История компании Hudson Motor Car: от основания до поглощения

American auto company

The Hudson Motor Car Company made Hudson and other branded automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, U. S., from 1909 until 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash Kelvinator to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was discontinued.

[[File:First Hudson Motor Car Company Factory. png|thumb|Hudson's first factory at Mack and Beaufait Avenues, 1909 photo to produce an automobile which would sell for less than US$1,000 (equivalent to approximately $ in funds). One of the lead "car men" and an organizer of the company was Roy D. Chapin Sr., a young executive who had worked with Ransom E. Olds. (Chapin's son, Roy Jr., would later be president of Hudson Nash descendant American Motors Corporation in the 1960s). 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 on the East Side of Detroit, occupying the old Aerocar factory. The new Hudson "Twenty" was one of the first low priced cars on the American market and became successful with 4,508 sold the first year. This was 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. Successful sales volume required a larger factory. A new facility was built on a parcel at Jefferson Avenue and Conner Avenue in Detroit's Fairview section that was diagonally across from the Chalmers Automobile plant. Production in 1911 increased to 6,486. For 1914, Hudsons for the American market were now left hand drive. Coachbuilder Fisher Body Co. built bodies for Hudson cars (as well as many other automotive marques) until they were bought out by General Motors in 1919. From 1923, Hudson bodies were built exclusively by Massachusetts company Biddle and Smart. The lucrative contract with Hudson would see Biddle and Smart buy up many smaller local coachbuilders to meet the Hudson demand. Peak shipments came in 1926, when the company delivered 41,000 bodies to Hudson. An inability to stamp steel meant that their products were made using aluminum. On 1 July 1926, Hudson's new US$10 million ($ in dollars ) body plant was completed where the automaker could now build the all steel closed bodies for both the Hudson and Essex models. Biddle and Smart continued to build aluminum body versions of the Hudson line and were marketed by Hudson as "custom built" although they were the same as the steel body vehicles. With Hudson now building in house, Biddle and Smart saw their work for Hudson drop by 60%. From 1927 Hudson gradually began to utilize local coachbuilders Briggs Manufacturing Company and Murray Corporation of America to supplement Hudson's production which was expanding domestically and internationally. With car prices falling due to the Great Depression and the costs to transport vehicles from Massachusetts to Detroit becoming too expensive, the contract with Biddle and Smart was terminated in 1930, and Biddle and Smart went out of business shortly thereafter. At their peak in 1929, Hudson and Essex produced a combined 300,000 cars in one year, including contributions from Hudson's other factories in Belgium and England; a factory had been built in 1925 in Brentford in London. Hudson was the third largest U. S. car maker that year, after Ford Motor Company and Chevrolet. Hudson had many firsts for the auto industry; these included dual brakes, the use of dashboard oil pressure and generator warning lights, and the first balanced crankshaft, which allowed the Hudson straight six engine, dubbed the "Super Six" (1916), to work at a higher rotational speed while remaining smooth, developing more power for its size than lower speed engines. The Super Six was the first engine built by Hudson, previously Hudson had developed engine designs and then had them manufactured by Continental Motors Company. Most Hudsons until 1957 had straight 6 engines. The dual brake system used a secondary mechanical emergency brake system, which activated the rear brakes when the pedal traveled beyond the normal reach of the primary system; a mechanical parking brake was also used. Hudson transmissions also used an oil bath and cork clutch mechanism that proved to be as durable as it was smooth.

For the 1930 model year, Hudson debuted a new flathead inline eight cylinder engine with block and crankcase cast as a unit and fitted with two cylinder heads. A 2.75 inch bore and 4.5 inch stroke displaced developing at 3,600 rpm with the standard 5.78:1 compression ratio. The five main bearing crankshaft had eight integral counterweights, an industry first, and also employed a Lanchester vibration damper. Four rubber blocks were used at engine mount points. A valveless oil pump improved the Hudson splash lubrication system. The new eights were the only engine offering in the Hudson line, supplanting the Super Six, which continued in the Essex models.

