Even 13 years after it was built, Paul McKennary’s remarkable 1948 Hudson is still getting award winning recognition, including on its recent road trip across America!
Originally designed and built by Paul Kelly at Smooth Customs in Queensland, the chopped, two door custom Hudson hit the Australian show car scene running, taking out a string of award, including for its eye-catching PPG Sunset Orange paintwork which was applied by Lindsay Houston of LDI Kustoms. It even featured heavily in the US, European and Japanese magazines, along with local publications.
Over the years, Paul has continued to enjoy his beautiful machine and, earlier in 2018, carefully packed it for shipping to San Francisco for a special road trip. Amazingly, rather than being a ‘trailer queen’, Paul actually drove his gorgeous Hudson over 6,000 miles across America taking in the sights, doing a little cruising and attending a few car shows.
Along the way he stopped in at the Stray Kats 500 in Oklahoma, before continuing to Detroit and then back to the prestigious West Coast Kustoms Cruisin’ Nationals in Santa Maria, California. His evergreen Hudson placed in the ‘Top 5’, alongside the Gene Winfield built, and just restored, Jade Idol, and the Hirohata Merc clone, owned by John D’Agostino. All the while, the PPG finish continues to shine through!