ESSEX MOTORS 

1919 - 1932

by Chris Dugdale

Many people today will never have heard of an "Essex" yet 60 years ago they were a common sight on the roads of Britain, an assembly plant on the Great West Road, Chiswick and dealerships throughout the country. Essex was set up in 1917 as a separate firm by the Hudson Motor Co to manufacture a small companion car for their Super Six range The Company started with a paid in capital of $500,000, the first president of the firm being William J McAneeny who was the Hudson's factory superintendent, also on the board was Roy D Chapin the man behind Hudson and that companies president. A new plant was acquired for Essex in Detroit, premises that Studebaker did not require, due to the war however the proposed plant was leased out for war work and production of the new Essex was delayed for 10 months and did in fact commence in a Hudson factory. 

The prototype car was intended to enter production in May 1918 but the war forced a delay until December when it got under way as a 1919 model. This was a quality 4 cylinder 4/5 seat tourer with a wheelbase of 108 inches with the abilities and stamina of more expensive cars but with economy of operation. It was of conventional construction with an "F" head engine, that is the inlet valves were in the cylinder head whilst the exhaust were at the side, with a bore and stroke of 3.3/8 inches by 5 inches producing about 50 horsepower, it had a heavy counterbalanced crankshaft with large bearings which did away with much vibration. The transmission was 3 speed with Hotchkiss drive, springing was elliptic. These cars were noted for their performance and reliability and on the Cincinnati Speedway a racing bodied standard chassis set a world long distance endurance record, in 50 hours covered 3,037 miles, an average speed of 60.7 mph

The second Essex model was a 4 door 6 light sedan with a fabric visor and grey whip cord upholstery At this time the two assembly lines could produce 150 cars a day which could not keep up with the booming demand. A  total of 21,879 Essex Cars were made in the first year of production. For 1920 (also 1921) four models were available, a 4/5 seat tourer. 2 seat Cabriolet, 2 seat Roadster and 4/5 seat sedan, the first costing as little as $1,595

1922 saw a new Coach body for Essex.   This was typical of the Hudson coach and the key to low cost was the use of straight wood pieces in almost all of the construction, shaping of sheet metal was kept to a minimum. This 2 door (forward opening) 5 passenger sedan (saloon) was launched at $1.495 and was immediately snapped up by buyers and thus started an industry wide trend for closed cars.

1924 saw a new Essex, the "six". This commenced production in December 1923, on a wheelbase of 110½ inches with Coach and Touring car models These were lower than the previous models by reason of having the body sills on the outside of the chassis rails rather than on top, the chassis was conventional having semi elliptic front and rear springs, "I" beam front axle and semi floating rear axle. The new engine was of "L" head design with 3 bearing crankshaft, a cast enbloc inlet manifold and other features which lasted for many years. This engine was of 16.5 H.P. but was soon found to be lacking in power output when compared to the Essex Four This was quickly corrected to protect the Companies reputation and & the output was increased to17.32 H.P

1925 and 1926 saw the production continued unchanged with the exception that the second series Essex was given as July 24 1926 from serial number 419476 on and was fitted with nickel plated radiator shells, however many of these new steel bodies were built prior to this date and did not in fact have plated radiator shells. This second series Coach body were known as "All Steel Full Vision" and were built by the Hudson Motor Car Co whereas the earlier body was supplied by Briggs, for the second series only the Touring Car body was supplied by this body builder

1927 saw the introduction of the Essex Super Six with new body characteristics but mechanically similar apart from a higher revving engine which peaked at 4000 rpm and developing more horsepower, a single plate clutch replaced the multi plate but still running in oil/paraffin mixture late in the year the engine stroke was increased to give a horsepower of 18.2, plus larger main bearings. Four wheel brakes were offered as an optional extra1928 saw the introduction of Bendix mechanical 4 wheel brakes as standard and closed cars offered the option of fenders and chassis sheet metal lacquered in colours to match upper body colours, the engine continued with no notable alterations.

1929. For five years the low price of Essex cars had made it king of the sixes but it now lost out to Chevrolet who had an even lower priced but smaller car which now has a six cylinder engine.    A new Essex was produced this year called the "Challenger" with modified engine, notably a higher compression head, new manifolding and a two piece oil pan, the engine was also mounted on rubber. The bodies were of larger design with a higher bonnet and chrome plated radiator shell of different design.   Five models were available plus a bare chassis for buyers who wanted their body built elsewhere. This car was really the 1930 model but became available in late 1929 and continued to 1931

1932 represented a milestone year for Hudson Essex with the introduction of the Essex Terraplane, car number one being christened with a bottle of aviation gasoline by Amelia Earhart who in May of that year had become the first woman pilot to fly alone across the Atlantic, the car was then dedicated to the personal use of Orville Wright who with his brother pioneered aeroplane development. The Essex Terraplane claimed the highest power to weight ratio of any U.S. or foreign production car and was said to outrun all other production cars, even very costly ones in acceleration and hill climbing ability.  The engine was the basic earlier plant but with a reduced compression of 5.5 to 1 and a completely new arrangement of downdraught carburation, also 3 point engine mounting was adopted.  A pressed steel panel fitted to the top of the chassis served as a body floorpan and unified body/chassis construction was claimed.  

Preceeding the Terraplane was a Greater Essex Super Six which was a decendent of the 1931 model but with all new styling and a 113 inch wheelbase, there was automatic starting by "Startix" and dual exhaust silencers. There was selective ride control operated by a knob on the dashpanel.  In May this line was renamed the Pacemaker. This was really the end of the story for Essex as the name was dropped in 1933, vehicles being then either Hudsons or Terraplanes.  From 1918 to 1932 Essex produced a total of 1,331,107 passenger cars.  The factory on the Great West Road at Chiswick, London and which featured an Essex Car on the roof continued to be used by Hudson for many years, was then used by Kelvinator and only demolished in the past few years to make way for I believe a Do it Yourself Superstore

It is interesting to note that it was the likes of Essex and Chevrolet who in 1924 were offering well built, comfortable and refined motor cars which offered excellent value for money that put the nails in the coffin of Henry Ford's immortal Model "T" which was by this date old fashioned and dare one say obsolete !

PRICE LIST - JUNE 1st 1931

113" Chassis

Optional Equipment

Wire Wheels (5 per car).................................£12. 00               Sliding Roof on closed models........... ....£10. 00

Leather Upholstery on closed models............£12. 00            Safety Glass Windscreen...........................£ 3. 30

Safety Glass Complete on 4 window models..£ 8. 80   Safety Glass Complete on 6 window models......£10.10

All prices were ex works London.

The forgoing is but a brief outline, anyone wishing to delve further could do no better than to purchase "The History of Hudson" by Don Butler and published by Crestline Publishing of 1251 North Jefferson Ave, Sarasota, Fla, 33577, USA.

The Official Web Site for Hudson-Essex-Terraplane is http://clubs.hemmings.com/hudson/index.html

Postscript.

HUDSON - the end

Another great American name has disappeared, the Hudson car came to the end of the road in 1957 but the Car Company was founded as mentioned in our article on Essex by Roy D. Chapin. The venture was financed by a local department store owner, Joseph Hudson, hence the name.

Although car production ceased some 45 years ago the department store chain continued but sad to say that at the beginning of 2001 following a merger, all the 21 stores had their named changed to "Marshall Field"

The Hudson was a fine automobile and some years ago I had the opportunity to purchase a 1949 Commodore with the straight eight 4.2 litre side valve engine but due to lack of a place to keep it at the time had to pass it by - who knows perhaps I will get another chance in the future.