The first day of my trip to buy the 1952 Hudson Hornet sedan had lots of bumps in it. The first trouble of the day was when I was standing in my driveway at 4:15 AM, looking across the street at my neighbors dark house. The problem was the my friend and neighbor, Jon, as suppose to be ready to go, there was no sign of life in the house, and we needed to meet the Airport shuttle in by 4:30. I called his cell phone, I called his wife's cell phone, and I called the house phone; finally getting a very groggy Jon on the phone. His alarm had not gone off. 5 minutes later Jon joined me in the car and we sped off to meet the shuttle.
We arrived at the pickup point for the Airport scuttle to find that the shuttle was not there, but there was another person waiting. At 4:45AM I called the shuttle service and after navigating the menus, finally hit a live person who informed me that the shuttle was on its way but still downtown. Eventual the shuttle arrived and we were off to the airport for our 7:05 fight.
When we arrived at the airport we were surprised to see very, very, long lines at security. Thankfully I had already printed bording passes and we had no bags to check, so we got in line. Almost an hour later we finally got through security, just in time to hear our names being paged, our flight was ready to depart. Never before had I been paged at an airport. Jon ran ahead while I grabbed some fast food for us and followed as quickly as I could. When we were about to step onto the plane they told Jon that the overhead bins were full and that we would have to gate check his bag. In the rush, Jon gave them his bag, asked him where we were headed (San Antonio through Dallas), and gave him a ticket. As we sat down and took a breath he realized that his wallet and phone were in his bag.
The flight down to Dallas was turbulent with 100+ MPH headwinds, at least we arrived, but late. When we got off the plane Jon asked about his bag and was told that it was not just gate checked, but checked all the way to San Antonio. When we got to the gate for our next flight, it was already boarding.
On the flight to San Antonio Jon checked his bag claim ticket only to discover that the flight number to San Ant0nio did not match our flight number. They had checked his bag onto a different flight, a flight that arrived an hour after hours. Thankfully Russell (HET Club member that made this all possible) met us at the baggage claim and was understanding of our late arrival and the need to wait another hour for Jon's bag to arrive. In time, Jon's bag arrived and we were ready to go and see the car.
We had a nice short drive with Russell to Chester's house. As we got close I was happy to see my beautiful Hudson Hornet in the driveway, right next to another. Two 52 Hudson Hornets in the driveway was a beautiful sight.
We looked over the car, crawled under, and took a look inside. Another HET member, Rick, was already there and proceeded to adjust the doors for us. Jon and I took the car for a test drive and quickly discovered that the car lunged left when breaking. Russell & Rich offered to take a look at it while I worked on paperwork with Chester. I was happy to finally meet Chester in person, and his son-in-law that he called Mountain. Chester seemed like a very nice man and I was sorry to see him in a condition where he had to sell his Hudson.
After completing the paperwork and actually buying the car Russell informed me that it was the right front break that was bad and that we could probably fix it at his house. The 30 mile drive to Russell's was nerve wracking. Every time I hit the breaks the car would lunge left and quite often the left front wheel would just lock up. When we finally arrived, Rich and Russell jumped into the task of fixing the brake.
Here is Russell's perspective on the brakes. "When Michael tested the brakes, the car lunged to the left like it was avoiding a starry-eyed deer in the headlights. A quick inspection told us LH front brake was working, RH front was not. Fortunately, we got them and the car out to my house in one piece and proceeded to do an impromptu brake job. The wheel cylinders looked pretty gross, but fortunately I had an extra set on hand. So we get it all fixed up and start bleeding the brakes, and whaddaya know? Brake fluid starts spewing out of inside the drum on the RH side. Take it back apart, find out that my "new" wheel cylinder apparently had some extended shelf time and the cylinder wasn't smooth, but pretty coarse from some stuck corrosion. Additionally, the rubber seals were slightly too small . . . like 1-1/16" instead of 1-1/8". Lucky for me, I had some of those as well. A big THANK YOU to RPMonroe, who not only met us at the former owner's house for a last minute informal Hudson meet, but also came out to my house to help with the brake problem. Thanks a bunch Rick, hope your wife understands!"
Jon and I finally hit the road at about 9PM and got a couple of hours on the road before calling it a night.
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