Eric Minoff
Vice President, Head of Department - US
LOT 72 ¤
1919 Essex Series A Touring Chassis no. 13535 Engine no. 59393
Sold for US$10,080 inc. premiumLot to be sold without reserve
Lot 72¤
From the Minden Automotive Museum
1919 Essex Series A Touring
1919 Essex Series A Touring
1919 Essex Series A Touring
Chassis no. 13535
Engine no. 59393
Chassis no. 13535
Engine no. 59393
179ci F-Head Inline Four-Cylinder Engine
Side Draft Essex Carburetor
55bhp at 2,800rpm
Three-Speed Sliding Gear Transmission
Live Axles with Semi-Elliptical Leaf Springs
Rear Wheel Mechanical Drum Brakes
* The economical Hudson
* 55hp F-head four-cylinder engine
* Complete and preserved for six decades
* Essex's first year, a huge 21,000-unit success
THE CAR OFFERED
While Henry Ford concentrated on his Model T to the exclusion of everything else other car manufacturers recognized there was a hierarchy of aspirations for style, performance and prestige. General Motors built a whole ethic about aspirational marques from Chevrolet to Cadillac.
Hudson, named for J.L. Hudson the Detroit department store magnate who funded the new marque of Roy Chapin and Howard Coffin, positioned itself as a premium marque almost from its inception in 1910. Hudsons became six-cylinder powered in 1913 and only looked back in 1919 when a more economical four-cylinder car made economic sense.
It was the Essex, a plainly Hudson-backed car that was presented as a new marque. The Essex offered a 179 cubic inch four (1919 Hudsons were 76hp 289 sixes) but with a difference: The Essex six used an F-head configuration with overhead intake valves and side exhaust valves in a shared offset combustion chamber. It cranked out 55 horsepower and delivered exceptional performance for its $1,395 price. Stodgily styled, the Essex was not pretty but its elemental design masked excellent performance and the late Teens and early Twenties market bought performance as is so often the case.
This 1919 Essex Series A Touring was acquired by Ted Bacon for the Minden Automotive Museum from a Parke-Bernet auction on October 21, 1968. It persists today almost sixty year later in very good overall condition after years in the Minden Automotive Museum and minimal, if any, use.
Parke-Bernet, established in New York in 1937, was a leader among fine art auction houses to sell antique automobiles, starting at the Seventh Regiment Armory in New York and later expanding to a partnership with Arthur Rippey, Jr. in Colorado. Controlling interest in Parke-Bernet was bought by Sotheby's in 1964.
At a time when old cars of the Teens and Twenties were disposable relics Parke-Bernet recognized them as important artistic, historic and cultural phenomena.
Finished in dark green with black fenders and aprons, the interior is utilitarian black and the top is black cloth. Wood spoke wheels are likewise black with 5.25-21 Firestone tires. It has elaborate beveled glass wind wings, a Moto Meter on a winged radiator cap and dual rear-mounted spares. The semi-elliptical leaf springs have optional Gabriel Snubbers. Paint and upholstery are uniformly good if aged, as is the engine compartment with its unusual F-head engine.
This is a neat old car, restored years ago and preserved in Minden for decades. With 55hp it has exceptional potential for tours and events and even with its Touring car body will upstage most of its contemporaries.
Saleroom notices
Title in transit.
Additional information
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| ¤ | No Reserve |
| Unless indicated by the ¤ symbol next to the lot number (or bearing an explicit statement such as "No Reserve" or "Without Reserve"), which denotes no reserve, all lots in the catalog are subject to a reserve. The reserve is the minimum hammer price that the seller is willing to accept for a lot. This amount is confidential and does not exceed the low estimate value. |
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