| Hudson Essex Terraplane Club
The name "Hudson" came from the primary investor, J.L. Hudson, founder of Hudson's department store, who allowed the company to be named in his honor. Eight Detroit businessmen formed the Hudson Motor Car Company on February 24, 1909, to produce inexpensive automobiles (under $1,000 USD). The company quickly started production and the first car was produced on July 3, 1909 in Detroit. The new Hudson "Twenty" was one of the first low-priced cars on the American market and with more than 4,000 were sold the first year, it set a record for first year production sales. Hudson introduced a number of firsts for the auto industry, including dual brakes, in-dash oil-pressure and generator warning lights, the balanced crankshaft, and the oil bath and cork clutch mechanism. Eventually, the hudson became more upscale and in 1919 the Essex brand line was introduced as a lower priced line to compete with Ford and Chevrolet, and the more affordable sedan did particularly well. Hudson began phasing out its Essex nameplate in 1932 for the modern Terraplane brand name. The new restyled line was launched on July 21, 1932 and named Essex-Terraplane; from 1934 as Terraplane, until 1938 when the Terraplane was re-named the Hudson 112. Hudson ceased auto production from 1942 until 1945 under orders of the Federal government to manufacture military products for the World War II effort. In 1940, the Hudson introduced step-down design, where the passenger would step into a frame encased floor plan, which all manufacturers eventually adopted. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form American Motors. The Hudson nameplate was then only continued through to the 1957 model year.
http://www.hudsonclub.org/
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