1931 Hudson Series T Boat-Tailed Sport Roadster

Hudson Motor Company was formed in the very early days of automobiles. A group of businessmen headed by Roy D. Chapin, Sr., who had worked with Ransom Olds, named the new car company after its main financial backer, J.L. Hudson, founder of the Hudson department store chain. Both the motorcar company and the department stores were Detroit mainstays for the first half of the century. The car company continued producing innovative and beautiful cars until 1954, when a merger with Nash-Kelvinator formed the new American Motors.

The 1931 Hudson Boattail Speedster with body by Murray represents the apex of the company's products. Built as a limited edition of fewer than ten cars, only 5 to 7 are believed to exist today. The Boattail Speedster was intended to compete with the coveted Auburn Boattail Speedster, a sporting luxury car designed by Ray Dietrich, who had also designed bodies for Murray about that time. The car features a small rumble seat, dual side mounts, and a radically raked windscreen. With a lightweight body and Great Eight engine, it will do 90 MPH.

This particular car spent time in Denmark, probably during World War II, and found its way back to the United States in the 1950s, where it remained in storage until the 1990s. The current owner bought it and rebuilt the motor leaving the rest of the car in its original condition.