Far better than what I have on my 112 :cheer:

Is there a part no. visible anywhere?
I'm not exactly an old timer but I've seen quite a bit of Hudson stuff and have never seen this "HA" before. Nice!! Had it not been in the Hudson Logo box with instructions, I'd have taken it for an aftermarket kit. Very interesting.
HA166083 ?

I know that 1941 directional signal indicators were a unit mounted under the steering wheel with 3 buttons (center button was a cancel button). Commodores came standard with that equipment and the front fender spears with the lights. I think the taillights used a dual filament bulb. Had never seen anything like this before.

As far as I'm aware, 1942 was the same as 1941, I've seen mention of optional directional signal lights for 1940, but have never seen any actual factory approved equipment for that. We know the front turn signal lights were the same for 1941-47 (top mounted fender spears; standard on Commodores and optional for the other models). So this kit is an interesting find. It's rather odd that they would develop a retrofit product like this, especially given they already had such equipment already designed and produced for their cars -- so why would they bother developing something like this for the pre-war cars? The box says passenger cars, so it wasn't for the pickups, for which there was probably greater need given the single taillight.

Actually, Hudson offered an optional turn signal as an accessory as far back as 1937 and possibly earlier as well. It consisted of a chromed, oval-shaped housing (maybe 5" wide), one of which was clamped to the front and the rear bumper. The housing had two arrows (right and left) in red glass, one of which blinked when the signal switch was activated. The switch was actually a (round) knob which screwed to the floor shift lever in place of the existing knob. This new knob, however, had a ribbed outer ring which rotated clockwise or counter-clockwise, depending upon the direction selected. In the center was an indicator light. When the ring was rotated one way, the left arrow (on the front and rear chromed housings) blinked, as did the indicator lamp on the knob. When the ring was rotated the other way, the right arrow blinked. It was not self cancelling. When Electric Hand was used (thus no floor shift lever was employed) the knob was mounted on the dashboard I think.

I have seen remote mechanical turn signals installed on a 1920-era Hudson, but I think these may have been aftermarket accessories, not from the Hudson catalog.

So, this (the Turnmaster signal kit involved in this Forum discussion) was not Hudson's first foray into the world of electrical turn signals.

The fender lights/spears were not always "park/turn" with two filament bulbs. Turn signals had not yet become a standard item and not everyone, not even a Commodore buyer, wanted to pay for them. If one wanted the fender lights as marker/parking/running lights only (whichever you like to call them) I believe that the same unit was used in either case with a two-contact bulb base, but only the appropriate wire was active. The issue of using a single contact bulb in a two contact base was overcome by installation of an additional contact disc under the bulb that had a hole in the center with a contact that was wide enough to span the distance between the double ones on the backside. Coverting the base to double filament was accomplished by simply removing the disc......in case the owner came to his senses and wanted turn signals.
I don't know this to be fact but the '42 C-8 I just dismantled was made that way, presumably at the factory. At first I thought it might be a "blackout" feature because the first one I disassembled had the disc but no contact....just the hole. The other had the contact still in the hole.
Frank

John is right about earlier turn signals, but I'm not familiar with them and what was offered. I do know that 41-47 were the same as far as the front turn signals. Parking lights were always on the sides of the hoods. The fender spears came standard on Commodores for directional lights, and were optional on the other models. So I found it strange that Hudson offers this completely different turn signal kit to fit 1947 and previous cars. Maybe it was a cheaper alternative to the dressier fender spears. I have never seen such lights on another Hudson. Did you see them before on a car John/Frank? Nevertheless, and interesting find.

Tim,
I've never seen them, and, as you said, I figured that they were offered as a cheaper and likely easier-to-install alternative to the ones we usually see. I'm still wondering about the part number. The one I think it is (166083) is one of the first "HA" p/ns in the parts interchange book. Unless I missed one, it's the second to appear.
Frank

[quote="Frank Hughes" post=252]Tim,
I've never seen them, and, as you said, I figured that they were offered as a cheaper and likely easier-to-install alternative to the ones we usually see. I'm still wondering about the part number. The one I think it is (166083) is one of the first "HA" p/ns in the parts interchange book. Unless I missed one, it's the second to appear.
Frank

Hi Frank,
Went out to the storage shed and dug them out. Part number is: HA215138

Interesting. That's a pretty late number, generally in the realm of early "stepdown" cars. That inplies to me that this kit was a replacement for the typical spears. I'll have to guess that Hudson discontinued production of '41-'47 kits and offered these instead. With the new '48 cars available, the sales may have been poor and few kits were sold for the older cars. Who knows?
Frank

In 1968 I was in East Africa with my '46 Super 6 which I'd brought from America. Since my car was left hand drive in a right hand drive area, I was required to install directional signals. My car had the optional fender spears, which were wired as parking lights.

I bought a directional signal set from the Whitney catalog. I told Whitney that it would go in a '46 Hudson Super 6. This aftermarket set contained instructions, telling me about the extra single contact disk that concealed the dual contact disc to be used if directionals were installed. The wires for each of the two contacts came under the hood. One was wired to the parking light circuit. The other was not connected to anything, just ending with a terminal.

I was amazed that the aftermarket company knew about this arrangement. Happily, I installed the directionals.

Per

Rick, I couldn't get the windows to open?

[quote="Doug Wildrick" post=14845]Rick, I couldn't get the windows to open?
Neither could I - not sure why the pictures 'went away' - that's Aaron's thing. Probably due to an upgrade somewhere along the line.

In any case, this was posted quite some time ago, and I sold the lights (at least three years ago).

I was curious to see what they looked like.

[quote="Doug Wildrick" post=14887]I was curious to see what they looked like.
Took a while, but found the pictures I had posted, at the time... Note: Also fixed the original post, re-adding the photos.