Essex / Terraplane 1932 |
Super Six |
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Essex Super 6 Series E (6 cyl., 193.1 cu.in., 70 h.p.; wb: 113 in.)
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There's a NEW POWER PEAK in the Low-Price Field
YOU may be one of nearly a million motorists personally familiar with the brilliant action of the Super-Six power plant. If so you may find it hard to believe that this superbly powerful, smooth and quiet engine—the first high-speed, high—compression motor of modern times — could be "stepped up" in power beyond even its own former high. Yet here is the result, of controlled high compression, finer machining, more accurate balancing — full seventy horsepower at 3200 r. p. m. That means it will take you out and away at 50 miles an hour in silent second gear. It will step along in high coolly, quietly, smoothly, as far as you like, in Selective Free Wheeling or out, at upwards of 70 vibrationless miles per hour. And the new 1932 Essex Super-Six engine will attain — and maintain — these new power peaks on ordinary gasoline. High—compression performance at no premium cost for fuel! The new 1932 Essex Super-Six will do these things, which no rival in the low-price field can match for ease or economy, because the power to do them is engineered and built into its "power-dome" high-compression cylinder head its silicon-aluminum pistons its patented compensated crankshaft, inherently balanced and vibration-free. And this new super-abundance of power in the 1932 Essex Super-Six is given a correspondingly striking setting in the longer, lower lines, the roomier and more luxurious bodies, and the many fine-car innovations which make this new Essex the unparalleled value in the low-price field today. HUDSON MOTOR CAR COMPANY, DETROIT, MICHIGAN INFORMATION
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The lower-priced Standard Series was introduced in May 1932. The four Standard models had less trim than the Pacemaker models, but shared the 113" wheelbase chassis and inline Six engine.
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Few people, four or five years ago, would have placed the average American car with its large engine and soft springing, in the sports car class, but a notable change took place after 1930, which has culminated in the introduction of the Essex Terraplane sports model. A six-cylinder engine is fitted, with bore and stroke of 67.45 mm. and 121 mm., giving a capacity of 2,560 c.c., with a tax of £17. Alloy pistons carry two compression and two scraper rings, and light steel rods are used. The three-bearing crankshaft is statically and dynamically balanced with counterweights and has a Lanchester damper at the front end. A helically-driven camshaft operates the side-valves and drives the distributor and petrol and oil pumps. Great attention has been paid to the cooling of the engine oil, and bearing trouble should never be experienced. The single plate clutch runs in oil and transmits the drive to a three speed gearbox with constant-mesh second. The ratios with a 4.11 back axle ratio are 4.11, 6.58 and 9.95 to 1. An open tubular cardan shaft with Spicer universal joints connects gearbox and back axle, the final drive being spiral bevel. The double-dropped frame is rigidly braced by two members bolted to the frame at one end behind the gear-box and at the other at the rear spring mountings, the two being united into a cruciform girder by a central box-like structure through which the cardan-shaft passes. The engine is "pneu-mounted," that is to say carried on special rubber insulating blocks, two on brackets on the frame at the front end, and a third on a cross-member under the gear-box. The fuel tank is carried at the rear end of the frame and holds 9½ gallons. Semi-elliptic springs are fitted fore and aft, with self-adjusting shackles; the front springs are shackled at the forward end and those at the rear are splayed outwards to eliminate rolling. Bendix duo-servo brakes are fitted, and are operated by cable. The engine is said to develop 61 b.h.p. at 3,600 r.p.m., and the standard saloon is capable of over 70 miles an hour. The open four seater is very considerably lighter, and a speed of 80 m.p.h. is anticipated with higher compression and a back axle ratio of 4.1 instead of 4.11. The 9ft. wheelbase permits comfortable sports coachwork to be fitted, and a graceful open four seater and a sports saloon, both with bodies by Windover, cost respectively £275 and £299. English electrical equipment, large dial speedometer and rev. counter and other useful refinements are fitted, and we prophesy great interest in this very reasonably priced newcomer.
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Almost next door to the Derbys was a newcomer to the sports car field, the Essex Terraplane, and a promising looking job it was. I was told that the closed models, with a low back axle ratio, can do a genuine 71 m.p.h., so that the white open sports model by Windover ought to be able to produce a really good turn of speed. I tried the driving position, and found it good. And all for £275!
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