Roland Clark’s 1919 Hudson Model O

Roland bought the car from a person in Newcastle. It had been owned by someone in Sydney for 25 years but that is about all the history we have. These cars were brought out to Australia as chassis and firewall and not much else. Body building companies then constructed bodies for them. This one as shown in the heading picture was built by Kellow, Falkiner Pty Ltd in Melbourne.

The lovely green sun visor was not up to standard so Roland rebuilt it out of 3/8 glass with the green sheet laminated onto it. The Editor may have that wrong of course!

This beauty was built as a Doctors Coupe in so much as Doctors were able to fit all their gear in the beautiful rear compartment.  It is huge by the standards of the day for sure. I opened it and peeked and it goes way back under the seat! Probably about a 3 bodies fit…

The Proprietors of McFeeters Motor Museum in Forbes were very generous letting me all over and around the Hudson and were very helpful. This Museum is a dazzling surprise with magnificent cars and period  costumed models, a great shop for car memorabilia and a full café for meals.

Don’t miss it next time out that way.

When Roland bought the car it was in reasonable condition, but some things just had to be redone to be “correct” in Roland’s mind. Most of the nickel had been chromed, so Roland shipped the whole car to Albury where a company stripped the chrome and re-nickeled those parts. Whilst in Albury a company remade the mudguards using the original rusty ones as templates. The steering wheel was made by a company in Melbourne.

Most work on the car was done in-house by Roland and an assistant. The paint is proper lacquer and not modern 2 pack. 

McFeeters Museum is looking after the car superbly and run the motor on a regular basis. It is a grand thing for people to be able to lend their vehicles to places such as McFeeters, so more people get an understanding of the technology of the day and the beauty in their simple design and graceful lines.

The car came with an inbuilt compressor, with outlets on the running boards, for pumping up your own tyres. Not many service stations around in 1919. A lever under the passenger’s seat was engaged while the car was in neutral which allowed the motor output to drive the compressor.

As shown below, the car was also fitted with a AAA Automatic Petrol Saver Brake. This functioned much like a truck’s engine brake. When turned on, the air mixture feeding the carburettor would change to allow much more air than fuel and the engine would not fire, causing compression braking. Very handy when you only have rear brakes!  I imagine it would take some finessing to get it right and make the engine fire correctly just when you needed it to.

The radiator gauge. Roland says is very hard to read from the driver’s seat !. It is a beautifully crafted item like most accessories in those days were.

The 4.8 Litre Six cylinder motor is in terrific condition and the care and skill
in the restoration is obvious.

Elegance and style are the norm in this vintage of vehicle. From the gleaming woodwork in the hood frame, to the straps holding it down, and particularly the brackets and arms for the mirrors and lights. All declare it a “classy” car.

Gas Gauge has Rich to Lean on top and Air and Choke on bottom.