Don Hudson's 1932 Ford Roadster

1932 Ford Roadster originally owned and built by Long Beach Qualifiers member Don Hudson. Don was a pioneering hot rodder who began racing the dry lakes before the WWII. He built his first hot rod during his last year of high school and was the only fellow with a "real" hot rod at school. After the War, Don joined the Long Beach Qualifiers. He began upholstering cars and went on to open up Don's Trim Shop in Norwalk.

Life of Riley 

After completing the Roadster, the car appeared on the silver screen in the TV series Life of Riley. In January of 2024, Don's son, Steve Hudson, told Sondre Kvipt of Kustomrama that for a nine-year-old boy, witnessing his dad's roadster on television was nothing short of magical. Despite the grand sum of $100 per day earned for its use, Don remained unimpressed by the haughty demeanor of the actor portraying "Junior" on the show. "As might be expected of a teenage TV "star," he was pretty full of himself, and when Dad tried to explain some of the eccentricities of starting and running a seriously hotted up flathead V8, "Jr." just blew him off. The young actor then spent several embarrassing minutes in front of the cameras in a futile attempt to start the roadster."

McMullen

Don sold the famed roadster a year or so later, around 1957.

The Hudson's

After that, its whereabouts were unknown until a serendipitous mention in Street Rodder Magazine revealed its fate. Unbeknownst to the Hudson family, The Life of Riley Roadster had morphed into the renowned McMullen Roadster. Despite undergoing numerous alterations, the essence of Don's craftsmanship—body, frame, interior, and distinctive components—endured. "Needless to say, I was thrilled. For a car guy, this was like finding out your father invented Penicillin or Post-Its or something equally momentous. It was great fun growing up in a "Hot Rod" family during the ’50s, but finding out one of "our" cars went on to become arguably THE most famous Hot Rod of all time certainly puts an exclamation point on the experience."