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The anti-Corvette Hudson Italia of the fifties

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Created on January 8, 2014

Reading time 4min

Written by:

Werner Bartholai

Photos:

Alejandro Rodriguez - Courtesy Gooding & Company

Theo Civitello - Courtesy RM Auctions

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Alejandro Rodriguez - Courtesy Gooding & Company

Theo Civitello - Courtesy RM Auctions

Archiv

Hudson Italia (1954) - als Lot 049 angeboten an der Gooding & Company Versteigerung vno Scottsdale am 17./18. Januar 2014

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Hudson Jet Coupé Superleggera 'Italia', Touring (1954) - gestalterisch interessanter Mix aus italienischen und amerikanischen Elementen

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Hudson Jet Coupé Superleggera 'Italia', Touring (1953) - schmuck präsentiert

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Hudson Jet Coupé Superleggera 'Italia', Touring (1954) - Vorderansicht, aufgenommen in Italien

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Hudson Jet Coupé Superleggera 'Italia' Touring (1954) - ausgestellt auf dem Turiner Autosalon 1954

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Hudson Jet Coupé Superleggera 'Italia', Touring (1954) - auf dem Turiner Autosalon 1954

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Hudson Jet Coupé Superleggera 'Italia' Touring (1953) - Frontpartie mit den speziell geformten Stossfängern

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Hudson Jet Coupé Superleggera 'Italia' (1954) - in ungewöhnlicher Farbkombination, wie ihn Liberace bestellte

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Der Hudson Jet lieferte die technische Basis für den Italia

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Hudson Italia Coupé by Carrozzeria Touring (1954) - als Lot 217 an der Monterey RM Auction vom 17. und 18. August 2012 angeboten

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Summary

In the mid-fifties, the Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera built 25 sports coupés for the American manufacturer Hudson. Technically, the cars were based on the Hudson Jet, but in terms of design they were light years ahead of their production counterparts. This vehicle report describes the history of the Hudson Italia and shows it in current and historical illustrations.

This article contains the following chapters

Prestige problem
Counterattack
With an American-Italian design
Well received
From super jet to Italia
Mass production technology
Too expensive
The missing convertible
Further information

Estimated reading time: 4min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Driving a show car in everyday life? It used to be possible, for example if you ordered a Hudson Italia in 1954. However, many did not have the opportunity to do so, as only 25 were built. Hudson was one of the small independent car manufacturers in post-war America. While the big three caused a sensation at the motor shows with dream cars or new sports cars such as the Chevrolet Corvette, Hudson had nothing to counter this. In order to put Hudson more in the spotlight, it was decided to have a sports car prototype built that would be suitable for the boulevard, but also for endurance races such as the Carrera Panamericana.

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