The Hudson Italia is a car almost never seen outside of concours events and auctions, and this weekend a long-forgotten example that spent the last forty years in a garage will head to auction at Pebble Beach, courtesy of Gooding & Co. But how did this rare coupe by Carrozzeria Touring manage to hide from view all these years?

The Hudson Italia story starts with company designer Frank Spring approaching the coachbuilder to design and built a lightweight body for a coupe on the Hudson Jet platform, combining an aerodynamic space-age exterior design with some Italian styling cues thrown in for good measure.

The Milanese styling house built a halo car for the company using their innovative superleggera construction techniques. The aim? To elevate the brand while pushing into an area of the market reserved for the most expensive cars at the time.

The Italia turned out to be one of the most expensive cars of the year with a price of $4,800, which in 1955 rivaled just about everything else on the road. Just 25 examples were built in addition to the prototype, and the company shelved the project after disappointing sales. What began as a promising hybrid (as American-powered chassis wearing European coachbuilt bodies were called) fell victim to expensive manufacturing processes and Hudson's financial decline in the early 1950s.

The example that Gooding & Co. will offer this weekend is stated to be number 24 of 26 built and was initially sold in California, purchased by environmental engineer and UFO theorist Trevor Constable. The car's original engine, a straight-six coupled with a three-speed column-shifted transmission, was replaced by a 283 CID Chevrolet engine, and the car gained fog lights, a rear wiper and "fangs" for the front fenders.

The interior lost its column-mounted transmission and a number of other components. Gooding & Co.

Gooding & Co. believes the Italia changed hands in the early 1970s, settling in the garage of automotive enthusiast Carl Mendoza. The auction house indicates that it was placed on jack stands minus its running gear in a San Jose garage. The car remained there undisturbed for the next 40 years, seeing the light of day in June 2015 after the building's owner obtained a California title for the car.

Gooding & Co. indicates that "the rarest and the most difficult to duplicate pieces" are with the car, though when it comes to the Italia the only non-rare pieces are likely to be the engine and transmission from a donor Hudson -- which the winning bidder will need. The good news is that the brightwork and the glass appear intact and no major components from the exterior appear missing.

Gooding states that most of the pieces are there, which should come as a big relief as there just aren't any parts cars out there. Gooding & Co.

The auction house estimates this example will bring between $100,000 and $125,000 at auction, with the car scheduled to be offered at no reserve this weekend. There is a resurgence of interest in the Italia, but with fewer than 25 examples extant the relatively low values have largely prevented concours-grade restorations. The best examples have stayed in the low-$300,000 range for the past decade, surging a bit to the mid-$400,000 range over the past two years.

The math could be right to do this one properly, especially given the fact that interest in mid-century hybrids is not showing signs of slowing down. As a ticket into the best events in the world, this may end up being a bargain for the buyer if it sells within the estimated range and no major complications are encountered during the restoration.

Visit the Gooding & Co. website to view the complete list of lots for this weekend, as well as the schedule.

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