THE HUDSON TRIANGLE - Hudson Essex Terraplane Historical

THE HUDSON TRIANGLE
Exclusively for members of the Hudson Essex Terraplane Historical Society.
A 501(c)(3) Charitable Organization
Volume 16 Issue 1
THE HETHS
HUDSON
LIBRARY
IS OPEN!!
Winter 2014
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HET Historical Society - Moving Forward
Page 1
Departments
The Starting Line 2
Behind the Wheel 3
___________
The Starting Line
History
In the last issue I mentioned the Laughlin
Economy run, patterned after the MobilGas
Economy Runs of the ‘50’s. Members of five area
chapters participated. It turned out nice; great
weather, good turnout, nice variety of Hudson
products, etc. Pictures on pages 12 & 48 of the
Jan/Feb WTN.
John A. Conde 5
Hudson Dealerships 6
Hudson On The Road 7
Training Program V - Italia 11
Hudson at Indy 13
We drove our ‘54 Hornet sedan. On the way
home we noticed a new sound from the engine.
After inspection, we learned that Hudson intake
manifolds have durability problems. With the help
of Jason Fisher of Vintage Coach and our local
“old car mechanic”, we are back on the road
again, better than ever. In fact, since we have had
above normal (and dry) weather this winter, I
have been able to clean and detail the Hornet. All
set for the show season which lasts for about 11
months out here.
Historical Society Projects
Last year we were able to provide some
interesting articles. I want thank all those that
contributed to the Triangle. Their efforts make
this magazine a valuable asset for the HET
Historical Society.
There has been a lot of progress toward the goals
of the HETHS during the last few months. Read
about it in the following articles.
Hudson Library 4
Doc Hudson Project 9
Museum Report 9
2014 HET Calendar 16
Historical Society, Inc.
Board of Directors 15
Membership
Click, On Line 8
New Members 5
Correspondence 10
Membership Application 14
How to Reach Us 15
___________
Bob
Dedicated to Preserving the
History of Hudson Motor Car
Company
© 2014
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Winter 2014
Behind
Wheel
the
With Mike
As you read this we
are already well into
the New Year. Soon
we will be attending
our regional meets and not long after that
many of us will converge on French Lick for
the HET Club and HETHS International
Meet. So much fun to be had!
The Society continues to make progress.
Thanks to the help of many and the guidance
of Dick Teeter, HETHS director, librarian and
Doc’s keeper, the HETHS library is open for
inquiries and requests at the Antique
Automobile Club of America, in Hershey, PA.
In this issue there is information in the event
you want to take advantage of the wealth of
Hudson Motor Car materials. Thank you,
Dick and all who were instrumental in making
this happen. Without the help of many people
this could not have been possible.
Now our library truly is accessible to HETHS
contributors, HET Club members and the
general public. In a short time we will have a
system set up that will allow all current and
lifetime members of the HETHS some free
research, courtesy of the Society.
The HETHS is still negotiating an agreement
with the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage
Museum that will provide us with a real
Hudson Motor Car Company museum, which
will be located in the Miller Motors building.
That dealership has existed for well over 80
years and is near Detroit, home of the
Hudson Motor Car Company.
Thank you to Jack Miller, Ed Souers and
the YAHM directors for moving this to
fruition. It should not be too long until this
interim museum is up and running – hopefully
by July, 2014.
After the HMCC museum is in place, a
committee will begin to investigate an
approach for a permanent museum location.
Winter 2014
Doc Hudson currently resides in the San
Diego area and has some very good friends
there. Buzz Stahl, of Escondido, CA, has
done so much for Doc’s health and he
continues to work to make Doc ready to
begin his trip to French Lick, IN. Buzz has
been ably assisted by HETHS director
Richard Esparza. If you see either of these
Hudson fanatics, please thank them for their
help with Doc. They deserve our thanks and
more.
Before too long, Doc will begin his trip east.
If you can help move Doc towards Indiana,
let Dick Teeter know. Doc is the Society’s
and Club’s most visible marketing instrument.
The Society is proud of Doc and happy that
he has been received with such acclaim.
Again, so many people made this project go
from a vision to reality.
The HET Club and Aaron Cooper, HET
Club president continue to support the
Society’s efforts and we thank them for their
support.
So progress is being made on some
impressive fronts. There is one thing that
could accelerate all of the dreams and goals
we have and that is membership. Surely
you know of a HET Club member who does
not belong to the Society. Some don’t belong
just because they have not been asked. Ask
one of your Hudson friends to join us – WE
NEED MORE MEMBERS. Together we can
increase our membership. Let’s do it!
Finally, if you attend the international HET
Club meet, plan on attending the HETHS
business meeting. The meeting does not
last long and much information is shared.
Until we meet again, drive those Hudson
made automobiles and take care.
Mike
HETHS Facebook
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HET Historical Society - Moving Forward
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HETHS Reaches Another Important
Goal!
As you may know, the HET Historical Society
has set several goals for the preserving the
memory of the Hudson Motor Car Company
and many people have been working very
hard to accomplish them.
One important goal is to establish a safe and
secure library of Hudson material for use by
present and future generations.
HETHS President Mike Cherry is pleased to
announce that it is one step closer. The
HETHS historical material has been transported to the AACA Library & Research Center
in Hershey, PA. It has been sorted, cataloged
and listed on the internet.
The next step is to scan the material for easy
access on the web. Directed research is also
available.
Dick Teeter, HETHS librarian, recently visited
the library to check on progress. His report:
“I visited AACA Library yesterday. I was impressed by their facility and the care they have
given our materials. The storage area is heat
and humidity controlled and not accessible
to the public. A few pieces that have been
sent to me were added and will be included.
memory."
Note: Looking for info seems awkward. Keyword does not always find what you
want. Marquee opens for Hudson or Essex or
Terraplane but there are loads of listings that
must be looked at individually.
Categories are Misc., Book. Sales Literature,
Racing, Parts Lists, Owners manuals, Dealer
Albums, Dealer info, periodicals and photos. Also, when you find something you want,
it is not possible to click on subject to see it
because nothing has been scanned into the
system yet.
However, the material can be obtained using
the AACA Research Request Form which can
be found at:
http://
www.aacalibrary.org/contact/request.aspx
The Library Steps to the index are:

