58L-Y8 Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 For Sale: 1957 Hudson Hornet Custom 4dr Sedan - $18,950 - Farmington, NM 57 Hudson Hornet Custom - cars & trucks - by owner - vehicle... (craigslist.org) Seller's Description: Real eye catcher. Car show trophy winner, AMC V-8 327 cu in 255 HP., G. M. Hydramatic. 4 year old Lucas "Collector Car" Goodyear tires. This car has been driven about 1500 miles since purchased in 2008. During my ownership the car has had the torque tube trunnion, and driveshaft replaced, Transmission supports (aka rear motor mounts) replaced, front suspension lower control arm bushings and lower trunnion repair kit installed, Power steering ram overhauled (a failure as still leaks and is noisy). odometer: 89000 Contact: Curtis call: (505) 2-fifteen-3-5-six-5 Copy and paste in your email: a96a4e563b3b3fc3a61f416c6251d5f3@sale.craigslist.org I have no personal interest or stake in the eventual sale of this 1957 Hudson Hornet Custom 4dr Sedan. The Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1946-1975, Edited by John Gunnell states 1,256 1957 Hudson Hornet Custom 4dr Sedan built during Hudson's swan song year. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leif in Calif Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 That is really something! It makes you wonder if during the design phase, did they start with a clean shape and add ornamentation, or did they start with the ornamentation and build a car around it. Fins on top of fins! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sal Hepatica Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 What's with the interior? Black, green and white body with.....purple seats😮 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 38 minutes ago, Sal Hepatica said: What's with the interior? Black, green and white body with.....purple seats😮 The seats are black and green. It is just the lighting that gives them an appearance different to you. Until your comment, I saw no purple! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sal Hepatica Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 Now I can imagine the black seat fabric... looks pretty purple in the first photo!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillOutThere Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 1 hour ago, Leif in Calif said: That is really something! It makes you wonder if during the design phase, did they start with a clean shape and add ornamentation, or did they start with the ornamentation and build a car around it. Fins on top of fins! THEY DID start out with the nicely styled '55 Nash body, then made a Hudson out of it with doodads. Then another shot at both for '56. Then a "last hurrah" for the body taking the '57 Nash and adding some MORE of this and some MORE of that. Oh MY ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
58L-Y8 Posted July 21, 2022 Author Share Posted July 21, 2022 1 hour ago, Leif in Calif said: That is really something! It makes you wonder if during the design phase, did they start with a clean shape and add ornamentation, or did they start with the ornamentation and build a car around it. Fins on top of fins! Leif: The freelance industrial designer Richard Arbib was contracted to create the restyles for the 1956-'57 Hudsons on the existing body shell with no major sheet metal stampings changes. The mandate limited changes to front grille, side trim patterns, taillights and details. The body series dates back to the 1952 Nash Statesman and Ambassador which became the basis for the 1955-'57 Hudsons with the Nash and Hudson merger to form American Motors. The 1955 Hudson styling was created inhouse by applying features such as the eggcrate grille and taillights from the initially planned continuation of the Step-Down 1955 Hudsons which were in progress before the merger. Personally, of all the styling carried by that 1952-'57 Nash/Hudson body series, the 1955 Hudsons are the cleanest, most elegantly detailed and appealing of the group. My taste notwithstanding, AMC President George Romney felt the next Hudson restyle needed more distinction from the Nash with which it clearly shared its body shell/chassis platform. Richard Arbib, who had been designer for Henney Motor Co. the Packard hearse/ambulance coachbuilder, opened his own design consultancy in NYC, taking on contracts for a variety of consumer products. His Benrus wrist watches are some of the finest examples of Mid-Century Modern design. To have an insight into his thinking about automotive styling, Tidewater Oil Company under the Tydol, Flying A and Veedol brands featured a series of his "dream cars" in their 'Veedol "Dream Car" Salon' advertising series. Typically a vertical half-page advertisement, a different dream car designed by Richard Arbib was shown at the top. Nothing illustrates it better than his "V-Liner Custom Sedan" and "Interplane Sedan." How could the 1956-'57 Hudsons have turned out any differently... Steve 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 It looks like a nice car. I just have never warmed up to the 55-57 Hudson’s. 55 is the better looking one out of the three. