Collector Car Corner/Cars We Remember; The Fabulous Hudson Motor Company

By Greg Zyla —

Since this week is a Hudson column, let’s start with a trivia question.

Who was the voice of Smokey Yunick’s tow truck in the “Cars 3” movie? The popular film debuted in June of 2017 by Disney/Pixar studios. Answer at the end of the column. 

Hudson, in my opinion, was the most successful of the independent, non-“Big Three” brands that included Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors. Hudson sold some of the fastest and best built cars in its 48 years of manufacturing and was number three in sales behind Ford and Chevy in 1925, proving its popularity.

The Hudson Motor Car Company was founded in 1909 with one goal in mind, to be popular with the working class, blue collar American workers. Founded by a group of eight Detroit businessmen in 1909, the key figure was the “money man,” notably Joseph Hudson, with a background in department stores.

The team came together to create a car company that would produce affordable and innovative vehicles. Most successful with its inline 6-cylinder engines, Hudson’s first straight-8 appeared in 1930. Although the inline-8 engine was smaller than the 6-cylinder it replaced, it was branded as unreliable and was the only engine Hudson offered through 1932. In 1933, Hudson reintroduced a new inline-6 to join the 8-cylinder Hudson engine, which was now improved.

In 1953, Hudson did away with the straight-8. Its popular 1953 Super Wasp, which listed for $2,450 new in 4-door sedan trim, now came with a 232-inch 6-cylinder engine. Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors in 1954, and in 1955 the first-ever Hudson V8 became available in the Hornet line. Sadly, Hudson lost its name identity after the 1957 model year due to the AMC merger and promotion of the Rambler titles.

On the racetracks, the most famous of the performance Hudsons was the 308-inch 6–cylinder “racing” versions prepped by Smokey Yunick that allowed race drivers like Marshall Teague to win 12 of 13 scheduled 1952 AAA stock car races in his Hornet. Teague also scored Hudson’s very first NASCAR win when he took the checkered flag at the 1951 NASCAR Daytona Beach race. In addition to Teague, who gave the Hudson the “Fabulous Hudson Hornet” moniker, several drivers including Herb Thomas, Dick Rathmann, brothers Tim and Fonty Flock, Frank Mundy, Jack McGrath, and Al Keller scored 27 wins in ’52, 21 in ’53 and 17 in ’54. Overall, Hudson scored 80 total NASCAR wins, its last in 1955.

Teague and Hudson’s main engineer, Vince Piggins, developed the racing engine that produced 75 more horsepower than stock. These racing Hudsons featured a “Twin H-Power” performance package that included dual carbs, dual exhaust, higher compression, a bigger cam, and so on. Yunick, meanwhile, did his magic to add even more horsepower, and they really were fabulous. Sadly, Teague was killed at the new Daytona International Speedway in 1959 trying to set a speed record in an Indy Car to get back into the good graces of NASCAR, which had suspended him for competing in other series races. 

I can’t forget one of Hudson’s most innovative vehicles, the Hudson Terraplane, which featured a novel miniature roll-out truck bed. Called the Terraplane Utility Coupe, the “utility” part of the car is the roll-out trunk cart, allowing easy access to items that sat further back in the large trunk.

Now a look back at a letter I received in 2012 from a remarkably interesting woman named Marge Kast from Wheaton, Illinois. The daughter of a Hudson salesman and mechanic, her letter explains how modern these Hudson vehicles were back in the 1930s. It’s worth repeating.

“Greg, you incurred some of my best childhood memories when reading the history of the Hudson car company! My dad sold and repaired Hudsons in the 1930’s and we loved those cars. My dad had a new Hudson every three years, and I even learned to drive in that big boat (at first, it felt as if I was driving a truck). Dad made driving the Hudson’s look so easy, and he insisted I learn the clutch and manual shift. When I mastered that, Dad let me “push the button” on the “Electric Hand” which activated the automatic transmission function on the 1937 Hudson. As a driver with the automatic, I was really living.”

(Author note: The automatic Marge mentions was called the “Electric Hand” and was a predecessor to fully automatic transmissions. Introduced in 1935 and utilized through 1938, the Electric Hand was a Bendix designed vacuum operated clutch, with a “Hill Holder” that locked the brakes on a hill so the car wouldn’t go backward.) 

Marge continues, “When I married and had children, all our cars were Hudsons, purchased used and always checked out and approved by Dad. Our last one had to be towed away, but not because it no longer ran. It was towed because the floorboards were rotted, yet the motor still purred. When the tow truck left with our Hudson, my husband and I felt as if one of our children had been taken away. (Silly, yes, but the love of those cars was “born in me.”)

To this day, I still love to drive (Marge was 80 when she wrote to me), and I still make road trips in Colorado, Kansas, and Tennessee. Driving is a calming and pleasurable experience for me; only I wish I had one of the Hudsons of yesteryear with the automatic transmission.

“I have an original Hudson Terraplane letterhead that Dad used as a comparison of which model to buy: Model 73 Hudson Custom vs. Model 74 Hudson Deluxe, with all the specs: weight, horsepower, prices, and even the option of a 3-way hot water heater and defroster unit for $21.65, plus 65-cents tax, totaling $22.30. Now, how great is that?” — Marge Kast, Wheaton, Illinois. 

Trivia Answer:” Smokey,” the tow truck inspired by legendary mechanic Smokey Yunick, was voiced by Chris Cooper in “Cars 3.” Cooper might be best known for his role in the movie “Seabiscuit” and fitting for “Lightning McQueen’s” mentor in the film.

(Greg Zyla is a syndicated auto columnist who welcomes reader input on auto nostalgia, collector cars and motorsports at greg@gregzyla.com.)