50C8DAN
11-18-2006, 09:12 AM
I finally took the time this week on a business trip (had plenty of time on the plane) to read "Hudson 1946 to 1957, The Classic Postwar Years" by Richard Langworth. Anyone that is into Hudsons, especially step downs should read this book!
It is a great read and has a lot of interesting info from some of the upper management during the last years. Between the Automobile Quarterly and this book you can get a pretty good history, although there are a few things missing such as the role of Vince Piggins during the racing years.
A few interesting pieces of info:
- The profits that were made during the first postwar years could have easily been used for a V8 development and/or stepdown upgrades. It could have also put Hudson in a much better postion with Nash or anyone else for a merger.
- Barit should have stepped down and younger management put into place. This may have saved Hudson, at least for some time until a decent merger could have taken place.
- It was clear that the upper management had lost its touch and could not any longer understand how the market and desires of the public had changed. This was especially true with the development of the Jet, lack of V8 and lack of updating of the stepdown.
- I got a better appreciation of George Mason. Indeed he was the only one of the independents that "got it"
- The X-161 was actually a test bed for the 1955/56 Hudsons, not a '57 as has been suggested. It also had more interesting features that I had known and ones that indeed were used on other makes in the future.
Borrow or buy this book!
It is a great read and has a lot of interesting info from some of the upper management during the last years. Between the Automobile Quarterly and this book you can get a pretty good history, although there are a few things missing such as the role of Vince Piggins during the racing years.
A few interesting pieces of info:
- The profits that were made during the first postwar years could have easily been used for a V8 development and/or stepdown upgrades. It could have also put Hudson in a much better postion with Nash or anyone else for a merger.
- Barit should have stepped down and younger management put into place. This may have saved Hudson, at least for some time until a decent merger could have taken place.
- It was clear that the upper management had lost its touch and could not any longer understand how the market and desires of the public had changed. This was especially true with the development of the Jet, lack of V8 and lack of updating of the stepdown.
- I got a better appreciation of George Mason. Indeed he was the only one of the independents that "got it"
- The X-161 was actually a test bed for the 1955/56 Hudsons, not a '57 as has been suggested. It also had more interesting features that I had known and ones that indeed were used on other makes in the future.
Borrow or buy this book!