Railton: Hudsons with English Clothes

England's Railton (Wikipedia entry here) marketed cars 1933-1940.  It was a niche brand, producing 1,460 cars based on Hudson chassis' and eight or six cylinder motors with custom coachwork made in England.

The earlier eight-cylinder models were essentially upper-class hotrods with, at the time, plenty of horsepower (100, later 113) and comparatively light weight.  Which might justify the use of Reid Railton's name for the brand, Railton having designed land speed record-breaking cars.

I suppose those imported Hudson components were tariffed on top of transatlantic transportation expenses, though there was some compensation in that bodywork was farmed out to less-prestigeous, less-expensive coachbuilding firms.  Another expense for buyers was the horsepower tax.  The formula for Hudson motors having three-inch cylinder bore diameters was 18.8, meaning a very high tax rating.

As for the coachwork, Railtons were generally attractive in the British context of their time.  Based on photographic evidence, it appears that Railton furnished hoods and grilles, Rolls-Royce fashion, though it's also possible that coachbuilders were ordered to follow specifications for those parts.  It seems that Railton usually sought the cheapest bodies to offset Hudson-related expenses.

Below is a chronological sampling of Railton bodies.

Gallery

1934 Railton Drophead Coupe by Berkeley - HandH Auctions photo
Bentley-like mesh grille guard.  Forward louvers are intake, not outlet.  Cowling "scuttle" shape is peaked, echoing the the grille framing.

1935 Railton Straight Eight Light Sports - car-for-sale photo
Fenders do not extend down to the rear, making me wonder how useful they were outside racing events.  There are louvers along what appears to be chassis framing.  This might actually be related to the exhaust system, though a similar Railton's exhaust was strung below frame-level.  It seems from web images that while this Railton variant was basically the same, cars I examined did not have identical detailing.  Also, I have no information regarding the coachbuilder.

1935 Railton Eight Special Saloon by Carbodies - Bonhams Auctions photo
Railtons featured nice, long hoods (bonnets) to house their long Hudson eight-cylinder motors.  The rest of the body seen here is nondescript.

1936 Railton Eight Mk. II Drophead Coupe by Coachcraft - Bonhams
Nice, clean, English-style design.  Coachcraft was a smaller, low-budget coachbuilder, but was responsible for more Railton bodies than other vendors.  Chief designer was Geoffrey Durtnal.  London's Coachcraft was unrelated to the Hollywood Coachcraft of the 1940s and 1950s.

1937 Railton Straight Eight Cobham Sports Saloon by Coachcraft - HandH
Now for a mini-walkaround of an attractive four-door saloon.  The grille design has been sharpened, with a vertical divider strip added.

Interesting two-tone paint scheme that helps highlight the long hood.  Flow-through of the hood fold to along the upper edge of the paint divider to the top of the vertical side of the trunk is continuous, and a very nice professional styling feature.

Large "touring car" type trunk.  Modeling of the aft of the passenger compartment greenhouse and the trunk is similar, another professional touch that adds thematic unity to the design.

1939 Railton Eight Claremont Drophead Coupe - car-for-sale photos
A late Railton, coachbuilder unknown to me, though the fender fronts are similar to the car's in the precious images, suggestive of Coachcraft.

Tidy rear, though the folded-down top (hood) is rather messy.