The Hudson Motors/ Schwinn Zeppelin

[39Rocket]

As a dad myself, I can confirm that EVERYTHING a dad tells his children is true and
should be believed

 

[NBHAA]

Thanks Leon. It is a cute story and my dad swears it's true. He tends to exaggerate sometimes, but he's much older than you or I and since he is my father, I have to take him at his word. Many years ago, I met you. Might have been at Memory lane or Ann Arbor. I was with the late John Polizzi. John later told me you know everything about bikes and lots of other things too. Coming from John, that's a bigggg compliment. Thanks for your input on this, I'll question Dad a little more........ thanks again.

Hello...

So how old is your dad and why do you think he is so much older than me? With all due respect, no matter how old he is, Hudson was in Detroit from 1909 to 1957 or so. They just were not in Gary. I still remember the wreckers attempting to tear down the Hudson plant which took years since it was a poured reinforced concrete structure. As such it resisted wrecking balls as they were used back then. In those days they weren't imploding buildings. I could look out of my family's store windows and see the place.

There is always somebody claiming they know me or met me. That's fine. But if we every met, it was not likely at either event you mention since I've never been to either one officially. I did stop off for about an hour at an old bicycle event many years ago in one of those areas. But this was only for an hour or so while on the way to a school reunion. But I was not going around socializing. Had no time. I do recall a young fellow followed me around that whole time, hiding behind boxes and cars trying to snap a photo. As if I would not notice. Why this was necessary? I have no idea. Perhaps he thought he was James Bond. But again, this was a long, long time ago. A lot of years and only an hour or so.

And... I never met polizzi. As in never. Answered jillions of his questions and listened to his guesses and suppositions over the phone and other ways. And he certainly repeated several things I said in his books– WITHOUT attribution. But never met the guy. At least not in a way that he identified himself and told me who he was! This much I assure you.

Thanks.

LD
NBHAA.com

 

[the tinker]

Anything not funny will be deleted. ........or should be. Good news has just arrived, thus I must edit this post. A well known CABE member [ he wishes to remain anonymous] texted me this morning and says he has somewhere filed away, a photograph of the airship that was taken inside the Hudson Hanger the day before it was launched. He promised me he will send it to me it ASP. Like they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." I'm sure more photos are out there. Maybe eye witnesses too. I would not be surprised if some children were present that fateful day. If you're out there, let's hear from you......

 

[byke!punk]

Sheesh. What a piece of …work.

And great project and fun story Tinker! Most of us really appreciate your projects and contributions to our little world here!

 

[Andrew Gorman]

RE: the Steam Skies video- to quote someone on the radio "We're boiling the oceans for this AI crap?". For coal, Like Dad the last time I needed some I picked around the railroad tracks at a very small coal fired power plant. Made a pit fire to make some clay beads and vitrified the walls of the pit. When I turned off the vacuum cleaner forced draft I got belching clouds of green tinted smoke. I kept a foil wrapped package around to claim it was a berbecue in case the popo or fire department came calling. They did not.

 

[mrg]

 

[blue72beetle]

So what color was this Ballooner? The Hindenburg was Gray Ghost Silver Mist, but we all know how that turned out.

 

[the tinker]

Here they are folks! The actual photos of the Schwinn/Hudson Zeppelin taken in the Gigantic Hudson Hanger, hours before launch, so long ago.......... Obviously there was some celebrating going on for the festive event. There were notes on the back of the photos explaining the events and participants involved. As you can clearly see, everyone was having fun. The local Gary Indiana Indians were doing their trick riding. How awesome was that?

To the skeptics..... Notice the Schwinn quality seal proudly painted on the tail fin.

These photos are priceless! Thanks to my Dad's razor sharp memory, the replica model we are building is turning out remarkably like these old photos. I know everyone on the CABE is very excited! And just think, you're seeing this on the CABE first!

Notice the security guards standing on the pilot house. This was a big event. Tragic that it was lost forever under the cold waters of Lake Michigan.

 

[Andrew Gorman]

The gear reduction is impressive! And I love the flying bridge- reminds me of the late and lamented Klalakala-

Mv Kalakala

When the scrappers torched into the rusted carcass of the Mv Kalakala on a Tacoma waterway in the winter of 2015 they were dealing with more than just a storied ending to a once glamorous and later…

tacomahistory.live

The airship of the sound...
At this scale you probably don't need to worry about water recovery, which was an arcane but really significant advance in airship technology in the 1930's...

 

[the tinker]

The gear reduction is impressive! And I love the flying bridge- reminds me of the late and lamented Klalakala-

Mv Kalakala

When the scrappers torched into the rusted carcass of the Mv Kalakala on a Tacoma waterway in the winter of 2015 they were dealing with more than just a storied ending to a once glamorous and later…

tacomahistory.live

The airship of the sound...
At this scale you probably don't need to worry about water recovery, which was an arcane but really significant advance in airship technology in the 1930's...

Awesome boat and a great story. Thanks for sharing!