Hudson Italia

The Hudson Italia was a design study and a model in the years produced in small numbers in 1954 and 1955 coupe, which was developed jointly by the Hudson Motor Car Co. in Detroit, Michigan and the Carrozzeria Touring in Italy. Developed by Frank Spring car based on the Hudson Jet, which he took over platform and mechanics, however, had his own Body and Interior.

Development

During the development of the unfortunate Hudson Jet, the designer, Frank Spring hoped to contribute a flat, elegant car to Hudson 's lineup. The car first appeared under the name " Super Jet " and came up with many new features, such as aluminum body, panoramic windshield, doors, who intervened for easier entry and exit 36 cm in the roof ( such as aircraft doors) and bucket seats made of leather and vinyl.

The styling of the Jet was conservative, that the Italia but quite the opposite. Firstly, the Italia was 10 cm lower than the Jet. On the headlights, the V-shaped front fender intakes the cooling air were introduced to the brakes. The front bumper was a large inverted V in the middle, which lasted into the grille. Air vents on the rear fenders cooled the rear brakes and the rear lights consisted of three chrome tubes on each side that were let into the rear fender.

The high price of the car ( $ 4,350 ) along with the funky brochures of Hudson and the independent brand (Hudson and Nash merged in May 1954) sealed the end of the Italia after only about 25 copies. A single prototype of a 4-door sedan - referred to as X -161 - was also built to study the production possibilities.

The car was stripped of Hudson's L -head six-cylinder engine with 3.3 liters of displacement that developed 114 hp (84 kW), and were equipped with a manual three-speed transmission with column shift. It is said that 21 of the 26 originally built vehicles have survived until today.