Ten different ventures of car manufacturing bearing the name of "Hudson" were planned in the years prior to World War II. The Hudson Gas Motor and Vehicle Manufacturing Co. of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (1899-1902), managed to complete two cars in a wallpaper factory.

But the only successful and well-known Hudson was introduced in Detroit in mid-1909 for the 1910 model year. It was named for the Hudson department store in Detroit, which was an early affliliate. Hudson's greatest successes came after the 1916 introduction of its big and powerful "Super Six" and in 1919, Hudson introduced its four-cylinder companion car, the lower-priced Essex (which also became a six in 1924). In the early 1920s, Hudson and Essex made history by introducing budget-priced coaches (two-door sedans) gradually priced down to the cost of open (convertible) cars. Before 1925, most cars were touring cars or roadsters (because of the lower price), but after 1925, the opposite was the case, thanks to Hudson's popularizing of closed cars!

Hudsons had an unusual "wet" clutch, bathed in oil with cork-studded plates for smoothness of operation. Did it work? Yes, but other car manufacturers stuck with dry clutch plates.

An old friend of mine, the late Carl Mendoza, was a mechanic and a "dyed-in-the-wool" Hudson fan. He owned more than 80 Hudson-built cars, stored in garages all across the country. The most cars I've ever owned at one time was six. Now I have two and a half (the half-car isn't operational and needs major restoring).