[Vwdiesel] OT HUDSON was part no.(ignore first one)

[Dave Cook]

Was the Hudson the company that made a funky semi-auto transmission?  I saw one at a car show that clearly had a clutch pedal and stick shift, but looked like it was an almost automatic shifter on the column.  I asked, and it was explained that originally, you could put the "automatic" lever in the gear you wanted, and then you could watch the clutch pedal go down, the car would shift into gear, and then you could see the clutch pedal come back up.  

I guess the whole system was operated by the engine's vacuum, and eventually the diaphram would start leaking, leading to poor engine running.  So, the fix was to simply attach a shifter to the stub that was already in the floor of the car.

If it was Hudson, what was the system called?  If not a Hudson, who made it?

Dave Cook


--- On Sat, 2/20/10, William J Toensing <toensing at wildblue.net> wrote:

> From: William J Toensing <toensing at wildblue.net>
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] part no.(ignore first one)
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> Date: Saturday, February 20, 2010, 5:20 AM
> Perhaps the subject should be "wet
> clutch". Don't know about motorcycle wet clutches, which
> ones have it & which ones don't. Most cars have dry
> clutches but one American car was famous for wet clutches.
> Hudson started using wet clutches almost 100 years ago in
> their manual transmission cars until the end of the true
> Hudson in 1954, the only exception was the compact Hudson
> Jet (1953 &1954). Instead of a normal type of clutch
> lining they used cork which ran in a fluid called
> "Hudsonite" which I think is similar to SAE # 10 motor oil.
> These clutches were quite smooth. I have 3 Hudsons with
> these clutches. My 1954 Hudson Hornet (for sale) has a Borg
> Warner automatic due to the Hydromantic plant fire in 1953.
> Most Hudsons used Hydrometrics for their automatics (1951
> thru 1954) . In 1954 Hudson merged with Nash to form
> American Motors. 1955 thru 1957 Hudsons used Nash bodies
> & are frequently, in the Hudson Club, called a "Hash".
> Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA
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