I am thinking of buying a 54 super jet. It has sat for 15 years, does not have clock or radio and has a standard transmission. It is a 2 door that looks good with no rust, however the underneath is covered with oil from the engine to the rear axle. The odometer says just over 18.000 miles, but I suspect it has more miles based on the oil under the car. I know I will have to clean the gas tank and replace the gas line, plus new brakes, lines and all cylinders. They are asking $4800 cdn, but would probably take less. I'm not sure about the engine and would rather have an automatic. Any advice on this car, I think it would cost more to bring up to driveable/safe condition than I want to spend or the car would be worth. Thanks for any help. Jim
Topic moved to "Hudson" forum category
looks like the car is sold, I would retro-rod the car since I didn't know the condition of the engine and other parts. I understand Jet parts are rare which makes this car a real fixer-upper. At least the body looked solid which I would have left alone.
There are some nice Jets out there, but they are lurking, and you'll have to sniff them out. In fact there are probably some very decent, solid ones that you won't need to do a lot of work on. And many of these will have automatic transmissions. It will be a lot easier for you to pay a bit more for exactly the car you want, than to sink a lot of money into body / paint work and adding an automatic transmission (or resto-rodding). My advice would be to keep looking, join the H-E-T (if you aren't yet a member) so you can get the magazine, and make it your mission to get out to Hudson meets, get to know people who have Jets, and let them know you're in the market for a nice one. Jet owners tend to know other Jet owners, and eventually you will hear through the grapevine about a collector who is about to downsize his collection, or a widow who is selling her husband's cars. Hearing about a car before it comes up for sale, puts you at an advantage over other buyers. I don't know why, but for some reason good-quality Jets and 4-cylinder Essexes very seldom come up for sale, and when they do they're gone fairly soon! Good luck, and may you find your Jet before too much longer!
We have a sub - group for Jet owners called the Jetsetter, with lots of information on Hudson Jets, and Jet parts and cars for sale.
Matt Royer puts out a quarterly Jetsetter newsletter that is very well done for only $6 a year. Contact him @ hudsonroyer@gmail.com for more information.
Thanks for your feedback. I live outside Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and I went on our craigslist type online sell anything site to see if any Hudson's were for sale and this Jet was there. My dad had one from about 1964 to 1969 and we rebuilt the engine and and brakes. It was a 4dr automatic and was an ok car but not like the Hornet we had. I just thought this jet was too big of a project for me, so I will be looking for one that doesn't need too much work, although I would prefer a hollywood hornet like the one I sold 6 years ago. I am now a member of HET again so look foreword to reading the magazine again, perhaps there will be a Hudson that I can buy. Thanks for your information, Jim
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