The Fabulous Hudson Hornet | Full Documentary

foreigner was the Big Bang of NASCAR. They really build cars that dominate a race. 1952 they won. I think they were in the car for 27 or 34 races and it's really wonderful to drive, probably the best handling car in the world. 50's, they didn't gloat, it was at the start of the races, it was a great time, they fought furiously for over five hours. It's the oldest championship car we can tell, so tell us the story of what happens to a racer. tells the story of what happens to an orphan tells the story of a famous racing driver Thomas wins his third weed was one of the best, if not the best, driver to ever come through Mexico part of racing history Hudson's is the Pixar movie, Doc Hudson's story in that movie is very much the story of '92, yeah, that car's movie is what put this car on the map, people understand that there was a car which was completely dominant in the early days of NASCAR for a specific issue.

Pretty tight moment in time, this was the best racer in the world and this is the race car that kicked everyone else's body. I don't think Hudson had in mind that they were going to build a race car. I think what Hudson had in mind is how can we create a new design? How can we make a car a little cheaper? How can we make it safer? Motorcar Company was founded in 1909 in Detroit by a group of relatively young and very energetic engineers who had come from J.L. Hudson of the University of Michigan, owner of the Hudson Department Store in Detroit, provided the money to start the company until the In the 1920s, even before the depression, they were the third largest automaker in the country with about 300,000 cars during the depression.

They slowed down a lot in the early 1930s, but continued making cars until World War II, when the auto industry performed the miracle of conversion that helped the still German and Japanese war machines. They all stopped making cars and started making tanks, jeeps, warships and airplanes. So Hudson did not come out of the war with a big chest like many of the larger companies had during the war. Hudson had some contracts with the federal government. Other independents like Studebaker Nash Hudson had minimal contracts and I'm sure that was helpful, but not building cars or marketing made a tremendous difference to them in terms of the resources they had to use after the war.

The conversion of war plants to peacetime. Pursuits moves at

full

speed and once again the car factories hum like huge stamping presses. They form the bodies of the first cars produced since the spring of 1942. The foreign war of 1946 ended and they came out built with the same body that they did before the war during the two years 46 and 47. Everyone runs to the load to get their car . They want to show that their car is different and better, so it wasn't until the late 40s when car production resumed and people started making new generation cars. Today the 48 Hudson introduced the new reducer model.

If you ask them what a Hudson is. most people would recognize those things from the 1948 body used until 1954. the design was a unibody type construction the frame goes around the rear the frame goes under this rocker panel you can't separate the body from the frame they are our post if you open the door normally the floor would be right here but it dropped several inches due to a lower center of gravity making it a tremendously excellent handling car it obviously had a boosted six. cylinder engine in it Forward above what they had used in the 46 and 47 models and they continued trying to develop that engine.

Stock car racing really started in the 1930s, it wasn't long before they started drawing crowds and drawing more cars and someone took notice. Hey, we can make a living in Louisville versus four thousand two hundred and fifty dollars for a while, in the late 1940s, there was a whole alphabet soup of stock car sanctioning bodies and they were all jockeying for position and saying, "This guy is a champion of this and this guy is a champion of that when NASCAR started in 1948, they were running modified coupes before World War II, basically all 39 and 40 Fords and the idea behind them is that they were cheap, they were plentiful and they were very easy to jump and you can go fast there were mechanics there were guys like Red Vogue and Bob Oseki who made speed parts and built cars Red Vote would build cars for drivers for racers for police and for moonshine and he always said that. the guys who were faster cars were the Moonshiners because they had more money and they knew, as Junior Johnson once said, if you lose a race, you go home, if you lose with an illegal car, you go to jail.

Bill France wanted to start NASCAR with the strictly stock division, but there weren't enough cars that American manufacturers hadn't revved since World War II, so he had to wait until mid-1949 to bring out the strictly stock cars. He knew that deep down everyone knew they could be racing drivers. If they had the opportunity and he realized that racing could be huge if there was a uniform set of rules, he would go to people in the Northeast and Southeast, he would go to a roadster division in Ohio, trying to get everyone who was racing at the time reaching this agreement here is one thing that gave Bill France an advantage.

