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The Terraplane

The Terraplane in 2006

We started this 1936 Terraplane (terra is Latin for ground, thus a ground-plane instead of an airplane) project in 2006. The Hudson Motor Car Company had an aviation-rich history, so we thought this restoration would fit well with the old Stearman biplanes.

The Terraplane in 2008

We finally finished it in early 2010, and hope to get out and have some fun this spring.

The completed Terraplane in 2010

For those of you interested in this bit of aviation/automotive history, we have provided a couple of excerpts from the book Hudson History, reprinted with permission of the author, Jack Miller.

Famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart was hired to promote the new Essex-Terraplane with a ceremony at the Hudson plant on July 21, 1932 before over 2000 dealers and other automotive people. She christened the first car built with a bottle of aviation gasoline which was broadcast live on Detroit's WJR radio. The event concluded with a mass drive-away of 2000 new identically painted Terraplanes heading to dealerships across the United States.

Here is a 2-minute video clip of Amelia Earhart launching the Terraplane.

Hudson manufactured 21 different items during World War II with the building and operation of the 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun plant given the highest priority. Hudson would also manufacture three fuselage sections and wing tips for the B-29 Bomber, totaling 16% of the entire airplane, cabins for Bell P-39 Aircobra fighters, Martin Marauder B-26 bomber fuselage sections, wings for the Curtiss Helldiver fighter, outer wings for the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, and 4000 Hudson Invader engines for naval landing craft. Other items included pistons and rocker arms for Curtiss-Wright Cyclone engines, bomb fuses, mine anchors, ammunition boxes, aircraft auxiliary fuel tanks, suspension parts for the M-5 tank, gun mounts, torpedo tubes, fire-control apparatus, radar parts, starter parts for diesel and aircraft starters. Hudson's Aviation Division was awarded the Army-Navy E award in 1943 and again in 1944 for high achievement in war production.

We have been trying to figure out what we could do to incorporate the truck and Stearman into some kind of aviation activity. The following clip is what we came up with; we just have to convince Dick to do his part while I fly.

Update: in Spring 2010, Vintage Truck Magazine came out and did a photo shoot featuring our Terraplane. Here's one of the pictures they took:

The Terraplane
The Terraplane in 2006

We started this 1936 Terraplane (terra is Latin for ground, thus a ground-plane instead of an airplane) project in 2006. The Hudson Motor Car Company had an aviation-rich history, so we thought this restoration would fit well with the old Stearman biplanes.
The Terraplane in 2008

We finally finished it in early 2010, and hope to get out and have some fun this spring.
The completed Terraplane in 2010




For those of you interested in this bit of aviation/automotive history, we have provided a couple of excerpts from the book Hudson History, reprinted with permission of the author, Jack Miller.
Famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart was hired to promote the new Essex-Terraplane with a ceremony at the Hudson plant on July 21, 1932 before over 2000 dealers and other automotive people. She christened the first car built with a bottle of aviation gasoline which was broadcast live on Detroit's WJR radio. The event concluded with a mass drive-away of 2000 new identically painted Terraplanes heading to dealerships across the United States.
Here is a 2-minute video clip of Amelia Earhart launching the Terraplane.
Hudson manufactured 21 different items during World War II with the building and operation of the 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun plant given the highest priority. Hudson would also manufacture three fuselage sections and wing tips for the B-29 Bomber, totaling 16% of the entire airplane, cabins for Bell P-39 Aircobra fighters, Martin Marauder B-26 bomber fuselage sections, wings for the Curtiss Helldiver fighter, outer wings for the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, and 4000 Hudson Invader engines for naval landing craft. Other items included pistons and rocker arms for Curtiss-Wright Cyclone engines, bomb fuses, mine anchors, ammunition boxes, aircraft auxiliary fuel tanks, suspension parts for the M-5 tank, gun mounts, torpedo tubes, fire-control apparatus, radar parts, starter parts for diesel and aircraft starters. Hudson's Aviation Division was awarded the Army-Navy E award in 1943 and again in 1944 for high achievement in war production.
We have been trying to figure out what we could do to incorporate the truck and Stearman into some kind of aviation activity. The following clip is what we came up with; we just have to convince Dick to do his part while I fly. Update: in Spring 2010, Vintage Truck Magazine came out and did a photo shoot featuring our Terraplane. Here's one of the pictures they took: