This year marks the centennial of the Hudson automobile and a central Iowa car museum will showcase the vehicle and other so-called orphan cars at a show today. Ann Hemken owns the Hemken Car Collection in the Hamilton County community of Williams, which focuses on cars that are no longer made.
“We have several Hudsons and Studebakers, we have nine Packards and we have Nashes,” Hemken says. “Also, there are cars like Oldsmobile and Plymouth and some of the ones we think of as current cars that aren’t made anymore. Probably Pontiac is going to be an orphan, too, before long.” Hemken says the Hudson had an interesting history.
She says Hudson eventually merged with Nash to become American Motors but even American Motors, or A.M.C., is now orphaned as well. Hemken says car museums like the one she owns are helping to preserve a little bit of automotive history for future generations. She says, “We really treasure the cars that we can see now because people have kept them in good working order or because they’ve preserved them as a historic object.”
The Orphan Car show at the Hemken Car Collection Museum will run from 11 A.M. until 3 P.M. today. For more information, call (515) 854-2749. Admission is free.
Contirbuted by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster CityCenbt