Bill was a driver that promoters had burned in the past. Bill France and a group of promoters, drivers and mechanics he worked with gathered at the modern hotel in Daytona. Beach in December of 1947 because they thought they had to organize, there was more money for everyone if they organized and worked together and everyone liked the idea and that's how NASCAR came about, car-oriented, if your grandfather had a Ford. Dead Ford, when you got big enough, you got it, people didn't know Lee pitted, but then you were Hudson and then you were Plymouth, so they would come to the race and drive the Hudson to Grace or Plymouth to the race and everybody then It was okay all week when they started the strictly stock division in mid 1949 and that's when you started seeing all the new cars, all these cars don't look the same anymore, they all look different, they all look like the car I drive, so When we started seeing new bodies, new engineering, I think people got interested, they got excited, you could look and there could be 13 or 14 different manufacturers competing, occasionally you would see Buicks, Ford was racing, but I think their first win was in 1950 Chryslers, Oldsmobiles. great competitors, the first supercar Nascar had was an Oldsmobile Rocket 88, that thing was a beast 1949-1950. then came the Hudson 51 which was on the Roosevelt in 51. 48-49 design was improved with modified engine Hudson decided to brand it with a new name, something new and something fresh, they called it Hornet right now.

I would like to see something you want to remember The

fabulous

New Hudson hunts the car that gives you Miracle H power in its new and sensational high compression h-145 engine guests nobody the Hudson Hornet is the best news in current motorsports magnificent Bill under Beauty and more room than any other car at any price, they widened the block and managed to get it to 308 cubic inches, pretty close to a current Mustang 5-0 in an inline six and that was the largest flathead six available in those days . It was pretty ahead of its time in terms of the way the car was designed and they were making it for the street, but it turned out to work really well for racing.

At the time we were in the 97 horsepower six-cylinder Plymouth, the Hudson. It was rated at 145 horsepower, the standard Hornet engine. Here's another thing you'll like about the new Hudson Hornet that hit the track in '51 and all of a sudden people realized that car is fast, that car can take corners right off the line. The car was a real hit off the track, there's a man in a hurry and that's part of Teague, of course, the first time it really caught the eye was the 51 Beach race at Daytona, which was the one that really made everyone turn. stand up and take note of Daytona on the beach Marshall takes Maybe A race with an accident, that's the first time we sang a Hudson with the racer sign called me on the phone in 1951 and told me that yesterday we had a car race stock and Marshall T won the Marshall Teague at Daytona and I took that nice one and hung up and didn't do anything about it for four or five days and he called me back and said what's wrong with you?

Aren't you going to do anything with Marshall Pete? He won the race. I told him yes. remember that, but I don't think it's very important to us, we don't build race cars, we build cars and he said, well, it's very good and you better get to work and, in fact, in the early days the Hudson Hornets They were called Teague mobiles Marshall T was a born engineer, he was very strict with details, he was in the air corps during the war and used the same type of aircraft preparation for the Hudson. What happened was he had gotten that 51 Hudson from Milford Brothers in Jacksonville, if you look at the pictures in 51, the whole front of the car is taped up because that car had to go back to the dealership and they were going to sell it.

Michael Teague looks at his car over Marshall being the engineer he was, he was so in love with a car that he contacted the Hudson factory and the people at Hudson were very astute in what they were building and were always looking to improve it, so that they listened to him and we agreed to give Marshall a car and provide him with the parts we agreed to let him keep whatever he wanted, we didn't want Marshall to take a look at number six, all we wanted was to make sure he won, they started providing vehicles in 51 fatigue, providing racing parts for engines.

Not only was it a Hudson, but it would build enough of a brand behind Hudson that even in some of the Hudson archives it's called The Tigma People Marshall and I decided we needed to put something on the car and you're just a

fabulous

girl and I said, wow, I think . That's right, it's called The Fabulous, so we did it with Marshall's brother Tommy, who was kind of an independent artist. He came up with that logo in the design and he painted it there with tempered paint. In fact, Mitzi T talked about how he had a beautiful new white color. coat and in the Victory Lane photos you can see where some of the paint is smeared because she leaned against him with a coat, she got that paint all over her new coat, she was very upset because he started winning and That's when people really started.

