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Origins
The 1951 Hornet took Hudson's low-slung step-down body and fitted the biggest six in America — 308 cubic inches, deceptively mild until the Twin H-Power twin-carburettor setup and dealer-supplied 7-X racing parts were applied. In NASCAR's early years the 'Fabulous Hudson Hornet' of Marshall Teague, Herb Thomas and Tim Flock simply ran away from the V8 opposition: Hudson took the manufacturers' spoils from 1951 through 1954, one of the most lopsided streaks in the sport's history, built on a centre of gravity nobody else could match. The road car was fast, roomy and fine-handling, but expensive to build and impossible to restyle cheaply, and Hudson could not afford to replace it. The Hornet's afterlife as Doc Hudson in Pixar's Cars introduced it to a generation born half a century after the last one raced.
1957 Hudson Hornet Hollywood 2-door · IFCAR · Public domain
