Hudson Jet Italia by Carrozzeria Touring of Milan, 1954
In 1953, the American automaker Hudson approached the Italian design house Carrozzeria Touring of Milan, asking it to add a touch of flair to the conservative styling of the oddly proportioned Jet. The resulting Hudson Italia was hand-built and powered by a dual-carburetor inline six-cylinder engine paired with a three-speed manual transmission.
Only 25 examples were produced, all of them sold at a loss for $4,800 each.
The car pictured here was the first customer-delivered example to leave the production line. It was sold to Earl Armstrong of Santa Barbara, who repainted it in a non-original color and even went so far as to replace the original powertrain with a Buick V8 engine and automatic transmission.
In 1980, Armstrong sold the car, and its new owner restored it to its original specification, reinstating both the factory engine and the correct paint color.
Price: $495,000.