Paying attention seems easy when you do it Marshall T Marshall Association of stock car racing inspectors who certify that every important detail of these cars is material, that every part is available to the American public, and that it is listed in the manufacturer's parts book for that car and for That year, the stock car was very original, these cars have not been improved in any way, they are the same products that are sold in a showroom, because no matter how it left the dealership, you couldn't change the engine. changing the tires couldn't change much it was strictly stock each car undergoes an eight hour inspection before being certified provide things if they change a small nut and bolt on the turbo we were banned and would have to return Once again, Drivers cried: How can we improve speed?

How do we prevent standard elements from breaking? for a taxi and if you could order those parts for the police and you could order those parts for a taxi, then you could put those parts on a race car. We all know these parts were built for racing, but Hudson had to prove that they were being available for other cars made all the difference in the world bigger axles bigger front axles eventually bigger engines different carburetor setups the H twin the two cars carbureted were definitely a result of NASCAR influence it was something no one else had at the time when Hudson made it so they could advertise.

Hey, we have a good family car here, but it's also good enough for racing, so we know it's good enough to race on the street, so that was way ahead of the game, the Hudson was the right car. At that time I always thought that you can be the best, but if your car is not the best, you are not going to win. Hudson hired a guy named Vince Higgins to run his NASCAR program. It was just brilliant, he was part of that golden team. team of people who knew exactly what they were doing and did it very well, had an engineering background and Vince was the supervisor of the program and Vince cultivated relationships, was the intermediary between Hudson, the company and the brokers, and made sure that the Racers had what they needed, they also hired Smokey's eunuch to be a crew chief and develop the cars mechanically.

Smoking was a genius, an irascible genius, but a genius,However, Smokey had earned quite a reputation as a great racer. The builder had found some unique ways to move. some NASCAR rules and he was pretty proud of them, everyone used to talk about how he cheated, he said, "I didn't cheat, I just did what wasn't in the rule book and then they found it and I put it in the rule ". book Hudson had a great relationship with the drivers, but Marshall Teague is considered the person who started the company's team racing. He somehow figured out how to make that work.

Marshall went out, got Herb, Thomas to join him. Dad was relieved of the points, so he was drafted into a marshall approach, they got together and sure enough, that was the beginning of Hudson and dad, Here comes Thomas in another key car and by '52 oh man, they went and they left. The herb towers are still ahead in the pace Tegan takes. fun herd for a second third thomas brought a level of professionalism and a level of driving skill to the

hudson

team that no one else had ever had.the best natural drivers saw these guys racing and said well hell if they can do it i I can do it, indeed, look at the verb Thomas while driving his car at breakneck speed, apparently he was self-taught and it started to come to him while he was running. and he kept getting better and better and then here comes the Hudson and it was a perfect match once he got in that car smoking eunuch and he was almost unbeatable so he didn't like listening to people but he heard smoking if it was a big event and there was a new car like at Daytona or Darlington Smokey would build that race car and dad would take care of it then he worked on the car he was the first champion owner driver in NASCAR who was the first two-time NASCAR champion and the two years he wasn't champion he was the second third Thomas throws coal on the fire and Lead puts it on the wall at the first turn grass Thomas drove trucks in the army in World War II came from a family of farmers in a small town called Olivia, a tobacco producer in Carolina of the North and owned a sawmill, but could drive a race car like no one else, I heard, he got into racing after the war, raced, modified, took over his father's Plymouth Granite.

I don't think dad knew that he took his dad's car and made some money. I think he won like 25 dollars in a race. He felt really bad about it, so he told his dad, gave her the money, and then decided, "Okay, I can." To do this, he entered the first strictly NASCAR race at Charlotte in 1949, won races in Plymouths and Oldsmobiles and then moved to the Fabulous Hudson Hornet in 1951. He was competitive at every track he went to. Herb was the kind of person he was on Strictly Business. At the party at night, he went to the racecourse to compete abroad, it took me seven hours.

