Hudson Commodore 8

Getting into this Hudson really means stepping down, because the floor sits much lower than the sills. This special construction is therefore called step-down, which gives the car a lower center of gravity and results in better road holding.

Another advantage was its safety: the chassis frame effectively surrounds the passenger compartment. It was so advanced that competitor General Motors immediately obtained a couple of these cars in order to fully test their motoring performance. The Hudson Commodore, a design by chief stylist Frank Spring and engineering director Sam Frahm, was available as a coupé, sedan and convertible. By 1953 the step-down design had become dated, but no successor for this large Hudson was ever made as the factory decided to produce a more compact model. Hudson merged with Nash to form American Motors in 1954 and the Hudson marque was dropped altogether in 1957. In 2006 a Hudson Hornet, a six-cylinder model similar to the Commodore, starred in the Disney/Pixar animation movie 'Cars' as the 'Doc Hudson' character.