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Another stunning work, Chuck. I have a sectioned, unfinished Hudson in my room, thinking of doing a chop. 
When you modify the windshield, do you trim from the top, or bottom of the glass?
You seem to have nailed the color for the air filter. What color is that?
Keep building! 

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1 hour ago, Jon Cole said:

Another stunning work, Chuck. I have a sectioned, unfinished Hudson in my room, thinking of doing a chop. 
When you modify the windshield, do you trim from the top, or bottom of the glass?
You seem to have nailed the color for the air filter. What color is that?
Keep building! 

I'm not sure what you mean, are you asking about cutting the kit windshield? I didn't do that-  I just cut material out of the a-pillars and made a new windshield from .010" styrene. The windshield molding was made from D-strip plastic, it overlaps the opening a bit and the clear plastic is glued onto the inside. The air filter is the same Testors Mythical Maroon I used on the body- I gave the vanes in the air cleaner a black wash. It actually isn't a bad match for a K&N element in scale. 

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