Web address: aacalibrarycatalog.org

Click on: Search the AACA catalog

Click on: Automotive Literature
Bottom line, material is secure. Finding what
a person wants can best be done using their
research request form.…….
Thanks Dave, Larry & Sue for your work with
the literature, and to anyone else who helped.
Dick”
Mike stated "The fact that Hudson Motor Car
Company historical information, including owners manuals, photos, advertising and news
stories and the like is now available to all, is a
giant step forward for the Hudson Essex
Terraplane Historical Society. These materials are now available not only to Society
members but to HET Club members and the
public as well. This is a milestone as now the
Hudson Motor Car Company historical information is readily available, for the first time in
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HET Historical Society - Moving Forward
Winter 2014
John A. Conde
1918 - 2008
by Jack Miller
Automotive enthusiast’s new to the hobby
probably will not recognize this name. John
Conde never published any information on repairing a collector car, but he did provide literally ’Ton’s’ of information on the history of
Nash, Hudson, Rambler, Jeffrey and of course American
Motors.
During 1946 as a member of
the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation public relations staff, John
Conde had a big part in the
Golden Jubilee of the Automobile which took place in
Detroit. Among his duties, he
was the personal escort for
Charles Brady King. who built
and drove the first car on the
streets of Detroit. This allowed John Conde to meet
many of the automotive pioneers who would take part in this giant celebration. The original King car named for its
builder is displayed in the Detroit Historical Museum.
During the merger talks by Hudson and NashKelvinator in the formation of American Motors,
John Conde was in charge of the team that
provided all of the data needed to form the
new fourth largest automotive company. This
would result in authoring several books including ‘The Cars that
Hudson Built’ and
‘Famous Personalities and their Cars’.
John Conde was a founding member and director of the Society of Automotive Historians
and also served many years as a member of
the Board of Trustees of the National Automotive History Collection at the Detroit Public Library. His carefully researched articles appeared in many publications and he spoke to
many car clubs and organizations with a color
slide show presentation.
After the merger, John Conde made many
trips to the closed Hudson headquarters retrieving Hudson historical data, photos and
publications for the new American Motors arWinter 2014
chives. Excess material not needed would be
provided to Hudson and Nash Clubs and collectors. Prior to the formation of America Motors, Nash-Kelvinator under John Conde’s direction starting in 1951 published annual ‘
Family Albums’ which after the merger became the ‘American Motors Family Album’.
Nine were published through
1976. The albums provide the
graphic story with original factory photos of American Motors and its predecessor companies which could be purchased by collectors from
American Motors.
John Conde upon the 25th anniversary of American Motors
and the 20th anniversary of the
Hudson Essex Terraplane
Club national meet which was
held at the Henry Ford Museum had American Motors reprint the original 1910 Hudson
sales brochure as a souvenir
for Hudson club members attending the anniversary meet.
Upon retirement from American Motors, John
Conde continued to provide help to collectors
and he was appointed to the job of Curator of
Transportation at the Henry Ford Museum during which time he wrote new identity labels for
the entire transportation collection.
Welcome to Our Newest Members
Active: Ruth Hay, George de Urioste , John
and Caroline Solari
Keep spreading the word about the goals and
achievements of the HETHS and making the
invitation to join our quest.
Seven wheelchair athletes have been banned
from the Paralympics after they tested positive for WD40.
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Dealerships of the Hudson Motor Car Company
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Winter 2014
Hudson On the Road
In 1916, Ralph Mulford and Hudson
decided to challenge the transcontinental record established by a Marmon speedster. For this the car was
a seven-passenger touring. Mulford
was joined by a two-man crew in
San Francisco and together they
barreled off to the East. Some five
days and three-odd hours later they
were in New York, having shattered
the previous record by fifteen
hours.
The car, they found, was still in superb condition, and feeling that one
good record deserves another, they
took off again, back to San Francisco. Though heavy rains in the Sierra Nevada mountains slowed them
some, they nevertheless broke the
Marmon record again and established the first
twice-across-America record in history. (Ref.
Automobile
Qtrly Vol. 9
No. 4).
In 1921, four
Essex's carried the first
automotive
“fast
mail”.
Two
cars
left San Francisco for New York while two
more left New York for San Francisco, each carrying U. S. mail. In spite
of bad roads, rain, mud and the usual conditions prevalent those days
on most of the roads, the average
speed for all four cars was four days,
twenty-one hours, thirty-two minutes.
One of them broke all the transcontinental speed records, and each driver was sworn in as a “special mail
carrier. (Ref. Hudson - the Postwar
Years)
Winter 2014
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CLICK…online
Do You Know?
Who invented the highway center line? You
know, that solid/dashed/double/single line
down the middle of the road, sometimes
straight; sometimes not, and sometimes
even painted over road kill. The question is
four part;
1. What state did this “invention” occur in?
2. Who thought of this idea?
3. What gave him/her the idea?

