Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-08-10
NEW HUDSON CAR
HAS AWE I'LL TEST
Racing Driver Gives Newly
Created Automobile 10000
Mile Try-0ut.

remarkable new invention
When As noted motor car engineers.
working under the direction of Howard
E. Coffin. had finished the work of con-
structing their composite masterpiece, it
then became the function of w. R. Me
Culla, a well-kown racing driver. to dis
cover the new creations faults, if there
were any
Though Driver McCulla started his
grueling 2O,OOO-mie abuse of the engi-
neers' masterpiece almost a year ago, the
story is now being told for the first time.
with all trademarks stripped from the
car to prevent its identification, the tests
were made in comparative secret
They have just been completed and to-
day-for the first time-the news of the
test which is the equivalent of the aver
age motorists four year-use of the new
Hudson 81" was given out
With the car completed, Racing Driver
McCulia-who has a long string of VIC
tories IN cOmpetition-set out under in
structions to break her to pieces, if YOU
can. Surely no man is better qualified
to follow those instructions than daring
race driver-men who in 500 miles have
| been known to bring out a cars defects
that would remain undiscovered through
me motorists entire usage of the ear
McCulIa' with full passenger load 81
baggage, set out from Detroit for the AL
leenehS mountains. He drove at train
speed from Detroit to Pittsburg $40 miles
Inc route lies over some of the worst
/ nv
| grades III America were surmounted. The
rocky passes with their terrors for the
average driver were not difficult for the
| car. '' 'Ne
| ouch famous Pittsburg grades as Heber
| ton NIL Center street hill and Union Sts
| uon NIL were climbed with ease. Center
street NIL with its sharp hairpin turn
proved easy. The stamina of the car was
beginning to amaze the driver
| AT the end of several weeks of steady
| tesuhg ne determined that upon the re-
turn TO Detroit he would give the car
such abuse as no car had ever had before
| Nhat is reputed to be the worst road in
the United States lies between Toledo
Ohio, and Detroit Mich This was who're
me car would surely meet difficulties. he
thought. az
SO over this terrific stretch he bnrtIed
the new Hudson "37'' at niIa-a-n1i,,',.a
speed not once, but a dozen times The
passengers could stay in the car. so awfnI
was the pounding, only by constantly
MAINTAINING a tight grip upon the robe
ran IN the supreme test the record he
tween the two cities was shattered
Inc winter came One of the hardest
winters Of years. Still not satisfied with
the abuse the car had had McCuIla was
again sent up into the Alleghenies. This
lilhe he went through to PHILADELPHIA
Each year at Wilkesbarre, Pa. a famous
event Is the Giants Despair hiIIclimb. For
Giants Despair is some hill
In winter it is icy and covered u,itb
snow-too slippery for the majority of
cars. This was surmounted by the New
| Hudson "37."
Here was the passage from the guide
book which stared McCulla in the face
when he plunged into the rocky mountain
| passes; This is one of the worst routes
| IN the United States No motorist should
| attempt it without good brakes, new tires
| and a carefully tuned up car No mex
| perienced driver should, under any cir
| cumstances, attempt it, for it is full of
dangerous passes and diabolical turns.
| That cheered McCulla Surely those
| stony passes and the fearful strains of
| the hairpin turns will break her" he
| thought, And again the guide book warn
! ing he plunged the car over the short cut
| to Philadelphia
| Purring sweetly, the mechanism work
| ing perfectly the car came out unscathed
on the other side of the AIleghenies.
From Philadelphia on he tried to dis
cover fabrication trouble. He drove to
/ Elmira, N. Y, thence to Rochester and
! Buffalo, n. Y, Erie, Pa Cleveland Ohio.
J Toledo and Detroit
| over the smooth New York roads was
| an excellent opportunity to find such
| trouble, if it existed for better than mile
a-minute speeds We're possible. But there
was no such trouble to forestaH, for none
| developed,
| Ihen spring came and with it the car
was driven through the treacherous sands
of Michigan, the mud Of illinois and Iowa.
the sticky gumbo of Missouri and the
clay Of southern Canada.
| one mud trip was notable. 1t was ap-
I proxmately 1000 miles and was made
| over awful Michigan roads when other
vehicles including very high-priced cars,
did not dare tackle the deep mud
The car carried five heavy men and the
entire trip including the first hour or
! two, was made in a heavy downpour;
this added to the rain of the day before
| flooded the roads which ordinarily would
have been considered impossible
| One of the worst stretches of road en-
countered was just outside the city linn
its of Detroit The boulevard was cut off
on account of repairs and McCulla was
compelled to use an ordinary dirt road
! which had been cut deeply by the heavy
| hauling and recent rains This stretch
of about two miles of heavy, hard pulling
was made at between 30 and 40 miles an
hour many times the car jumping into
| deep holes, pounding heavily on all four
| bumpers, giving the passengers terrible
| jults let alone the strain on the chassis.
! The road, after this bad stretch, was
| fairly good, but gradually became worse
till the mud became so deep that at the
| speed, mud and water was thrown clear
| over the fences on either side of the road.
! The car would sometimes approach 80
miles an hour with the roads in this con-
dition. The road was often lost in
| shower of mud, which compelled McCulla
to drive most of the time with the mud
shield down. The holes along the road
were filed with water and never did he
! ia md