Thursday 21st July 1932

Terraplane, a car brand and model built by the Hudson Motor Car Company was launched, “with [such] sensational vigor” that “accounts of the affair appeared in newspapers throughout the United States.” The special event included over 2,000 dealers who came from 40 states to Detroit, Michigan. Hudson also had famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart helping to introduce the first Essex-Terraplane. It was a small, but very powerful, car with a steel frame, built to exacting standards, which is probably why Orville Wright purchased one of the first Essex-Terraplanes for himself. Hudson vehicles were assembled in other countries under license. The British sounding names of “Hudson” and “Essex” had made them popular in countries of the Commonwealth, and thus Terraplanes also were built outside the U.S. in England and Australia in low volume. The brand was dropped by Hudson in 1938.