In the late 1970s, Mick Franklin’s brother, Bill, bought a 1946 four-door Hudson sedan to fix up for his daughter to drive to high school.

After the car had sat in his driveway for four years with little or no work done, Bill sold it to his and Mick’s mutual friend Ray Sherwood. Five years later in 1988 it was still untouched, so Ray offered it to Mick for free with the stipulation that he fix it up. Mick accepted the challenge and brought the car home. 

Within a few months he had the Hudson running and was driving it to work. From 1988-90, Mick continued to improve the car until it was in show condition and far too nice to drive to work.

In 1991, Mick took Ray and the car to the Hudson Nationals in St. Louis as payment for giving him the car.
Later that year, Mick missed driving the old Hudson to work so he found this 1947 Hudson Super Six Club coupe, which had a mid-1960s Chevrolet V-8 and a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission but few other modifications. The car proved to be a reliable old cruiser as a work car until 2004, when he and his wife, Dody, decided to restore it as a travel-ready street rod.

Mick wanted a drive train that would prove extremely dependable while getting good gas mileage, so he began to look for a General Motors 3800 V-6. Most 3800s are front-wheel drive engines, but in 1995 and ’96 Chevrolet used them in a rear-wheel drive application for Camaros.

Mick asked a car dealer buddy to find him a Camaro, and he soon had a nice 1996 silver Camaro for only $3,400.

Mick and Dody’s granddaughter, Sarah, loved the car and couldn’t believe that her grandpa was going to tear it apart!

Tear might be a little rough. Mick carefully dismantled every piece until all that was left was the shell, which was sold to a man to build a race car out of. 

Mick not only used the engine, transmission and rear end but everything else from the steering and suspension to the wiring harness and computer. He fitted the instrument cluster and air-conditioning controls to the Hudson’s dashboard. The steering column and front seats were also utilized. And for the first few years he even used the wheels and tires from the Camaro.

By spending $3,400 on the donor car, he got everything he needed for less than it would have cost him to build a Hudson engine.

The couple’s son, Mark, did the body work and painted the car red and gold two-tone to finish the project in 2007.

That year the Franklins and their friends Gary and Di Gibson drove from their home in Salina, Kansas, to Monterrey, Calif., down the West Coast to the Hearst Castle and then through Bakersfield before returning home. The Franklins’ freshly built Hudson Super Six Club coupe consistently averaged 29 miles per gallon. The Gibsons drove their 1952 Hudson.

In 2008 the couples took their Hudsons to Niagara Falls, N.Y.,
The 100-year Hudson Anniversary Festival was held Detroit in 2009 and was the destination for the Hudson lovers and their cars. The Franklins and Gibsons have been to Florida, Utah and three provinces in Canada, returning to the United States through North  Dakota.

Before traveling, Gary gets on the Internet to find car shows and museums that they can stop at along the way. They have been to the Henry Ford Museum, the Auburn Duesenburg Cord Museum and the Wright-Patterson Air Force Museum.

In the fall of 2014 the couples headed from their homes in Kansas to New England. They stopped at the Carz-R-Us car show in Beech Grove, which is where I met them and photographed the Franklins’ 1947 Hudson. They loved the show and said it was one of the best ones that they had come across in their travels.
Mick and Dody have put 57,000 carefree miles on their car and plan to rack up more miles this summer.
Until next week, keep on cruising!  

In about 1905 the Anderson Carriage started to design an electric car and produced its first model in 1907. The cars were really taking off by 1910. 

That year more than 1,000 cars were built under the name Detroit Electric. Nine models could be purchased in either a long or short wheelbase. By 1912, Detroit Electrics could be purchased in 12 models with four different wheelbases available. The cost for one of the 1912 models was between $2,000 and $3,750. That was a lot of money in those days, but people usually didn't go very far, and the cars were easy to start and operate. Production had increased to 4,500 cars by 1914, but gasoline-powered cars were being sold by Ford for as little as $650 that year.

Over the next six years, gas cars pushed the Detroit Electrics production down to only 200 vehicles, but the little company managed to hang in there.
In 1929 the Anderson Carriage company filed for bankruptcy. That year 88 cars were produced. While muddling through bankruptcy in 1931, 23 cars were built.

A man named Alfred Dunk purchased the company in 1932 and renamed it the Detroit Electric Car Co. People were still ordering cars. 
Here’s where it gets a little crazy. Dunk began purchasing all of the old Detroit Electrics that he could get his hands on. He brought them back to his factory, where he put new batteries in them. He then installed new fenders, bumpers, wheels, etc., and sold them as new 1932s. He did this through 1934, and then for the next five years he converted Dodges and Willys to electric.

The car in the pictures is the first 1932. It was rebuilt from a 1918 model, which explains why the design looks so much older than cars being built by other manufacturers in 1932. The 1932 models could go about 70 miles between charges, even farther if they were put in neutral when possible.

By 1939 the demand for electric cars had faded drastically. The Detroit Electric Car Co. closed up shop a couple of years later.
Until next week, keep on cruising.