Hudson's History

The Hudson Motor Car Company was founded in February 1909 by some young men who had formerly worked at Oldsmobile. One of them was married to a niece of the department store magnate J.L. Hudson, who became the main financier of the company that was also named after him. The 29-year-old Roy D. Chapin became Hudson's first CEO.

Early successes

Thanks to the founders' extensive experience in the automotive industry, Hudson got off to a flying start. They had already drawn up drawings for their first model, the Hudson Twenty Roadster (20 hp, four-cylinder), and the first car was already ready in July 1909. During July-December, 1,100 cars were built, and in 1910 a total of 4,556 cars were built, which gave Hudson eleventh place among the USA's over one hundred car manufacturers.

The business started in a factory built for the short-lived Aerocar brand. The building still stands at the corner of Mack Avenue and Beaufait Avenue in Detroit. But already in the spring of 1910, the profits were so good that they bought a plot of about 90,000 m² at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Conner Street, next to the Chrysler and Continental Motors factories. The well-known industrial architect Albert Kahn designed a large facility in concrete, which at the time cost half a million dollars to build. Construction began in May of the same year, and already in October Hudson began moving to its new premises, where the company remained until 1954. Over the years, more buildings were added on the same site, but today parts of the complex have been demolished.

In the following years, Hudson introduced additional car models and was in the top 10 in the industry. At the end of 1915, a scientifically balanced crankshaft was patented, which practically eliminated the vibrations at higher speeds. The new engine was called the Super-six and had 80% more engine power than the previous engine with the same cylinder capacity. It was put into production by the Hudson Motor Car Company in early 1916 and became very popular.

Hudson Motor Car Companys forst plant (1909)

Foto: Detroit Public Library, Detroit. National Automotive History Collection.

Joseph L. Hudson (1846-1912)

Hudson Twenty med Roy D. Chapin behind the wheels (around 1909)

Essex and Terraplane

In 1919, the low-cost car Essex was launched, which was manufactured in a wholly owned subsidiary. It was similar to the Hudson but had a simpler design and shorter wheelbase. Open cars were still standard, while covered cars were luxuriously equipped and considerably pricier. Hudson saw the potential for a mass market for covered cars, so in 1922 it introduced a simpler covered model called the Essex Coach and immediately began to squeeze manufacturing costs and prices. It was a great sales success. In 1925, Hudson/Essex was the USA's third largest car manufacturer! Other manufacturers soon began producing similar cars, yet the Essex remained at the same high sales level until the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. In the following years, Hudson and Essex sales declined more than the industry average.

In 1932 the Essex was renamed the Terraplane and was redesigned with a significantly lower weight and price—the name alluding to its horsepower-to-weight ratio of an airplane. It became famous for winning countless hill climbing competitions in the United States, and mobster John Dillinger used a Terraplane as a getaway car in his bank robberies. For several years, the Terraplane outsold the parent brand, and the Hudson/Terraplane combined remained in the top 10 in the industry throughout the 1930s. However, after Terraplane sales declined, in 1938 they were renamed Hudson-Terraplane, and the following year all cars were called Hudson.

Essex Coach 1925

Terraplane 1932

“Step Down”

While World War II broke out in Europe, car production continued in the United States, until the country switched to war production in the winter of 1942. The models that arrived in 1946-1947 were based on the pre-war models, with some facelifts. Most of the cars in the Swedish Hudson Club are post-war models, with an emphasis on the 1950s.

In 1948, Hudson launched a radically new, streamlined model. It was also one of the first cars with a kind of self-supporting body, and by laying the floor at the bottom edge of the beams, the car was only about 150 cm high. This was a full 10-15 cm lower than the competitors' cars. “Hudson—the car you step down into” it was called in the ads.

The engines were still straight sixes (up until 1950 there were also straight eights). At first they all had the same wheelbase, but in 1950 came the Pacemaker model, which was a little shorter but otherwise had the same appearance. 1949 was the last year Hudson was among America's ten largest car manufacturers.

Hudson Hornet

In 1951, the eight-cylinder engine that had been around for many years disappeared. In its place came the model Hornet, which had a newly designed engine. With 308 cubic meters, it was the biggest straight six of its time, and soon dual carburetors also came as accessories. With the stepdown model's low center of gravity and good road characteristics combined with a higher torque, the Hudson Hornet turned out to be made for racing, reaping great success in NASCAR and AAA from 1951 to 1954. In 1952, Hudson won 27 of 34 NASCAR races! Hudson was also the first factory to start sponsoring racing drivers.

Hudson continued to use straight sixes and a streamlined step-down design, with only the chrome changing appearance from year to year. From 1951, however, you could get the larger Hudson models as a hardtop without door pillars, “Hollywood,” it was called. Only in 1954 was the plate redesigned, and then Hudson got fins. Despite the racing successes, sales fell year by year. An expensive misbet on the Jet compact car, intended to compete with the Nash Rambler, contributed to the company not being able to afford to develop a V8 engine. The Italia concept car, a Jet-chassis sports car built by Carozzeria Touring in Milan, did not attract as much attention as was hoped and became a pure loss business (in addition to the prototype, only 25 Italias were built, of which three are said to have been sold in Sweden).

AMC

In 1954, Hudson Motor Car Company and Nash-Kelvinator Corporation agreed to merge and form American Motors Corporation (AMC). In the future, Hudson was built in Nash's factories, and to gain cooperation advantages, Hudson also became more and more similar to Nash technically. Partly it was pure badge engineering—the Nash Rambler and the small Metropolitan (built by Austin for Nash) were fitted with Hudson badges and sold by Hudson dealers.

The stepdown principle was a thing of the past, and the first Nash-built Hudson in 1955 had the same sheet metal as this year's Nash, except for the front end. Here, Nash's sheet metal from 1952-54 was used so they wouldn't be too similar… The six-cylinder 308cc Hornet engine from 1954 was now called the “Championship Six,” but you could also choose to buy a Hudson Hornet with a V8 (developed by Packard for Nash). Sales failed, and it was probably not just the looks of the 1955s—Hudson buyers had historically been unusually loyal to the brand, but now it was almost all that remained of the Hudson name. In 1956, a major redesign took place with, among other things, new look on the front and a V-shape that repeated itself as a theme in several places in the decor. From that year, AMC's used an in-house developed V8, although the Championship Six was still available as an option. The following year, the sixes were no longer sold in the US, but the last ones were put into export cars. The brand's rise continued, and 1957 was the last year AMC used the Hudson name.