“Like” our Facebook Page https://
www.facebook.com/HudsonEssexTerraplane

“Visit” the HET Club

“Access” our Webpage

“Travel” with Doc Hudson www.hudsonhornet.org

“Read” past Triangles http://heths.resk.info/heths/
sidebar/triangle/triangles.htm

“Enjoy” Classics http://classiccarimages.com/
gallery.php?gid=62

“Check the Movies” http://imcdb.org/vehicles_makeHudson.html
http://hetclub.org
http://heths.info/
4. And finally, what year did this occur?
The answer later……..
Mario Andretti on Racing a Hudson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge_xhG2ABA&feature=youtu.be
Remember to renew your annual donation to HETHS and help the
advancement of our goals
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HET Historical Society - Moving Forward
Winter 2014
The Doc Hudson Project
Doc has enjoyed wintering in San Diego with
all of the other snow birds! Members of the
Southwestern Borders Chapter of HET picked
him up at the end of October from the California Automobile Museum, where he had
been since the HET International Meet in San
Mateo. They made great use of him in Sacramento and would have kept him if we had
let them.
thorough checking over and some minor repairs Doc went to the San Diego Automobile Museum in Balboa Park and has been
San Diego Automobile Museum
delighting children and visitors there all winter.
Carly Starr of the California Auto Museum
Doc will be featured at the Big 3 Auto Swap
Meet at Qualcomm Stadium at the end of
February at the Hudson Club space and Doc
may be featured at the La Jolla Concurs de
Elegance and even leading the tour in April.
From there, Doc will work its way on to
French Lick.
Buzz Stahl, with help from director Richard
Esparza, hauled Doc from Sacramento to
San Diego with his truck and trailer. After a
The mechanical inspection turned up a number of areas that need attention. Remember
that the initial plan was for a car for kids to
climb in and enjoy. Driving a 60+ year old car
back and forth cross-country was not part of
the original idea. However the tremendous
response that Doc Hudson has received has
changed the maintenance requirements of
the vehicle.
If you can help with parts or dollars or transportation, please contact Dick Teeter, 570470-4385 or [email protected]. Thanks for
your past and future support of the Doc Hudson project.
The Hudson Museum Report
Buzz and Doc
Winter 2014
Work is the planning stage now. More
details later.
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This is the only picture I have of the ’46. It was
black over yellow; wish I have used color film!.
Thanks for letting me reminiscence a bit,
Your Views, Rants and Raves
Bob – Your request for info on Hudsons in the
most recent Hemming's Classic Car magazine
caught my eye. I’m 81 and want to get some
of these thoughts off my chest even though
what I have to say is not really what you requested.
One of the first cars I ever drove, probably in
1949, was my buddies 1938 Terraplane with a
little preselector gear box set-up.
Then a year later I took my New Jersey drivers
test in a 1940 Hudson 4 door sedan. After 2
years in the Korean War as a paratrooper I
bought a 1946 Mercury club coupe upon being
discharged.
I kept that a couple of years and then bought a
1948 Hudson Commodore Coupe, 8 cylinder. Great car, but burned oil almost as fast
as gas.
Red Engle
426 N. Oak Avenue
Pitman, NJ 08071
1) Most of the time I knew him (Tom Lapin),
starting probably around 1949, he ran a one
lift gas station on the Black Horse Pike in Runnemede, NJ. It was located next to the entrance to NJ Turnpike Exit No. 3. I don’t remember what kind of gas he sold because he
really didn’t want to be interrupted when working on his beloved Hudsons. If I or one of his
other friends were hanging around he would
tell us to run out and take care of the customer. He was very trusting, with gas at 17.9.
Later he moved east about five miles on the
Black Horse Pike to a little town called Hilltop,
NJ, where he has 2 bay garage behind his
home. I guess I lost touch with him around
1957.
I had a friend named Tom Lapin1 who run a
small gas station but made his living working
almost exclusively on Hudsons. He put a good
6 cylinder engine in my car for, if I recall correctly, about $85.00, including a new wet cork
