Hudson car meet celebrates 'rolling art'

SANDPOINT - In the long-standing love affair between Americans and their automobiles, one name stands out in terms of its hold on our collective imaginations. Leave your Fords, Chevrolets and Oldsmobiles in park, because the car that drove the most cultural interest was produced under the brand name "Hudson."

A variety of Hudson models began popping up in songs, literature and film beginning in the mid-'30s, when blues legend Robert Johnson recorded his song "Terraplane Blues" - named after the powerful and popular Hudson Terraplane with its "straight eight" engine.

A few years earlier, bank robber John Dillinger reportedly "borrowed" a 1933 Hudson Terraplane 8 from a dealership after locking the salesman in the bathroom. There are several versions of the story, but one of the most colorful states that the famous criminal selected that car over all other brands and loved it so much that he sent a fan letter to the company, congratulating it for producing an automobile that could easily outrun the Fords driven by the police officers who were on his trail.

Understandably, Hudson did not roll out an ad campaign based on this celebrity endorsement.

Author John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning book "The Grapes of Wrath" sends the Joad family out of the dust bowl and toward California in a Hudson that had boards nailed on its side as part of a crude pick-up conversion. And beat generation writer Jack Kerouac spends much of his time in "On the Road" with sidekick Neal Cassidy crossing the country at speeds of 100 mph in a 1949 Hudson.

The Hudson also takes star turns in the films "Driving Miss Daisy" and "The Notebook."

Even the nation's animators have been captivated by the sweeping lines and sheer power of this particular make, as shown by the character Doc Hudson in the 2006 Pixar film, "Cars."

Doc is a retired racing car - a Hudson Hornet, to be exact - that is voiced by the late Paul Newman.

This Friday, the Gem State Chapter of the Hudson Essex Terraplane Club will meet in Sandpoint, bringing together about 40 members and 15 classic cars from three states and Canada. The meet was organized by local Hudson enthusiasts Andy and Marry Ann Cooper and Steve and Maureen Tillberg.

"It's our last meet of the year because we don't drive in the snow," Andy Cooper said. "These cars get buttoned up for the winter."

Although the club members always enjoy the chance to compare notes and look over each other's collectible cars, they take the most pleasure out of what Mary Ann Cooper called "the looks of recognition" when they hit the road.

"People say things like, 'My dad had one of those' or 'My Uncle Charlie drove a car like that,'" she said. "With all the pressure in the world, these cars bring smiles to people's faces."

"They're a page out of history," Andy added, "but they're also rolling art."

The interior of the Cooper's 1947 Hudson Super Six feels more like a time machine than a classic automobile. Settling into the back seat is like sinking into the loge section at a ritzy movie theater. The lining, the leather and virtually everything else inside the vehicle are in almost new condition. The amazing part is that they are also original.

The car was owned by a Kansas woman who barely put it on the road before she put it into storage. It's as if the proverbial "little old lady who only drove it to church on Sundays" left her car in the garage and walked to prayer meetings instead. When the couple learned it was for sale in 2006, they couldn't believe their luck when the odometer reading showed only 23,900 miles.

The Super Six - one of about 10 cars in a Cooper collection that includes a 1950 Hudson Commodore, a 1929 Reo, a 1930 Model A, two De Sotos and a '68 Mustang - connects both husband and wife to a long family history with the Hudson brand.

"We were both raised with them and we still love 'em," Andy said.

Mary Ann's relationship goes back the farthest - not quite from birth, but not too far from it.

"My father brought me and my mother home from the hospital in his 1942 Hudson," she said.

Known for their good looks and reliability, the Hudsons also had a reputation for speed. Bootleggers favored them as the best way to outrun revenuers. Bank robbers chose them as get-away cars that could leave the local constabulary in the dust. By the 1950s, the Hudson Hornet won the title of "most likely to succeed" in crossing the finish line before the rest of the pack.

"I want to tell you, you'd better be strapped in when you drive that car," Andy said.

"You see this '56 right here?" Mary Ann asked as she pointed to one page of a photo book that chronicles the Hudson automobile over the years. "That's what I learned to drive in. That sucker was fast and it didn't go past many gas stations, either. The way I drove it, we probably got about 10 miles a gallon."

Times have changed and so have the Coopers' driving habits. They seem to baby the powder blue Super Six as they cruise down the road, satisfied, these days, to be winning smiles instead of races.

Most of the events scheduled for the Hudson owners gathering this weekend are designed for members, but local residents stand a good chance of seeing the cars in caravan as they travel from one part of their itinerary to the next. Don't worry if you think you can't tell one classic car from the next - Hudsons are in a league of their own. You'll know them when you see them.