Herb always said I got there in six hours. I mean, no matter how fast you got there, you know she would always be the first one there. he would be the first to go because he won the race, probably Petty, he was a sensible owner driver, he believed you either won or it wasn't worth talking about, he never rested, it was every day he went after it, they were a working couple and nothing he had my mother's support and he could never have done this with her she was a collaborator he wasn't someone in it for the glory he wasn't in it for the publicity he was in it to win today he really hasn't changed you have some guys that are braggarts , loud and confrontational and you have some guys who all they want to do is go out and play.

That's the famous Funk Brothers team, the flock. The brothers Bob Foni and Tim had very outsize personalities, they were guys who were very popular in the band's favorites, very outgoing and very attractive guys like Herb Thomas and Lee Petty were more businessmen Tim Flock was more the face of Hudson the company Tim Flock had a monkey in his race car Jaco Flaco was the name of the monkey that Ted the monkey bought and he had a seamstress in Atlanta to sew this monkey two very nice uniforms they named him after him they got him a helmet with glasses and the name of Jocko on the roof of the car in front of the grandstand had this little seat that was mounted next to Tim now we didn't tell any of the drivers or promoters or anyone that this monkey would ride me in that first race in the home stretch, some of these drivers were looking here is this monkey smiling at him looking out the windows some of those cars almost hit the fences we did wonders for Hudson and the kids loved them and they asked him and said where is Jaco, we miss Jacob, he said: I'm sorry kids, I had to fire him, I couldn't teach him to sign his autograph, you know?

If you had a monkey like Jocko with you, they would be wildly popular. NASCAR was crazy in those days, you know anything to make a book, anything to promote the race, anything to make it fun, it was still ahead on the beach, but Teague? he's taking a funny block for a second, it was cool growing up with him and there were just trophies all over the house, I mean every room had walls of trophies, he was so quiet he never talked about it. Dad was just as happy making a good crop with tobacco as I imagine he was racing if he wanted the stories and to know what happened in those races and how he got to where he was.

Grandma would tell me everything, but I know he knows it was important for us to go down. to the farm first thing in the morning, you know, 5 30 in the morning and grandma was riding shotgun reading the paper, my brother and I were in the back, you know, we're probably 10 10 12 years old and someone surrounded him outside and um we were in that 1970 Pontiac Grand Prix and he just went wide open holding it and grandma hits him with the newspaper Herbert look at Ernie damn he didn't have to pass me well Herb was in 131 races in their life. and she won 43 of them at Hudson's and if you check her record today she still has the highest percentage of races won compared to races entered and she also didn't restart for long you know she was out of there by 55 56 and she didn't you know where.

He could have gone if he had stayed healthy when on Sundays sell on Monday was the slogan that was created in the early 50's. I would call the ad agency after the race the devil, we won again and they would have an ad in the newspaper. The next day, he kept us alive, in fact, he increased us immensely. Seeing the US stock car champion at its Hudson dealerships now, yes, it's surprising to me how quickly Hudson stopped being the King of the Hill all those years and not only. they won three championships in a row they came second in points in those three championships I also mean that no one could touch him and for them to be here and then fall off the cliff I just don't understand it, he didn't change his style and style remained the same for so many years who refused to spend the money.

The Hornet was a very successful Hudson vehicle, there's no doubt about that, but you have to remember the general economy of Independence in the early '50s, they were all starting to suffer, so it was a tough time every year, the Hudson Hornet sales declined. Some of the smaller automakers, Hudson being one of them, didn't have the financial resources to develop technology as quickly as GM, Ford or Chrysler, what Hudson did on the track was impressive what they didn't do was follow, They didn't come out with a VA because they didn't think they needed one, it was flathead, it had two single barrel carburetors, I mean it was as old school as you.

I could get it, but it was old school taken to its final resting place or whatever you want to call it. The last days of old technology will always be the first days of new technology. Hudson still had the lead initially and that caused buyers to be conservative. I've had Hudson before. I think I'll stick with the Hudson until it becomes inevitable. I couldn't compete and that's really what killed Hudson. The pressure of you know the expression. It could have had a V8. Wow, I could have had. A Ford V8 came out with their overhead valve engine and Chevy came out with their small block Chevy and that was the end.

