It largely depends on where you live (hilly, flat), and how you intend driving the car. the brakes are "adequate" for the speeds that were usual in 1936, and are still very good, but you need to consider the whole package. Engine wear is not a consideration, no matter what the rear end ratio. The Railton Owner's club had 3.5 gearsets available at some stage, you could contact them. it is not a straight bolt-in conversion, there is some modification required for the housing I believe.

Geoff, thanks. It will be driven mostly on flat land....but I'm not going to jump into a gear change without thinking long and hard about it.

I'm curious if anyone has installed a Mitchel Overdrive unit in a Hudson? I know they make them for Model A Fords with the closed driveshaft and also think they make one for open driveshafts. If they do not cost a fortune and could be safely installed, I think that would be a nice way to get a little more speed without hurting the motor .

Thanks Bill, now you really have me thinking....and I will do some research on that avenue!

Jared, I had a single lever Hudson Overdrive put in my 39. I can drive it 65 mph with out issue. Although I don't drive that fast normally I have on long trips. SO I think an overdrive would be an option for you . I have a 4:11 rear end also.

Thanks Victor! I've done some more research and have found several options. I like the idea of the overdrive, as it preserves the original low gearing for around town. As Bill asked, I don't know if they've been used in Hudsons, but I see where the Mitchell and the GearVendors units can be adapted to an open drive shaft. It looks as though a heavy bracket can be placed between the X-Frame members just rearward of the X junction; the unit then mounted on it; and the original driveshaft is replaced by two shorter ones. I would say the pros are little modification to the original car, except perhaps a small shift lever for the Mitchell - and you can choose when to use it. The cons are the cost (several K's) and the 'pain' of installation, because nothing is as it easy as it might seem.

I would say that changing the rear end gears might be the simplest and most authentic way to give you a faster ride. If the repro Hudson 3.5 gearsets are no longer available (or are just too expensive) you could look into doing a transplant of a 1960's MoPar rear axle with a better axle ratio.. (Gus Souza has written a great deal about how this can be done). You would modify the transplant axle to fit, and then you would save your original axle for future re-installation. The only question would be: could the Terraplane engine deal with the high-speed gearing, or would it poop out on hills? This would be a much more successful approach if you owned a Hudson Eight, with its increased power.

Thanks for weighing in, Jon. Yes the gear change was my first instinct; and changing the complete rear axle is something I hadn't thought of...but wouldn't rule out. I have some more research to do, before jumping into anything.

The axle swap is an option, when I had the O/D put in my car I was told that a 60's Mopar rear-end would give me more top end. I just didn't think I needed it with the O/D. I don't know what six cylinder engine you have. Mine is a 212.

Yes, mine is a 212 also. I rebuilt it myself with some valuable pointers from Hedley Bennett, who is an absolute expert on Hudson mechanicals. It runs perfectly and has lots of get up and go....just starts to wind out at 50-55. I hate to have to change anything, but I plan to drive this car on some long distance jaunts.

That's nice, the O/D lets me cruise smoothly at 60-65 on long hiway trips. I DO NOT drive it on the freeways but old US hiway's and state roads yes. I have taken it on 500 mile round trips twice. So I would think an O/D trans would do you fine. And maybe easier to come by. Hudson single lever O/D trans is what I have. It came from a 1950 Hudson. Best of luck which ever path you take. . If you want a trans let me know and I will put you in touch with our chapter president. He has some Hudson O/D transmissions.

Bear in mind that the '36 Terraplane has a very narrow chassis, and there is not enough room for the solenoid and governor of a later overdrive to fit, without some modification.

Yes that is true as my 39 had the X frame modified slightly and my drive shaft was shortened and rebalanced.

Many years ago I put an overdrive transmission into a 1942 Hudson with a 212 engine. The axle ratio was 4.55 because originally it had a 175 engine. The overdrive worked well. Then I decided to change the rear axle, because the axle was noisy. I got a 2.8 axle from a 1969 8 cylinder Mustang. The axle fit into the 1942 without modification, except for the hand brake cables. I then found that the overdrive was unnecessary, so I put the original 3 speed transmission back in.

I found the car nice to drive on the highway. However, in local driving, I rarely got out of second gear! This illustrates the trade-off of having only three gears. (The car was driven at sea level, without big hills, so power was not a problem.)

Sadly, Hudson went to a column shift before offering an overdrive. I just limit the speed of my 1935 Hudson to 50 mph.

Per