ClassicCar

If Hudson designers would have kept cranking out designs as advanced as the stepdown was in 48, and trying to beat out Buick while doing it, the 55 model year would have probably looked like a mid 60's Buick.

Admit it Harry, your opinion is a tad biased.* The 1948 Hudson design was light years beyond the rest of industry.* If Hudson would have followed the industry trends and updated their designs every two years, an incarnation of the 55 design would have appeared well before it did. Therefore, and if Hudson could have maintained a position as an industry leader in design, their 1955+ cars would have been more akin in design to 60's era cars. I think that if the money were there, the 1954 model year redesign is a good indication that Hudson could have continued to make appealing cars. It too is clear that buyers from 1955 on did not find Hudson/Nash styling to be a hit.

I imagine there are drawings or were mock ups of what was coming next. Projecting that Hudson would have been way ahead of it's time based on prototypes isn't valid though. Look at all the concept cars that were at the auto shows in those years, they were usually twenty years ahead of their time and we didn't see most of them for another 20 years. Sure the 55 to 57's didn't have the flowing lines and as they tried to incorporate the triangle into the design I think they went further down hill but Hudson was going downhill in sales before the merge or there wouldn't have been a merge. Maybe the 55 wasn't the next step but since the merge came so fast there should be some pictures of what the 55 was supposed to look like.



Harry

While in my opinion the 52-53 hudsons were the best looking of the stepdowns, in 1952 the public did not agree. Dominating NASCAR did not increase sales in those years and Hudson had one chance to get it right. They needed a new design no later than 1953 and needed a V8 to compete with Buick and Olds. They sunk those $$$ in the Jet. If you look at the Jet and enlarge the dimensions, you'll probably envision something between a Big Jet and the X-161 mixture for the 53-54-55 period. After retooling for the new body, they would have had to buy V8s from GM/Packard/? which would not have been bad. Of all the mid-fifties concepts I've seen from Hudson, none looked like they were going to appeal to the public like the mid-fifties GM designs or the forward Chrysler Corp Cars. I think they ran off the road in the early fifties and kept driving on the wrong path. by the time they figured it out, they were in no position to bargain and took the only option available. In the mid-fifties Great Stying and V8s are what sold.

Spring was pushing for the X-161 concept to go into production. The Italia was supposed to the the coupe version of the production line. These were the cars on the drawing board there weren't any concepts like the 55 production Hash on the table. There were a lot of extra design flairs on the prototype that would have been stripped away. But the greenhouse was the design that was being pushed. The merger put the kibosh on that and design control came out of Kenosha. Spring was moved to a project involving a sports version of the Metropolitan the car he died in during the road accident.



Also remember Hudson had a limited design budget they did not design prototypes for car shows they designed them to go into production. The Italia was pushed as the prototype for a steel bodied car made in the US. The X-161 was the concept tests for the 55 line. Not something for a car show.



Now if somehow the merger had not happened and Hudson had the cash to revamp the line a car like that would have hit the streets low, modern, large greenhouse forward thinking it would have been ahead of its time. All the things that the Stepdown was when it was released.

I wonder if Spring knew that the Nash merger was coming when he designed the X-161 ('57 Hudson prototype). There is a strong resemblance in the greenhouse window treatment to what actually was produced by AMC in 1955.

I think it would've been more like a large Studebaker Lark from 1959. If you look at the cues from the above examples, they look a bit like the Lark, as well, IMO. Hard to say what the late '50s would've brought without mergers of the independents, but I think mergers would've been inevitable, certainly no later than the severe economic recession of 1958. Had mergers happened in '58 instead of when they did, I believe that NO mergers would've taken place, because all of the independents would've been out of business by then.



The 1958 model year was significant in many ways. First, the downturn in sales. Secondly, the major restylings by Ford and GM were not selling and were not well-received, wheras the Chrysler styling run was in its second year and was selling well. Had Hudson and Nash been separate marques still in '58, that would've been their final year, if not earlier, and AMC would've not existed at all. Packard would've been dead by then, anyway. Studebaker was still strong enough then to stay in business, and a merger with Kaiser-Jeep may have been in the cards, forming an AMC-like company.



Reading the "What-could've-been" tea leaves is fun.



But, Hudson and Nash would not have lasted to see 1960, in any case.

51hornetA wrote:

In July 54 all design decisions were made out of Kenosha.