I mean, that was the end of Hudson competitively. Many people think that Hudson executives didn't really understand what. was happening in the decline in 53 Hudson tooled up and built a new small car and, frankly, that market didn't hit us until around the early '60s. Imagine it was in disrepair across the line, so Nash and Hudson They got together and in May 1954 they merged and formed American Motors Corporation, it was the largest merger in corporate history up to that time, they moved production to Kenosha Wisconsin and built cars there for three years, basically a Nash Hudson body and 1957 It was the end of the brand. in his time in NASCAR he won 79 races, Thomas won 39 of the 79, Thomas sets a new record for the 250 miles, must have been a Dusty three and a half hour 51 at West Palm Beach Speedway in 1955, Hudson I's last victory . got and then he moved to Chevrolet because Hudson was going under Vince the heathens needed a new job and he was the perfect guy to launch Chevrolet's Skunk Works program, you know, behind closed doors at nollie Chevrolet in Atlanta, he would be responsible for any racing influence seen there, he had all that knowledge from his years at Hudson and he put it to good use in a Chevrolet.

I heard that Thomas became the first three-time winner of the Southern 500, but unfortunately his career came to an end in 1956. He was injured in Shelby, North Carolina, in a very controversial race. He was leading the points at the time and we had this guy who ran the Caper Mercury outboards and he was strictly the first pro team that came in and gave it to him that he was a guy who took no prisoners, you know? He wanted everything his way and he wanted to win no matter what he was behind in points and we were approaching the end of the season.

He was able to buy an extra Nascar race. He gave his two drivers, Buck Baker and Speedy, a chance. opportunity to pass her somewhere during that particular race. Herb had a serious accident. They were running one, two, three, Herb Speedy and Buck and Speedy got into the side panel of my grandfather's car and he rolled over and I think he was in a coma for 30 days and got a fracture. his skull and he almost died there are no movies about it there are some people who were there that night and saw it but it's all his interpretation even today people will tell you there is no definitive answer it all depends on who you talk to someone said yes old man Herb, Speedy eliminated it.

I know people didn't know I was just a race in the accident. We'll never know that they really screwed him up with all that and that was the end of his career, so Black ran those last two races. He got enough points to pass my grandfather, but he had 56 in the bag, he had three titles at the time, he probably would have been a better known name if he had kept Racing for another four or five years, holy cow, there's no telling how far he could go. have arrived. Although he ran a few more races, it wasn't her, Thomas, there was a lot left in me.

I never had a chance to show it to him. Pixar came to the Nascar Hall of Fame looking for an idea of ​​what the supercar of the 1950s would be and we said he had to be Hudson's horse, he absolutely had to be the Hudson Hornet. We wanted to have an older race car and that character would have two purposes: one to show a character who had left the racing world behind, maybe had the rear end on. them from the racing world, but he could also serve as a mentor to Lightning McQueen. You know, you look at that car and you think, well, that's not that fast.

You know, Lightning McQueen calls it Grandpa's car. It just looks like a cool car from the '50s, but the car was. dominant and I think a younger person could look at that car and go find grandpa's cool car and not realize the legacy and the speed of this car, by humanizing it and creating a fun character that kids could identify with, which It's not just an inanimate object that gets them from point A to point B, it was something that you would love, so this is a way to introduce them to the culture. People always say who their favorite Cars character is.

I get that question a lot and I. In fact, I always say Doc Hudson and not only do I say there are a couple of reasons, one was that it's the last movie that Paul Newman did a voice for before he passed away, such a legendary actor and Paul Newman probably considered himself more of a pilot. racing. that an actor if you had asked him well, I don't know, I mean, there are things that are worth it, but running is something in every sense, it is personal and it is very, very individual and it is something that I do and I have fun like you .

Don't come back and say well, that was take one, you know, and I'll try it, take two, you know, take one is the only take we have here, that's it, he wanted to make this movie, he felt a connection. very strong with the DOC character and When we took him to the studio to record, he looked at the lines we had written and said, ah, no, that's notThat's not really what a runner would say and our director John said, what would you say? Let it just be you, what would you say? In this case, and literally that character is Paul Newman, he's okay, you can drive as good as you can fix the road and then you can win this race with your eyes closed.

