Solved- NEH 2076: Hudson Italia - 1954

[Carnut]

Astonishingly this car has not been puzzled as it appears here, so let's put that right and give an easy point to some lucky Rookie!

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[Bill Murray]

Hudson Italia (Itala?) 1954

[Carnut]

Hudson Italia (Itala?) 1954

Yes, that's correct.
Hudson's desperate attempt to produce a European-style sporty car, but which was pretty disastrous with only 26 built in the end.
Hudson didn't have the resources to build such a car so a complete Hudson Jet was sent over to Carrozzeria Touring for them to interpret Hudson's own design.  Such an arrangement was never going to be anything but short-lived...

More pics:

[sixtee5cuda]

A sedan prototype was built as well.  I thought of making it a puzzle, but that nose makes it fairly easy to recognize.

[Carnut]

..and a convertible (though it looks just a model)!:

[Wendax]

Some more:

[Otto Puzzell]

Hudson Italia (Itala?) 1954

Yes, that's correct.
Hudson's desperate attempt to produce a European-style sporty car, but which was pretty disastrous with only 26 built in the end.
Hudson didn't have the resources to build such a car so a complete Hudson Jet was sent over to Carrozzeria Touring for them to interpret Hudson's own design.  Such an arrangement was never going to be anything but short-lived...

More pics:

The run was meant to be short-lived. The initial run was scheduled at 50. Production ended as a result of the merger of Hudson and Nash. As to the success of the design, it may have been gaudy, but it did succeed in fixing the tall-and-narrow look of the Jet. If I were working at Hudson in the early 1950's, I'd have lobbied to drop the goofy exhaust pipes, but little else. 

Granted, it doesn't have the true European flair of, say, a Morris Ital, I rather like it. 

For good measure a couple more pics.

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

[Carnut]

I think it was a good attempt for 1954.  OK, with the benefit of hindsight it may not have been the direction design took, but who knew that in 1954?  Beats the sh1t out of that Ital...!

[grobmotorix]

Art least one of the 26 mentioned cars made its way to Saudi Arabia in 1960.

I´ve found it in this photo:

[Otto Puzzell]

These folks seem amused

[Carnut]

That's because someone had just said "They think they're gonna make millions of bucks out of these.."