The Tea Cup Test

harry54
harry54 Senior Contributor
edited November -1 in HUDSON
Does anyone remember the " Tea Cup test"? THis was supposedly the test that you could take when driving a new Jet.... If you went to your local dealer , you could fill up a tea cup full of gas and see how far you could drive...... My uncle said that there were posters on the wall of his local Hudson dealer...... Anyone Remember this ??

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  • RL Chilton
    RL Chilton Administrator, Member
    harry54 wrote:
    Does anyone remember the " Tea Cup test"? THis was supposedly the test that you could take when driving a new Jet.... If you went to your local dealer , you could fill up a tea cup full of gas and see how far you could drive...... My uncle said that there were posters on the wall of his local Hudson dealer...... Anyone Remember this ??



    You mean you had to drive a teacup?



    Oh, wait, . . . you had to put a teacup full of gas into your gas tank and see how far you could go?



    Or, maybe, you had to hold the teacup full of gas while driving to see how far you could go before you spilled it? If that's the case, wouldn't water be safer?



    I have heard of the "egg on the bumper" driving test, though, amongst others.



    The other random thought I had, was, did they do a drug test on the teacup after you filled it?:D



    Boy, I'm in a weird mood, must be getting on towards the end of the week!
  • PAULARGETYPE
    PAULARGETYPE Senior Contributor
    Harry I Have The Testing Device Thgat Fits On The Car The The Test Was Done With Some Where On Line There Is A Sheet On How It Was Done I'll Look For It
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Not Only Have Il Heard Of It, I Have The Contraption That You Hung Under The Hood With The Line To The Carb That Was Used By The Dealers To Perform This Test, Its Hanging On The Wall In My Shop Bill Albright
  • Nevada Hudson
    Nevada Hudson Senior Contributor
    harry54 wrote:
    Does anyone remember the " Tea Cup test"? THis was supposedly the test that you could take when driving a new Jet.... If you went to your local dealer , you could fill up a tea cup full of gas and see how far you could drive...... My uncle said that there were posters on the wall of his local Hudson dealer...... Anyone Remember this ??



    There was a write up on this in a past issue of the WTN. Can't remember which issue. Maybe someone here can.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    RL Chilton wrote:
    You mean you had to drive a teacup?



    Oh, wait, . . . you had to put a teacup full of gas into your gas tank and see how far you could go?



    Or, maybe, you had to hold the teacup full of gas while driving to see how far you could go before you spilled it? If that's the case, wouldn't water be safer?



    I have heard of the "egg on the bumper" driving test, though, amongst others.



    The other random thought I had, was, did they do a drug test on the teacup after you filled it?:D



    Boy, I'm in a weird mood, must be getting on towards the end of the week!



    Now that's some funny stuff, keep it coming. :D
  • hudsontech
    hudsontech Senior Contributor
    Just remember the old axiom - don't drink and drive at the same time. You might hit a bump and spill the whole drink.



    Hudsonly,

    Alex Burr
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    can i buy one?

    im working on two jetliners :D
  • Sarah Young
    Sarah Young Senior Contributor
    I have the following blurb about the Teacup Test on the History page of my site:



    One promotion to introduce the 1953 Jet was known as the "Teacup Test!" In the days when gas was 19 cents a gallon, getting optimum miles per gallon was just as important as it is today. Boasting 31 MPG, Hudson wanted customers to visualize just how economical the new Jet was. The display composed of a glass cylinder, valves and rubber hoses. A salesman would pour a teacup worth of gasoline in the cylinder and proceed to take their customer on a test drive. Although an innoventive idea, the test ultimately proved to be a lackluster marketing ploy.
  • RL Chilton
    RL Chilton Administrator, Member
    Sarah Young wrote:
    I have the following blurb about the Teacup Test on the History page of my site:



    One promotion to introduce the 1953 Jet was known as the "Teacup Test!" In the days when gas was 19 cents a gallon, getting optimum miles per gallon was just as important as it is today. Boasting 31 MPG, Hudson wanted customers to visualize just how economical the new Jet was. The display composed of a glass cylinder, valves and rubber hoses. A salesman would pour a teacup worth of gasoline in the cylinder and proceed to take their customer on a test drive. Although an innoventive idea, the test ultimately proved to be a lackluster marketing ploy.



    SAAAY . . . how BIG was this teacup, anyway?



    (Thanks, Sarah!)
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    No need for free refills with a teacup that size.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    harry54 wrote:
    Does anyone remember the " Tea Cup test"? THis was supposedly the test that you could take when driving a new Jet.... If you went to your local dealer , you could fill up a tea cup full of gas and see how far you could drive...... My uncle said that there were posters on the wall of his local Hudson dealer...... Anyone Remember this ??
    Walt here; That test was done this way. Fuel line to the carb was disconnected and pluged. Engine was started and run the carb dry, now the tea cup which was a small jar was connected to the carb and a tea cup full of gas was poured into the jar which was hung on the right front door with the window down so driver could see the gas in the jar go down. Mileage was taken at the start and when the engine died. The saleman would the reconnect the fuel pump line and back to the dealer ship. You could not do a test like this today, to many cars on the roads. I know this test because I did many of them selling Hudsons. The best mileage was about 28 MPG, and that was driving below 40 MPH.
  • hornet_54
    hornet_54 Senior Contributor
    The Tea Cup Test was discussed in the WTN issues J/F-88 & J/A-94.



    Bob
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    I have one of these devices also. Seems the container the "teacup" of gas was put in was hung from a front window and connected to a valve which allowed fuel to flow from either the container or the fuel tank. The car was cranked and then was switched to the container for the test. When the car ran out of fuel the valve was switched to allow fuel flow from the fuel tank for the return drive to the dealership. Will sell the one I have for $200 if anyone is interested. If no one wants this I will put it on Ebay.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    im interested

    could i send you money?
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