The Hudson Motor Car Co. was founded in Detroit in 1909 with financing from department-store magnate J.L. Hudson. It built a strong reputation for its sturdy, speedy mid-market cars, but the Hudson name was not really associated with trucks. Hudson prospered over the years and managed to survive the Depression of the 1930s.
Along with its well-respected cars, it may come as a surprise that Hudson also built light trucks for almost 20 years, although never in large numbers. The best remembered was also the last, the handsome 1946-1947 pickups produced right after the Second World War.
Like other manufacturers, the first Hudson trucks were privately built on car chassis, usually made to order by wagon makers. They began appearing at the beginning of the First World War in 1914, and served as Hudson dealer-service vehicles and in public-service roles such as ambulances and fire department support vehicles.
Hudson finally decided to formally enter the truck market in 1929, and although they would carry several names, they would not actually be called Hudsons for another decade.
The first series production Hudson truck, also referred to as a commercial car, was a light hauler called the Dover. It was based on the Hudson’s light Essex car, and Dovers were offered as panel deliveries and pickups.
In the early 1930s, the Dover was renamed the Essex truck, now based on the Essex Terraplane car chassis. When the Essex name was discontinued in 1934, Hudson’s trucks became Terraplanes until 1937, the year the Terraplane car was discontinued. The trucks then became Hudson-Terraplanes for one year only, 1938.
The Terraplane “Big Boy” truck that was introduced in 1937 had its own dedicated chassis and a wheelbase stretched to a generous 3,150 millimetres. In spite of low production, Hudson offered a dizzying array of models, some 19 in all, which they soon reduced.
During the 1930s, Hudson and other manufacturers offered an unusual and versatile dual-purpose vehicle that could serve as a car or truck. Hudson’s version, called the utility coupe, came in 1937. At its heart was a pickup-type box complete with tailgate that was concealed in the trunk under the trunk lid.
With the lid open, it slid out like a bureau drawer. Fully extended, it provided carrying capacity up to 2,438 mm long. When not acting as a truck, the box telescoped back into the trunk, and with the lid closed it looked like a normal car again. It was built until 1942.
By 1942, Hudson’s truck offerings were down to just two pickups, the 2,946-mm-wheelbase regular model and the 3,251-mm-wheelbase Big Boy. The Second World War stopped civilian automotive production from 1942 to 1945, and when it resumed, Hudson’s postwar pickup was the prewar 3/4-ton Big Boy, although it was no longer called that.
The 1946 Hudson pickup was powered by Hudson long-stroke (76.2-mm bore, 127-mm stroke) side-valve “Super Six” engine that featured a chrome alloy cylinder block. With a displacement of 3.5 litres, it developed 102 horsepower.
Its three-speed manual transmission was column-shifted when other trucks still used a floor-shift. Naturally, it had Hudson’s famous cork-insert, oil-immersed clutch, and overdrive was available, unusual for a pickup.
The Hudson pickup was fitted with a cavernous cargo box measuring a generous 2,362 mm long, 1,219 mm wide and over 457 mm deep, providing 48 cubic feet of cargo volume.
Hudson carried its big, long wheelbase pickup over into 1947 with little change. Although sales of ’46 and ’47 models totalled almost 6,300, a respectable figure, Hudson decided to discontinue its pickup after the 1947 model year.
The reason was that Hudson was converting its cars to unit construction for its new 1948 “Step Down” design, and unit construction was not very conducive to pickup application. Although a unit-body Hudson prototype was built, management chose not to go ahead with the development of a new pickup.
Hudson had started out like other manufacturers, basing its trucks on car models. But whereas brands like Chevrolet and Ford began separating their truck lines in the late 1930s and early 1940s to make them more rugged and purpose-built commercial vehicles, Hudson stayed with its car-based design. The result was that Hudson pickups, being essentially cars back to the rear window, were more civilized and stylish. Hudson’s 1946-’47 models are among the best-looking pickups ever offered.
Because they stayed with car-based pickups, Hudson pre-dated by a good decade the sedan pickup that was revived with the introduction of the 1957 Ford Ranchero, followed a couple of years later by the Chevrolet El Camino.