By 1909 it was obvious that the automobile was not just a passing fad, nor was it a toy for the wealthy. In Detroit, Michigan, a group of eight businessmen organized a new company to produce an automobile which would sell for less than $1,000 (that’s the equivalent to a bit more than $26,000 today). The new company was named the Hudson Motor Car Company after Joseph L. Hudson, an entrepreneur and founder of Hudson’s department store. Hudson provided the capital for the new company while Roy D. Chapin, Sr., provided the automotive experience. Chapin had worked with automotive pioneer Ransom E. Olds.
Hudson Motor Car Company was organized in February and their first car was driven out of the small factory in July 3, 1909. The Hudson Twenty was one of the first low-priced cars in the United States and 4,000 were sold in 1909; 4,508 were sold in 1910; and 6,485 in 1911.
The company was later absorbed by the American Motors Corporation.
Does anyone remember the Hudson in Driving Miss Daisy?
Source : Michigan Historical Calendar, courtesy of the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University.
Hudson Motor Car Company wikipedia entry
Hudson Picture Gallery by John MacDonald.
History 101: The Hudson Automobile, August 25, 2014.