faced clutch.
What a great car! I have to think it was the
best engineered car available during the 40’s
and early 50’s. I traded it in 1956 for an almost new 1955 Chevy 2 door V-8 (hard to resist those ‘55s when you were in your 20’s).
HETHS Webpage
Alcohol does not solve any problems, but
then neither does milk.
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HET Historical Society - Moving Forward
Winter 2014
A Training Program - Part V
by Dennis Flint
The following is part 5 of the training material developed for docent training at the California
Automobile Museum.
Winter 2014
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The Hudson Italia
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Winter 2014
Hudsons at Indy
Hudson Motor cars have a relationship
with the Indianapolis 500 Race tradition. It was called the Indianapolis
500-Mile Liberty Sweepstakes.
In
1919, Ira Vail drove a Hudson SuperSix Special racer #27 from a starting
position of #10 and finished in 8th
place to earn $1600. Vail’s time was 6
hours, 12 minutes and 42 seconds. He
qualified at 94.1 mph. His racer was
one that he had raced in 1917 and
bought from the HMCC after they
dropped out of sponsored racing.
In that same race, Denny Hickey drove a Hudson Super-Six engined racer #21 to earn
$1500. He started in 27th place and finished in 9th place. His qualifying run was 92.5 mph.
Ora Haibe also drove A. H. Patterson’s old Hudson Super-Six Special to 14th place.
In 1931 a Marr Special with a Hudson Straight-8 engine would finish 10th at the Indianapolis
500. The car qualified with a top speed of 106 mph. The driver was Chet Miller and he also
competed in the 1932 race with an average speed of 89.50 mph. The racer used a very mildly
modified
255-CID
Hudson
Straight-8. It was built in a Detroit garage by Buddy Marr for
less than $1500 and a lot of
Hudson supplied parts to be over
95% Hudson.
In 1938, Stuart G. Baits (Hudson
VP, later to be a Hudson Director
and an AMC VP) drove a
dressed-up ivory Hudson 112
Deluxe Convertible Coupe as the
pace car. The purpose was to
introduce the new model. Other
112 models were provided for
“Indy Week” as the official cars
for the Speedway.
On Line
The Hudson Triangle is available in full color online at http://heths.info/. You may
make as many copies as you need (one for the car, the coffee table, the den and for
your neighbor). You can also take it with you on your tablet and smart phone wherever
you go (you can read it while waiting for your spouse). And it is a handy way to show
the Hudson Triangle to potential members .
Winter 2014
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The Center Line Question
Who did invent the highway center line??? His
name is Edward N. Hines. He got the idea after watching a leaky milk wagon leave a trail
down the street.
$_______ ACTIVE Membership $40
His idea was first used in 1911 in Trenton,
Michigan. By 1922, all of the major roads in
Wayne County (Trenton, Michigan) had center
lines. This simple idea has since been recognized as one of the most important single traffic safety devices in the history of highway
transportation.
$_______ GIFT in Honor or in Memory of
You can read more here:
$_______ LIFE Member $1,000 or more
$_______ CONTRIBUTING Member $100
____________________________________
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_N._Hines
$_______ General Donation
_________________________
$ ________ TOTAL funds enclosed.
Are You Getting Your e-Cards
Name:
In keeping with the HETHS educational goals,
a series of e-Cards on a variety of HMCC
products are being sent to interested parties.
If you are not receiving yours, just e-Mail your
request to [email protected].
Address:
Phone:
Email:
Please make payment by cash, check, or money
order payable to HET Historical Society, Inc., in
US Dollars, and mail to:
Carmen LaFlamme, 111 Besaw Road
Richmond, VT 05477
Thanks for your Support!
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Winter 2014
How to Reach Us
Winter 2014
HET Historical Society
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Page 15
Carmen LaFlamme
111 Besaw Road
Richmond, Vermont 05477
First Class
Return Address Correction Requested
The Finish Line
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Winter 2014