As the role of women increased in car purchase decisions, automakers began to hire female designers. Hudson, wanting a female perspective on automotive design, hired Elizabeth Ann Thatcher in 1939, one of America's first female automotive designers. Her contributions to the 1941 Hudson included exterior trim with side lighting, interior instrument panel, interiors and interior trim fabrics. The plant was capable of large scale production of wings and ailerons as well as other airplane parts. On May 22, 1941, Hudson was given a contract for the Oerlikon 20 mm cannon with the Jefferson Avenue Plant, on Jefferson Avenue and Connor Avenue, responsible for converting the original Swiss drawings to American production standards. The company produced 33,201 Oerlikons for the United States Navy with the original mechanism continued in use without major change and with complete interchangeability of parts until the end of the war.

The Fisher Body Company, later the Fisher Body Division of GM, manufactured bodies for many automobile marques throughout the early 20th Century. From 1926 the business had become part of General Motors. Just before World War II, the Fisher brothers contemplated a takeover of Hudson and commissioned engineer Roscoe C. (Rod) Hoffman, from Detroit, to design and build several rear engine prototype vehicles for possible eventual production as Hudsons. One prototype was built in secret in 1935. World War II forced the brothers to shelve their plans while the company shifted its focus to the war effort. When brothers Fred and Charles retired from GM in 1944 they revived the Hudson takeover idea with the view of establishing new, independent automobile manufacturing operations. The brothers contacted Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Hudson's main stockholder, offering to buy. Using an intermediary, Queen Wilhelmina expressed her interest in selling, prompting the Fisher brothers to begin devoting time to Hudson and their plant in anticipation of a deal. When news of these events reached Wall Street, the price of Hudson stock skyrocketed with the consensus by investors that a Fisher takeover would be the best thing for Hudson. However, the Fisher brothers tender offer fell short of Hudson's sudden increased market value and the deal did not go through.

On May 1, 1954, Hudson merged with Nash Kelvinator to become American Motors Corporation. George W. Mason became CEO and president of AMC while Hudson's president, A. E. Barit retired to become an AMC board member. The Hudson factory, located in Detroit, Michigan, was converted to military contract production at the end of the model year, and the remaining three years of Hudson production took place at the Nash plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin building rebadged Nash cars with the Hudson brand name. Nash would focus most of its marketing resources on its smaller Rambler models, and Hudson would focus its marketing efforts on its full sized cars. The first Hudson model to terminate production was the Jet. The new company could then focus on the more successful Nash Rambler. Henceforth, Hudson dealers would have badge engineered versions of the Nash Rambler and Metropolitan compacts to sell as Hudson products. One of the first things Mason did as CEO of the new company was to initiate talks with James J. Nance, president of Packard, for parts sharing arrangements between AMC and Packard. At this time AMC did not have its own V8 engine and an agreement was made for the new Packard V8 engine and Packard's Ultramatic automatic transmission to be used in the 1955 Nash Ambassador and Hudson Hornet models. In July 1954, Packard acquired Studebaker to form Studebaker Packard Corporation. However further talks of a merger between AMC and Studebaker Packard were cut short when Mason died on October 8, 1954. A week after his death, Mason's successor, George W. Romney, announced "There are no mergers under way either directly or indirectly". Nevertheless, Romney continued with Mason's commitment to buy components from Studebaker Packard Corporation. Although Mason and Nance had previously agreed that Studebaker Packard would purchase parts from AMC, it did not do so. Moreover, Packard's engines and transmissions were comparatively expensive, so AMC began development of its own V8 engine, and replaced the outsourced unit by mid 1956.

