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Big Boy Project: 1947 Hudson Pickup

At some point in the past, this 1947 Hudson Pickup was partially dismantled for restoration, and how you see it today is as far as the project progressed. It now needs the right person to breathe life back into the vehicle, which is located in Pembina, North Dakota. If that person is you, then you will find the Hudson listed for sale here on eBay. The listing has opened at $2,800, but there have been no bids to this point. However, it is being offered with No Reserve, so there is a real possibility that a single bid could secure this one.

The 1947 model year marked the last for Hudson producing their commercial vehicles, and in that year they produced 2,917 examples of the Pickup. This one appears to be largely complete, but it does have some rust issues to be addressed. The worst of these would appear to be in the cab floors, although there is rust present in a few other locations around the vehicle. One bonus is the fact that the original embossed Hudson tailboard is not only present, but it seems to be in pretty decent condition. Quite often these either manage to sustain significant damage, or they manage to go missing completely. The glass has all been removed from the vehicle, but it looks like the majority of it is present amongst the enormous pile of parts that are included in the sale. This collection includes a good spare pair of doors, along with numerous trim pieces, both external, and items to assist with the interior restoration.

We don’t get a good look at the engine, but if it is original, it should be a 212ci flathead 6-cylinder unit, backed by a 3-speed manual transmission. The owner says that the engine is complete, with the exception of a missing starter motor. With 102hp on tap, the Pickup was a pretty reasonable performer, even when burdened with a full ¾-ton load. It isn’t clear what health the drive-train of this one is in, so it might need some work to coax it back to life. Due to the number of mechanical components that were shared across the Hudson range, locating any required mechanical components shouldn’t be that difficult.

What set the Hudson apart from its competition in the 1940s pickup market was the equipment levels and comfort features. The Hudson came fitted with a few niceties that other manufacturers would only dream about. A radio was standard fitment, as was a heater. The interior of this vehicle would have felt luxurious, but that was a long time ago. A full restoration will be on the cards, and while it appears that there are some items that are missing, it looks like many of these are included in the previously mentioned parts cache. This includes a seat frame, radio, and numerous items such as trim pieces and door handles. Two things that I haven’t spotted are the distinctive clock and the horn button out of the wheel. If these aren’t present, then locating replacements might take a bit of searching.

Frankly, I am quite surprised that there have been no bids on this Hudson Pickup to this point because these are a vehicle that tends to be highly sought after. This is especially true since we have seen a few of these in recent times here at Barn Finds, and even a really rusty example managed to sell on eBay last year for over $5,000. Good examples today will sell for between $20,000 and $30,000, while the record price for a truly pristine example was set last year, and that went for an eye-watering $72,000. Given previous sales results for project-grade vehicles, it will be interesting to see what this one finally sells for.

Comments

  1. Avatar Fred H

    It has been for sale for a while . A good project to spend a lot of money on).

    Like 1
  2. Avatar SusanOliver

    Hudson always made really nice stuff.

    Like 4
  3. Avatar Howard A Member

    To be clear, after the war, Hudson dropped the “Big Boy” name, and it just was the “Cab Pickup”. Rare would be an understatement, as these failed for the same reason as all the other “car/pickups”, they did neither job well, and regular pickups were half the price and could carry twice as much. While this has a snowballs chance in Hades of staying original, would be nice, but the allure of a resto-mod will surely be it’s fate.

    Like 4
  4. Avatar Nevadahalfrack Member

    Given the time and money, I’d take this on if I couldn’t find another one and had to have one; that being said, this is going to take a LOT of work especially with metal fabrication-everywhere you look in the photos is tremendous rust or nothing where metal should be present.
    Very cool truck!

    Like 2
  5. Avatar chrlsful

    yes Adam, ‘multi-purpose is almost no purpose’, but ck-out the ’70s Holden waggys, my ’60s Bronk, or a Sandman. Such is the nature of 50 yrs of UTEs world wide (’30s – ’80s). Couldn’t usea ‘sports car’ here (entry/exit, road conditions, etc). This one, done in style is something to see:

    https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1946-hudson-pickup-with-a-surprise/

    Like 1
  6. Avatar Ryan Hilkemann

    Rememineds me of smokey from cars 3.

    Like 0
  7. Avatar canadainmarkseh

    The trouble with taking on a basket case is it will take you days to figure out where everything goes. Taking them apart is the easy part repairing and reassembling is another matter. For that reason I wouldn’t give the seller anymore than $2k for this pile, and in this state it’s at great risk of never being back on the road. Most people wouldn’t know where to begin with this mess.

    Like 1
  8. Avatar Little_Cars

    Love it, too bad it was disassembled.

    Some day, maybe after I’m pushing up daisies, the world will no longer see these things appear EVER on Barn Finds. The fact is, we’ve seen 70 year old Hudson pick ups, Packard hearses, flower cars, hell even a Kaiser pick up truck, appear magically before us on this BF feed!!! How long will it be before these wonderfully odd and obscure (and gorgeous) vehicles stop coming out of barns, fields and people’s private collections.

    Like 0
    • Avatar canadainmarkseh

      So true I guess everything has its time as do we.

      Like 0

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