He now he comes out again. Doc Hudson's character reflects the grass. Thomas won several piston cups. He left. because of an accident and that brought back a lot of memories, I said, damn, I almost forgot about the deal with Hudson and how they dominated for two or three years, took the gap with the Old Hudson and took it to the new step with a super. boat, so he filled in all the gaps, hey buddy you are a brave racer, oh hey mister king you have more talent and a nut than many cars with all their bike.

I think there are more people who knew Richard Petty as Mr. The King than having to do with driving a race car all these years I know kids do, it was a great story and appealed to a lot of kids who had no idea what was a Hudson Hornet. Generations have seen The Cars Moving Out and kept the Hudson Hornet name alive, you know, that adds to our passion, it adds to people interested in weed. Thomas is number 92 in 1952. The fabulous Hudson Hornet has an interesting history. It appears to be the last remaining Hudson factory sponsored Nascar car I believe.

One of the reasons this car is a Survivor is that Herp Thomas wrecked his car in 1952 mid-year, so this car was put into service for the remainder of the 1952 season and did not see a

full

season. , which is probably One of the reasons he's here today, in late July and early August, he came to Detroit. Hudson prepared another car for him. They prepared a financial note for him like a promissory note and told him: he will use this car to compete at the end of the period. of time if in theory it doesn't run out you would give it back to Hudson if you look at the race records you will find that this particular car raced and won first place in five races.

Look at this car, this is the 308 cubic inch straight six that had the Hudson Hornet engine attached to it, it's the dual carburetor Hudson called the standard and H Hornet engine, so when they made the dual carbs in '52, it became a twin h and a

hornet

, you opened the hood, that's exactly what you would see the two bright red air filters telling the world, hey, I'm a twin h looking at the engine, these are bolts instead of bolts that would have been screwed in and these are larger than what a normal stock car would have from the outside of the engine, that's the only thing that could give you a clue that something has been happening inside the engine;

It's really quite different compared to a stock engine, this is the 7x, that was the title of this heavy duty engine, this engine had a bigger bore, more valve relief, bigger valves, different cams, all kinds of things that were changed, probably this setup, I think at about 210. horsepower going through the manifold, the racing engines split the exhaust into two pipes, so two exhaust pipes came out the side of the engine, the regular 308 engine As standard it only had a single exhaust at the rear of the car, this car is equipped not only the three speed transmission but it has overdrive, racing cars would use overdrive or an automatic transmission depending on the length of the track, the type of track grass, Thomas used some automatic transmissions, it would depend on the race, Hudson had what is called a wet clutch, so instead of the normal type of surface for a clutch, Hudson used a shear clutch unlike any other car and that center clutch ran on oil.

People wonder how that could work. It is a very smooth and pleasant shifting clutch. It runs wonderfully, so as a race car, it's a stock car. car a latch that would be under the hood and that would variably break in the middle of a race that car put it on how can you see the unit? another hood slides up is Charles Dixon from North Carolina, upside down, some things you could do to modify the vehicle, one of the things I could do was unlatch the latch and use the bungee cord over the hood ornament and this will be common on Hudson or any other race car.

Bungee cord was developed as part of World War II, so it's real and they use that on race cars that get under the hood quickly. The car's hood ornament is a standard Hudson hood ornament. They used the white triangle from 1909 until they stopped building cars in '57. Very distinctive Hudson branding and all. Manufacturers had a problem with wheels breaking. Imagine taking those corners at high speed, they would just disintegrate, so what they actually did was take two tires and weld a second tire on top. You won't be surprised if you can order that as severe use. partly because you would want that in your taxi, you would want that in your police car.

NASCAR said it couldn't change the tire size, so if you wanted to change the tire size on a stock car, you would have to ask the manufacturer to offer you a larger size option on the standard vehicle's missing tire door. gas tank in the back, obviously if you're racing you want to have the best chance of filling it up, so this was one of the things NASCAR allowed you to do late 53 54 Hudson created a larger gas tank for severe duty vehicles , the Hudson brand underbody design required the frame to go around the tire, so to get the tire out there is an extra panel that clips in here and covers the tire, but again, for racing, they could Allowing them to have easier access, they were allowed to add attack to the dashboard to allow the driver the opportunity to know when to shift.

