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VINTAGE: Wildly Unique Hudson Italia
Noted collector and Hudson fan Gordon Apker brings the exuberant 1955 coupe for auction in Barrett-Jackson’s Salon Collection.
Gordon Apker has owned the Hudson Italia for about 30 years, and had it restored to top condition. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
Gordon Apker is well-known in the highest reaches of the collector-car world as a major enthusiast who has owned some of the greatest and rarest vintage cars in the world.
Not to mention being a longtime judge at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and a regular for many years buying and selling top-quality cars at Barrett-Jackson auctions.
So it might seem strange that Apker also has a strong affinity for the cars from Hudson, an orphan automaker that went out of business in the 1950s and is pretty far afield from most people’s collectability radars.
Although for people who know Apker for the maverick that he is, it doesn’t seem strange at all that he would be a Hudson fan.
“I have been for years, and I don’t know why,” the retired businessman said. “The oldest one I’ve ever owned is a 1916. The newest I’ve ever owned is a 1956. And I’ve had at least 25 in between.
“I like the styling and let’s face it, they were the king of NASCAR from ’51 into the early part of ’54, when of course the Chrysler 300s came and unseated them.”
This week at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale, Apker is back with a pair of choice Hudsons, one of them a 1949 Super 6 coupe in immaculate restored condition that sold Wednesday for $44,000, including bidder fee.
But it’s his other Hudson that’s attracting all the attention. Parked in the exclusive Salon Collection, the car is a rare and extravagant 1955 Hudson Italia coupe (Lot #5035). The styling by Hudson’s chief designer Frank Spring is unique and wild, and the restoration – by Apker’s own shop – is absolutely impeccable.
“It’s probably the most valuable Hudson on the planet,” said Apker, who lives in Seattle, Wash., part of the year and in Scottsdale the rest.
Although it looks like a one-off concept car, the Italia was actually produced by Hudson and sold for the princely sum of $4,800, more in those days than a new Cadillac. Yet Hudson lost a fortune on the Italias, which reportedly cost $28,000 each to build. Just 24 cars were ever made, and today, “somewhere between 16 and 18 are accounted for,” Apker said.
The Italia used the small chassis of the Hudson Jet and was constructed in Milan, Italy, by Carrozzeria Touring. The coachbuilders used a superleggera (roughly “very lightweight” in Italian) unibody system of aluminum panels over a steel subframe, which was expensive and fairly revolutionary in its day.
Its striking appearance speaks for itself, with the gaping ducts above the headlights, wraparound windshield, aircraft-style doors cut into the roof and those rocket-like tubes on the flanks that house the rear lights. The paint color is Italian Cream, with every Italia produced in the identical shade.
Apker grins when asked about the Italia’s looks.
“Oh, it’s the 50s; it’s Flash Gordon,” he said. “It’s Italian drama on an American platform.”
And he laughs when asked about those headlight ducts.
“Well, the designer will tell you that it’s for cooling the brakes,” he said. “However, all it cools is the underside of the fender and the top of the tire.”
The car is powered by Hudson’s fairly mundane 202 cubic-inch inline-6 that produces about 140 horsepower fed through a three-speed manual transmission.
“It’s not enough, but there’s not much weight,” he said.
Apker has owned the Italia for about 30 years, he said, and the car has a fairly colorful early history. It was originally purchased by the young, wealthy, tragic Lance Reventlow – best-known as the builder of the famous Scarab race cars – who took it to his Hawaii home.
Reventlow was killed in a small-plane crash at the age of 36, and a year later, the Italia was re-discovered at a Hawaii used-car dealership by a Pennsylvania man who knew its value and bought it. Apker eventually purchased it from him.
But the car was in deplorable condition, he said, partially the result of its materials and construction.
“You have an aluminum body and steel frame held together with copper wire,” Apker said. “So you take dissimilar metals and add water, and you have a battery. Everywhere that the steel met the aluminum, there was heavy corrosion.”
But that was the only Italia available, so Apker and his restoration shop took on the challenge of bringing it back to original condition, which took a number of years. They actually restored it to better than original condition since the shop devised a way of reinforcing the car’s notoriously weak midsection with a hidden steel-cage system.
“So that’s why now the door fit is like no other Hudson Italia,” he said.
