page_title: Hudson Motor Car Company
section_title: 1936–1942
hierarchical_section_title: Hudson Motor Car Company / 1936–1942
caption_attribution_description: File name: 06_10_014202a Title: M. I. Davis Company Inc. (maybe Shreveport, Louisiana, not Michigan) Created/Published: Nationwide Post Card Company, Tyler, Texas Date issued: 1930 - 1945 (approximate) Physical description: 1 print (postcard)&#160;: linen texture, color&#160;; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. Genre: Postcards Subject: Commercial facilities Notes: Title from item. Collection: The Tichnor Brothers Collection Location: Boston Public Library, Print Department Rights: No known restrictions
context_page_description: The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other brand automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 to 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation. The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was discontinued.
context_section_description: In 1936, Hudson revamped its cars, introducing a new "radial safety control" / "rhythmic ride" suspension which suspended the live front axle from two steel bars, as well as from leaf springs. Doing this allowed the use of longer, softer leaf springs ("rhythmic ride"), and prevented bumps and braking from moving the car off course. The 1936 Hudsons were also considerably larger inside than competitive cars — Hudson claimed a 145-cubic-foot (4.1 m³) interior, comparing it to the 121 cubic feet (3.4 m³) in the "largest of other popular cars" of the time. With an optional bulging trunk lid, Hudson claimed the trunk could accommodate 21 cubic feet (0.59 m³) of luggage. The 1936 engines were powerful for the time, from 93 to 124 horsepower (69 to 92 kilowatts; 94 to 126 metric horsepower).
  The 1939 models joined other American cars in the use of a column-mounted gearshift lever. This freed front-seat passenger space and remained the industry standard through the 1960s, when "bucket seats" came into vogue. Hudson became the first car manufacturer to use foam rubber in its seats. The Hudson Terraplane was dropped. For 1940 Hudson introduced coil spring independent front suspension, aircraft-style shock absorbers mounted within the front springs and true center-point steering on all its models, a major advance in performance among cars in this price range. The Super Six model was reintroduced as well. Despite all these changes, Hudson sales for 1940 were lower than 1939 and the company lost money again. The advent of military contracts the following year brought relief.
  The 1941 Hudsons retained the front end styling of the 1940 models but the bodies were new with 5.5 inches added to their length giving more legroom. A new manual 3-speed syncromesh transmission was quieter with all helical gears. Wheelbases increased by 3 inches, with offerings of 116, 121 and 128 inches, and height was decreased with flatter roofs. Convertibles now had a power operated top. Big Boy trucks now used the 128-inch wheelbase. In 1942, as a response to General Motors' Hydramatic automatic transmission, Hudson introduced its "Drive-Master" system. Drive-Master was a more sophisticated combination of the concepts used in the Electric Hand and the automatic clutch. At the touch of a button, Drive-Master offered the driver a choice of three modes of operation: ordinary, manual shifting and clutching; manual shifting with automatic clutching; and automatic shifting with automatic clutching. All this was accomplished by a large and complicated mechanism located under the hood. They worked well, and in fully automatic mode served as a good semi-automatic transmission. When coupled with an automatic overdrive, Drive-Master became known as Super-Matic. Re-engineering of the frame rear end to use lower springs reduced car height by 1.5 inches (38 mm). Sheet metal "spats" on the lower body now covered the running boards and new wider front and rear fenders accommodated this.
caption: Hudson dealer in Louisiana, c. 1930–1945
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