53 Hornet top speed

bob ward

What is reputed to be the top speed of a stock 53 Hornet coupe? Twin H, hydramatic, 3.08 back axle.



In the Brooklands Road Test publication early stepdowns are shown as 95mph, 54s are shown as 105mph, but its not possible to decipher which axle ratio was used in the test cars.



I'm sure I've seen a figure of 120mph somewhere for the 53 coupe.

hornet53

I've had my 53 sedan over 100mph on occasion. 308, twin h, dual range hydro, and (gasp) bias ply WWW tires. My grandfather claimed 112mph in said car also. FYI outside sunvisors come loose at that speed.

Unknown

hornet53 wrote:

I've had my 53 sedan over 100mph on occasion. 308, twin h, dual range hydro, and (gasp) bias ply WWW tires. My grandfather claimed 112mph in said car also. FYI outside sunvisors come loose at that speed.

Loose isn't quite the word, at 100 they tend to fly off the car :eek: Lost one that way. In 1976 a freind and I chased the American Freedom Train from Oakland, CA to Portland, OR. That entailed many 100mph+ runs to get ahead of the train for photo opportunities, along with about 70 other cars all doing the same thing! We were running a modified 308 with Clifford 4bbl and headers and ran effortlessly for two days. There were folks standing on the rear platform of the last railroad car taking pictures of us!

bob ward

hornet53 wrote:

I've had my 53 sedan over 100mph on occasion. 308, twin h, dual range hydro, and (gasp) bias ply WWW tires. My grandfather claimed 112mph in said car also. FYI outside sunvisors come loose at that speed.

Come loose at 100mph? Couldn't stop mine from rattling at 50mph so I took it off the car. Not having a windscreen visor has to help with fuel consumption as well.



I have read that a windscreen visor takes about 5mph off the top speed of a stepdown, so 112mph + 5mph = 117mph. I think I'll tell people 120mph (200kph), both good round figures. Might be gilding the lily a little, but not by too much.

Jon B

Yup, about five years ago one of our local chapter members (now, sadly, passed on) decided to open up his '48 Super Six on the Washington (D.C.) Beltway to see what she'd do. Suddenly there was a strange noise and sunlght poured through the windshield. At that moment he looked into his rearview mirror and beheld his outside sunvisor soaring down the highway behind him.

[Deleted User]

With all this negative talk of visors, one of you should sell me yours for cheap!

7XPacemaker

nhp1127 wrote:

With all this negative talk of visors, one of you should sell me yours for cheap!

A cheap sunvisor? The only cheap sunvisor you're going to find will be attached to a ball cap..........

hudsonguy

Sorry to get off the initial subject, but thought I'd throw in my two cents.



During my cross country road trip last year in my '49, I discovered that above 75mph I had a pretty good rattle going on in the visor area. After some re-bending of the center bracket to tighten it up, it was never a problem for me again, although I never really went over 90mph, anyway.



The sheet metal itself does tend to get a little 'wavy' at those speeds, regardless of how tight the brackets are.



I realize that my mileage/aerodynamics/roadability would improve if it were to come off. I guess in my mind, cool trumps all of the above, so it stays on!

SamJ

Herb Thomas ran about 112 mph on the straightaways on longer NASCAR tracks, and Yunick figured the car would do 125. Set up for racing, of course. I believe Ivan Zaremba has had his repro race car up to 134. Stepdowns hold a couple of stock class records at Bonneville, using 308's with all the modifications the rules allow. I belive the record for X-stock is hovering around 142 mph. Zaremba & Stahl are building a brougham with plans to go well over 150 on the salt. You can bank on the fact that a well set up and tweaked stock 308 with rear end ratio below 3:50 will run in excess of 105 and cruise at 100+ for sustained distances. If your State allows you to do traffic school online, it might be worth trying...

Unknown

nhp1127 wrote:

With all this negative talk of visors, one of you should sell me yours for cheap!

Now that's funny right there, I don't care who you are!!



Russell

Unknown

hudsonguy wrote:

Sorry to get off the initial subject, but thought I'd throw in my two cents.



During my cross country road trip last year in my '49, I discovered that above 75mph I had a pretty good rattle going on in the visor area. After some re-bending of the center bracket to tighten it up, it was never a problem for me again, although I never really went over 90mph, anyway.



The sheet metal itself does tend to get a little 'wavy' at those speeds, regardless of how tight the brackets are.



I realize that my mileage/aerodynamics/roadability would improve if it were to come off. I guess in my mind, cool trumps all of the above, so it stays on!

Amen. Had to chirp in, here. Are some of you running with loose brackets? Have had Doc up to 90 on several occasions and I get about 3/16" of vibration at that speed halfway between the center and outer brackets on both sides (right where the bend is). At 60, the vibration is almost imperceptible. Coolness always overrides practicality--life is too short to live any other way.



Russell

Aaron D. IL

All I know is, if you're in a caravan of Hudsons heading to a meet and you don't lay on the gas you're going to get left behind. LOL

hdsn49

In 1948 when my Dad bought his new step down he would tell people that the Hudson was the only car that would go 90 MPH backwards. I know he never tried it, but I do remember my brother Dan doing 90 MPH forward with the car.

Unknown

I can remember going to a "local" hudson meet (carlisle, PA) back in the late 80's early 90's, one of the few times hudsondad took the wasp coupe to one, after it was painted and engine rebuilt, and such. We went with a buddy from the Hershey, PA area. on the way back, I can still to this day remember racing down the highway, the wasp coupe and the 50 super six, starting out side by side, and literally running away and hiding from the 50. It was pretty cool, and impressionable to a pre driver's license youth at the time....



I guess I inherited all of my driving habits from hudsondad....



but the statement is correct, if you are in a hudson "caravan" best to know where the gas pedal is....

[Deleted User]

bob ward wrote:

Come loose at 100mph? Couldn't stop mine from rattling at 50mph so I took it off the car. Not having a windscreen visor has to help with fuel consumption as well.



I have read that a windscreen visor takes about 5mph off the top speed of a stepdown, so 112mph + 5mph = 117mph. I think I'll tell people 120mph (200kph), both good round figures. Might be gilding the lily a little, but not by too much.

Bob you are most likely right about fuel consumption being lower with a visor. But if you stop and think about it,if you have to worry about fuel consumption in a pleasure car something got lost in the shuffle. It's like the old expression about buying a yacht. If you have to ask how much it cost you can't afford it. People ask me what my mileage is in my Hornet all the time. I tell them I have no clue and really don't care. I don't have to drive it at all if I want REALLY good mileage.