Hill Climb Promo, 1930

Jon B
Jon B Administrator
edited March 2013 in HUDSON
Domenich Basso started an automotive repair garage in Los Angeles in 1918. In 1923 he established a new car showroom and repair facility at 1201 North Broadway. He then obtained a Chevrolet franchise and sold Chevvies through most of the 1920's, becoming a Hudson dealer in the late 1920's.

Apparently Mr. Basso was a tireless promoter, for in late December of 1930 he staged a promotional stunt on Silverwood Hill, not far from his dealership. Loading a new (1931) Hudson Greater Eight sedan with five observers plus himself, he drove up the rather steep hill over unpaved surfaces, mostly in second gear. Below are a few photos from that day.

In 1932 Mr. Basso switched to a Plymouth / DeSoto franchise, and he stuck with Chrysler Corp. to the end of his life in 1963. His company continued in the same location as a Chrysler dealership for another four decades. In 2004 the property was purchased by an architectural firm, Johnson Fain Partners, which remodeled the main building and garages into office space and studios. The firm is still located there today.

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Heading up....Leroy, just listen to that eight cylinder purr!



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Getting a bit steeper here...Leroy, get up front and act as ballast, will ya?



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Made it! Ain't she a beaut?



Presumably Mr. Basso wouldn't have attended this Southern California Hudson-Essex Dealers Barbecue at the home of Walter Murphy, on June 15, 1925. Domenich was still selling Chevvies at that point. (Besides owning the famous coach building company, Murphy operated a Hudson-Essex dealership in California from the mid-1920's to the early 1930's. One of his employees, Frank Spring, became one of Hudson's noted designers.)

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All photos appear on the website of the Interpretive Media Laboratory (IMLab). IMlab is a partnership of the Center for Engineering, Media and Performance (REMAP) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Los Angeles State Historic Park (LASHP) team of the California Department of Parks and Recreation. IMlab's homepage is at http://lashp.remap.ucla.edu/index.php/Main_Page

Comments

  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    edited March 2013
    Speaking of the Murphy auto dealership, I just discovered these two photos of the place, which was at 285 W. Colorado, in Pasadena. First, the exterior, in 1925:

    image


    Here's the interior view in 1927. That looks like a new boattail Essex Speedabout in the foreground, with some young college guys checking it out. Young drivers were definitely the demographic for this particular model, which was an inexpensive sports car built on the platform of the company's lower-priced car line. Come to think of it, that describes the Ford Mustang, which came along about 35 years later!

    image

    Photos come from the Pasadena Digital History Collaboration, https://server16237.contentdm.oclc.org/index.php
  • StillOutThere
    StillOutThere Expert Adviser
    Great photos and recounting of the events. THANKS !
  • Lee ODell
    Lee ODell Senior Contributor
    edited March 2013
    Steepest streets in Los Angles
    In the same general area as the 1930 Promo pictures.

    http://www.walkinginla.com/2004/Feb15/EldredSt.html

    http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-900-s&va=steepest+street+in+los+angeles

    When I was in High School I drove my dads 46 Hudson pu with 2 friends inside the cab and 2 more in the pu bed, up and down Fargo Steets, 32% grade, twice. Not to my friends delight.
    At the bottom of the grade was a cross street then a chain link fense. Behind the fense was about a 30 foot vertical drop onto a newly built freeway.
    A few days later Dad and I were bleeding the brakes and one of the brake hoses swelled like a balloon when pressing on the brakes before opening the bleeder valve. That was a scarey moment realizing what danger I had just put my friends through. I haven't been on that street since.
    Lee O'Dell
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