51 Hornet Project. With pictures.

triman62
triman62 Member
edited February 2016 in HUDSON
Here is a Hornet I am currently working to save. The car beside it is a 53 Wasp waiting for its turn.image
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Comments

  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    Here is a  picture of project. It broke in half while unloading. The entire bottom six inches of the car was rusted beyond use. The roof skin was rusted loose along the entire length of the drip rails also.image
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    This is where I'm currently at with the project.image
  • RL Chilton
    RL Chilton Administrator, Member
    Lookin' lots better, Triman!  What are your plans for it?  
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    Plans are for a mild custom, nosed, decked, shaved, lowered, frenched headlights, tunneled taillights nothing real radical. Powertrain will be stock Hudson 232 and hydromatic.
  • ski4life65
    ski4life65 Expert Adviser
    Wow! Doing some great work. Keep the pictures coming
  • 46HudsonPU
    46HudsonPU Administrator
    edited January 2016

    Preston - I've inserted the pictures into the thread.  Copied your link, and pasted it in, via the toolbar utilities ('Insert Image' - 5th link from the right in the toolbar).

    That way, the photo shows up in the thread, no clicking-on the link is required - also makes viewing more pleasant.

  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    Lookin' lots better, Triman!  What are your plans for it?  
    Thanks Russell, I often look to your vert build for inspiration. That is some top notch work on that car.
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016

    Rick, Thanks for the help with pictures, and the kind reception to the forum.
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    Wow! Doing some great work. Keep the pictures coming
    Thanks for words of encouragement, I hope to get to a picture session soon.
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    A little background on the project, I have been working on this Hornet for over two years now, I have a bay at my job to work on it in. I go to work an hour early, and stay an hour late M-F every week. I get approximately ten hours each week, I have over one thousand hours in it at this time. It is a project that I want to do for the learning experience. I have been a mechanic all my life, I presently manage fleet maintenance and repair of trucks and equipment for a general contractor. I never get tired of fixing machines. I hope you find the build entertaining, I know it must be out of the ordinary for most Hudson owners. I expect to have about 2,500 hours in it when finished, and then I have a 53 Wasp 2-door sedan to do next.
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    Here is a picture of January's progress. Drivers door, and rear fender welded.image
  • Glowplug
    Glowplug Expert Adviser
    edited January 2016
    Triman- I am very impressed with your focus and work ethic. Great progress bet your welding skills are much improved!
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    Oldfarmer- Thanks for the kind words, this project has been done with ox-acetylene gas welding, I started with the perimeter frame and then the body skins. It has definitely improved my skills.
  • Quadster
    Quadster Expert Adviser
    Great Project!!!

    Keep posting--it's inspiring!!!!!!
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    I'll be working on the passenger door next month, it should go a lot faster.  Besides a box of hand tools I only use a body hammer and dolly set, along with a grinder and a torch, I think that the early builders didn't have much more than that to work with back then. For my next project I will get some metal working tools and do a more modern restoration. Until The door is done here is a picture of some floor pans I bent over a piece of angle iron clamped to the edge of a sawhorse workbench.image
  • Glowplug
    Glowplug Expert Adviser
    edited February 2016
    Old school is the way to perfecting a honest appreciation of metal forming. My community college body work class instructor taught us to use a torch with hammer on and off techniques. To pass that course we had to straighten the roof on a car body. You know what to expect from metal when you figure out how to properly fix a wrinkled roof. BTW I passed the course. Thanks for sharing.
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    Another view of the floor pans Waiting for warmer weather to do rust treatment and painting..image
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    Some more floor pans, made from an old sign that was big enough to do two cars.image
  • Speaking of two cars, here is a sneak peek at the upcoming Wasp project.image
  • Glowplug
    Glowplug Expert Adviser
    52 is a rare car especially a 2 door sedan. Friend has a 52 pacemaker parts car...
  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    You've done some truly inspiring work, here.

    Ever thought about creating a "fantasy Hudson", like a panel delivery truck, a "Nomad" style wagon, or a 4-door convertible?  Or a stretch limousine?  Might be fun, and you obviously have the metalworking ability.  (And, inasmuch as you're bringing badly-decomposed Hudsons back to life, nobody can criticize you for having ruined a perfectly good old car!)
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016

    52 is a rare car especially a 2 door sedan. Friend has a 52 pacemaker parts car...
    You are indeed right about the 2-door sedan in the picture being a 52 pacemaker, it came from the same place as the Hornet. Although it fared a little better on the frame rust with tires on it than the Hornet did on the ground, it is beyond repair also. I have a 53 Wasp 4-door that will become a donor for the 2-door sedan, which is why I usually refer to it as a 53 Wasp. I will be using the frame, and cowl with vin tag from the 53 as it has a title. Just convert 4-door to 2-door much like on the Hornet club coupe.
    image
  • Here is another picture of the 51 Hornet that tells on me about its donor car.image
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    Jon B said:
    You've done some truly inspiring work, here.

    Ever thought about creating a "fantasy Hudson", like a panel delivery truck, a "Nomad" style wagon, or a 4-door convertible?  Or a stretch limousine?  Might be fun, and you obviously have the metalworking ability.  (And, inasmuch as you're bringing badly-decomposed Hudsons back to life, nobody can criticize you for having ruined a perfectly good old car!)
    You may have seen some of these also, however on my daily internet searches over the years I have seen for sale a 4-door convertible, a 4-door shortened to 2-door, a limousine, and three stepdown trucks, one supposedly from the factory. Wish I would have known how to copy pictures during those times. I never thought about  a fantasy Hudson though, the panel delivery, and Nomad wagon are some interesting ideas. I do have a 1958 Chevrolet El Camino project waiting for my retirement. I've wanted to build one since I was a teenager.
  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    The StepDown pickup trucks are "old hat" by now.  But how about a nice rumbleseat coupe StepDown?  With a curved rear window that rolls down to permit conversation between the inside of the car and the wayback?
  • A more detailed look at the repair process of the doors. About six inches will need to be replaced, along with the entire hinge support. It was easier to replace inner and outer metal at the same time rather than try to open the spot welded edges. I am using the 4-door car pieces for parts.image
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    imageThere is a look at some homemade tools used for bending metal. The hammer is a modified roofing hammer, and the dolly is from a metal building support rod.image
  • The 4-door donor parts, I will cut some useable pieces from these.image
  • triman62
    triman62 Member
    edited February 2016
    A picture of the fabricated door bottoms.image
  • These parts were bent like the outer door skin that is in the picture above. They are made from some 20 gauge scrap salvaged from some old windows. I wanted a little more support for the door bottoms. It is the same metal I used on the floor pans.image
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