Hudson Grilles 1948-1954

The great Depression of the 1930s affected the Hudson Motor Car Company to the extent that, aside from its ill-fated 1953-54 Jet compact car, only two basic body series were used between 1936 and 1954.  That was when the company merged with Nash to form American Motors and the final Hudsons were based on Nash bodies. I wrote about 1936-1947 Hudsons and their facelifts here.

The present post presents Hudson grille designs during 1948-1954 model year production of the second of those basic body series.  That was a period of seven model years during an era when General Motors, Ford and Chrysler tended to offer redesigned bodies every three or four years on average.  But Hudson did not have their financial resources and relied on facelifts longer than it should have for corporate longevity.

Unless noted, images below are of cars listed for sale on the Internet.

Gallery

1948 Hudson
This was the debut grille design for the radically redesigned postwar Hudson line.

1949 Hudson - Mecum auction photo
There was essentially no change for the following model year.

1950 Hudson
Grille styling was tweaked for 1950.  The air opening for the radiator was retained, surrounding sheet metal was given minor adjustments, and the grille bars were redesigned while preserving the previous horizontal theme.  The most striking change was the addition of angled bars forming an inverted-V that was intended to be interpreted as a variation on Hudson's triangle logotype theme.

1951 Hudson
The following year the grille opening and related sheet metal were restyled in a rounded manner.  Grille bars were fashionably bolder and the triangle feature was integrated with the license plate area frame.

1952 Hudson
A very minor adjustment followed for 1952.   I think this was the best of this series of grille designs.  The '51 design was good, but for '52 the turn signal lights at the edges are now rounded, fitting the overall theme better than the rectangular lights of 1951.  However, the '51s had a better, smaller, hood ornament.

1953 Hudson
For 1953 the triangle was pushed back behind the grille bars, rendering it essentially invisible.  Some readers might prefer this design due to its simplicity and thematic consistency.  I agree that this version is aesthetically better, but nevertheless like the triangle's role in brand identification -- an important marketing consideration.

1954 Hudson
The 1948-vintage body was given a major facelift for its final year.  The grille design is simple, but undistinguished.  No real Hudson character here.