Paul McKennariey's 1948 Hudson

 

For many years there was a whisper around Brisbane about a wild custom under construction in the workshops of Paul Kelly. It has taken many years (seven to be precise) for the finished product to surface, the end result best described as art on wheels. The flowing lines, low stance and gorgeous curves have all the makings of a traditional custom Mercury, except this car is a Hudson.

 

Owner Paul McKennariey could have chosen any car as a starting point but the Hudson appealed to him. His gaol was to build a unique custom rod, keeping the Hudson flavour, and focusing on elegance rather than shock value. the 1948 Hudson Commodore four door sedan was not a pretty sight when it rolled into the Smooth Cruizin workshop, with rust in numerous panels and poor condition throughout. It didn't matter though with a total rebuild on the cards.

 

Driveability was a major issue so some effort was put into the chassis and suspension by Greg Hardcastle and Paul Kelly. The front end is now HQ Holden, maintaining the power steering and HQ disc brakes. Rear end is a Ford disc brake nine inch mounted courtesy of Falcon trailing arms and a Watts linkage. The low 4.11 ratio certainly gives some life to the near stock 454 Chev under the hood. Paul Beauchamp rebuild the big block adding a Holley carb, electronic ignition and extractors for a little extra efficiency. Gonzo's Pipes made the mufflers and whole exhaust is HPC coated, if you ever get your head low enough to see it. The Turbo 700R4 auto was rebuilt by Precise Automatics in Beenleigh.

 

Paul managed to track down some genuine coupe doors and rear quarters which were imported for the two door conversion. The roof was chopped 3 inches and the overall shape was starting to show through, although many more hours were spent shaping the roof and cowl sections. Other major mods include the one piece curved glass windscreen, the custom grille by Colin Chapman, narrowed bumpers front and rear. custom exhaust outlets and tail lights and hand formed fender skirts. Check out the way the body work rolls over the bumpers too. Most of the major bodywork, chassis work and other fabrication was completed before the car was delivered to LDI for final finishing and assembly.

 

The body arrived at LDI late one night in June 2004, on its own stand for final bodywork and prep for painting. The process was started with all components being coated with polyester supplied by PPG, with some of the other parts which had travelled elsewhere needing to be sandblasted, re-etched and started again. The initial bodywork was helped along by Floss who was working with LDI for six weeks or so. The body was given a coat of black DG to check for straightness, and satisfied with this the bootlid and doors were fitted. A coat of final colour was applied before loading the body on Steve's tilt tray to be taken to Chapmans Auto to be mated with the detailed chassis. After several hours of knuckle biting alignment, the marriage was successful and it was then returned to LDI for the next stage of the process.

 

The front clip was delivered by Paul Kelly and alignment of front panels was carried out, followed by the long process of preparing painting and detailing the many parts of this vehicle. The decision was made by Lindsay and Paul McKennariey to do a bit more with the use of white pearl to match the interior and a secondary colour, namely of Eureka Gold for detail work throughout the chassis, interior and engine bay. Whilst in this process, Lindsay had a play with some scrollwork, airbrushed the air cleaner cover and split paint job on rocker covers carrying through to the inner door trims and dash, The amount of finer detail that may go unnoticed such as the Moon switches painted in white pearl and car colour, split steering wheel and pinlines between colours, certainly add to the overall effect. Some of the harder things to get right was the rear parcel shelf and under dash panel which were originally intended for trim and were changed and painted white pearl. The colour is PPG Sunset Orange Metallic with Gold Pearl, and no less than stunning. It was painted with all panels hung and has a serious "gold flip" as Lindsay puts it. The only other thing thing you see as it slithers by are the wheels/. 15 inch steelies with BFG Silvertown 225/70 wide whites and 1956 Hudson caps.

 

Trevor from Chapmans Auto Service in Cooroy was asked to completely wire the car including the electric windows, central locking, cruise control disguised in the indicator stalk, air conditioning and hidden CD with electrically operated drop down panel, all concealed of course. Inside is pure luxury, acres of white leather covering the coupe front seat and custom built rear. The steering wheel is original but downsized 2 inches in diameter. Classic Gauges 5" series replace the original dials, and the NOS (year unknown) Hudson badge in the centre of the back seat is a classy touch. The factory window winders and door handles remain but now operate switches for the electric winder and door latch mechanisms. Neat trick !

 

With seven years in the making, this Hudson has a story behind it bigger than a Hollywood epic. It ends happily however with Paul and his Hudson being invited to the finals of the Meguiars Superstars in Sydney 2005 after showing the car at the Brisbane Hot Rod Show.

 

Paul would like to acknowledge the craftsmen who helped create his vision, namely Paul Kelly, Greg Hardcastle. Lindsay Houston and his team (Dean, Brad, Shane, Dave, Scotty (B1 & B2)), and friend John Cook for advice and support.