Hudson was mainly known for their cars, but the company also made a unique line of “commercial cars”, such as a Utility Coupe and a very unusual Utility Coupe Pickup. It was a Hudson Utility Coupe passenger car with a small pickup bed on tracks that slid out of the back to provide a partial pickup bed in the back of a two-door coupe. Another unique commercial vehicle was their Cab Pickup as seen here in this 1937 model.
Unique doesn’t begin to describe the look of the Hudson Cab Pickup, it’s stylish yet somewhat crude in how the bed sticks out. It doesn’t help matters when the colors aren’t matching, making it stand out even more. Or, maybe that’s the point? The bed sides are very low, around 18 inches, but these were deceivingly tough trucks, even though they look like a car with a pickup bed grafted on the back.
Two different Ivory colors would have been available, but not this bright yellow. I’m a yellow vehicle guy so I like it, but I would have gone with a yellow bed, or maybe just keep it ivory all around. The seller says that this truck was his grandfather’s pickup and it was displayed in a museum that his grandfather had in California since he bought it, but we don’t know when that was. It sure looks like it’s been preserved. There are a few areas of bubbling under the paint and chrome that could use help, but it looks really nice overall.
The interiors of Hudson pickups were positively luxurious, maybe because the cab portion was similar to a Hudson car of the same era. That dash is gorgeous as is the seat and everything else. Another unusual feature of the Hudson Cab Pickup is removable twin compartments on the sides of the bed, which Hudson called “lockers” and are almost like a Powell Sport Wagon pickup with one or two fishing rod holders built into the bed. Company literature says that the clear space between those two compartments is 47-7/8″ so not quite four feet but close enough.
The super clean engine compartment houses a Hudson 212-cu.in. L-head inline-six with around 102 horsepower. This one has double downdraft carburetors but a single carb was also available and should have provided 96 hp. This engine looks like it belongs in a museum truck, very nice. It’s said to run well and idle like a sewing machine and Hudsons had roller tappets and other features that made their engines very smooth operators. It sends power through a three-speed Selectro-shift manual transmission to the rear wheels. The seller has this beautiful and unique pickup listed here on eBay in Ventura, California and there is a single bid of $15,000, but the reserve isn’t met. Any thoughts on this Hudson Cab Pickup?
Cool looking rig, I agree with you Scotty on the paint.
I can see this one in your collection, Mike!
I wish I had the room!
I like it, but it should be painted in the colours that were available at the time.
I love Hudson pickups but this combination of yellow/tan is hideous – would be much better all yellow or all tan but they sure don’t go together well. I wish I had a safe storage space for it, ’cause I’m in love….. My-oh-my this is sweet!!
Hudson wasn’t the only one, as Studebaker tried with their coupe express, a slim market to begin with. Later( 1939) this truck became the Hudson “Big Boy”, a name they dropped after the war, and never really popular. El Camino and Ranchero had similar fates. I read these were pricey, at almost $1300, 3 times that of a Ford, that had similar styling, not many were sold. Something like 3% of all Hudsons sold were the pickup. $18 grand so far, and understandable, this is about the only way they are attractive today, ready to go, if 45 mph works for you. It’s so unusual, plenty of folks would love to be seen in this, if only it was an automatic.
It’s interesting how some car builders took a side step and went into pickups their own way. Ford, GM and Chrysler just took a car chassis and built a unique pickup body on top and no one was the wiser. Companies like Hudson and Studebaker took existing sheet metal and modified it just enough to accept a pickup bed and it was okay too. Personally, I preferred the purpose-built pickups. Too many of these half-n-half pickups just didn’t cut it. They still did the job they were designed to do and that makes them worthy of an equal share of success but I think that Hudson, and even Studebaker should’ve concentrated more on a purpose-built truck instead of trying to massage a car into a truck…
love it scotty!
Interesting nostalgic piece. I like it.
All Hudson products are well supported, with a great club, plenty of available parts (really), and knowledgable owners. A nice little truck.
Is that you, Sam of WTN fame???
East Coast 40 sedan owner here. And I do agree about the club. We are friendly, supportive and nonjudgmental.
Looks like someone pulled the 212 engine out and replaced it with the Jet 202 full oil pressure engine with twin carbs. Never saw twin H on a Terraplane truck before. Interesting.
Great eye, Lance! The seller mentioned it being a 202 but I thought it was a typo since that engine didn’t come up in any literature that I saw on this truck. There was a two-carb option available for the 212 L-head, including on the Cab Pickup, which put out a little more horsepower than the single-carb model did as I mentioned.
If I weren’t absolutely sold on my 37 Int’l D2, I’d consider this one. They sure had some nice lines on their picps in 37!
How are you, Jim? The charm of the D-2 is certainly hard to shake. I might add that I’m not complaining…
Just ugly enough that I like it!
Nice write up Scotty! I saw a 37 in some automotive book a ways back that was painted dark green and accented with tan very sharp! I could live with yellow too but then I would be shot down by better half on account shop full now
They cut the back off of unsold 4-door sedans at the end of the year to make these. Rear seat floor pan is still under the pickup bed. Clever and thrifty, I think. I’ve got one of the 1938 Utility Coupe’s, also ingenious, IMHO! That Jet 202 is a nice upgrade.
All Hudson trucks were full year vehicles, not built from leftover sedans…
Wrong, Sam. It’s well documented what I wrote about the 1937’s and probably 1938’s. Do your research before spreading misinformation. And yes i know you’re in the HET Club, you’re still wrong. Dealers even had a kit to convert this body style sedan into pick-ups.
My brother in law had one and my brother still has the frame for one
A “small pickup bed”? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that long. If I’d designed this “truck” the top dead center of the wheel wells front and back would’ve matched the center of the axles (and therefore wheels) and the bed would be a foot shorter if not more. Then they would’ve had a very cool truck imo. Having said that, the engine is way cool.
Can’t say I’m crazy about the color, but other than that it is a neat ride and something you do not see every day.
That Terraplane grille is gorgeous.
Auction update: this one ended at $20,500 and no sale.