Hudson - Built to Excel

• 
• 

Of the many American car manufacturers active during the 1930s, few played such an active role in the British motor industry as Hudson did, with its large straight-six and straight-eight chassis underpinning Railton and Brough Superior cars. Unlike most American cars, Hudsons were not simply assembled in America for export. Instead, they were sent as CKD kits to be assembled at Hudson’s very modern factory on Brentford’s Art Déco Golden Mile.

The English factory really came into its own in 1932, when Hudson’s Detroit headquarters decided to stop shipping complete bodies to Brentford. This gave the English works much more freedom to build its own bodies and tailor bespoke cars of a kind never seen in America.

This 1938 Hudson 112 sedan was built at Brentford and sold new to a lady of the English aristocracy, in whose estate it remained almost until the millennium. Although it sports an ordinary catalogued body available in both England and America, it carries some interesting details that hint at a streak of independence running through the Brentford works. Read more about the story of Hudson in England in the April issue of The Automobile, available now.

Words and photographs by Zack Stiling.

Make a comment, ask a question, give your opinion, share additional information or start a discussion by filling in the fields below.