Bought Pat Foster’s book on the history of Hudson. He covers the founding decade from 1909 to 1919 in satisfying detail. The early part of the story isn’t mentioned in the usual magazines and websites. Most of the later years are familiar material, but this picture finally answers a question I’ve wondered about.
Other sources mention a rumor that the Hudson name continued as a Rambler rebadge after 1956 in some countries, but the sources aren’t solid and I’ve never seen a picture. This proves that the Australian distributor was still using the Hudson name in 1958. The picture isn’t clear enough to see if the hubcaps were Hudson. The name over the grille is clearly Rambler. The fender says Super, which was a series name. If the Hudson name wasn’t anywhere on the car, then it wasn’t truly a rebadge, but at least it was being sold and registered as a Hudson.
The ad says the “luxury Hudson Hornet V8” was also available, which couldn’t have been a ‘Hash’ because there weren’t any big Nashes in ’58. Was it a ’57 assembled locally from leftover parts? Or just plain leftover ’57 retitled as ’58? Or a rebadge of the Rambler Ambassador? The latter seems most likely.
Hudson had a long British connection, establishing a factory there in the ’20s and collaborating with Railton to make a Terraplane-based sportster in the ’30s. Nash was much less global-minded. So it makes sense that Commonwealth countries favored the Hudson name instead of Nash.
= = = = =
Another unfamiliar picture. Hudson prided itself on offering a full line of vehicles under one brand, from business coupes to convertibles to limos to utes. The Stepdown’s unibody made some of those variations impossible, but they kept trying. The ill-fated Jet compact included a ‘convertible’ business coupe.
The rear seat was removable and the divider to the trunk folded down to open a long space.
Note that the ad is also unexpectedly realistic. Mom is carrying her end of the outboard motor. Ads and TV in the ’50s constantly treated wives as delicate frail petals. Husbands were constantly saying “That’s man talk. Don’t bother your pretty little head.” Today’s youngsters see this crap on TV and gain a false impression about the ’50s. In real life Mom was IN CHARGE of the household and the husband, and the husband was glad to be relieved of the responsibility.
Polistra's Mill 