Ask anyone about American pick-ups and they’ll probably picture a rugged, upright job sitting well off the ground, possibly with a few cosmetic knocks acquired through the rough-and-tumble of working life. If they’re switched on, they may remember the sleek Ford Ranchero and Chevrolet El Camino which appeared in the late 1950s in an effort to market a prettier pick-up to higher-class businesses. We expect very few would remember that the idea of a stylish coupe utility was actually put into practice much earlier by Hudson.
Hudson only produced 30,000 commercial vehicles between 1937 and 1947, which was the equivalent of about one month’s production for Chevrolet in the 1940s, although pick-ups had already been marketed by Hudson’s lower-priced sister marques Essex and Terraplane. The Essex name got the chop in 1934 and Terraplane followed it in 1938, so it was decided to release a range of Hudson commercials in 1937.
The plethora of styles included some very strange choices,
