Still standing: the Aerocar/Hudson plant

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At the northeast corner of Mack Avenue and Beaufait Street in old Detroit stands an important piece of Motor City history, the Aerocar/Hudson plant. Let’s pay a visit.

 

This former auto factory is more than a century old. Originally built to house the Aerocar Company, the mill-style structure was constructed in 1905-06 by Alexander Malcomson, a successful Detroit coal dealer and an early investor in the Ford Motor Company.

Malcomson and Ford had suffered a falling out due to their opposing views about the company’s future. Malcomson believed the big profits were in larger, more expensive cars like the six-cylinder Model K, while Ford, as we know, was focused on capturing the low-price market. As Ford hatched a plan to move Malcomson out of the way, Malcomson started a second firm to produce his own high-end auto, the Aerocar. At that point Ford and the other partners were able to force him out, citing the obvious conflict of interest.

 

 

Malcomson’s car was a resounding dud. At $2800, the price was certainly high enough, but the car’s 24 hp Reeves air-cooled engine (hence the name Aerocar) was underdeveloped, and the company was bankrupt by September of 1907. Near the end, the more conventional Model F with a water-cooled 45 hp Rutenber engine was introduced, but it was too late. Malcomson went back to his coal business.

 

1907 Aerocar Model F 

 

All that remained of the Aerocar operation was the nearly new, 400 by 54 ft. building on Mack Avenue right next to the Michigan Central Belt Line. Though the tracks were pulled up years ago, the former Belt Line ran down the center of the block between Beaufait and Bellevue Streets from the Detroit River to Milwaukee Junction north of East Grand Boulevard.

Railroad access was critical to manufacturing, and a number of early Detroit automakers built factories along the belt line, including Abbott-Detroit, Scripps-Booth, Packard, Hupmobile—and Ford. The original Mack Avenue Ford plant was on the southeast corner of Mack Avenue and the Belt Line, while Malcomson’s Aerocar building was on the diagonal corner to the Northwest. The two buildings were cater-cornered, in other words. However, the Ford plant is long gone now, having burned down in 1941.

Henry Ford had a second facility along the Belt line just behind the Mack Avenue plant facing Bellevue Street. This operation was titled the Ford Manufacturing Company, and it was designed, among other things, to maneuver Malcomson aside by absorbing the bulk of the Ford Motor Company’s revenue in component production. Coincidentally, the Ford Model K cars were assembled in the Bellevue plant under the direction of Horace Dodge. In these days, the Dodge brothers, Horace and John, supplied the company with engines, drivelines, and chassis. The Ford Motor Co. was essentially an assembly operation.

 

Hudson Motor Car Company, 6501 Mack Avenue, 1909-1910.  

 

The Aerocar plant wasn’t vacant for long. Another fresh automotive startup, the Hudson Motor Car Company, moved right in. Named after its principal investor, department store magnate J. L. Hudson, the company boomed thanks to the sound engineering of its first product, the Model 20. Outgrowing the Mack Avenue factory in a matter of months, Hudson soon had a big new Albert Kahn plant constructed a few miles away at Jefferson and Conner.

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Real estate advertisement in Motor Age, 1910 

 

The building’s current use is not known to MCG, but it appears to be reasonably well maintained, and vehicles are often seen parked on the property. On a recent visit, MCG discovered some very old lettering on the east side of the building he hadn’t spotted before. In the photo below, note the words  “The Aerocar Company” in white paint on the red brick. When MCG finds a neat bit of history like this, it generally makes his day.

 

The Aerocar Company, summer 2012 

 

Hudson plant on Beaufait Street (west) side, 1909-1910 

 

Interior, Hudson plant, 1909-1910 

 

1910 Hudson Model 20 with company founder Roy D. Chapin, Sr. 

 

20 thoughts on “Still standing: the Aerocar/Hudson plant”

  1. Great scholarship, elegantly presented. It is important to note that in this era, very few if any auto companies were vertically integrated in any meaningful way. The relatively cramped confines within city limits prevented expansion, as did the need to be proximate to workers using public transportation.

