Featured Car for June 6, 2024
Owned by Paul Batson, Dorchester, Ontario
When looking for a classic truck 10 years ago, Paul bought this Hudson pickup in California after a member of the Hudson club told him about it. Paul purchased the truck and had it shipped to Canada. Being a California car, the only work Paul has done is to replace the truck springs with passenger car springs to make it easier and nicer to drive. He named the car “Betty” as a tribute to a female engineer.
Only 3000 examples were produced in 1946 and production only lasted until 1947, so it is a fairly rare find.
Derived from a 4-door passenger sedan, the interior is very well appointed with features such as a radio, clock and ashtray. To make the truck, Hudson simply cut the car behind the front doors and added an 8 foot box with a wooden floor. Many parts from the passenger car model were used on the truck, such as the rear fenders. Oddly-shaped pieces of sheet metal, nicknamed “buffalo chips,” were used to fill the gap between these fenders and the truck box.
Also because the truck is car-based, it has a 3-speed manual shift on the column which frees up floor space where the shifter normally would have been. As a result, 3 people can comfortably sit on the bench seat.
An interesting feature is that the radio volume, mute and station presets are controlled by a foot button on the floor beside the clutch pedal. Very advanced for 1946!
The straight 6 cylinder engine produces about 128 hp. It also has electric overdrive in all gears.