I worked on my beautiful but non-functioning 48 Commodore 8 for a year. With the good help of the folks on this forum, many rebuilt components, and a Walt Mordenti carb overhaul, I got the car somewhat operational, though many of my test drives ended with a trip home on a flatbed. When the clutch finally failed I shipped the car to Wildrick Restorations for repair. I knew Doug from this forum, and I had bought parts from WRP.
Wildrick diagnosed problems with the engine (cylinder 8 not working), then replaced the clutch, fixed the brakes (master cylinder, wheel cylinders and shoes), replaced the corroded aluminum cylinder head with a cast iron head and fixed the valves. The shop also fixed some of my previous repairs, and I don’t think they will be hiring me as a mechanic just yet. I decided to have Wildrick install the one thing that would make the car a perfect driver – an overdrive transmission.
I flew to Indiana to pick up the car and drive it 750 miles home to New York. It was great meeting Doug, Teri, and the entire Wildrick crew in person. I spent the entire afternoon in the shop and test driving with Doug. The shop is Hudson paradise.
I left the shop late in the afternoon, took Route 40 (National Road) 170 miles to Columbus OH. The next day I drove from 570 miles from Columbus to New York. I took Route 40 east, and then Route 22 north east through rolling farmland, and then through a short section of West Virginia and on to Pittsburgh. Stayed on 22 to Altoona, PA, then Interstate 99 North to Interstate 80 East, through the Delaware Water Gap, NJ and home to NY by 11:00 pm. No problems, just smooth driving; it was a great trip. So here’s the result of the adventure:
1. Brakes work like normal car brakes now, I don’t have to leave twenty car lengths between me and the car in front.
2. The engine has power; I can accelerate up hills and pass other vehicles. Nice what that 8th cylinder can do.
3. The overdrive is great – more gearing choices, and comfortable highway cruising at 65 to 70 mph. Now when people tailgate me, it’s not because I’m too slow, it’s because they are nimrods (or they want to read the dealer tag on the back).
Figured I’d let everyone here know about my experience. I’m sure I’ll need to get the car back to Shelbyville in the future. Considering the way I ride the clutch, I better start saving the corks from wine bottles.
Josh Keller
Josh, that is so good to hear and the Wildricks are great to do business with.
It's hard to beat a good running and driving Hudson stepdown!
Did the carb work as it should be? No hesitation, and better mileage? Walt.
Walt,
The carb works well; a little hesitation when the engine is cold that goes away after warm-up. I got 18 mpg on the ride home. The ride was a mix of highway and local roads, I stayed off the Interstates until the last 250 miles. I used to get 9 mpg, but I'm sure the OD and the properly tuned engine is also part of that improvement.
Josh
Josh,
Thank you for sharing your experiences!
Anyone who can drive an "old car" 750 miles in a stretch is a "real" old car person!
Kudos.
I'm glad you are able to enjoy your car.
Rob
Josh-
So glad to hear your experience was great and that your car is in good running shape now. Ditto what Kerry said, nothing like a fine running Hudson.
Nice drive that route. Been over it a few times - first time was with my folks on a trip from southern Maine to the Dayton, Ohio, area - back in 1948!!!!! No joy in traveling the "new" interstates for sure. I use the old roads when I'm not in a hurry. Like 20 across New York, 24 thru the mid-west even today. When I got to the national in June I plan on taking U S 64 across. Beats the daylights out of I-40 with it's wall to wall over-the-speed-limit 18 wheelers. Only trouble with taking the roads that we traveled to Ohio on back in the late 40's, early 50's - today I can find nothing that looks familiar. Oh well. To drive it today in a vintage car is the tops. After all your Hudson was built for those old roads.
Hudsonly,
Alex B
Josh, we saw your car at Waldwick's a couple months ago when there buying parts. Nice car and I even took a picture of it. They should be driven. Enjoy the ride!!
Rob – you summed it up well – now I can enjoy driving the C8. When I’m on local test drives I like to note, “here’s the hill that used to be a problem”, “there’s where I used to stall”, and “there’s where the flatbed picked me up”. It feels good to drive with confidence, knowing that it will go (and stop).
Kerry and Russ – Thanks, and now that I have had the “well running” experience first hand, I agree!
Alex – I’m noting the roads that you mentioned. It would be great if folks would post their favorite routes as I hope to make more road trips like that in the future.
Doug – The C8 is definitely photogenic! Wildrick’s is a good place to visit, I took car photos there too.
Josh, thanks for your comments! We truly appreciate your business I know you will continue to have fun in your C8. I'm glad you didn't get caught in that snow storm and had a safe trip home ! Have fun this summer, maybe see you in Chattanooga ?.
For those who cant get to Wildrick Restoration you can view a time lapse video of a day in the workshop on YouTube. I hope they do some more.
https://youtu.be/ORRItyGvkwk
Glen - You can go directly to Wildrick Restorations on the world wide web. Or, he has a Facebook site. They put up a video or pictures or both nearly every week. Many back weeks are also available at the Facebook site, so you can see what they have been doing.
Thank you Mike. I have been enjoying their photos. Both informative and entertaining. The time lapse video of the workshop was new and interesting and I hope they keep it up. Their meet video last weekend was also a great watch.
Thanks for posting. Enjoyed the time lapse.
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