The worldwide recession is, as everyone knows, leading to talk of auto manufacturer buyouts: GM buys Chrysler, Renault buys Chrysler, the Chinese buy GM, etc. You'd better hope it never happens as history shows us that when car company A takes over car company B the results are usually disastrous. Ironically, it was Chrysler itself that bought Britain's Rootes and soon destroyed it and all Roote's great marques, then did the same to France's Simca.

On December 28 1954, production of the 1955 Nash-based Hudson Hornets and Wasps began and they were, to put it charitably, unattractive, being Hudson design details layered onto Nash bodies. In 1954 Hudson had amalgamated with Nash to form the American Motors Corporation. Manufacturing was transferred from Detroit to Kenosha, with the Hudson range sharing its unitised bodies with bigger Nash models. The last Hudsons featured L-head 6-cylinder engines and Packard-built V8s.

Hudson was a car company with a fine and historic reputation. The 1932 model's straight-eight engine was so admired that it powered European Specials like Railton and the Brough Superior. 1948 brought the revolutionary "step-down" models with low-to-the-road unitary construction, rear wheels mounted inside the chassis frame, coil spring independent front suspension, and a 145 hp 6-cylinder twin-carb engine that led it to sweep NASCAR stock car events for several seasons. At the end of the 1957 model year the name was dropped forever.

"Back to the Future," as the saying goes. Buyer beware!