For over 30 years the young automotive industry was wide open to anyone interested in producing automobiles. Many that were made were never duplicated, being one of a kind. Others were produced in larger quantities for sale to the public, which was increasingly interested in buying them. In those early years all manufacturers were on equal footing. All struggled against the same barriers and obstacles.
As in any industry, some rose to the top and others failed. Those who rose did so either by opportunistic advantages or by imaginative and durable products. Some rose dramatically and quickly. As the competition weeded out those less competitive, the ones who succeeded got bigger and bigger. Soon there were only two primary classes of manufacturer, the giants of the industry and everybody else. Everybody else became known as the independent automakers, as opposed to the "big three," of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler.
The so-called independents were decimated in number by the depression years. From hundreds of manufacturers in America alone, the numbers plummeted to a handful by the 1940's. In a market where only the strongest could survive, many failed. The big three emerged as the collective dominant force in automobile manufacturing by virtue of their sheer size through mergers and acquisitions.
As did others, two of the larger independents saw the possibility of joining the ranks of the big three by merging themselves. In 1954 two names that had achieved marked successes in the industry joined forces in an effort to survive and prosper. Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motorcar Company merged to form American Motors Corporation.
George Mason, chairman of Nash, had planned to merge the two companies and then later to additionally merge with the newly formed union of Packard and Studebaker. The result likely would have added a fourth powerhouse to the big three, but the plan fell through and all four of the original smaller companies would fail in the end. That failure would mark the end of the era of independent automakers, as American Motors was the last to survive. But many of the cars built by the former companies of Hudson and Nash, as well as the ones to follow after the merger, were notable additions to the industry.
Hudson had been the only independent to dominate automobile racing, competing directly with the cars of the big three. From 1951 to 1954 Hudson was the name to beat in American stock car racing. In 1909 Hudson had pioneered the concept of the modestly priced "closed car," in an era dominated by the open "touring" car, as the alternative to the usually much more expensive closed versions.
