My family owned a 1951 Hudson Baby Hornet sold by Courtesy Motors in Chicago

JackLewis

In 1951, my mother entered a contest sponsored by the American Cancer Society to provide a slogan in 10 words or less.  Her slogan " You can fight cancer with a checkup and a check" won her the grand prize, which was a Hudson Baby Hornet.  I was about 10 years old at the time.  The only visible difference in the car was addition of tacked-on tail lights which resembled small Cadillac fins.  Our car was was an off-white four-door sedan.  The only thing I remember about the car was that the left rear door never opened - someone had tried to pull up the lock release button with pliers, as there were deep teeth marks on the button.  We had the car until 1955, when my aunt who lived with us won a 1955 Chevrolet 210 four-door sedan in a raffle.  We then sold the Hudson to my mother's cousin.  I never saw it after that.

iceblade10

What is a "Baby" Hornet?  A Wasp?  Hornet Special?  Jet? (Of course, none of those were around yet in 1951)

Do you have any pictures?

Jon B

Weren't those special taillights made by Courtesy Motors?



There's more information on those taillights at Sarah Young's "Jets" website.  (Interesting that Jim Moran predicted the Jet Liner a couple years before it actually appeared!)
http://hudsonjet.hetclub.org/courtesymotors.html

iceblade10

Interesting.  The '54 Hornets basically integrated a similar design right from the factory.

lostmind

I've had these for sale for a while , not a lot of interest. I think they are J.C. Whitney ?

One lens is cracked. Might be Chevy ? , but same idea

Glowplug

Lense appears to have the same shape as 1954 tail lamp lense.

50C8DAN

Wasn't the owner of Courtesy Motors (one of the largest Hudson dealers in the US) one of the guys that had input on the Jet and helped screwed it up?  May have also had input on the '54 tail lights?

iceblade10

50C8DAN said:

Wasn't the owner of Courtesy Motors (one of the largest Hudson dealers in the US) one of the guys that had input on the Jet and helped screwed it up?  May have also had input on the '54 tail lights?

 Yes.  Jim Moran. He opened a Hudson dealership, Midtown Motors in 1946 which grew to be the largest in the U.S. When Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator, he switched brands to Ford in 1955, renaming it Courtesy Ford. As the first car dealer to advertise on television, he became well known in the Chicago area as "Jim Moran the Courtesy Man." In an interview with Mike Downey in the Chicago Tribune on Oct. 21, 2005 as the World Series got underway, Moran recalled his 1959 promotion to give a free car to any Sox player who hit a home run in the 1959 World Series. (He ended up giving three 1960 Ford Falcons to slugger Ted Kluszewski.) By the late 1950s, Courtesy Ford had become the world's largest Ford dealer. On March 24, 1961 he became and remains the only automobile dealer to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.

50C8DAN

Interesting.   He wanted the Jet to look more like a Ford, from what I remember, and he got his wish.  Too bad he did not switch to Ford earlier and had less impact on the Jet styling.  Basically he had a hand in the demise of Hudson by being its largest dealer.

SuperDave

His "Baby Hornet" was a Pacemaker and had a cheap chrome plated cast script on the trunk lid. I had what was left of one several years ago. I must have given it way. I think there was a an article in the WTN several years ago. Anyone remember that?  Those tail lights were made for several cars of the era. Everyone ugly!

iceblade10

SuperDave, what did the script say?  Baby Hornet?

Lance

50C8DAN said:

Wasn't the owner of Courtesy Motors (one of the largest Hudson dealers in the US) one of the guys that had input on the Jet and helped screwed it up?  May have also had input on the '54 tail lights?

Dan, You are correct. his name was Moran. Hudson came to him and asked about what it would take to sell more Hudsons. He was the largest mover of Hudson in the midwest and maybe the country. He then tells them to make them look more like Fords. Well here comes the Hudson Jet  AKA the Ford that got caught in a microwave. Sales did not improve. Moran finally bails on Hudson when it becomes AMC. Oh yeah guess what brand of car he finally got a distributorship for?    Ford. He wanted to have one all along.  He hacked off a lot of midwest  dealers by selling Hudson at dealers cost. Local Mom & Pop dealerships couldn't make anything  and complained to corporate. Corporate didn't do much since Moran was selling bunches of new Hudsons. Turns out corporate was giving Moran rebates (commission) after he sold so many units. Thats how he made his money.

SuperDave

iceblade10 said:

SuperDave, what did the script say?  Baby Hornet?

yes As I recall they were kind of square letters and slanted much like the 54 Hornet script on the front fenders of the 54.. been a few years LOL 

53jetman

As far as the rebates mentioned above, any or all of the dealers could qualify just as he did, but with all his TV advertising and the potential volume available in Chicago, it was just a heck of a lot easier for him to do the qualifying.  As I recall, the minimum number of units that had to be sold was more than any mom & pop outlet could generate - I can't remember what that figure was, but it was on a sliding scale.

iceblade10

So, what made a Pacemaker a "Baby Hornet?"  Just some aftermarket parts like tail lights?  Is this something that just a specific dealership did?

iceblade10

I found this pic on the internet.  Apparently Courtesy Motors put 308s in Pacemakers, and called them "Baby Hornets."  There couldn't have been many made, and perhaps none left?  I wonder if they'd go for a lot of money, or not really?  I've never heard of them until this post, so I'm a bit fascinated...