Saturday, April 17, 2010

Horsepower in Rolling Hills (Weekend Reflection)

Join James' Weekend Reflections.
A red hot Hudson Hornet by the Dapplegray School sign, off of PV Drive North.
The tile mural was hand-painted & donated by Julie Hatch.
Now I just wanted to get a shot of a horse and rider in the frame too...
...and while not quite as picturesque as I envisioned, I got my wish.

21 comments:

Bill said...

Wow, that's a great car!

Kim said...

Tash, love these images of a wonderful classic! WOW.
-Kim

Leif Hagen said...

That's a SWEET car! Never seen one quite like that! I'd pay for a ride in that dream boat!

Brenda's Arizona said...

What mural? Oh, I see it...
great car!

Gunn said...

Great shots!:-)

EG CameraGirl said...

LOVE that vintage car! Very cool!

Unknown said...

What a classic! That is the flashiest Hornet I have ever seen. I would love to have that for a Sunday drive.

Wanda said...

Those were the days..... A red Hornet...it didn't get any better!

Louis la Vache said...

Uh, oh, Tash! Now you've done it! You've unleashed a torrent of historical trivia from «Louis»!

«Louis» thinks this is a '53 Hudson. In '48, Hudson introduced this body style - it was quite radical at the time. It was one of the first production cars with a unitized body and was unusually low for the era, the low height made possible by the unitized body. As a result, there are foot wells. Hudson featured this in their ads as the "step down" design. With the introduction of this body, Hudson offered two series, both named after famous U.S. Navy aircraft carriers of WWII, the Wasp and the Hornet.

The Navy has had a Hornet since the late 18th century. The Hornet used in the Doolittle raid over Tokyo, CV8, was lost in the Battle of Santa Cruz Island in October, 1942. CV12, originally slated to be Kearsarge, was under construction when CV8 was lost, and was quickly renamed Hornet. CV12, now retired, recovered the Apollo space capsules, and is now berthed at Pier 3 at the former Alameda Naval Air Station, the very pier where CV8 took on the B-25 bombers used in the Doolittle raid.

The current Hornet in the Navy is the F/A18 fighter plane.

If this Hudson Hornet has a "Twin H Power" badge on the trunk lid, that means that it is one of the dual carburetor engine models. These were fast cars and won Hudson many trophies in various road races.

More trivia: Hudson was founded in Detroit by the same family that had the Hudson Department Stores. Hudson Department Stores merged with Dayton in Minneapolis. Dayton-Hudson ultimately became Target.

Still more trivia: one of the Hudson daughters married British Navy Admiral Sir David Beatty who was second in command under Jellicoe in the Battle of Jutland in World War I. She was notoriously promiscuous and was a great source of grief because of it to Admiral Beatty.

Now, aren't you sorry «Louis» stopped by and used up all this bandwidth?! ;-D

brattcat said...

Time periods collide in that last image.

cieldequimper said...

Lol, I just love the last one, coming down into reality!

Clytie said...

Beautiful ride. Loved the informative comment by Louis too!

Sylvia K said...

What a great shot for the day and what memories that old car stirred up!! And I like the horse and rider, too. Beautiful, Tash! Have a great day!

Sylvia

Pasadena Adjacent said...

Louis La Vache
I like your segways. Metal detail in the first photo...Now why a Rocket when the cars a hornet?

Did I tell you how much I love the name Dapplegray for a school?

Cezar and Léia said...

C'est VINTAGE, magnifique!
Wonderful post dear Tash, congratulations, this "car"is a master piece!
Hugs
Léia

Linda said...

Love the way compositions come together sometimes.

And what a lovely name for a school.

Pat said...

That is one HOT car! I want a ride!

Lois said...

What a fabulous car!

TheChieftess said...

Tash...are you sure you're not in South Pasadena???

Fabulous car!!!

Marie-Noyale said...

It's back to the old days with horses and old cars!!

Cafe Pasadena said...

Looks like you were back in So Pasa.