ESSEX MOTOR CARS

The stately Essex is generally credited with changing the auto trends from open touring cars to enclosed passenger compartments.  This was going against the grain for the times.  Originally Essex was a wholly owned entity of The Hudson Motor Car Company . Hudson made Hudson and other brand automobiles in Detroit, Michigan, from 1909 to 1954. In 1954, Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form American Motors. The Hudson name was continued through the 1957 model year, after which it was dropped. Essex was to be a product of the Essex Motor Company and even leased the old Studebaker factory in Detroit for production of their cars.  Introduced as a budget brand in 1919, the Essex marketed a line of touring cars (open 4 door cars with canvas tops).   It was the unheard of low price of $1,495 in 1922 for the closed coach that caught the market’s attention and went against Ford and Chevrolet directly.  While Henry Ford was credited with inventing the affordable car, it was Essex that made the enclosed car affordable.