Nash/AMC design and engineering were based out of Detroit.
Here's a link to Pat Foster's article on Hash styling. http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2005/01/01/hmn_feature18.html

I sure would have liked to see a Hudson Packard merger that could have resulted in some nice cars. Packard had some great engineers and that proving ground would have been sweet. Packard could have done the higher models and Hudson could have covered the lower and midrange would have been nice to see. Plus they would have got there V8 as well.

66patrick66 wrote:

I think it would've been more like a large Studebaker Lark from 1959. If you look at the cues from the above examples, they look a bit like the Lark, as well, IMO. Hard to say what the late '50s would've brought without mergers of the independents, but I think mergers would've been inevitable, certainly no later than the severe economic recession of 1958. Had mergers happened in '58 instead of when they did, I believe that NO mergers would've taken place, because all of the independents would've been out of business by then.



The 1958 model year was significant in many ways. First, the downturn in sales. Secondly, the major restylings by Ford and GM were not selling and were not well-received, wheras the Chrysler styling run was in its second year and was selling well. Had Hudson and Nash been separate marques still in '58, that would've been their final year, if not earlier, and AMC would've not existed at all. Packard would've been dead by then, anyway. Studebaker was still strong enough then to stay in business, and a merger with Kaiser-Jeep may have been in the cards, forming an AMC-like company.



Reading the "What-could've-been" tea leaves is fun.



But, Hudson and Nash would not have lasted to see 1960, in any case.

I don't think that Chrysler Corporation sales information is correct. While there was a major downturn in the industry, GM faired well in the rankings, Ford dropped slightly in the rankings and Chrysler was the big loser in sales and rankings.



Here's the numbers for 1958 and rankings with the 1957 ranking in Parnethesis



Chevy 1142460 (2) Sales 75% of 1957

Ford 987945 (1) Sales 58% of 1957

Plymouth 443945 (3) Sales 61% of 1957

Olds 294374 (5)

Buick 241892 (4)

Pontiac 217303 (6)

Rambler 162182 (12)

Dodge 137861 (7) Sales less than 50% from 57

Mercury 133271 (

Cadillac 121778 (9)

Chrysler 63681 (11)



Desoto dropped from 10th to 13th



Chrysler corp 1958 % sales drops were down a substantially higher % than GM from 1957.

hudsonkid wrote:

really, I can't imagine anyone on here could say honestly, that if they had their choice of cars from 1957, whether they were a teenager, then, or even now, an old man, you would have chosen a Hudson or a Nash.



Hudson knew they were doomed in 1953. the writing was on the wall as early as 1951. I doubt that a Nash, Hudson, Studebaker, Packard merger would have kept any of them around for a long time.

Let's put this in perspective, If you purchased a new (GM/Ford/mopar) car in 1957, would you have traded it for ANY 1958 model because the styling was more appealing?????? Not only was 1958 a recession year, but for the most part the stying of the cars went from fairly clean to Attrocious. I'm Aware that Mopars only had a minor facelift and they were basically the same as 1957 with some additional headlites, And Mercurys were already one of the ugliest cars on the road for 57.

The Packard Hawks were neat!!! Sort of a last Gasp!



It's surprising thatthe Olds and Buick did so well in sales for 1958. Must have been a fad year for Chrome.



Is there anyone in the world that has a 58 ford, that doesn't wish it was a 57?

I tell you what, after looking at all those 58 to 62 cars I'm glad Hudson didn't keep going. I'm not a big fan of the 57 Hudson but if it had followed the rest of the auto designers I think it would have jumped the shark for sure.



Harry

I find it interesting that Hudson focused on producing sedans, even in the end when they came out with the Jet. All that was really offered in their last year were the larger cars in sedan, coupe, and convertible and the Jet in sedan or coupe. It would have been interesting to see the truck evolve. I'm more curious about what discussions went on in the design room in regards to professional cars, delivery van/wagon, or wagons. Perhaps not a "fantasy" Hudson for most, but I think it would have been competitive with something like the brown 1952 Dodge Coronet Wagon. (See http://photos.buzztrader.com/cars/1/00/8/1008371-964475_1.jpg ) See my Jet renditon for comparison.

nash4088 wrote:

Somewhat off topic but you guys are discussing later 50's cars. The 1957 AMC Rebel was the quickest (0-60) American car that year. Quicker than the fuel injected Corvette and Chrysler 300C.

That is the car that I would want in '57! There would have been nothing better than dusting corvettes and other sports cars with a four door Rambler!