Kiwi’s Detroit built classic a rarity
A beautifully restored piece of Motor City has found its home in Wairarapa after a fascinating journey across the New Zealand and the world.
Kevan Dudson of Carterton said the 1934 Hudson Terraplane Coupe owned by the Dudson family was possibly the only genuinely original coupe of its type in New Zealand.
The car has a direct link to the golden age of American motoring and the Terraplane model achieved infamy when the 1933 version with a ‘‘straight-eight’’ engine was used by notorious bank robber John Dillinger. The car could easily outrun the Ford V8’s used by the police in the United States at the time.
The complete history of the Dudson’s vehicle is known, along with the original handbook and personalised key ring that belonged to its first owner, a Doctor WW Moore of Hastings.
The car also has suicide doors, which were named so because if they were to swing open when the car was travelling at speed, anyone who tried to stop the door was invariably flung out onto the road.
The Hudson’s design at the time was innovative with an experimental front axle system and a smaller more powerful straight-six engine that made great strides in terms of driving economy. The AxleFlex suspension system enabled cars to better deal with the rigors of the 1930s roads.
Dudson said his greatgrandfather owned a Hudson and that is what originally interested his father, Kerry Dudson, who searched out the 1934 Hudson as a piece of memorabilia that he had to have.
A quirky aside is that the coupe and a 1934 Hudson Terraplane sedan Kerry Dudson bought eight years before, have consecutively numbered plates. Statistically highly improbable, and with the two cars having an apparently unrelated history, the Dudson family thought maybe it was ‘‘meant to be’’.
‘‘When we bought it in 1993, it was a stripped down chassis. We had to restore the chrome work and find original parts. Dad was really good at making sure he had a good supply of parts for any vehicle he decided to take on as a project.
‘‘There wouldn’t be many of these 34s in original condition left in the world, there are probably some but they are hard to find these days,’’ he said.