Ah yes, thanks for the reminder about Allison. It seems the two companies were destined to be linked despite any formal merger. The 1955 Packards road on a Hudson suspension. The 1955 Hash, or had Hudson gone it alone and survived a few years, the step-down Hornet, was or would have been powered by a Packard V8. Interesting how the only remnant of Hudson left by 1957 was in the proposed Packard program. Hudson was a very innovative company, would have been a natural fit for Packard. Torsion level, on the other hand, would have been a tight fit but Packard had figured it out for the only slightly more accommodating '57s, see images of demo frame:
https://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/myalbum/viewcat.php?cid=64&num=10&orderby=dateD&pos=140 The torsion bars were of small diameter, perhaps could have been routed under the step-down's cross members. The rest of the assembly would have needed to find a home under the rear seat, probably driving a new floorpan with kick-up (fuel still being packaged aft of rear axle in those days). Maybe Spring's multi-density foam ideas could have led to a thinner but still comfortable rear seat bottom, freeing up more space underneath. The engineers would have figured it out, they are a clever and tenacious breed, especially Allison who had probably thought long and hard about a step-down application when he was at Hudson.
Regarding the 308 Six, would have been nice to have in the lowest priced Hornet but if it had to go, no major harm would have come. Hudson would have been powered by the 320 V8 only, that engine in time becoming linked to Hudson just as strongly as the 308 had been.
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