The last Hudson rolled off the Kenosha assembly line on June 25, 1957, although at that time there were proposals of continuing the Hudson and Nash names into the 1958 model year on the Rambler chassis as deluxe, longer wheelbase senior models. The combined Nash and Hudson production volume was insufficient to justify all new design and tooling; therefore, the Rambler's platform was expected to be adopted by the longer cars. One major trade magazine said rumors of discontinuance were false and the 1958 Hudsons and Nashes "would be big and smart". Factory styling photographs show designs for a 1958 Hudson (and Nash) line based on a longer wheelbase 1958 Rambler. Front end prototype photos show separate Hudson and Nash styling themes. American Motors' president, George W. Romney, concluded that the only way to compete with the "Big Three" was to stake the future of AMC on a new smaller sized car line. Neither Hudson nor Nash brand names had as much positive market recognition as the successful Rambler and their sales were lagging. Together with AMC's chief engineer Meade Moore, Romney had completely phased out the Nash and Hudson brands at the end of 1957. The decision to retire the brands came so quickly that preproduction photographs of the eventual 1958 Rambler Ambassador show both Nash and Hudson badged versions. The Rambler brand was selected for further development and promotion while focusing exclusively on compact cars. Eventually, however, something close to the Hudson design was chosen for the 1958 Rambler Ambassador. Hudson brand enthusiasts will note the triangular grille guard and 1957 like fender "gun sights" and the fast selling 1958 Rambler Customs wore 1957 Hudson styled front fender trim.

Hudson, Essex, and Terraplane vehicles were either exported as complete cars or locally built from knock down kits in many countries making the Hudson marque well known internationally as well as domestically. In its 1929 report, the banking house Garden Detroit Company reported that in 1928 Hudson shipped 50,587 vehicles overseas, or 17.9% of total production. By March 1929 Hudson had topped all previous production figures having exported 44,295 cars in March alone, bringing the total of shipments for the first quarter of 1929 to an all time high of 108,298.

Canadian assembly of Hudson vehicles commenced in 1932 by Hudson Motors of Canada in Tilbury, Ontario. The factory building was owned by Canadian Top & Body Co. which built the motor bodies for the vehicles. The first models assembled were a series of Hudson Eights. World War II interrupted operations and production ceased in 1941. Post war operations resumed in 1950, with Hudsons being assembled by Chatco Steel Products in Tilbury, Ontario. Operations ceased in 1954 following the Nash Hudson merger that led to the formation of American Motors Corporation. Toronto based Nash Motors of Canada Ltd. became American Motors (Canada) Ltd. and all subsequent AMC operations continued in Toronto until its closure in 1957. Local production of Ramblers resumed after AMC's Brampton, Ontario plant opened in December 1960.

Hudson and Essex vehicles were assembled in Berlin, Germany, during the 1920s by Hudson Essex Motors Company m. b. H Berlin Spandau. The cars were built with the speedometer in kilometers, while the fuel, oil, and temperature gauges remained in their original non metric units.

For the 1970 model year, American Motors revived the "Hornet" model name for its new series of compact cars (the AMC Hornet). AMC was later purchased by Chrysler, which at one time considered reintroducing the Hornet name in the Dodge model line and ultimately did so for the 2023 model year with a car based on the Alfa Romeo Tonale. The last Hudson dealership was Miller Motors in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which is now part of the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum. The Hostetler Hudson Auto Museum in Shipshewana, Indiana, features a collection of restored Hudsons. Eldon Hostetler was an inventor who owned a Hudson as a teenager and later purchased Hudson cars and restored them. A restored Hudson Dealership sign still occupies its original site on Highway 32 in Chico, California. The 2006 film, Disney/Pixar's Cars, features a character named Doc Hudson, represented as a 1951 Hudson Hornet. The 2011 racing video game Forza Motorsport 4 and 2018 racing video game Forza Horizon 4 features a 1952 Hudson Hornet. The Hermes, a recurring car model featured in Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto video game series, is based on the 1951 Hudson Hornet and 1947 Hudson Super Six.