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From 1927 Hudson gradually began to utilize local coachbuilders Briggs Manufacturing Company and Murray Corporation of America to supplement Hudson's own production which was expanding domestically and internationally. With Hudson now building in-house, Biddle and Smart saw their work for Hudson drop by 60%. Biddle and Smart continued to build aluminum body versions of the Hudson line and were marketed by Hudson as "custom-built" although they were exactly the same as the steel-body vehicles. On 1 July 1926, Hudson's new US$10 million ($ 146,184,211 in 2020 dollars ) body plant was completed where the automaker could now build the all-steel closed bodies for both the Hudson and Essex models. An inability to stamp steel meant that their products were made using aluminum. Peak shipments came in 1926, when the company delivered 41,000 bodies to Hudson. The lucrative contract with Hudson would see Biddle and Smart buy up many smaller local coachbuilders to meet the Hudson demand. From 1923, Hudson bodies were built exclusively by Massachusetts company Biddle and Smart. built bodies for Hudson cars (as well as many other automotive marques) until they were bought out by General Motors in 1919. For 1914 Hudsons for the American market were now left hand drive.Ĭoachbuilder Fisher Body Co. It was designed by the firm of renowned industrial architect Albert Kahn with 223,500 square feet and opened on October 29, 1910. A new facility was built on a 22-acre parcel at Jefferson Avenue and Conner Avenue in Detroit's Fairview section that was diagonally across from the Chalmers Automobile plant. Successful sales volume required a larger factory. The 4,508 units made in 1910 were the best first year's production in the history of the automobile industry and put the newly formed company in 17th place industry-wide, "a remarkable achievement at a time" when there were hundreds of makes being marketed. The new Hudson "Twenty" was one of the first low-priced cars on the American market and very successful with more than 4,000 sold the first year. The company quickly started production, with the first car driven out of a small factory in Detroit on July 3, 1909, at Mack Avenue and Beaufait Street in the Grosse Point neighborhood of Detroit, occupying the old Aerocar factory. (Chapin's son, Roy Jr., would later be president of Hudson-Nash descendant American Motors Corp. Chapin Sr., a young executive who had worked with Ransom E. One of the chief "car men" and organizer of the company was Roy D. A total of eight Detroit businessmen formed the company on February 20, 1909, to produce an automobile which would sell for less than US$1,000 (equivalent to approximately $ 28,804 in 2020 funds ).
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Hudson, a Detroit department store entrepreneur and founder of Hudson's department store, who provided the necessary capital and gave permission for the company to be named after him. ContentsĬompany strategy Hudson's first factory at Mack and Beaufait Avenues, 1909 photo 1910 Hudson Model 20 Roadster 1917 Hudson Phaeton 1919 Hudson Phantom, 1919 photo The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was discontinued. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., from 1909 to 1954.