No radio would have been ordered in this car from the factory. The radio eliminates there is no reason to have those Creature Comforts, one of the other things I could What I did during racing was remove the rear seat, the rear seats were not bolted on, it just stays there with a Hudson, they just went into place, so as a safety factor, that's something that NASCAR allowed them to do, you can imagine if you're racing and you end up the other way around. It's not unusual to see a race photo with the seats outside the windows.

Yes, it was a dangerous sport. The only real evidence of a race is that when you look in the back seat you can see where the driveshaft comes from. It came loose at some point and went up the floor tunnel in these racing days, the cars ended up in the hands of an ordinary citizen in Kentucky, Jack Miller, who ran the last surviving Hudson dealership that sold parts around the country, for what people would call this. phone number in Ypsilanti and they would get the parts they needed to put their Hudson back together. The owner called and said you know I need brake parts.

I need stamps. I need everything to do a brake job on this car. I want to get it. Going again Jack said sure I can do that so Jack put together all the normal parts you would send for a 52 Hudson Hornet. The person called back and said none of these fit. These are not the correct stamps, so it became obvious at that point. Jack told Jack that this car had severe parts. Jack told him that he was interested in him. Ten years later, the gentleman called and said he was ready to sell it to them. Jack bought it even without knowing what it was or if it was real.

Jack Miller had been given all of Hudson's racing data from American Motors and that note that the signed herb was still in Hudson's archives and once the car got here, Jack compared that car to the serial number on the note. and lo and behold, it's the second part of season 52 grass. Thomas Carr my car about 10 years before I started it and I think the restoration was about five years after Jack had a lot of help in the restoration, which sent to paint when they started removing the paint from the top. There were its '92 markings. The end was the inch, so if all the fabric had been replaced when it arrived, the car did not have its original engine.

Jack had built a 7x and we put the 7x in it, you know the engine in a race. The car would have been changed five or six times anyway, he was a pretty confident mechanic, so a lot of the work and putting it back together Jack did all that and got it done. I think in the late '90s he continued selling cars out of here. in the 80's and 90's this was his passion and then to see him turn that passion into the Ypsilanti Auto Heritage Museum to really turn it into something lasting is truly an honor for him, when Jack's health began to deteriorate he was looking for another curator for the car. he stepped on the plate over about a five-year period, you know, learning the history of it, taking it to shows and that the Hudson Hornet is a big drawcard for the Ypsilanti Auto Heritage Museum.

People want to come see a real Doc Hudson about five years ago. Years later, a gentleman arrives at the museum with one of his grandchildren and they stumble upon the Hudson Hornet. He recognized him. His grandson recognized the balance on the autism spectrum, so we are always looking for ways to connect with him and bring him closer. knowing from his shell and helping him pursue his interest when he was very young, it's hard to get him to focus on something for a long period of time, but we knew he was always interested in cars and then when my son told us about this movie , Cars.

My wife Eve and I have probably seen this movie with him, I don't know 100 or 200 times, and it really helped him because these cars had personality and maybe he had some challenges with people being able to really relate to the cars. I really think it had a dramatic impact on his development. I think it made things a lot better for him, so I brought my grandson here and put him in the car and he got the biggest, most genuine smile in the world on his face, the smile on Alan's face. The face was, I mean, it was glowing and I thought, "I have to own this car." He came up to me and I all told him: I really want to buy a pair of these Hudson Hornets.

I really like them. I didn't want them. When I left the museum I became a little fond of it, we became friends and got to know each other and I finally ended up purchasing the car. We finally got to a point where I agreed to send the car to an auction. He guaranteed me that he would buy it and he also guaranteed me that when he bought it he would return it to the museum and I knew him quite well at that time. I felt like I could trust him to do all that and he has overperformed.

This car belongs here. this is his house, it should always be in the Hudson Museum, he is doing great things with it, it will be out for the public to see and it couldn't be a better transfer than with the current owner. It's still the most beautiful and iconic NASCAR racing car from the early 50's, handstand, it's the kind of car that just puts smiles on people's faces, this car is very important to Alan, this movie is very important to our families, it's just a way to connect and a way to spend time together on something that interests you both, it really was a stock car, right, it was a street car that took them to the race track, so I It's jaw-dropping when I sit in that car compared to a real race. car there's no comparison yeah well you sure aren't a dirty boy one of the most important things the doctor teaches McQueen is about running on dirt and he basically said you really want to be a runner you have to lift something dirt, not all my tricks, rookie.

