American Motors Corporation
In January 1954, Nash-Kelvinator Corporation began acquisition of the Hudson Motor Car Company (in what was called a merger). The new corporation would be called American Motors Corporation. (An earlier corporation with the same name, co-founded by Louis Chevrolet, had existed in New Jersey from 1916 through 1922 before merging into the Bessemer–American Motors Corporation.)
Automotive industry in Massachusetts
On September 20, 1893, Charles and Frank Duryea of Springfield, Massachusetts, built and then road-tested the first-ever American, gasoline-powered car in Springfield. During these years, many independent manufacturers built automobiles in the state. In 1900, Springfield was joined by Skene, and Knox Automobile, which survived until 1927 as manufacturers of automobiles. In 1905, Knox famously produced America's first motorized fire engines for the Springfield Fire Department—the first modern fire department in the world. Stevens-Duryea also built cars in East Springfield, from 1901 to 1915, and again from 1919 to 1927. After hitting hard times in 1915, the plant was sold to the New England Westinghouse Company in 1915.