In 1934, the Hudson Motor Company had something to celebrate. In its founding year, 1909, the Detroit company sold 4,508 cars, the highest first-year production of any automaker of the period. By 1929, Hudson was one of the big three, albeit a distant third with a production total of 300,000 cars compared with Chevrolet and Ford’s 1 million-plus. For its 25th anniversary in 1934, Hudson celebrated by introducing a flamboyant and brand new model lineup advertised as, “Streamlined in Wind-Sculptured Steel.” Along with the Chrysler Airflow and Auburn 851 Speedster, both announced the same year, the new Art Deco Hudsons were at the avant garde of styling. However, the curvaceous and bechromed Series LU Deluxe Eight two/four-seater rumble-seat convertible coupe had more than style. Hudson had introduced its straight-8 in 1930, and like the preceding Super Six, the eight was a gem, both smoother and more powerful than Henry Ford’s V-8, which Clyde Barrow so admired. In their efforts to outpace criminals, many law enforcement agencies favoured Hudson Eights. The 254 CI L-head eight in the 1934 Deluxe Eight Convertible Coupe was rated at 108-113 HP; the speedometer ahead of the driver in the Hudson hallmark wood-grain painted dash reads to 100 MPH. Let’s just say that Hudson was something of a flyer, as underlined by the sweptback wings of the bird hood mascot riding above the Hudson 8 badge and bestraddled by chromed headlights, twin horns and a brace of driving lights atop a rakish swooping bumper like a screen idol’s moustache. Working back, signature motifs include the ventilator flaps on the side of the hood, the red-accented steel artillery wheels, a top-hinged, flip-forward windshield, fender skirts, the rear-mounted spare and those delicious tail lights. But style is nothing without function. The following year, 1935, two Hudson powered cars entered the Indy 500, and Sir Malcom Campbell set seven records in a Hudson Eight at Daytona Beach. Produced in the grips of the Great Depression, the $900 Hudson Deluxe Eight Convertible Coupe was a rare enough sight in 1934, and it’s a great deal rarer today.