This view of Miller Motors in 1946 is from a postcard the dealership sent to customers that year.  Miller Motors Today

Miller Motors - The last Hudson dealership

By Richard A. Wright
Jack Miller is a Hudson dealer, the last Hudson dealer, the only one left of a dealer force that in its heyday sold as many as 300,000 cars a year bearing the white triangle and made in Detroit.
But sales have not been strong in recent years and Miller has merged his dealership with the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum, recently opened just behind Miller Motors. Miller is curator of the Museum, which stresses the area's role in the auto industry, from various Chevrolets built at General Motors' Willow Run plant to Kaiser-Frazer to the legendary Tucker.

Here is how Miller Motors looks today, at the end of Ypsilanti's historic Depot district just across the railroad tracks. In front is a 1954 "Stepdown" Hudson.

      Miller Motors awakens memories. A neon sign spells out "Hudson" in the showroom window. Another proclaims "Terraplane." At the top front of the building is the white triangle insignia of the auto maker, with the letters H-U-D-S-O-N stacked below it. 

      Many people don't know what a Hudson looks like, never heard of a Terraplane or an Essex. In a good year, Miller might sell a dozen or so Hudsons. And Miller is a Hudson aficionado himself, so a number of the Hudsons in his dealership in Ypsilanti are not for sale. 

      How can he stay in business with that kind of sales volume? "Well, we sell some regular used cars too. And we do a good parts business, we get customers from all over the country looking for Hudson parts. You'd be surprised, there are still a lot of Hudsons out there. And there are model cars and books and stuff for tourists. We get by. We have a lot of fun." 

      A railroad track runs by the front of the building, heading for the now-abandoned train depot which serves as the focus of Ypsilanti's Depot Town, a cluster of old restored buildings. Miller Motors anchors one end of Depot Town, but it is not an old restored building, it's just an old building still in use. 

      "It's pretty much the way it was when we were terminated by American Motors in 1958," said Miller. Except that the car in the showroom wasn't a '58, it was a '30 Hudson phaeton (four door sedan with a top that can be lowered) with special body by Briggs, very rare and one of the few Hudsons designated a classic by the Classic Car Club of America. Another classic is back in his service area, a '29 Hudson with body by Biddle & Smart. 

      Miller's dealership building was constructed in 1892 for the Ypsilanti Electronic Co. It later housed the Michigan Crown Fender Co. before becoming one of the first Dodge Brothers dealerships in 1916. 

      A Willys-Overland dealership took over in 1928, but after the market crash the following year, the building was empty. Times were hard and it could be rented for $25 a month. 

      Carl Miller, Jack's father, had been a salesman for an Oldsmobile dealer when he got a Hudson franchise in 1933. He went into partnership with Alex Longnecker, whom he bought out in 1944. (Longnecker became a Buick dealer.)

The Hudson first appeared in 1909, started by Roy D. Chapin, R.B. Jackson, Frederick O. Bezner, Howard E. Coffin, Hugh Chalmers, O.H. McCormack, J.J. Brady and J.L. Hudson, of department store fame. Hudson put up most of the money, so it was named for him. This snappy 33 Series Hudson was introduced in 1911 and designed by Coffin. It is owned by Eldon and Esther Hostetler, of Middlebury, Ohio.

      The dealership was never very big, selling 30 to 60 cars most years through the Depression and after World War II. Miller recalled the excitement when Hudson introduced its '48 Step-Down design. 

      "In November '47, dad went into Detroit to a parking garage where the Step-Downs were stored and drove home with a Commodore Eight sedan," Miller said. "Several cars followed dad all the way to Ypsilanti trying to get a better look at the new Hudson. He had to fight 'em off at the filling station when he stopped to gas up." 

      Interest was high and sales were good, Miller said. He brought out a ledger book in which sales were recorded.

This '37 Terraplane four-door sedan was one of the last of that popular nameplate, which had been introduced as a separate car line by Hudson in 1932, replacing the Essex, which it had introduced in 1919. In 1938, Terraplane became a model of Hudson, then was dropped in '39.

      "That first Step-Down cost $2,560.40 loaded," Miller said. "Dealer cost was $1,981.69, the profit was $578.71. The Hornet sold very well and the Jet was a good little car, but overpriced." 

      The Hudson goes back a long way in automotive history, back to 1909, when four former associates of Ransom E. Olds (Roy Chapin, Howard Coffin, Frederick Bezner and James Brady) began this line of cars that became known for solid engineering, performance and value. Each had put up $1,500, not much by auto industry standards, even in those days. The big bankroller was Joseph L. Hudson, of Detroit department store fame, hence the name on the car. 

      Hudson had many glory days -- famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart helping to introduce the first Terraplane, Marshall Teague and his road-racing triumphs in the booming big-six Hornet of the '50s -- but the Depression hurt and the stakes were getting too big in the auto business for the smaller independents.

This '46 Hudson pickup truck is owned by Paul Minor, who raced Hudsons and Terraplanes at the old Motor City Raceway on Eight Mile and Schoenherr. "We were known as the 'upside-down boys'," he said.

      Hudson and Nash merged in 1954 to form American Motors and the Hudson, the real Hudson, was dead. From then on, Hudsons were Nashes with a Hudson nameplate. The '57 was the last Hudson of any kind. 

      "Two customers canceled their orders for '55s when they saw the Nash-based cars -- the `Hash,' as some called 'em -- but dad liked them," Miller said. 

      In 1958, Miller Motors had its best year, selling 85 Hudsons, Nashes and Ramblers, but it was also its last year. AMC was pressuring its dealers to upgrade their facilities, Carl Miller included, but he liked his old building just fine and told AMC what it could do with its franchise. 

      After that, Miller sold used cars and ran a repair business, but he left the Hudson signs up and they're still there. Carl Miller died in 1973 and Jack has kept the business going, selling a few used cars and reconditioning used cars. 

      But his real love is the Hudson. He was president of the Hudson-Essex-Terraplane Club from 1978 to 1982 and until about a year ago he ran the club's official publication, White Triangle News, which comes out every other month.

Ken Poynter, mayor of Harper Woods, MI, owns this beautiful and unusual '42 Hudson Commodore 8 convertible.

      "I sell a few Hudsons every year and I sell Hudson parts," Miller said. "Hudson people know me and I know most of them." 

      In what used to be the service area are Miller's prizes: a Hornet stock racer, a couple of Hornet sedans, a sparkling '46 coupe, a late-'30s Terraplane, a '57 "Hash" and a heartbreakingly desirable '47 convertible. All showroom fresh. 

      Outside the dealership was a like-new '46 Hudson pickup, ready for its utilitarian chores, just as it was in '46. 

      Hudson may be just a fading memory in its hometown of Detroit, but it's alive in Miller's small showroom crammed with promotional posters, banners, emblems, plaques, models of cars and sales literature. 

      "A guy came by in a Hudson pickup in 1960 to buy Hudson parts," said Miller. "He loaded up his truck. Kept coming back every once in a while for more. In 1963, he invited me to a Hudson meet. I went in my Chrysler 300. Bought a '47 Hudson convertible and restored it. I was hooked. 

      "This isn't a hobby, it's a disease." 

A postcard the dealership mailed to customers in 1951 bore this photo of a 1951 Hudson Hollywood, the maker's first "hardtop" model.