1922 Hudson Phaeton Convertible Town Car
Owner: Bernie and Janice Taulborg Collection
Original cost: $1,745.00 ($24,866.00 in 2018 dollars)
Number made: 28,242 (all models, 1922)
Engine, etc.: 4 door; 7 passenger; 6 cyl.; Super Six, Series O; vertical L-head; 288.5 cid; 76 hp; 126 in. wheelbase; 3,445 lbs.
Hudson, Detroit, Mich., 1910 – 1942
The name “Hudson” came from Joseph L. Hudson, a Detroit department store entrepreneur and founder of Hudson’s department store. He provided the necessary capital and gave permission for the company to be named after him. Eight Detroit businessmen formed the company in 1909 to produce an automobile that would sell for under $1,000.00. The first car was driven out of a small factory on July 3, 1909. The Hudson “Twenty” was one of the first low-priced cars on the American market and was very successful with over 4,000 sold the first year.
The company introduced a number of innovations including dual brakes, dashboard oil-pressure and generator warning lights, and the first balanced crankshaft which allowed Hudson to make the straight-six called the “Super Six”. (Most Hudsons until 1957 still used straight-6 engines.)
In 1917, a stripped and tuned Super Six driven by R. Mulford won a 150-mile race on a track in Omaha, NE at an average speed of 101 mph.
The seven-passenger Phaeton open tourer was the least expensive of the Hudson line in 1917. The four-passenger Phaeton actually cost more than the 7-passenger model.
At their peak in 1929, Hudson and Essex (a brand Hudson introduced in 1919) sold 300,000 cars in one year including production from Belgium and England. Hudson was the third largest U. S. car maker that year, after Ford and Chevrolet.
In 1932 a Hudson finished first at Pikes Peak in the hill climb with a time of 20 minutes, 5 seconds.
Hudson moved out of the postwar sales depression in a strong fashion. Price reductions were announced in July. The company president, Roy D. Chapin, attributed the reductions “to the volume of shipment being so great that certain savings in costs have been made” and “the public can be given the benefit.”
Hudson eventually was forced to merge with Nash-Kelvinator in 1954. The last Hudson was made in 1957.
Sources: Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805 -1942. Beverly Rae Kimes, et al. 3rd ed. Krause Publications, 1996.
https://www.uniquecarsandparts.com/lost_marques_hudson.htm (Company history)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Motor_Car_Company
See also:
http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/static/NA/Hudson/1922_Hudson/1922_Hudson_Super-Six_Brochure/dirindex.html (Original 1922 brochure; pdf)
