Vehicle Description
Butternut Yellow ExteriorBlack Leather InteriorGloss Black
FendersHickory Wooden WheelsOlder Restoration That Shows Quite
WellFour-cylinder Engine (50hp)3 Speed Manual Gearbox
TransmissionRunning And Driving This car is an older restoration
and is powered by an inline four-cylinder powerplant displacing
over 50 horsepower. A three-speed manual transmission transfers
power to the rear wheels. Stopping becomes courtesy of rear wheel
mechanical brakes. This vehicle is appointed in a light yellow
livery with a black interior, both in good condition considering
the age of restoration. This is one of the very few Speedsters
built! The Hudson Motor Car Company was founded in Detroit in 1909
with the financial backing of department store magnate Joseph L.
Hudson. It established a reputation for quality cars which
gradually grew more expensive. To broaden its market share, in 1919
Hudson introduced a new light car called the Essex, named after an
English county in the hope of giving it a little extra cachet. The
name wasn't the only English influence. The Essex's four-cylinder
engine had "European type" dimensions, meaning a small cylinder
bore (favoured in Europe for tax purposes) of 85.7 mm (3.375 in.)
and a long stroke of 127 mm (5.0 in.). It displaced 2.9 litres. A
further unusual feature was an F-head design with the intake valves
in the cylinder head and the exhaust valves in the block. With 55
horsepower, in an era when the Ford Model T had only 20, the Essex
was quite fast. It soon established numerous speed and endurance
records including a marathon 50 hours in Cincinnati covering a
distance of 4,890 km (3,037 mi) at an average speed of 97.81 km/h
(60.75 mph). The Essex had Hudson's traditional "wet" clutch with
holes in the clutch plate into which round cork disks were
inserted. They were heat and pressure treated to stay in place. It
ran in an oil bath and was smooth and effective if the oil level
was maintained. With over 20,000 first year sales the new Essex
sold well, although not in the Ford Model T league. Then in 1921,
Essex made a pioneering move by offering a two-door closed coach
body style priced at only $1,495. While this was $300 more than an
open model Essex, it was still reasonable compared with other
closed cars. The price of the coach would be reduced to $1,245 in
1922, and ultimately to $895 in 1925, five dollars lower than an
equivalent closed car. Although competitors derided the Essex coach
as "a packing crate on wheels," it was exactly what the market
wanted. It prompted General Motors's legendary executive Alfred P.
Sloan, Jr., to remark: "Nothing like that had ever been seen before
in the automobile industry, and the Essex coach had a considerable
vogue." The moderately priced Essex coach led a revolution. Up to
1925, open cars had predominated, but after that year more closed
cars were sold and open cars gradually shrank to a permanently
small percentage of the market. For 1924 the Essex abandoned the
four in favour of a small "high speed" six, again with a "European"
bore and stroke of only 66.67 by 101.6 mm (2.625 by 4.0 in.), and
displacement of 2.13 litres. It was "high speed" out of necessity
because the Essex had a truck-like rear axle ratio of 5.6:1, which
made the poor little long-stroke six spin 3,700 revolutions per
minute. And its 28 horsepower was pretty anaemic compared with the
lusty four, so it lacked considerably in performance. Since the
Essex six paled before the four's speed, Essex decided to launch a
sportier model to give the marque some sparkle. This was the 1927
Speedster, which unfortunately was a Speedster in name only. John
Bond of Road & Track wrote that the Essex could reach just 55 mph,
and "for 3 minutes only." Essex decided to get more serious about
sportiness, and in 1929 introduced the boat-tailed Speedabout that
lived up to its name. With the six now up to 2.6 litres (160 cu
in.) and 55 horsepower it gave the Speedabout some 70 mph, and a
claimed "60 mph (96 km/h) all day." This cruising ability was made
possible by an unusual transmission in which second gear was an
overdrive with a higher ratio than high gear. The technique was to
start off in first, shift to third, and then back to second.
Although unorthodox, it saved the engine from high rpm. The
overdrive second eased the strain, but the car was actually faster
in high where its 113 km/h (70 mph) required 4,000 rpm. The Essex
engine had another unusual characteristic in that its
counterweights were bolted onto the crankshaft, rather than cast
with it as were others. It was a long time Hudson feature.
Unfortunately the Speedabout's introduction was soon overshadowed
by the stock market crash and the Great Depression. The result was
that few, reportedly only five, were built, making it one of the
rarest of cars. The Depression saw Essex sales plunge so in 1932
Hudson launched the Essex Terraplane model with its six-cylinder
engine now up to 3.5 litres (212 cu in.) and 90 horsepower. Its
performance rivalled the newly introduced Ford V8. The Terraplane
name became so popular that the Essex designation was discontinued
after the 1933 models and another interesting nameplate slid into
history.