Mark Osborne
Global Director of Motorsport
LOT 30 ¤
1929 Essex Challenger Super Six Speedabout Coachwork by Biddle & Smart Chassis no. 1041472 Engine no. 1109337
Sold for US$61,600 inc. premiumLot to be sold without reserve
Lot 30¤
1929 Essex Challenger Super Six Speedabout
1929 Essex Challenger Super Six Speedabout
Coachwork by Biddle & Smart
Chassis no. 1041472
Engine no. 1109337
Coachwork by Biddle & Smart
Chassis no. 1041472
Engine no. 1109337
160.4ci F-Head Inline Six-Cylinder Engine
Single Marvel Carburetor
55bhp at 3,600rpm
Three-Speed Manual Transmission
Live Axles with Semi-Elliptical Leaf Springs
Four-Wheel Mechanical Drum Brakes
* Acquired by Harrah's in 1959
* Restored by Harrah's in 1962 to high standards
* Biddle & Smart coachwork
* Superbly preserved and maintained for over sixty years
THE ESSEX CHALLENGER
The Essex can't be considered without the context of its parent, the Hudson Motor Company. Hudson was started in 1909 by veterans of the Olds Motor Works, Roy Chapin (about whom much more would be heard later), engineer Howard E. Coffin, George Dunham and Roscoe Jackson. The marque's name came from its backer, Joseph L. Hudson, whose eponymous department store was Detroit's foremost retail emporium.
Hudson enjoyed great success with its six-cylinder cars so that it in 1918 it created Essex to build more economical four-cylinder cars to cater to a wider market. The Essex brand eventually graduated to sixes in 1924. The engines were smaller and designed to rev higher than Hudson's more staid sixes, but Essex startled the industry in 1922 by offering a fully enclosed coach (2-door sedan) body for the same price as an open touring car.
The F-head engine which Hudson favored had overhead intake and side exhaust valves. For some years Hudson and Essex resisted announcing the power of their cars but by 1929 it was publicized as 55 horsepower at unusually high revs of 3,600 per minute. Essex cars also used an unusual Marvel-built downdraft air-valve carburetor that operated with a sissing sound that led some to call the cars the "Whistling Essex".
Without going into details, the 1929 Essex used an unusual "split shift" 3-speed gearbox with a 0.78 overdrive, but the shift pattern was, expressed in normal H-pattern terms, 1-3-2nd overdrive.
THE CAR OFFERED
This 1929 Essex Challenger Super Six Speedabout was acquired by Harrah's in 1959 from Glenn Radtke in Osseo, Minnesota. Radtke described it at the time as "a good tour car and can be driven anywhere. I purchased this car restored with the wood wheels" which did not appeal to Bill Harrah and today it has a set of wire wheels which were standard on the Essex Speedabouts.
The Speedabout body was not bodied in house by Essex, but in this case by Biddle & Smart in Amesbury, Massachusetts. It is a spectacular looking automobile that supports its 55h horsepower performance with sporting style and a striking paint job in Royal Chariot Red with Malaga Maroon fenders and aprons and bright vermillion wire wheels. The beltline is described Harrah's shop as Ivory Jet Black with thin vermillion striping.
The wheels mount 4.50/4.75/5.00-20 blackwall tires. A spare sits behind the tapered boattail rear deck which has a small rumble seat. Parabeam headlights, wind wings, top hinged windshield, vacuum windshield wiper and cowl lights complete the exterior presentation. The interior is upholstered in maroon leather matching the fenders. The top is beige cloth.
The Harrah's restoration dates to the early 1960s and it was featured in an April 1963 article by Road & Track publisher John R. Bond. Considering that the restoration is now over 60 years old, it has aged gracefully with surprisingly good paint, upholstery, chrome, engine compartment and chassis. The top boot has some water stains, but after six decades it is emblematic of the quality and attention it has received at Harrah's and the National Automobile Museum.
Additional information
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