Design by Murphy

Unknown

Smart.



In Late 1927 Murphy of Pasadena, Ca was contracted by Hudson to



Smart would put into production.



Murphy built six prototype cars for Hudson. (Murphy also built some

one off Hudsons for Joe public in the late 20's and early thirty's)



The six prototypes built and submitted to hudson in late 27 were, the

Seven Passenger Sedan, Custom Landau Sedan, Convertible Sedan,

Convertible Coupe, Victoria, and the LWB Coupe.



Of the six cars proposed,(three) were approved for production and

built by Biddle & Smart of Amsbury Mass. The Seven Passenger Sedan,

(my car) The Custom Landau Sedan, (Sids Car) The Victoria, (Pete

Welzbacker, Eldon Hostetler)



The thing that seems most confusing to most is that these cars

displayed the Murphy body tag. To clear this up I will attemt to

scan and post photos of the two very different body tags by Murphy.

The "Murphy coachbuilders pasadena" was worn by the prototypes and

one off's built by Murphy. The "designed by Murphy pasadena" tags

were worn by the Biddle & Smart produced 1928 Custom LWB cars.



Perhaps the contract between Murphy and Hudson for the design of

these cars included reconition for the design, thus Murphy tags on

Biddle cars.



Biddle began displaying Biddle tags on thier cars in 1929. Prior to

1928 Hudson was keeping the name of the custom coachbuilder a secret.



I have some factory photos to show some differences between the

Murphy prototypes and the slightly changed version of those designs

that were produced by Biddle but they will not scan well enough for

you to see,



however if you look at The cars that Hudson built by John A. Conde

and look closely at the Landau Sedan by Biddle pg. 67 (upper left)

and the Landau Sedan by Murphy pg. 68 (lower right) you will see

that the Murphy car has a nickle plated ALL ONE PEICE windshield A

pillar assembly with the wiper mounted low at the upper cowl, a

consealed B pillar with three nickle plated door hinges per side

(shared by front and rear doors) Low mounted door handles with the

right side key cyl. in the door above the handle to name a few

differences.



compared to the Biddle car with the nickle plated winshield frame IN

a painted A pillar/header assembly with the wiper mounted up high in

the windshield frame, an obvious B pillar with six door hinges per

side (three per door), door handles mounted just below the belt line

with the right side key lock IN the door handle, to name a few.



You can see the same type differences in the Seven Passenger Sedan by

Biddle pg 66 (lower right) and the Murphy Seven Passenger pg 68

(upper right)



Anyway, look for the Scanned photos of the two different body tags

forthcoming, and look at the badge on the car in question. Murphy

coachbuilders passadena tags are extreemly rare unless its a Murphy

bodied Duesenburg. (Same tag) The designed by Murphy tags are what

you will see most of on a custom Hudson.



P.S. The designed by Murphy tag is from my 1928 Biddle @ Smart Hudson

Super Six Seven Passenger Sedan, and the Murphy coachbuilders tag is

from Eldon Hostetler's 1928 Murphy Hudson Super Six Convertible Sedan



Any questions?



Chris Purdum