Offered from the Clem and Mary Lange Collection

1912 Hudson Model 33 'Mile-A-Minute' Roadster

226 L-Head Inline 4-Cylinder Engine
Single Updraft Carburetor
25.6 Horsepower (ALAM Rated)
3-Speed Manual Transmission
Semi-Elliptic Leaf Springs with Rigid Front Axle – Live Rear Axle
Rear Wheel Cable-Operated Drum Brakes

*Known history since the 1940s
*Extremely rare sporting model
*Richly patinaed over 70-year-old restoration
*A Stutz Bearcat or Mercer Raceabout on a budget

THE HUDSON MILE-A-MINUTE ROADSTER

The Hudson Mile-A-Minute Roadster is a wonderful example of an early factory-issue speedster. In true period racecar fashion, it is a stripped down stock car, carrying two fully exposed bucket seats in place of heavier bodywork, along with a large fuel tank mounted on the frame behind the seats. Unlike "real" racecars, the speedster has fenders and running boards, necessities on muddy roads of the time. These could be easily removed for competitive events.

First-generation Stutz Bearcats and Mercer Raceabouts have become iconic pre-World War I speedsters. However, several automakers offered factory-built speedsters during the 1910-1914 period. Production, though, was always extremely limited. Offered for just one season, the Hudson Mile-A-Minute Roadster is one of the most desirable factory speedsters of its era. The name underscores the performance potential of this ready-for-action model...60 miles per hour was "flying" in 1912!

In 1911, Hudson introduced its larger and more powerful Model 33, which would be offered through 1912. Several new styles, including the Mile-A-Minute Roadster, were added in the second year and amazingly Model 33 production for 1912 would total 5,708. It is safe to assume that production of these sporting Speedsters would have accounted for only a fraction of this being offered in that production year.

The Mile-A-Minute's radiator is set back several inches, compared to other Model 33s. Its engine is a standard 33-hp Model 33 mono-bloc four-cylinder, displacing 226 cubic inches. Gear change levers for the three-speed sliding gear transmission are mounted outside the frame. A 100-mph speedometer was standard on this high-performance model. The large tank behind the seats accommodates 30 gallons of gas and 10 gallons of oil.

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

Contemporary advertising material marketed the Mile-A-Minute as being 'faster than its name implies', it went on to describe how its gearing 'was very high and the weight (is) distributed in such a manner that the car will hold the road at a higher speed than others of its weight'. The model was designated by a 23,000 series, which this car naturally fits into, presumably as the 73rd car to have been built. Today, very few of these cars survive, one can be seen in The Simeone Foundation Museum in Philadelphia, while others are as far afield as in the UK and Germany.

This extremely rare Mile-A-Minute Roadster was retrieved from a barn in New York state by H. Pierson Mapes in the late 1940s. H. Pierson Mapes, was an early exponent of the car collecting movement and father of Pierson G. Mapes, the well-known former president of NBC. According to a cast brass plaque on its firewall, the car was restored for H. Pierson Mapes by Joseph Murchio who the plaque proclaims was 'America's Foremost Authority on Antique Automobiles', another early prominent car collector, whose automobile museum at Greenwood Lake, New York had opened in August 1945 and ran for more than two decades.

It is thought that Pierson Mapes sold the 'Mile-a-Minute' at a public auction conducted by Sotheby's in the late 1950s or early 1960s, though the precise date of this is unconfirmed. However, it is known that the car passed from Mapes to Egbert Beney of Syosset, New York at around that time, the penultimate owner's father bought the Hudson in 1987, passing it to his son in 2003. Over the course of its 30 year family ownership the Hudson was shown at a few regional car gatherings. It was acquired by the Clem and Mary Lange Collection from Bonhams' 2009 Greenwich Concours d'Elegance Auction and has been sparingly shown and driven since then.

The restoration of the car still dates back to H. Pierson Mapes time, giving the car a reassuring air of authenticity as well as an appealing patina of age. It is appropriately equipped with a period accessory monocle windshield, copies of owner's manual, tools and period jack.

This 1912 Hudson Mile-A-Minute Roadster is a historically important early speedster with a lengthy and known history.