Dad decided at 7:30am that it would be a great time to start whacking on the rear drivers side drum. After a few hits that could have raised the dead, I suggested that we postpone until at least 9am. Don’t want the neighbors to hate me.
We decided to remove the hood, front fenders, and anything else that we could get off. Here is Dad in action.
Hood off:
I would like to get the engine out so that I can begin cleaning up all the suspension, but I don’t have a cherry picker at this time. Will borrow one from a friend and get the engine out. We removed the intake manifold, water pump, generator, etc. Will need to look into having the carburetors rebuilt. Dad thinks there is a guy in the White Triangle News that will do it. Finished cleaning up the garage and called it done for now. Here is a picture of yours truly at the end of the day.
Using a lot of WD-40 and patience we were able to get all of the stainless removed without damaging it.
We then went after the front bumper. It was hot and the sun was shinning on it making it almost too hot to touch so we worked on the back.
Took a few hours but we were able to remove the entire rear bumper.
Also decided to remove the gas tank. It was in pretty rough shape---large dent on the bottom and after we removed, determined that it had several holes in it where the metal was just rotted away. Might be able to have it repaired, but not sure if it is worth it rather then locating a new one.
I woke up early and decided that I could start by getting the garage cleaned up. My dad works in the garage the same way that my mom works in the kitchen---in a huge mess! After an hour or so getting things back in order dad was back in the garage and it was time to work on the front brakes. I used a wire brush to clean off the sludge and grease from the drums. Overall the Bendix brakes were in really nice condition.
After we removed the front drums from the front, we went onto the back. We needed a drum puller to move forward so we headed back down to Checker’s. They have rental tools which if you return in 24 hours, there is no charge. After getting the tool mounted to the rear drums, we started cranking. After a few minutes, it was apparent that we were not making any progress. We tried to back the screw out of the tool and it was stuck. Somehow, the pressure using the breaker bar that we applied distorted the threads on the tool and it was stuck. Back to Checker’s. This was the only one that they had---fortunately they didn’t charge me for the damaged tool. I was then off to the other Checkers, and they had the tool in stock and within about 30 minutes we were at it again. Still no luck. Committed to not letting the rear drums beat us, dad took a trip to a local mechanic. For $20 cash the guy loaned my dad a slide hammer drum remover. After taking turns for about 30 minutes whacking the hell out of the drum, and dad finally getting a huge blister, we called it a day. There has to be a better way.
The car has been untouched for almost 2 months---just too hot in the garage during the summer months in Phoenix. During the time away, my dad located another 308 engine from a 54 Hornet 4 door that had approximately 55,000 miles on it. Dad also was able to pull a bunch of extra parts from the car.
Dad is heading back out to AZ for a week or so. He is stoping at Bill Albrights to pick up brake shoes. Hope to get the brakes pulled over the weekend and start taking the car apart.
Took our first pictures of the car when I got into PHX. Overall, it is in decent shape. Going to be a lot of work but the amount of rust in the car is minimal.
During my frequent scour of ebay I noticed a 1954 Hudson Hornet for sale. Ignoring the pea green / white paint the car appeared to be in relatively good condition and looked like a great project. After a few drinks that evening, the phone rang and it was my dad. We caught up on the weeks events and then I mentioned the Hornet. He hung up and went onto ebay and within a few minutes gave me a call, “the car looks pretty straight. Probably not going to find one any better then this to restore. You sure you really want to restore a Hudson?” After a few minutes of going back and forth, I asked my dad to call the next day (the car was on the east coast and it was near 7 pm west coast time). My dad really like to talk cars and figured he knew more about it then I did. I wanted to find out the price that he had the car listed for locally, and ask a few things about the condition of the car. I went to bed that night and told Nicole, “I think I might have agreed to buy a Hudson.” She was happy about it as we have been talking about restoring her a “bubble car’ for some time. Here are some postings from the ebay listing:
