Have you seen a Hudson pickup with a H8?

50C8DAN
50C8DAN Senior Contributor
edited November -1 in HUDSON
I few years ago at the Hershey car coral there was a '46 pickup with a H8 installed. It was POC condition, the guy wanted a fortune, but it ran great. I always thought if I bought a pickup I would like it 308 powered and I have seen quite a few, but how many out there have H8s installed. Just curious how many you have seen, if any? I think it would be kind of different, especially with an Edmunds 2x2 intake, finned head and Commodore trim.

Comments

  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Dan: Charlie Harris in Nebraska has a 46 Hudson Pickup with a Hudson 8 in the truck. The same truck has been powered with original engine as well as a 308 with Twin H. Contact him via the registry... he is very knowledgeable and has owned that truck for many years.
  • Jim Kilday
    Jim Kilday Expert Adviser
    Was there ever a Hudson pickup truck with an 8-cylinder engine that was factory original?
  • 50C8DAN
    50C8DAN Senior Contributor
    I believe all of the pickups came with a 212 splasher 6, no 8 was ever offered.
  • Lee ODell
    Lee ODell Senior Contributor
    50C8DAN wrote:
    I few years ago at the Hershey car coral there was a '46 pickup with a H8 installed. It was POC condition, the guy wanted a fortune, but it ran great. I always thought if I bought a pickup I would like it 308 powered and I have seen quite a few, but how many out there have H8s installed. Just curious how many you have seen, if any? I think it would be kind of different, especially with an Edmunds 2x2 intake, finned head and Commodore trim.



    Dan, about 1960 my dad bought 2 hudson pu's, (46 or 47?). One had an 8 and the other was a 6. He shortly sold the one with the eight. As I remember it ran pretty good compared to the 40 Ply I had in high school at the time. The pu 6 he keeped. Dad burned up the orginal motor. He put in a falcon 6, burned up that one, put in a Nash Ambassador 6, burned that one up. Final engine was a 57 Olds V8 and automatic. Also, he installed the power steering from the 57 Olds and a ford 9 inch rear end and camper shell.

    He sold it in early 1970's. I often wondered what happened to it. Lee
  • Uncle Josh
    Uncle Josh Senior Contributor
    I'm putting a Hudson 8 in my 46. Don't have a pic of it in there I guess but it has a 49 overdrive and the governor misses the frame by a good half inch.
  • Aaron D. IL
    Aaron D. IL Senior Contributor
    A member in WI had a '46-'47 with a camper top in the bed....not sure it's the same truck tho.
  • Lee ODell
    Lee ODell Senior Contributor
    Aaron D. IL wrote:
    A member in WI had a '46-'47 with a camper top in the bed....not sure it's the same truck tho.



    Aaron, I still have the vin number somewhere. I'll post it as soon as I can dig it out. Lee
  • Lee ODell
    Lee ODell Senior Contributor
    Lee O'Dell wrote:
    Aaron, I still have the vin number somewhere. I'll post it as soon as I can dig it out. Lee



    Aaron, the vin number is 3825906 which makes it a 46. I always thought it was a 47 until I showed the sale paper to Bill Albright. That would be exciting to locate it. If you get a chance would you check it out for me. It's interesting that when I was checking the roster, a few years ago, to see if it was listed, I found there are many 46 and 47 pickups listed in the roster with no vin numbers. Also, some pickups are listed in the roster as 46 with 47 vin's, and some 47's are listed with 46 vin numbers. At that time it was not listed in the roster. Might get lucky one day to locate it. Lee
  • Aaron D. IL
    Aaron D. IL Senior Contributor
    I went through the 2005-07 roster correcting a lot of those mistakes and came up with around 400 ish '46 - '47 PU's in the club. That's a good survival rate stacked against the original production figures. I'll look into that camper PU when I get the chance.



    The only way a PU would have a Hudson straight 8 is if it was on a Commodore/Super 8 Chassis or if the mounts were modified.
  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    I seem to remember a 46 or 47 pickup, think it might have been NJ, with the top half of a VW micro-bus on the back as a shell. Looked pretty good.