    Thus, the early independent auto pioneers had the right idea of smaller floor space and assembling vehicles from components,in nearly just-in-time fashion. However, in an era where labor was cheap and technology was expensive, the economics didn’t work out well for them. Every part already had markup built in, compared to more favorable internal transfer priced items made at home plants. Indies needed large volumes to secure better prices… but with a market that had hundreds of names and little mass communication that took superhuman effort.

    Integration and scale were necessary for profit, which HF1 proved over the next few decades, and no place more spectacularly than the River Rouge complex.

    Great job as always, Bill!!!

  4. Wow, thanks for the kind words. Coming from gentlemen such as yourselves, these are true compliments.

    FYI, speaking to the room:

    + Jack Miller is the man behind the Ypsilanti Heritage Museum, the Ypsilanti Orphan Car Show, and Miller Motors, world’s oldest surviving Hudson dealer.

    + Tim Wallace is one of the sharpest engine calibration people in the biz, and a sharp automotive historian, too.

    + Ragtop Man is a top Motor City ad man and a walking encyclopedia on car culture and industry lore.

    I’m humbled to have car people of this caliber visiting the site — it’s becoming virtually a who’s who of the auto industry, makes me incredibly proud.

  5. Found this link from the H.A.M.B. board. Very nice website! Love to read articles and insight, Thanks.

  6. Hi,
    I searched for “Detroit Belt Line Railroad” (of the Michigan Central RR) and found your website regarding the Aerocar/Hudson plant. Do you by chance have any photos of the Belt Line Railroad even in the background? Other industries or railroad structures, etc.?
    Thanks,

    Greg Degowski

    • Greg- not really, especially material that would be of use to railroad people, if that is your interest. Many buildings are still there and you can easily see where the rails ran down the center of the block. And some sidings are visible coming up through the pavement. Do you live in the area? Might be worth a visit to you.

    • I believe Lozier was further down Mack Avenue at St. Jean in what is now the Chrysler sprawl. I have been done in myself by Mack’s street numbers, which have been changed at least once. For years I believed (and you will often see reported) that Ford was further west on Mack.

  9. The beginning of my logistics career was in this building in 1976, when it housed A&H Bolt and Nut CO; i was their driver for several months.

  10. Not really, as the original 2nd floor had long since been removed by that time. The one remnant was and remains the elevator shaft between the two floors near the center of the building (large enough for a vehicle), the top of which is what you see with the white lettering. Considering what has become of the city as a whole, i’m surprised any of that building remains.

    • Thanks for the info. Yes, it is strange how the blight claims some buildings and leaves others alone. Defies logic at times.

  11. Hello,
    Would you happen to have any photos, documents, or any history on the train Depot that use to be in service in Randville, MI? It is located about 10 miles north of Iron Mountain on M-95..
    Thanks!!

  12. Hello. I am trying to find information about a Hudson Motor Company plant that was used to make airplane wings in WWII. My mother was a Rosie the Riveter and worked at such a factory from Nov. 1942 until sometime in 1943. She is deceased but I have her diary and have transcribed it. I’m told by the Rosie Riveter people that more than one auto factory in Detroit was probably used but I’m looking for the one that specifically made wings. Thanks. Merlene Brush mbrush@sbcglobal.net If you could e-mail me, I would very much appreciate it. I’m not sure I’ll be able to find your website again as I’m not too “techy” a person.

    • Thanks for your interest. The Hudson aircraft plant was at 6275 E. 9 Mile Road at Mound Road in Warren, Michigan, just north of Detroit. Today the facility is a GM transmission plant.

  13. Fascinating story about this plant. It’s a wonder the building is still standing. I would love to tour the area to see and learn about some of Detroit’s old car plants if a tour is ever put together.

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