1929 Hudson Model L Club Sedan

The new 1929 Hudsons, introduced in January, consisted of the Model R resting on a 122.5-inch wheelbase and the Model L with a 139-inch wheelbase chassis. Including Essex and Commercial-vehicle shipments, 1929 was one of Hudson's most successful years, with shipments of 71,179 vehicles recorded. Over 60 improvements were made for the 1929 Hudsons, and the bodies were now four inches longer than before, offering greater interior room for the occupants. In the front was a larger windshield of shatterproof glass.

Hudson had worked with the Murphy Coachbuilding firm and Biddle and Smart in the past. The Murphy-designed body styles of 1928 were mostly carried over into 1929. Much like the rest of the economy, Biddle and Smart was in dire straits by 1929, and Hudson declined renewal of its contract for 1930, transferring all body construction to Detroit. The following year, in September, Murphy's Frank Spring left to join Hudson as their first 'style engineer,' a position he would hold for the next quarter of a century.

This example is a Model L with Murphy-designed, Biddle and Smart-built Club Sedan coachwork. It was acquired by the Hostetlers in 1993 from Peter Booz of California, who had acquired it in 1988. Mr. Hostetler commissioned the Appenzeller Brothers of Milford, Indiana, to totally restore the car in 1999, with the work completed in 2000. It has two-tone paintwork, Pilot-Ray driving lights, a chrome grill guard, dual side-mounted spares with chrome side view mirrors, chrome wire wheels mounting white sidewall tires, and a rear luggage trunk. The engine is a 288.6 cubic-inch F-head inline six-cylinder engine with a single downdraft carburetor. There is a three-speed manual transmission and four-wheel Bendix mechanical drum brakes.

By Daniel Vaughan | Jan 2019