    Hudsonly,

    Alex Burr

    Memphis, TN
  • 50C8DAN
    50C8DAN Senior Contributor
    I have seen at least one or two trucks over the years that were trimmed out in Commodore trim and features so not sure how it was done?
  • Lee ODell
    Lee ODell Senior Contributor
    Lee O'Dell wrote:
    Aaron, the vin number is 3825906 which makes it a 46. I always thought it was a 47 until I showed the sale paper to Bill Albright. That would be exciting to locate it. If you get a chance would you check it out for me. It's interesting that when I was checking the roster, a few years ago, to see if it was listed, I found there are many 46 and 47 pickups listed in the roster with no vin numbers. Also, some pickups are listed in the roster as 46 with 47 vin's, and some 47's are listed with 46 vin numbers. At that time it was not listed in the roster. Might get lucky one day to locate it. Lee



    Correction on the vin number. It should read 5825906. Lee
  • Lee ODell
    Lee ODell Senior Contributor
    edited November 2013
    Actually, you were right the first time... '46 Hudson Pickup serial numbers start with "38..." .

    Dad had it written I was not sure if it was a 3 or a 5. Lee
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Aaron D. IL wrote:
    I went through the 2005-07 roster correcting a lot of those mistakes and came up with around 400 ish '46 - '47 PU's in the club. That's a good survival rate stacked against the original production figures. I'll look into that camper PU when I get the chance.



    The only way a PU would have a Hudson straight 8 is if it was on a Commodore/Super 8 Chassis or if the mounts were modified.

    The Hudson pickup is built on the Pickup chassis which is longer than the 6 and 8 cyl chassis. The motor support brackets are cut off. and I think the 8 cyl uses the holes for the 6 cylinder radiator and the radiator fits right behind the cross braces in front of the radiator. The 8 cyl radiator has 2 lugs that bolt to 2 brackets welded near the center of the front cross member. The pickup also uses some heavier parts from the 8 cyl chassis over the 6 chassis such as brakes and some other stuff. When I built my 47 a couple of years ago I would have changed it to an 8 if i had the 8. That was done several times back in the days gone by. May be wrong about some of this stuff but they sure were not built on the C or S 8 chassis.
  • Lee ODell
    Lee ODell Senior Contributor
    Billy K. Tn., this is off the supject, but I see that you are in Tenn. What part? Even though we are living in Ca. we still have our home in Elizabethton, Tn. Just curious. Lee
  • Aaron D. IL
    Aaron D. IL Senior Contributor
    There was a 128' WB car before the war but not after. Wonder if it's the same chassis.
  • PAULARGETYPE
    PAULARGETYPE Senior Contributor
    My good friend jack heisler who has passed on had a 41 hudson truck that he installed a hudson 8 in his son jackie still owns the truck and it is not for sale
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    I've always liked the look of Hudson pickups but have never sat in one and have no idea what the leg room is like. Would a Hudson be a good choice for a 6'3" 280 pound buy?

    Mike
  • oldhudsons
    oldhudsons Senior Contributor
    hand - absolutely not which is why some have put seats from more modern vehicles in them as have thinner back + can be lowered to give more leg room & room between stomach & steering wheel.
    I had a '46-7 PU which I made what I considered to be the optimum roadable PU: NOS '55-6 Hornet engine (via Dave Bullock), NOS late model o.d. (from dealership in Long Beach, Cal.), NOS '46-7 8 radiator (from dealership in Louisville, Ky.) and 8 steering box from parts car. Had a custom camper built for it in Van Nuys, Cal. & wife & I drove it from Calif. to National Meet in Indianapolis. Would cruise well at any reasonable speed but used a lot of gas. In very hot weather really got hot in the cab due to poor ventilation (wife got heat stroke in Needles, Calif. on way back). Not too long after return sold it to Bill Albright, don't know where it is now, was a light brown.
  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    edited November 2013
    "There was a 128' WB car before the war but not after. Wonder if it's the same chassis."

    I suspect that Hudson, like everybody else, was rushing to get back into car production so they went to a common wheelbase for all four series. As for the 128" wheel base prior to 1946 I'm almost willing to bet they had a bunch of chassis setups (the 1941-1942 Big Boy commercial models were on the 128" wb) left over when they shut down car production for war production. It would make sense in that Hudson was a great one for finding a use for just about anything they had to hand.

    Hudsonly,
    Alex Burr
    Memphis, TN
  • lostmind
    lostmind Expert Adviser
    Laurel Hanson , a past HET president had a Hudson pick up with an 8 cyl.
    He sold to Bob Coop ,in Ohio.His widow sold it about 10yrs ago and the new owner had it restored.Painted all black instead of the orange and black that it was.
    Dave Bullock had a VW camper shell on his pick up . looked custom made.About 1972?
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