70’s drag racing

54coupe
54coupe Member
in HUDSON

I have no idea why, but I can’t seem to make these post upright. I gave up and posted them anyway.
These photos were taken in the 70’s at OCIR. This is the car I’m building now, and will be my next daily driver.

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  • 54coupe
    54coupe Member
    Photo credit goes to the guys at Vintage Coach, who gave them to me... Thanks Val and Jason.
  • VicTor Z
    VicTor Z Senior Contributor

  • Browniepetersen
    Browniepetersen Senior Contributor

    Cool Photos Vic, It will be good to see another 54 Hudson coupe on the road with Southern California racing history.







  • VicTor Z
    VicTor Z Senior Contributor
    Brownie, please post the pictures of your "Southern California "54 Hudson Coupe" . ( I just rotated Dany's Pics)
  • 33kc1989
    33kc1989 Senior Contributor
    Good old days
  • longlivelance
    longlivelance Member
    Cool photos. Thanks for sharing. It's the stories of those good old days that got me into Hudsons when I was a teenager in the 90s!
  • rusty_apache
    rusty_apache Member
    Nice to see another another daily driver resurrected! 

  • Ol racer
    Ol racer Senior Contributor
    edited October 2020
    Somewhere I have another picture of my '50 Pacemaker at the Drags back in the day.....however, not many of us even had a camera...
  • Park_W
    Park_W Senior Contributor

    Here's a pic of my '38 Hudson 8, from back in 1953.  Took it to Chicago's big drag strip four times and won my class every time.  84 mph in the quarter mile.


  • 54coupe
    54coupe Member
    Park_W said:

    Here's a pic of my '38 Hudson 8, from back in 1953.  Took it to Chicago's big drag strip four times and won my class every time.  84 mph in the quarter mile.


    Wow... That is pretty incredible. When Jack Clifford won L/stock class at the NHRA Nationals in 1963, he ran 16.23@83.17 mph. I wouldn't have guessed that the straight eight would perform like that.
  • terraplane8
    terraplane8 Senior Contributor
    54coupe said:
    Park_W said:

    Here's a pic of my '38 Hudson 8, from back in 1953.  Took it to Chicago's big drag strip four times and won my class every time.  84 mph in the quarter mile.


    Wow... That is pretty incredible. When Jack Clifford won L/stock class at the NHRA Nationals in 1963, he ran 16.23@83.17 mph. I wouldn't have guessed that the straight eight would perform like that.
    I think the 8 in this case may have had a split manifold exhaust? We know that on the pre-'37 cars at least the stock manifold is quite restrictive. In terms of weight-shifted horsepower 84mph trap speed calculates to about 160hp at the flywheel if you assume 3,350lbs for the car and driver. That is a lot more than Hudson quoted which was 122hp and even then people say that was a generous figure due to the measuring method which must have been net rather than gross.

  • Park_W
    Park_W Senior Contributor
    It indeed have a split manifold, and since the rules for stock class allowed "any ignition or exhaust," I had two short lengths of flex pipe which I installed on the manifold when we got to the drag strip.  Exhaust came out just behind the right front wheel.  And yes, it did sound ferocious!  This engine was built by Don Bright, a real master who had an impressive engine shop in Fort Wayne, and ran a '37 Terraplane 6 coupe and a '38 Hudson 8 tudor at our local 5/8 mile high-banked track north of the city.  Don knew all the tricks to tweak those Hudson splashers!
  • terraplane8
    terraplane8 Senior Contributor
    Park_W said:
    It indeed have a split manifold, and since the rules for stock class allowed "any ignition or exhaust," I had two short lengths of flex pipe which I installed on the manifold when we got to the drag strip.  Exhaust came out just behind the right front wheel.  And yes, it did sound ferocious!  This engine was built by Don Bright, a real master who had an impressive engine shop in Fort Wayne, and ran a '37 Terraplane 6 coupe and a '38 Hudson 8 tudor at our local 5/8 mile high-banked track north of the city.  Don knew all the tricks to tweak those Hudson splashers!
    The rear end was that the usual 4.1 or the 4.55?
  • Park_W
    Park_W Senior Contributor

    terraplane8 said:
    Park_W said:
    It indeed have a split manifold, and since the rules for stock class allowed "any ignition or exhaust," I had two short lengths of flex pipe which I installed on the manifold when we got to the drag strip.  Exhaust came out just behind the right front wheel.  And yes, it did sound ferocious!  This engine was built by Don Bright, a real master who had an impressive engine shop in Fort Wayne, and ran a '37 Terraplane 6 coupe and a '38 Hudson 8 tudor at our local 5/8 mile high-banked track north of the city.  Don knew all the tricks to tweak those Hudson splashers!
    The rear end was that the usual 4.1 or the 4.55?

    It was the standard 4.1.  On one occasion I took along a locked 4.55 that Don Bright loaned me, just to see if it performed better.  It didn't.  And yes, I drove 150 miles to the drag strip with the 4.11,  Swapped to the 4.55 when we got there, and swapped back to the 4.11 before heading home.

    By the way, all this was done at the ripe old age of 17 !

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