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American Road Magazine
Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Road Trips The Hard (but Fun) Way


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Morning one and all,

 

Some of our Hudson-Essex-Terraplane Club members have been traveling lately - you want to talk about doing it "back-in-the-day"!!!!! For those of you who like the wind in your hair this is the way to travel:

 

Hi all: Last Thursday I took the 1919 On a 350Mi. round trip on Az. Route 66. (See pics in my "1919 Hudson" photo file folder) I averaged 60 MPH on the I-40 and varied from 45 to 65MPH on Route 66 due to 65MPH head winds and blinding rain and snow. Over all it was a great trip. The Hudson never faltered including the two hours of night driving, the lights worked very well. (The car is 100% stock) Mike...

 

Pictures here (hope this link works):

 

http://groups.yahoo....758273/pic/list

 

Yes, this road trip was done in a 1919 Hudson!!!! I love the "45 to 65 mph on Route 66 due to head winds" bit. LOL

 

And if you think road tripping in a 91 year old car is a fluke, here's another one, route and area not given.

 

Recently took my original '17 7 pass. J on a 250 mile loop, shreaded the touring car top for the 2nd time in as many years, but still managed to dodge the lighting bolts. These cars go and go and go, yeah now for the truth - ignition got wet in a torential down pour at full trottle due to a hood hold down on the passenger side not being connected I knew I was running on an odd number of cylinders across a high ridge when the ridge ended it was down a hill into a hole and then dead silence on the incline out. Finally had a reason to get the umbrella out. . . the weather passed the ignition dried quickly and back to full throttle. I was accused at a fuel stop by some harley riders of having exceeding the 65 mile per hour speed limit considerably. Iron pistons all the way.

 

So when you're tooling down old 66, or 40, or 30 or wherever give a thought to this current day travelers doing it the fun way!!!

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

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Accessing the pictures requires group membership which, of course, requires Yahoo membership. Yahoo membership I got. Group membership I've applied for. (I knocked three times and said Alex sent me.)

 

I was afraid that was going to happen. I can download the pictures and post them in the Gallery.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

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Sometime after applying to the egroup, I received a message asking for a short "Why I wanna join" essay but before I got around to responding I started getting messages and was able to reach the pictures. I guess I'm in. Seeing the car in recognizable spots like Seligman and Oatman is pretty neat and the retro camping pictures in Sepia (I didn't even know Sepia was on Route 66 :D ) are very cool.

 

Did you put those pictures some where others can see? If so, did you clear it with the owner?

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Sometime after applying to the egroup, I received a message asking for a short "Why I wanna join" essay but before I got around to responding I started getting messages and was able to reach the pictures. I guess I'm in. Seeing the car in recognizable spots like Seligman and Oatman is pretty neat and the retro camping pictures in Sepia (I didn't even know Sepia was on Route 66 :D ) are very cool.

 

Did you put those pictures some where others can see? If so, did you clear it with the owner?

 

Gallery, and no - didn't think to clear with owner, but probably not a problem, as I did have permission to turn a couple into black & white and post on my web site. Will do so.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

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Gallery, and no - didn't think to clear with owner, but probably not a problem, as I did have permission to turn a couple into black & white and post on my web site. Will do so.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

 

(Later that same day) - permission granted from the owner of the pictures. I just got sort of carried away by the idea of driving the old roads in a (really, really) old car. I usually ask before hand.

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I thought they might be in the gallery but I can't find them. Not a problem for me (since I'm now part of the in crowd :) ) but could be for others. Got a pointer?

 

 

Thought I had downloaded to the gallery. But I just got off the phone with the fellow who owns the car and he registered with American Road, but says he couldn't find the pictures either.

 

I had this problem once before, if you remember. Turns out I did something that that supposedly couldn't be done. I can open the gallery and then click on "Members Gallery" and the first set of pictures are the ones I posted.

 

And when I log on to the forum the pictures are coming up in the recent gallery images.

 

So I wonder what is the problem with everyone else. Maybe because I posted them???

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

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When you create an album, there are check boxes for public, friends, and maybe more. If they're in a separate album, it might not have the public box checked. Click "Gallery" then "Member's Gallery". and hopefully you'll see your album there. If not, my guessing is over :( If it's there, click on it then on "Edit Album". That should get you to a page with "Public Album" and "Friend Only Album" near the bottom. Public should be checked and Friend Only not checked. Click the "Edit Album" button to save changes. That might not be it at all but it's the best I got.

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Thanks Denny - learn something new every day!!!! Followed your yellow brick road, knocked 3 times and said "Denny sent me" - and they told me to go away!!!!! :lol: LOL

 

Found it, check public - hopefully it'll be visible.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

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Thanks Denny - learn something new every day!!!! Followed your yellow brick road, knocked 3 times and said "Denny sent me" - and they told me to go away!!!!! :lol: LOL

 

Found it, check public - hopefully it'll be visible.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

 

 

Thank you Alex for introducing me to this site. I can see the pics now!! I am glad you enjoyed my 1919 Hudson pics and now so will others. And yes you most certainly had my permission to post them. Mike...

Edited by flivver
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Thank you Alex for introducing me to this site. I can see the pics now!! Mike...

 

You can thank our resident guru (one of resident guru's that is) Denny Gibson. Denny takes a lot of road trips and they are worth reading. I got a whole collection of them in my e-mail storage bin that I take out now and again. Denny was the reason I started my own travel blog - over at http://www.freewebs....ankeetraveller/

 

Another fascinating travel story shows up here quite frequently - that's Lifelong Journey on the Road. Great reading so watch for when he posts (there's one on the board right now).

