The Hudson Hornet is best remembered by many for its superiority in NASCAR racing in the early 1950s. Then came the merger between Hudson and Nash in 1954, and the Hornet largely settled in as a family car until the brand was discontinued by American Motors in 1957. This beautiful 4-door sedan is from the marque’s last year and is said to be the Hollywood model with reclining front seats. Located in a garage in Federal Way, Washington, this trip down Memory Lane is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $15,000. Thumbs up to T.J. for this great AMC tip!
The 1956-57 Hornets were noted for their “V-Line” styling, separating the top half of the car from the bottom. They sprouted fins (or “finettes”) in 1957, which looked to be a simple grafting job to keep up with the competition. Some of the Hornet’s performance roots continued in the form of a new 327 cubic inch V8, which put out 255 horses with a 4-barrel carburetor and dual exhaust. About 4,100 Hornets were built in 1957, with 80% of them being 4-door sedans.
Most of the details the seller provides about this Hudson are production statistics. We assume it runs and has been sitting in a garage for a while. But why not pull the car outside for photos rather than from inside the cramped surroundings? The odometer reads 76,000 miles, and the engine is paired with a Hydra-Matic automatic transmission. The car has a 12-volt electrical system – did AMC offer that in 1957?
The seller says this is a Hollywood model, but I thought that designation only applied to Hornet 2-door hardtops. The body looks great, the blue paint is quite tidy, and the matching interior looks like it’s hardly been used (perhaps the car was restored at some point). The lack of specifics from the seller gives the impression that this car is part of an estate sale.
Weird. This looks like a proper “Hash” from the final days of Hudson, but the engine photo shows the Hudson L-head “six” (with Twin H-Power, no less), not the Nash “327” V-8. I don’t know if that was even an option in ’57 (it was standard in ’56, anyway).
The seller’s ask is optimistic, to put it mildly. The next owner would certainly have to trek out to Washington for a careful look-over before buying, and should probably put in a significantly lower bid.
The seller did a cut-and-paste job in the vehicle description. I believe that this is a 1956 Hudson Hornet Custom Six. And I think the Hollywood option didn’t appear until 1957 and it would have been a two-door hardtop model. The 327 was also standard in 1957 for the few models that Hudson offered that last year of production.