In 1949, the Hudson Motor Car Company celebrated its 40th anniversary, and it also recorded its best-selling year of the postwar era.
In the years following World War II, the USA’s independent automakers were suddenly in tall cotton. Before the war they had struggled to stay in business, but when auto production resumed in 1945-46, newly prosperous Americans were buying more cars than the major manufacturers could produce. In this sellers’ market, cars from the more marginal carmakers were suddenly in high demand.
Hudson, one of Detroit’s oldest but smallest automakers, was especially well-positioned for this trend with its advanced Step-Down models introduced for 1948. One of the industry’s first true postwar designs, the Step-Downs were as good as anything the Detriot Three were producing, arguably better. (See our detailed feature on the Step-Down Hudsons here.) Founded in 1909, Hudson had recorded its best year in history back in 1929 when it produced more than 300,000 cars, but through the depression years it struggled to break the 100,000 mark. On the strength of the Step-Down models, In 1948 the company sold 117,000 cars, and in 1949 it set a postwar record: 159,210 vehicles.
The number needs some perspective. While Hudson comfortably outsold fellow indpendents Nash, Studebaker, and Packard that year, the company’s total output was dwarfed by individual General Motors divisions including Pontiac (305,000) and Oldsmobile (288,000). Meanwhile, Ford and Chevrolet were each producing more than 1,000,000 cars per year. In a sea of killer whales, Hudson was a minnow. Short on capital and resources and lacking the ecnomies of scale of the major automakers, Hudson’s very survival depened on doing more with less. Far less.
Hudson’s product line for ’49 consisted of four models: the Super Six, Commodore Six, Super Eight, and Commodore Eight. All were based on the 124-in wheelbase Monobilt chassis, Hudson’s unique form of unit construction in which the frame rails passed outside the rear wheels. This layout gave the Step-Down Hudson its unnaturally wide seats and cabin, an attractive selling point in those days. Its tank-like construction and low center of gravity also drew high praise. The often bombastic Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated wrote, “This is America’s best road car by far.”
Two engines powered the Hudson line for 1949. Introduced the year before, the Super Six (above left) was a classic Detroit L-head with a bore and stroke of 3.56 x 4.38 inches, a displacement of 262 cubic inches and 121 hp. The Super Eight, an older straight-eight design, was actually slightly smaller in displacement with a 3.00 x 4.50-in bore and stroke and 254 cubic inches, but slightly greater output at 128 hp. Both were equipped with Hudson’s signature wet clutch, while the company’s Drive-Master automatic transmission was an extra-cost option. The famous 308 CID Hornet Six and victory in NASCAR would come a few years later.
The lowest-priced model in the Hudson lineup, the Super Six, was by far the company’s best seller in ’49 at more than 91,000 units, more than 57 percent of the company’s total production. Sales of the straight-eight models lagged well behind. At $2,156 in a range that climbed to slightly more than $3,000, the Super Six was no doubt seen as the best value. Unfortunately, the success of ’49 would not continue much longer, as the major automakers now had their postwar designs on the market.
Sales slipped to 121,408 in 1950, then recovered slightly in 1951, only to tumble to a mere 70,000 in 1952. Hudson’s handicaps at the time are well documented: The company lacked the resources to develop a modern, competitive V8, Monobilt construction severely limited the Step-Down’s restyling potential, and finally, the compact Jet failed to launch in the marketplace.
Years later, automotive historian Richard Langworth interviewed executive Roy Chapin Jr., a board member and sales manager at Hudson, who estimated that the carmaker’s break-even point was around 75,000 cars per year. As it failed to meet that target, now the company’s balance sheets were upside down, recording a $10.4 million loss for 1953. Bowing to the inevitable, in April of 1954 the Hudson Motor Car Company merged with Nash to form American Motors.
This is surprising. One would assume that the Hornet years were Hudson’s best.
In ’49, one of my uncles bought an early step-down model from another uncle who was a Hudson dealer. I remember the step-down hoopla at the time. Also, the factory apparently ran out of bumpers, so the car came with temporary wooden bumpers…later replaced with the real deal.
I was born just early enough (1956) to see some of the remaining Hudson Hornets still racing at Mt. Clemens Race Track, north of Detroit. I always thought they were called Hornets because of the un-muffled inline engines that had a deep drone sound to them. The last one I remember clearly was driven by Jack Goodwin, a white car numbered 25.