Apker would not discuss the Italia’s value, although most expect a seven-figure result for this unique expression of styling exuberance. It comes up for sale during Saturday’s primetime sale, when Barrett-Jackson’s highly valued Salon Collection will go over the block in the richest segment of the six-day Scottsdale event.
Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEED.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. SPEED.com fans can email Bob Golfen at
Not to mention being a longtime judge at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and a regular for many years buying and selling top-quality cars at Barrett-Jackson auctions.
So it might seem strange that Apker also has a strong affinity for the cars from Hudson, an orphan automaker that went out of business in the 1950s and is pretty far afield from most people’s collectability radars.
Although for people who know Apker for the maverick that he is, it doesn’t seem strange at all that he would be a Hudson fan.
“I have been for years, and I don’t know why,” the retired businessman said. “The oldest one I’ve ever owned is a 1916. The newest I’ve ever owned is a 1956. And I’ve had at least 25 in between.
“I like the styling and let’s face it, they were the king of NASCAR from ’51 into the early part of ’54, when of course the Chrysler 300s came and unseated them.”
This week at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale, Apker is back with a pair of choice Hudsons, one of them a 1949 Super 6 coupe in immaculate restored condition that sold Wednesday for $44,000, including bidder fee.
But it’s his other Hudson that’s attracting all the attention. Parked in the exclusive Salon Collection, the car is a rare and extravagant 1955 Hudson Italia coupe (Lot #5035). The styling by Hudson’s chief designer Frank Spring is unique and wild, and the restoration – by Apker’s own shop – is absolutely impeccable.
“It’s probably the most valuable Hudson on the planet,” said Apker, who lives in Seattle, Wash., part of the year and in Scottsdale the rest.
Although it looks like a one-off concept car, the Italia was actually produced by Hudson and sold for the princely sum of $4,800, more in those days than a new Cadillac. Yet Hudson lost a fortune on the Italias, which reportedly cost $28,000 each to build. Just 24 cars were ever made, and today, “somewhere between 16 and 18 are accounted for,” Apker said.
The Italia used the small chassis of the Hudson Jet and was constructed in Milan, Italy, by Carrozzeria Touring. The coachbuilders used a superleggera (roughly “very lightweight” in Italian) unibody system of aluminum panels over a steel subframe, which was expensive and fairly revolutionary in its day.
Its striking appearance speaks for itself, with the gaping ducts above the headlights, wraparound windshield, aircraft-style doors cut into the roof and those rocket-like tubes on the flanks that house the rear lights. The paint color is Italian Cream, with every Italia produced in the identical shade.
Apker grins when asked about the Italia’s looks.
“Oh, it’s the 50s; it’s Flash Gordon,” he said. “It’s Italian drama on an American platform.”
And he laughs when asked about those headlight ducts.
“Well, the designer will tell you that it’s for cooling the brakes,” he said. “However, all it cools is the underside of the fender and the top of the tire.”
The car is powered by Hudson’s fairly mundane 202 cubic-inch inline-6 that produces about 140 horsepower fed through a three-speed manual transmission.
“It’s not enough, but there’s not much weight,” he said.
Apker has owned the Italia for about 30 years, he said, and the car has a fairly colorful early history. It was originally purchased by the young, wealthy, tragic Lance Reventlow – best-known as the builder of the famous Scarab race cars – who took it to his Hawaii home.
Reventlow was killed in a small-plane crash at the age of 36, and a year later, the Italia was re-discovered at a Hawaii used-car dealership by a Pennsylvania man who knew its value and bought it. Apker eventually purchased it from him.
But the car was in deplorable condition, he said, partially the result of its materials and construction.
“You have an aluminum body and steel frame held together with copper wire,” Apker said. “So you take dissimilar metals and add water, and you have a battery. Everywhere that the steel met the aluminum, there was heavy corrosion.”
But that was the only Italia available, so Apker and his restoration shop took on the challenge of bringing it back to original condition, which took a number of years. They actually restored it to better than original condition since the shop devised a way of reinforcing the car’s notoriously weak midsection with a hidden steel-cage system.
“So that’s why now the door fit is like no other Hudson Italia,” he said.
Apker would not discuss the Italia’s value, although most expect a seven-figure result for this unique expression of styling exuberance. It comes up for sale during Saturday’s primetime sale, when Barrett-Jackson’s highly valued Salon Collection will go over the block in the richest segment of the six-day Scottsdale event.
Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEED.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. SPEED.com fans can email Bob Golfen at
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