Hudson Motor Company

Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The made Hudson and other brand automobiles in , , from 1909 to 1957.

The name "Hudson" came from J.L. Hudson, a Detroit department store entrepreneur and founder of Hudson's Department Store, who provided the necessary capital. Hudson was born in Newcastle-on-Tyne, , and immigrated with his family to Hamilton, Ontario Canada when he was nine; by the age of fourteen he and members of his family were residing in Michigan. One of the chief "car men" of the early company was Roy Chapin, Sr, a young executive who had worked with Ransom E. Olds (Chapin's son, Roy Jr, would later be president of Hudson-Nash descendant American Motors Corp. in the 1960s). Hudson supplied the seed capital for the establishment, in 1909, of Roy Sr.'s automotive venture, which Chapin named the Hudson Motor Car Company in honor of J.L. Hudson.

The company had a number of firsts for the auto industry, these included dual , the use of dashboard oil-pressure and generator warning lights, and the first balanced , which allowed the Hudson straight-6 engine, dubbed the "Super Six" (1916), to work at a higher rotational speed while remaining smooth, developing more power for its size than lower-revving engines. Most Hudsons until 1957 had straight-6 engines. The dual system used a secondary mechanical system (parking brakes) which activated the rear brakes when the pedal travelled beyond the normal reach of the primary system; a mechanical emergency brake was also used. Hudsons also used an oil bath and cork clutch mechanism which proved to be as durable as it was smooth.

In 1919 Hudson introduced the brand line of automobiles; the line was originally for budget minded buyers, designed to compete with Ford and , as opposed to the more up-scale Hudson line. The Essex found great success by offering one of the first affordable with an enclosed passenger compartment.

In 1936, Hudson revamped its cars, introducing a new "radial safety control" / "rhythmic ride" suspension which suspended the live front from two steel bars, as well as from leaf springs.

As ordered by the Federal government, Hudson ceased auto production from 1942 until 1945 in order to manufacture war materiel during World War II, including aircraft parts and naval engines, and anti-aircraft guns. The Hudson "Invader" engine powered many of the landing craft used on the D-Day, June 6th, 1944 invasion of Normandy.

In 1948 the company launched their "step-down" bodies, which lasted through the 1954 model year. The term step-down referred to Hudson's placement of the passenger compartment down into the perimeter of the frame; riders stepped down into a floor that was surrounded by the perimeter of the car's frame. The result was not only a safer car, and greater passenger comfort as well, but, through a lower center of gravity, an extremely well-handling car. In time almost all automakers would embrace it as a means of building bodies. Automotive writer and authority Richard Langworth has written glowingly of the early step-down models stating that "they're one of greatest" autos of the era in articles for Consumer Guide and Collectible Automobile.

Hudson's strong, light-weight bodies, combined with its high-torque six-cylinder engine technology made the company's 1951-1954 Hornet an Champion, dominating NASCAR in 1951, 1952, 1953, & 1954. Some NASCAR records set by Hudson in the 1950s (eg consecutive wins in one racing season) still stand even today. Later, these cars met with some success in drag racing, where their high power-to-weight ratio worked to their advantage. Hudsons enjoyed success both in NHRA (National Hot Rod Assoc.) trials and local dirt track events well into the 1960s. (Today, Hudsons continue to set top- speed records in their class at the Bonneville, Utah Salt Flats.)

Like many other smaller North American auto manufacturers, Hudson found it increasingly difficult to compete with the Big Three (Ford, GM and ) during the 1950s. On January 14, 1954, Hudson merged with Nash- Corporation to become American Motors.

Hudson dealers also sold and Metropolitan models under the Hudson brand. With a wider front track than Nash used, Hudson was the better handling car, and was powered by the famed 308 in³ Hornet Six with the optional high-compression cylinder head and dual- manifold ("Twin-H Power"). The Wasp used the 202 in³ L-head Jet Six engine and this model (in version) was Hudson's top seller. For 1955, for the first time Hudson offered a V8 engine, a 320 in³ powerplant rated at 208 hp and built for Hudson and Nash by . All cars with the Packard V-8 also used Packard's . The last Hudson rolled off the Kenosha assembly line on June 25, 1957.