The garage door screeched as it flung upward. Small dust clouds drifted into the air as the sun began to cut the darkness and the stately grillwork of a 1939 Hudson 112 coupe appeared. Sealed away for 39 years, tucked into the back of an old garage, anxious to take a fresh breath of air again, the rest was over. The moment can only be captured again when the engine turns and the wheels feel the road once again.
As with most old steel, the history can be spotty, if known at all. Throughout the 70 year life of this vehicle, I can begin the story in 1950 when a Mr. Clyde Hensley bought his wife Deloris a gently used 1939 Hudson 112 Coupe. Clyde was in the military and the two of them lived in the State of Washington. As Clyde’s post in Washington was short, they used this car to move their belongings to Kalamazoo MI. The first test that the Hensleys put the Hudson through was to cross the US. With the car piled high with belongings, dreaming of the new life in MI, they cruised through middle America. As the story goes, when they returned to MI, a cousin used the car for daily use. Unfortunately, the cousin did not care for it nearly as well as the Hensleys had. The car soon suffered injuries ranging from a rear bumper battering, splash apron beating, broken out glass to the grille as you see it today. One mystery yet to be solved is some structural chopping in the trunk. The support braces were cut out leaving the trunk open and exposed into the driving cabin of the coupe. One possible rumor is that the supports were removed to make room for hauling as you would a pickup.
Somewhere around 1964, the car found itself tucked into the backside of a two and half car wide and one and half car deep garage. The garage was sitting in the backyard of a 1957 built ranch in Portage Michigan. This ranch in Portage became neighbors to my parents (and myself) in 1979. Throughout the next 24 years the overhead garage door was opened to remove lawn mowers and for Clyde to pull out one of his other cars that will mentioned again when I can recall what it was. The Hudson remained tucked in back where it acquired trinkets, tools and pool table light fixtures on its hood and roof.
In 2002 Mr. Clyde Hensley passed away leaving his son Jake the ranch, garage and its contents. Jake and my father had many conversations over the years about different autos including the Hudson. One afternoon Jake knocked on the door of his neighbors and offered my father the car. The Hudson now had a new home in the backyard of my parent’s similar ranch. The car was pulled into the one car garage every winter for years where my father began the bodywork and dreamed of the possibilities. Lucky for me, one evening in my father’s kitchen, he gave me the offer I couldnt refuse.
Author Mike LaJoice
