Arrival

Disassembly

Strip & Metal Fab

Mechanical

Body & Paint

Finish

Hudson Motor Car company was founded by auto pioneers Howard Coffin, George W. Dunham, and Roy E. Chapin, and largely funded by department store owner Joseph L. Hudson. In 1910, just one year after it was created, Hudson was the eleventh-largest auto company in America — a country then rife with automakers.

Hudsons were advanced for the times. Even their early cars were mainly closed models, sealing out the weather, which helped popularity. Hudson quickly put the steering wheel on the left and hand levers in the center, their modern positions, and adopted GM’s self-starter earlier than most makers, making cars easier and safer to start.

In 1919 Hudson brought out the Essex line, inexpensive but steel-bodied, to compete with Ford and Chevrolet (Chrysler and Plymouth had not yet been created). The Essex was one of the first affordable cars with an enclosed cab, and sold well, with its advanced all-steel body. Even with the 1919-20 recession, the new line quickly established itself, and within ten years, the brand was challenging Chevrolet.

The car was launched as a four cylinder in 1919, but by 1924, it was a six-cylinder. Essex had factories in Canada, England, and Belgium, and made Hudson the third-largest automaker in the United States by 1929, behind Ford and Chevrolet.

An optional eight cylinder engine was launched in 1932, but sales remained slow due to the economy. Hudson began to eliminate Essex in favor of the Terraplane brand; restyled cars brought out in 1932 were named Essex-Terraplane, and starting in 1934 they were just Terraplanes.

Read more about Hudson at: http://www.allpar.com/cars/adopted/hudson-1936.html