Running on dirt is about being with your surroundings and feeling what's beneath you. I'll put it simply, if you go hard enough to the left, you will find yourself turning right if you really want to go out and be metaphorical about what it is. It's like saying that if you want to progress in life you will have to do some things that don't seem logical, you will have to do some things that are outside your comfort zone, but if you do it, there is a reward, we have to admire those people who they took a chance and the Hudson Motor Company took a chance and said, "Let's try it," and it worked for all practical purposes.

This car should go away. I mean, he raced on a race track. Should not. have survived, it's amazing that they treat it like royalty, there is no other championship car this old that still exists and the fact that it has survived is remarkable, this is exactly how it would have looked on the grid in 1952 and that's exactly how it is. going back in time to its first hit before the sand chipped the Chrome, it's just beautiful, it's fascinating that this is the only cup racing Hornet in existence, considering that at the beginning of the Southern 500, in the early 50, 70 started, 75 cars and 30 of them.

They were the Hudson Hornets, so I guess they ended up in junkyards. You know, no one knew that this was the beginning of something really big. Now that we've been in the sport for 75 years and there's one of these left, it's a little like Babe Ruth baseball. cards, right, kids used to take them, put them on the spokes of their bicycles,no one was thinking about saving them, so you know what makes these cars and this car special, these NASCAR racers simply don't exist today, they are all gone from this car. It doesn't matter, this particular one causes the history it has.

It is simply a fantastic car that needs to be preserved. I think we consider ourselves caregivers. Just keep this for the next generation. It's people. I think it's vital that you keep that history alive. If we didn't have history, we wouldn't be and everything is related. We are now entering a phase in which the internal combustion engine will become history at some point. It is important for future generations to know about these cars and understand these cars. know what's different about them here at the Museum we allow people to sit in the Hudson Hornet, especially young people, we want them to participate in putting the children in the car, we think it's important for us, how does it feel to ride in this fabulous place? like a plane to travel I feel flat Oh Thomas the record holder come up it's not about the pieces it's about the people it's about putting the whole package together weed Thomas Smokey eunuch Vince pagans and The Fabulous Hudson Hornet were the first example of the whole package, they transformed the sport that immortalizes them and makes them live forever.

It's funny because Herb never looked for attention if you want to go out and compete and he wanted to win. He never sought to be a role model or a superstar or anything like that, but his career through Doc Hudson, the character became an inspiration to millions of children. Do you think this could go faster than the car you came in today? Yes, it's a racing car. Thomas has brought the number 92 to the pits beneath him and his team gets to work Thomas wants to race again Smokey Eunuch is a fighting mechanic who isn't going to waste all that effort free racing without fighting this is racing again maybe he doesn't look pretty but he can run and he runs fast Thomas and his mechanic are the most wonderful sight in the world there are so many things about his career that are so important he is on every top 50 driver list but he has the highest winning percentage of any driver people remember him as a superstar but I think they remember him as much as a good man, you know, with a good heart.

He loved to run until the end. He never missed a NASCAR race. He was in that recliner every day. He listened to it on the radio and watched. it on TV and that's how I got into it, the fact that I'm following in the footsteps of drag racing, I run his number in the car and the first time I ran his number, I made it to the finals in all three classes . I entered and won one of them. I've been running with the number 92 ever since. It was surreal being inside that car. There are three in the clutch of the tree on the left side.

Indicators that I don't even know. It smells like a car from the 50's. I wish I was around today to see this car. You know he'd want to get on it and take it for a ride. I didn't know what I was doing back then was going to be this big and we never thought this car would do it. to be such an iconic piece of American history, so yes, I am honored to be a part of it for its success in fine arts, because in that narrow period of three or four years it was the best.

You can't look at this like the 1957 Hudson. out of business the story is over this tree is still alive continues through the cars that still exist today oh foreigner