 

Safe travels.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

Edited by Alex Burr - hester_nec
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Hi all: Yes the 1919 Hudson runs on modern fuel. Read more about the car in transportation section. (Adventure touring vehicles). Mike...

Edited by flivver
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It's really quite a remarkable car, Hudson. Most of us Hudson-Essex-Terraplane club members tend to consider the touring with this 1919, and there is also a 1917 that the owner does some touring with, just routine. We don't see anything special in it.

On the other side of the coin, however, we have way to many members in the club that tend to leave their cars at home in the garage. Not sure if they don't think the car can keep up with traffic, or if they are trying to save the car as an investment, or whatever. While Mike has taken his '19 out on the interstate and run 65 or so with it, there are so many of the old roads, that these cars were built to run on, still left - especially between the Appalachian Mountains in the east and the Rocky Mountains in the west - that there is no reason not to drive the old cars as long as they are in reasonably good condition.

We have a club member in California who has a 1953 Hudson Hornet coupe with about 115,000 since rebuild. Walt, who is, by the way, around 90 years old has driven that car between Frisco and Connecticut, where his kids live, many times - usually in conjunction with a club National meet somewhere in the country. And Walt does not baby this car - he runs it around 70-75 on the I-state.

Jack Smith, who lived in Canada, regularly drove 1929 Hudsons all over the country - running 65-75 while towing a travel trailer. Yeah, us HudNuts are a little on the insane side. :D

So there you have it. You see an old car touring, be it on 66, 40, 50 or wherever toot your horn and give 'em a wave. You're seeing history on the move.

Be waiting to hear from Mike about another trip in the 1919.

 

Hudsonly,

Alex Burr

Memphis, TN

Edited by Alex Burr - hester_nec
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Hi All: A lot of folks have told me they envy my car. Well I am in envy of you folks that live in an area where the byways are easily accessible. Yes I drive the old 19' Hudson 60-65 on the interstate only because the nearest back road (66) is 70 miles away. Here in the middle of the desert there are few roads to choose from. I really hate putting hundreds of miles on the old girl just to get to the roads I can enjoy; makes the "Sunday" drive difficult. There is only one road out of town, state 95. (not to mention 6 MPG tops on the highway.) As soon as the temp drops below 100 this fall the Hudson and I will be back on the road with more pictures to share. Have many pics of past trips but they are on 35mm film, only turned digital last year. Mike...

 

 

P.S. Mobilene: My car (1919) is too early for the mobster era. (mid twenties to mid thirties) However there were plenty of them still on the road for the mobsters to use later on, and were still considered fast cars even then. Mike...

Edited by flivver
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Now how did I get so far behind so quickly? flivver, beyond a welcome, I don't know where the start. The Hudson and stablemates are fantastic and so is the camping gear. The whole concept, cruising & camping with capital-V vintage gear, is just layered with cool. I won't claim to be envious because I think I'm too much of a wimp to tackle that degree of retro-camping but I sure like the photographs. When I read your comment about "few roads to chose from" it occurred to me that the guy who bought the Hudson new probably said the same things. It's great to hear about the fun you're having. Welcome to the forum.

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DennyG: Yes there were very few roads in 1919 where this car could be driven any where near it's potential. I don't believe the first owner of this car had that problem as it was purchased new in Hollywood Calif. by a gentleman that worked for a movie studio. (this car was reputed to be the police chiefs car in the Key Stone Cops movies). A few years later the car was sold to the studio and remained a "movie" car to the 1950's when it was sold to a collector that had 200 plus cars. After the collector passed away in the late 1990's it was bought by a friend who later passed and the car came to live with me. This car never was driven out of Los Angles county till I took possession. I have put more miles on her than all previous owners put together. She had under 10,000 miles on her when I took possession. However the studios were not kind to her, to them she was just a prop.(They did keep her from the scrap heap where so many wonderful automobiles ended their days). Mike...

Edited by flivver
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Hi Jason: When I received the car it ran but was not up to a serious drive. It took me about a year to get it to the point I thought it was reliable for a long haul. The movie studios fixed any problem they might have had with the car any way they could but not necessarily correctly. There were many things I had to undo and redo to put the car back to it's original state. Most of the things were relatively minor but numerous. Most parts are not available so a lot of searching and attending old car swap-meets along with trips to the local machine shop was necessary. The computer makes that process a lot easier. Manuals for the car are hard to find and when found are sketchy at best, lots of things have to be figured out for your self or search out someone with the proper knowledge. Fortunately there was more of my labor involved than money spent.

As for getting her ready for trips usually an oil change,grease job, topping off fluids, adjusting steering gear and brakes, tightening important nuts and bolts. Soaking the wooden spokes to swell them tight, checking hoses and belts, tire pressure and re-torquing head bolts plus a general look over is about it. It probably sounds like a lot but takes me little more than a couple of hours. I enjoy it. I have never had trouble with her on the road. For just driving around town I hop in start her up and drive off like you would a modern car. Mike...

Edited by flivver
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Well, guys, I love it when someone who owns a very old car still drives it. What's the point of owning one if it rolls only on and off a trailer? jim

 

Jim: I am with you. My feeling about a vintage car is, if I can't drive it where I wish to go I don't want it. The fun is in driving and experiencing the car the way the original owners did back in the day and seeing the back roads the way they did. (History in motion) Mike...

P.S. Trailers are for boats. Not for something that has wheels and is capable of moving under it's own power. I do not own a trailer except for the one with a boat on it. (an older boat of course)

Edited by flivver
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