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossil Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 (edited) They almost ran out of places to hang the doodads. Rear end kind of reminds me of the dash in a 61' Chrysler. Edited July 22, 2022 by Fossil (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 Actually, Fossil, the picture shows a 1961 Imperial dashboard. (I have a 1961 Imperial.) Chrysler's dashboard was different. I may be nearly alone, but I rather like the 1956-57 Hudsons' styling. I prefer the 1956, because the trim was a little more subdued, and there were no "added" tailfins in the back. Here are pictures of a 1956 from the internet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fossil Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 8 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said: I prefer the 1956, because the trim was a little more subdued, and there were no "added" tailfins in the back. I would agree with you. Looks a lot nicer without the bling. The last photo you posted shows the aftermarket add on white walls that I remember as a kid.😄 Haven't seen them since then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StillOutThere Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 1 hour ago, Fossil said: I would agree with you. Looks a lot nicer without the bling. The last photo you posted shows the aftermarket add on white walls that I remember as a kid.😄 Haven't seen them since then. Not too long ago I saw Lucas Tire advertising Port-o-Walls ! Attaching pic of a '57 Imperial parts car I had...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingrudy Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 (edited) I will agree this is an eye catcher, but may not be to everyone's taste in style IMO. Edited July 22, 2022 by kingrudy (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
58L-Y8 Posted July 22, 2022 Author Share Posted July 22, 2022 The 1956-'57 Hudsons are an acquired taste... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 There are some great cars in 1957. Chrysler, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Ford and Lincoln. I do not know where a 57 Hudson came in price wise compared to the others. I just have a hard time imagining a person standing in front of the Hudson, at a dealership in 1957. And saying I have looked at the others, and the Hudson knocks it out of the park. Sales must have been really bad. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
58L-Y8 Posted July 23, 2022 Author Share Posted July 23, 2022 5 hours ago, Xander Wildeisen said: There are some great cars in 1957. Chrysler, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Ford and Lincoln. I do not know where a 57 Hudson came in price wise compared to the others. I just have a hard time imagining a person standing in front of the Hudson, at a dealership in 1957. And saying I have looked at the others, and the Hudson knocks it out of the park. Sales must have been really bad. The 1957 Hudsons, all four models, spanned from $2,821 to $3,101 which put them in direction competition with models from Pontiac-Olds-Buick-Dodge-DeSoto-Chrysler and Mercury. All except Pontiac were all-new bodies, the Forward Look Mopars sweeping the industry in style, Olds-Buick were a bit off but still hot sellers. Mercury was peddling "dream car design" which was also an acquired taste somewhat hard to swallow for many but still sold well enough. By then, it was pretty much all over for Hudson, Romney had already made the decision to drop both Nash and Hudson and run with only Rambler for 1958. A total of only 3,108 1957 Hudsons were built. Who bought the 1957 Hudsons? Only the extremely long-term loyal who had a trust relationship with their dealer who assured them of continued service and parts. Many Hudson dealerships had already taken on a Rambler franchise in anticipation which also reassured customers. The 1958 Ambassador was initially developed as potentially a Hudson before it was decided to market it as the "Ambassador by Rambler" which sounds backwards. Although it was essentially a Rambler body with nine inches added to the dash-to-front axle, more chrome and upgraded interiors, It was added the line-up to give loyal Nash and Hudson owners an acceptable "full-sized" model to continue with. The gambit largely worked, kept many in the AMC fold rather than allow them defect to a Big Three medium price make. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Wildeisen Posted July 23, 2022 Share Posted July 23, 2022 And then............ The bee came back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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