E6

By LAVERNE STEWART
stewart.laverne@dailygleaner.com

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Arend Laagland Winder is passionate about his 1946 Hudson. He's loved this make and model since he was a teen.

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The Daily Gleaner/Ray Bourgeois

Arend Laagland Winder shows the 1946 Hudson that he recently purchased in the United States. The car, which is 63 years old, is in excellent condition. When Laagland Winder was in Grade 10 in 1962, he bought his first car: it was also a 1946 Hudson and it cost him $175 at the time. The make and model of this Hudson Motor Company vehicle has always held a special place in his heart.

In 1962 he was in Grade 10 and was eager to buy his first car. He'd saved money from his job as a newspaper carrier with The Daily Gleaner so he could pay for a set of wheels. A classmate of his knew he was looking for one and told him his grandfather's 1946 Hudson was for sale.

"It was in very good shape. It was all original. It had some rust spots above the headlights but basically it was a solid car. These cars are like a tank."

He bought the car for about $175, which was a lot of money at that time, he recalls. But it was well worth it. He drove it home and, for the next couple of years, was behind the wheel driving his friends here and there and his teammates to rugby games.

"We had a lot of fun with it and the girls liked it. It had a great big backseat, which was just like your grandmother's sofa."

Sadly, one day while returning to Fredericton from Saint John, the motor died. He and the friends who were with him had to hitchhike. His father helped him tow it home. He sold the car to a dealer who bought it for parts. Years later he saw it in a field.

"The hood was off it and a birch tree had grown up right where the engine used to be."

Over the years, Laagland Winder has done a lot of research and has purchased many books about the Hudson Motor Company.

He has a copy of every car the automobile company made. The car company started in 1909. It merged with Nash Motors to form American Motors.

"The Hudson name lived on until 1957 and that was the last of them."

Laagland Winder is a car dealer who looks for vehicles online. Every now and then he will search for 1946 Hudsons.

Typically there will be about six 1946 Hudsons somewhere in North America for sale in various states of disrepair. Last month he noticed one in Kansas City that sounded like it might be one he would consider buying.

"The pictures and the description said it was all original, had never been painted and was rust-free. It only has 41,000 miles on it."

He made an offer on the vehicle and the deal was done. The vehicle was shipped from Kansas City to Houlton, Maine on an enclosed vehicle carrier.

Laagland Winder drove it across the border and then hired another shipping company to bring it from Woodstock to his home near Fredericton.

He wasn't sure of the car's mechanical condition and he didn't want to drive it home in the dark in case it broke down along the way.

Now that it's parked in his garage, he is having a great time looking at it and taking it for short drives around his neighbourhood.

"There's nothing like it. When you get behind the wheel of one of these old babies and the steering wheel is the size of a wagon wheel ... It takes me back to the time when I was a young teenager and when I had so much fun in my first Hudson."

His wife, Barb Prosser Winder, is also impressed with this vehicle. Laagland Winder says he looks forward to more drives in this car with her and perhaps parking with her in it in the backseat.

"Absolutely! We will make out somewhere down the road."

Just then Prosser Winder lets out a howl in protest. But her husband laughs, saying there is nothing wrong with a husband and wife spending time in the backseat of any car, no matter whether it is a late-model or classic car.

This vehicle has some interesting features such as a foot-controlled radio. The round dial on the floor can be pressed with one's toes to turn the radio on and off.

You can turn the dial with your toe to tune into various radio stations.

"In the car's brochure it says, 'It's important to keep your hands on the wheel when you are driving so we have introduced the foot-control for the radio so you don't have to take your hands off the steering wheel.'"

He isn't sure what he will do to the vehicle. The original dark blue has faded to a shade of grey-blue.

Eventually, he says, he plans to have it painted and install new brakes, powertrain, and engine.

Until then he says he will treat this old car with kid gloves. He doesn't want to have the motor die on him like his first Hudson did when he was a teen.