STING IN THE TAIL

“I’D DRIVE IT ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WITHOUT BATTING AN EYELID...” The Hudson Hornet made its name in the early Fifties in American stock car racing with 11 wins in 1951 and 27 in 1952/53; establishing an unbeatable record and making it a NASCAR Champion. This was even more remarkable considering that the Hornet was powered by a 308cu in flathead straightsix which (according to plenty of people in Detroit) was out of date, whereas most of the competition was V8-powered. In 1952 racing driver Marshall Teague (‘King of the Beach’, reflecting his successes at Daytona Beach) won 12 of the 13 AAA stock car races and came in sixth overall on the gruelling 2000-mile Carrera Panamericana Road Race. Fast forward 57 years on the other side of the Atlantic and a chance visit to a local public house on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire in 2009 proved to be a defining and (to all intents and purposes) a life-changing moment for Barry Shaw. The public house had a massive car park which was partly filled with old vintage and classic aircraft including a helicopter. “We used to call this place ‘The Aeroplane Pub’, and we were about to have one of our car club meets there,” remembers Barry. “I drove into the car park in my 1955 Buick and noticed a Hudson Hornet parked up, looking in a sad and rather sorry state. It was painted brown and cream and the heavy lacquer was all peeling off in lumps. There was also a large pool of oil on the ground under the engine. Even though it looked a mess, I instantly fell in love with this car and thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to own this Hudson!’” Barry’s wife, Sally, was bringing their grandson, Freddie, along to the meet at the pub a little later and he started thinking as to what to tell her about the Hudson which he was so desperate to own. First things first, he had to find the car’s owner to see if he could purchase the car, and then tell his missus. “I found the owner and I immediately got straight to the point by telling him I wanted to buy his car,” recalls Barry. “The owner started the 308cu in engine, coupled to a three-speed Hydramatic automatic transmission, but it wouldn’t run properly and was leaking oil everywhere. Even this didn’t put me off! I knew the car required a huge amount of work to get it into tip-top condition, but I still wanted to own it very badly. As luck would have it, the owner was building an extension on his house and some extra money would come in very handy for him at this stage. After a little haggling a price was agreed and I purchased the car. ‘Now, how am I going to explain this to my wife?’ I thought to myself!” Barry telephoned Sally from the pub and spilled the beans. “The first thing my wife said was that she knew exactly what I was going to say,” grinned Barry. “I replied, you don’t, and she said: “I do, you’ve bought a car, haven’t you”? I said, “I have, actually!” Sally understood immediately how rare Hudson Hornets are, that chances of finding another one for sale in the UK would be very remote and that it would be a ‘keeper’. Over the years Sally had become very well acquainted with Barry’s penchant for buying classic Yanks, so this Hornet didn’t come as a huge surprise. When Sally arrived at the pub with their grandson, Freddie, and their daughter, everyone ended up having a good laugh over Barry’s spontaneous impromptu purchase, and all ended in smiles. Sally hadn’t quite realised just how large the Hornet was and her immediate reaction was: “Oh my God, it’s so big!” Barry drove the car back to his home a few miles away and was pleased to find that the Hornet actually drove far better than it looked, though the steering was rather vague. The steering set-up is similar to that of a go-kart. At the bottom of the steering column there’s a steering box with an arm that controls two rods to the wheels, which isn’t a standard configuration. Sorting the steering was Barry’s first job and also entailed replacing the king pins. Then he fitted new leaf springs and shackles at the rear. These shackles are metal, with no rubber bushing. There’s a thread on the shackle and a thread on the chassis and they are attached with bolts, with the movement taking place on the thread instead of rubber. At the same time, new gas-filled telescopic dampers were fitted which are an upgrade to the original specification. Once the ride and handling quality was sorted, the next job was for Barry to take a look at why the 308cu in flathead engine with a 262-cylinder head wasn’t running properly. “Looking at the engine bay, on first glance you could be forgiven for thinking that it was either the incorrect engine, or cylinder head fitment,” he reveals. “I did a little research and was relieved to learn that my car has the correct engine and that the 262-head which delivers an 8:1 compression ratio was quite a common period fitment. In other words, the engine has a high compression head. “The first thing to do was to ensure there was sufficient compression in all six cylinders, and they passed with flying colours. The two-barrel Carter carburettor was possibly suspect, old and rather worn, so I decided to carry out an LPG conversion. The engine would probably still return about 12mpg, but LPG is so much cheaper than petrol to purchase. The liquid gas comes along from a tank in the boot, enters the vaporiser, which vaporises the gas which is fed to the carburettor via two large Blos carburettors.” Simple! Barry then noticed that there were serious issues with the cast-iron exhaust manifold, which was removed, found to be cracked in a good many places and literally came apart in pieces. “I’m partially disabled following a serious motorcycle accident in my teens which put me in hospital for three years,” he explains. “Working on cars and the physical contortions often needed isn’t easy, and it was necessary for me to cut an inspection panel in the inner wing in order for me to gain access to the lower section of the manifold. I was going to attempt to repair the manifold myself, but there were just too many pieces, so ultimately I decided to get it welded by an expert. This was entrusted to Brian at Millbore Engineering in Hemel Hempstead (01442 242945,) who completed a superb repair job and it’s been perfect ever since.” Other restorative work completed on the car’s running gear included having the distributor rebuilt, and replacement of the 6v alternator which, strangely, was positive earth. The rest of the car’s electrical system is all 12v now. Much to Barry’s surprise, the Hudson Owners’ Club in America was able to offer a NOS 6v alternator, but they were very expensive so he decided to fit a stock 12v alternator, along with a new 12v battery. To date, everything has been working satisfactorily. Now that the Hudson drove okay and all mechanical and electrical issues had been sorted over the winter, Barry focused all his efforts on getting the car repainted. When he purchased it, the car had a brown roof, a yellow midsection and a cream lower section. He opted to change these three colours to pale blue and cream which was fortuitous as not only did he like them, but a friend had a surplus job lot of blue paint. “My father used to be a panel beater, and I remember when you could purchase cellulose paint for £5 a pint!” quips Barry. “There’s an awful lot of paint required for the Hudson, so blue was definitely going to be the primary colour.” Repainting the car was entrusted to a friend, Martin Seager. “We’ve known each other since the days when I ran a 1972 AMC Javelin custom car called The Predator. We met for the first time when I was struggling to remove the gearbox and I heard a voice shout out, ‘Would you like a hand?’, and it was Martin walking past my house. He then went to live in Devon, but some 20-25 years later I was working on a Chevrolet Nova, once again struggling to remove the gearbox, when I heard a voice call out, “Would you like a hand?”, and it was Martin again – and we’ve been friends ever since! “Between us we bare-metalled the bodywork and found some suitable premises to paint the car,” says Barry. “To be fair, Martin completed 90% of the work; because of the bending down, I physically just couldn’t manage it. I’m eternally grateful to him for his help, because painting the Hudson has transformed it from an awful mess to something that I think is very beautiful.” It’s not until you closely inspect Barry’s Hornet that you appreciate the huge amount of individual styling elements that go to make up this imposing car. There’s plenty of chrome and stainless steel trim and mouldings and badges, some of which have been powder coated to enhance longevity which is a whole lot cheaper than getting it rechromed or sourcing replacements and, apparently, they are still original to the car. The interior is equally as pleasing and fascinating; mostly original, nicely patina’d, and with plenty of ‘bling’ too. Barry would love to have further detailed the engine bay, but as the engine needed to be removed to do the job properly, and due to its huge size and weight plus his limited mobility, this isn’t really an option right now. For him, simply owning something as rare as the Hornet, now fully sorted and painted in his favourite colours, is more than enough pleasure. “This car is now so reliable, I’d drive it anywhere in the world without batting an eyelid,” he grins. Way to go Barry!