John,

There's a little trim piece (think it's painted, not stainless on 51, that covers the bolts that attach the rocker to the front fender. In point of fact, you'll have to remove teh entire rocker panel to fix it as well. So you have to remove top and bottom bolts along the length of the rocker panel and remove the "trim" piece that connects rocker to front fender. Then you can remove the front fender as well for repair. There are a number of bolts for that, but they are pretty self evident once you get going. I think you have to remove the inner kick panel cover to access 3 of the large bolts that bolt the front fender to the cowl. Damn the luck when damage occurs!

John,

If the car hasn't been in a dry location all its existence, these little bolts will be hard to remove. I find that heating them electrically makes it more likely that they will turn. To do this I use the car's 6 volt battery (leave it in the car) and a booster cable. Rub the head of a bolt with sandpaper or a file to take away a little bit of surface rust. Also clean up the Phillips hole in the head of the bolt. Attach the booster cable to the live terminal of the battery, (negative in Hudsons) and touch the head of the bolt with the other end of the booster cable. The bolt should get very hot. Remove the booster cable, and while the bolt is still hot, try to turn it. The advantage of heating the bolts this way instead of heating them with a torch is that nearby areas won't get burned up. This procedure depends on current, at a low voltage, so it is not a good idea to try it with a 12 volt battery.

Per

Thanks to both of you, that's very helpful. Are there bottom bolts underneath the trim piece at the lower edge of the rocker? If so, how do I remove the trim piece without damaging it?

Yes, the rocker panel has the larger trim covering (stainless) that covers the bolts at the bottom. That stainless trim must come off first, then you can get to those bolts. THe other top bolts are covered by the steel and aluminum sill plates where the doors are. The top trim piece on the front fender and along the bottom of the rocker panel to front fender hold the fender in place. Otherwise, the bottom will flap around as there is nothing to hold it steady. Here's a picture of my 1950 Pacemaker sans rockers and front fenders. You can see the 3 large holds to attach fenders to cowl area. You must remove inside kick panels to access those bolts. Others are simple to figure out. But be warned -- Hudson used about twice the number of fasteners compared to ther manufacturers, so you'll have a number to take off. It's been long enough since I put my fenders on I don't remember how many there are.

The stainless trim on the bottom of the doors serves no other purpose but to continue the trim line that is necessary to cover the bolts for rocker to fender. The rockers are painted "argent" which means silver (a silver color). In 1951, they abandoned the use of the stainless on the upper trim pieces and just used regular steel painted body color (again necessary on bottom of doors to continue trim line which would look strainge if only on the front fender to rocker). The paint made that covering for the bolts less noticable than using stainless and was cheaper, however, the regular steel rusts easily and that is the problem for restorers today. It would have been better had they stayed with the stainless!

If Hudson had any idea that their cars would still be on the road in 60+ years, they might have used s/s fasteners......but I doubt it. The lower body panel trim pieces along the rear quarter, doors and front fenders are a painted pieces snapped over the continuous clip that's held in place with sheet metal screws in some places and machine screws in others depending on what's behind it. Those on our '51 Hornet were a hodge-podge of brass screws soldered into the clip (three different thread sizes to boot) and none of it was my idea of savable, except the front fender pieces so I re-created the 1/4 panel and door pieces from modified half-oval steel stock, drilled and tapped for s/s machine screws that will be cut to length and affixed with s/s nuts/washers at re-assembly time. A few photos should help with the visual. Note that the screw heads will be gone when they are cut to length.
921) Narrowing the 3/4 half oval to 5/8.
933) Stainless screws Lock-Tited (is that a word?) in place and thread protrusion dressed off.
Frank

Looks great Frank! Maybe this is your next business venture? Do you know what Al Henry may have cobbled together on that car when he restored it? Of course, I just meant the stainless steel trim. I can't think of any manufacturer that would have used SS fasteners back then.

Tim,
Yeah, I can see that he/they did what it took to get it back together and it served him well while he had it, I'm sure. Those clip-strips brass screws, and the painted cover piece were all soldered together into one mass. Some was as original but it was so rusted together that removing it was pretty much a destructive process. By then I had decided to make new stuff anyway cause I didn't want to get into the wild goose chase of trying to locate new stuff, knowing that I'd have to settle for used that wouldn't be much better, even if I could find it.
I don't hink anyone would care to pay for having this done to their car......I'm too expensive, even for me.
Another photo:
929) All four pieces, (doors and 1/4s) sand blasted and ready for the paint shop.
By the way, the 1/4s, hood, deck lid, front fenders and visor are painted as of yesterday and the body was scheduled for paint today. The color is very much like the original 66 "Dark Platinum" but [i]much[/i] nicer! Photos later.
Frank

I'll have to find them again and post a link, but there is a custom car parts company that offers stainless trim made just like the ones you did except for approximate size. I dont think you'd ever notice once installed. They don't drill the mounting holes all the way thru, only the flat side has a hole for a stud to screw into.
http://www.mcmillanrodandcustom.com/Moldings.ivnu
http://www.maxmerrittauto.com/showpage.php?page=body-molding.htm

John, we also have these retainers that are required. We use them all the time in our restoration shop with great results. One of the biggest things that MUST be done is make sure that all the clips on the edge of the rockers are in good shape, not broken and/or rusty. We are working on making some video's of how we use and install the retainers when installing the rockers.. We have just been real busy outside getting things done before it snows or is cold here. You will find the S/S retainer at www.wrphet.com Hope we can help you.

The trim isn't stainless, it's painted body color and the clips/retainers that Doug offered would do me no good without the trim that clips over it, so I killed two birds. Additionally, I can do this stuff myself so why would I get something pre-made that's not correct looking (although that's not a real big deal) and let someone else have all the fun? I make stuff.....that's what I live for.
Frank

I thought 21st century Hudson had reproduced this trim. Have you checked with Randy or Russ??

Yes, we purchase them all the time. You have to light sand and/or scuff these moldings before painting. We have had excellent results doing this. Here in the rust belt, the original metal type - 51-53 - are usually none existent and/or so rusty they are beyond use.