We had a 61 mercury and i remember dad packing it for a trip to canada, had the outboard motor packed in the back of the trunk. Plenty of room.
Need you ask?
I read an article about auto metallurgy in ‘Scientific American’ by the chief metallurgist at either GM or Ford. He said that there’s no ‘mild’ (his word) steel in cars anymore, they have alloys designed for each purpose. This was 40-50 years ago. Hudson made his fortune in a department store - what do you expect him to know about cars?
I had a '66 Chrysler Newport. I could hardly drill a hole in the dashboard to mount a switch the metal was so thick and hard. Now you could do the same with a spring loaded center punch… 
I’m not advocating a return to that, just pointing out the overkill approach that was applied to almost every aspect of the designs and materials back then.
Probably a bagged suspension. If he drops the rear and raises the front, it can look like that. Raising the rear will provide forward visibility.
J.L. Hudson, the department store magnate, was just one member of a consortium that was formed in order to build cars, in 1909. Because Hudson contributed the largest sum of money to the venture, the car was named after him. There were others in the venture who were knowledgeable in the area of automotive engineering, and Hudson had nothing to do with the cars, other than providing funding.
In any event, J.L. Hudson died in 1912, so even if he had possessed technical knowledge, he was dead several decades before the step-down Hudsons were designed and engineered.
Yes, which is why I did ask.
That green tail dragger is just awful looking.
That’s true, but it must be a lot of fun 
when pulling into a driveway with even a little bit of elevation. Who needs that exhaust system, anyway?
What is awful? Laying frame at car show is fine. I think it has adjustable suspension. Do you dislike color? Copped top is cool. Or something else?
It is a 1940 Lincoln Zepher custom… I suspect it is on airbag springs so it is driveable on actual roads.
You could look over anyone of those 3 Customs for days and still not see all the modifications and custom touches that have been done to them, they are true works of art, and perfections in everyway…
Although they are not my cup of tea, I can and do appreciate and have great respect for the work done to the vehicles, and that 1st green car is an absolutely beautiful color…
The Hirohata Merc was a dream car for me when I was a kid. And then I got to see it live and restored at Amelia Island Concours a few years ago. It looks even better in person. Amazing when you consider how little time it took Barris to build it… 14 days!
He must have had a clear vision of what he wanted. How many people were on his build team?
Gene Winfield was at car show in Iola working on chop top car in 2023-2024 approx. cutting/slitting roof looks quite aggressive at start. Takes a lot of skill to get the metal smooth.