The J anuary/February issue of Vintage Truck magazine will be available in subscriber mailboxes and on newsstands soon. Our cover story about a 1937 Hudson Terraplane was written by Candace Brown and photographed by Al Rogers.

For a 14-year-old boy growing up on a farm in LaGrange County, Indiana, during the Great Depression, exposure to a new 1936 Hudson automobile became a life-altering event. The boy was Eldon Hostetler, and the car belonged to a young man helping his father harvest corn on the family farm.

The optional Bendix “Electric Hand” remote control shifting mechanism on the steering column especially fascinated Hostetler. He promised himself he would own an identical Hudson one day, and he did. In fact, the passion inspired by that first impression led him to build what has grown into the largest collection of Hudson Motor Car Co. products in the world. (Hudson brands included Dover, Essex, Railton, and Terraplane.)

January/February 2018 Vintage Truck Cover

One of the most interesting pieces in the collection is a rare 1937 Hudson Terraplane 3/4-ton pickup truck Hostetler bought in 1986 through a phone-in bid to an auction in Texas. It now belongs to the Hostetler Hudson Auto Museum, located at the Shipshewana Event Center in Shipshewana, Indiana. Hostetler’s generosity made possible the establishment of this museum in 2005. He donated not only his collection, but also the land and building to house it and an endowment fund to keep it going. When he died in 2016, at the age of 93, he knew his treasured vehicles would be on public display, preserving an important part of American automotive history. His son, J.R. Hostetler, manages this legacy today.

To read more about the 1937 Hudson Terraplane, pick up a copy of the January/February issue of Vintage Truck magazine!