Me & My Car: 1916 Hudson in East Bay big, comfortable unless it’s raining

Many car brands were named after the inventor of their all-new automobile, but not Hudson. Eight Detroit business owners formed the company on Feb. 20, 1909, but needed a financial angel. Joseph L. Hudson, the founder and principal stockholder of the Detroit-area department stores named for him, provided the necessary capital for the venture and allowed his name to also be used for the company and its cars.

The new Hudson “Twenty” car was very popular, and they sold 4,508 of them their first year, making the the company the industry’s 17th largest. That doesn’t sound too great, but at the time literally hundreds of brands were being marketed. As a result, a new 223,500-square-foot factory was built in 1910. The following year sales increased to 6,486. The bodies were manufactured by Fisher Body Co. until General Motors bought that company.

One of Hudson Motor Co.’s leading executives was Roy D. Chapin Sr., who had worked with Ransom Eli Olds (for whom the Oldsmobile brand was named along with the REO Speedwagon, for which the popular 1970s and ’80s band was later named). Chapin’s son, Roy Jr., would later become president of American Motors after Hudson and Nash merged in 1955.

Their best year was 1929, right before the Great Depression, when the company sold 300,000 Hudson and Essex models and had manufacturing plants in England and Belgium as well as Detroit. Hudson had some great firsts in the industry, including dual brakes and dashboard oil pressure and generator warning lights. By 1925, the combination of Hudson and Essex vehicles ranked third in the United States.

In 1932, Hudson started to phase out the Essex brand in favor of the Terraplane brand name, promoted by Amelia Earhart. During World War II, among other things Hudson made was the Invader engine that powered many of the landing craft used in the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Normandy, France. After the war, Hudson launched its “step-down” bodies, which placed passenger compartments inside the frames of cars for safety.

The car had a low center of gravity, making it handle very well, and the body was strong yet relatively lightweight. Hudson was the dominant NASCAR winner from 1951 through 1954, when the Oldmobile 88 showed up. The last Hudson was made in the 1957 model year.

This issue’s featured vehicle was built 41 years before that last Hudson. The current owner, Castro Valley’s Jeff Schler, found his 1916 Hudson in Georgia about 20 years ago and paid $24,000 for it. It’s a big car and can carry seven people in reasonable comfort unless it’s cold or rainy, as there are no side windows or heater. It’s a convertible, and while one person can raise and lower the top, that works much better with two.

Schler installed a GM 292-cubic-inch, straight-six engine that fits nicely in the engine compartment. The owner has rebuilt and refurbished the original engine beautifully but chose to use the GM engine because of the difficulty in getting Hudson parts if required. Hudson dealers are a little hard to find now, but there is a restored Hudson dealership in Northern California’s city of Chico.

Schler bought the Hudson sight-unseen. He had pictures, but got some surprises when it was shipped to him. The former owner apparently forgot to mention that the exhaust parts were being held up with bailing wire and the engine block was cracked.

The original engine was teamed with a three-speed manual transmission, but Schler has installed a four-speed transmission in which the first gear is a “granny” gear for very slow speed (good for parades) as well as for steep inclines or declines. It’s said that 75% of car braking is by the front brakes, so 1916 Hudson drivers would probably downshift the car on steep declines, as this Hudson only had rear wheel brakes.

“In 1958, my dad had my great grandfather’s car which was a Hudson Super Six, which was identical to this one,” Schler said. “He would take me for a ride on Sundays in it. In 1960 he sold it. I tried to locate it, then I happened to come across this one.”

Schler said he has no plans to sell that but if he did the new owner would get this car with the original Hudson and replacement GM engines.

Have an interesting vehicle? Email Dave at MOBopoly@yahoo.com. To read more of his columns or see more photos of this and other issues’ vehicles, visit mercurynews.com/author/david-krumboltz.