|
Deep sills and a crosswise hump under the front seat. Hudson did that in 1948. It was a revolutionary change in American automotive design compared to the floor level with the tops of the sills everyone else was using at the time.
Hudson called it "stepdown" because from an average city sidewalk you stepped down into the car instead of having to step up. Hudson was the first to a 'slab side' car without protruding fenders. Combined with its lower than all the other makes roofline and center of gravity, Hudson's sleek new style made it fast on race tracks. It also did very well in economy runs despite its high weight. (However, a short nosed Hudson Pacemaker or Wasp weighs less than a similarly sized current model RWD Chrysler 300!)
The Citroën Traction Avant had a similar design from 1934 through 1957 though unlike the Hudson and Austin the French car had old style 'pontoon' fenders.
Hudson's engineers and designers may not have been familiar with the Traction Avant, but given the proximity of the UK to France and ferry boat travel across the channel, I doubt Austin's engineers and designers could claim they weren't inspired by the French car.
|