1952 Commodore 6 Club Coupe!

RL Chilton

One of the very intriguing cars (to me, anyway) at this year's Nat'l. was back in the swap meet area. Dr. Doug went on a road trip before coming to the National and on his trailer was a '52C6 Cl. Coupe. The good Doctor's "new" field find had been languishing in a field down south for 4 decades or so, but is in remarkably good shape. No cancer, original engine, original interior (for what it's worth), overall great body and a fine restoration candidate.

Before the good Doctor educated me, it had always been my assumption that the Commodore 6's and the 8's, along with the Hornets were all "senior appointed" type of cars. Turns out the C6 is something of an anomaly in it's appointments. Wasp trim is sprinkled throughout the car, but not everywhere. It's like a balanced mix of Hornet (and C8) trim, but there's Wasp accoutrements here and there. Like the taillights and speedline trim is all Wasp, but the rest of the brightwork is all as I would expect on a Commodore. Interior is the same: mostly senior-appointed but has Wasp aspects.

Interesting to me that there were so many differences between C6's and C8's. Also, a quick look at production figures for Commodore 6's tells me that 1,592 C6's were produced, the lowest of all models for '52. A logical assumption that at least half of those were sedans, a few Hlwyds, and fewer convertibles. Fair to say that only a few Hundred were Coupes. I think it's the first one I've seen, anyway. I'm sure not many survive.

[Deleted User]

Russell, That was very typical of the 52 model year. It was the last year for the Commodore and the sixes and eights were different from each other. Of the two, the Commodore 8 was considered more desirable according to Hudson so it got more of the Hornet trim. The Commodore 6 was less desirable to Hudson so it got Wasp trim. How they came to those conclusions ...who knows

RL Chilton

Yep. Typical Hudson, as far as I'm concerned.

[Deleted User]

Here is a rear pic of it

ArkieJazz

Keep in mind that Hudson had to do something to make the'52 C6 less expensive than the C8. The engine alone wasn't enough. The resultant car was basically a long wheel base Wasp. The car was really a bargain in '52. You got the long wheel base handling and steering qualities of the Hornet and C8 without the excess rear end chrome and trim. The interiors were straight out of '52 Wasp. If you can remember the '52 Wasp interiors, they were actually very plush compared to almost anything else on the market other than other Hudson products. Included for the C6 for '52 was a beautiful ivory steering wheeel.....same shape and size of the Hornet and C8 wheels.....but much more classy in my opinion than the green, red, and "swirly blue" of the more expensive Hudsons.
Doug's car was a very early offering. It had the glass park lights, cable operated 3spd/OD trans, and the Hudson rear end. Middle class America should have scooped these cars up, but they were too busy fickle-fancying around with V-8's at the time. If I had been a new car buyer in '52, I would have certainly given the last of the C6's a long hard look.

super-six

It sounds like the lesser trim on the long-wheelbase '52 Commodore 6 was meant to replace the Super 6, discontinued after '51.

ArkieJazz

Ken U-Tx wrote:

I first saw this car back in 1986, it had been on Roy Sparkman's property outside Amarillo for around 15 years then. It sure had more paint on it then, and was definitely more yellow than now! The body sides are pretty straight, but the rear body panel under the trunk lid where the trunk latch is is bashed in about 2", so will need replacing. The rear perimeter frame is buckled in the same area, but can be pulled out with chain. The rear perimeter frame does have substantial rust that well need attention.
The retrieval of the car was not without some drama! At first Roy Sparkman seemed cordial, but after it seemed that he wasn't going to be paid for the 40+ years of storage on Roy's property, Roy evidently went a bit Postal. He grabbed the Commodore's trunk lid and jammed it forward against the hinge's limits repeatedly so that the trunk lid's underside where the hinges bolt onto were buckled and developed stress cracks. Roy also called the sheriff! Steve T and Doug W hauled @#$ out of there, and the sheriff passed them going the opposite direction with lights and sirens blaring going towards Roy's ranch. Steve T was afraid the sheriff was going to turn around and go after them, but evidently the sheriff just stopped at Roy's.

I'm totally amazed at how some people thrive on spreading drama regarding situations they have ZERO first hand knowledge. Pardon me while I grab my barf bucket

Clutchguy

Well, finally got all settled back in from OKC. What a trip,great to see old friends and new as well. This car has really peaked my interest. I expect it did the same with Steve Blake too, but he decided he was never going to get around to it so he sold it. I did put a rachet of the crank and it started to move so I stopped,pulled all of the plugs out and poured a bunch of atf down each cylinder,left it for a few days and went back and cranked it over. It has compression on 3 cylinders. I really look forward to building this car and putting it back to original! It is definately a mixing bowl of 3 different models of a Hudson,which in my opinion makes it so interesting. I just took my computer in for a tune-up,so I will be able to post pictures much easier-been a problem for awhile. I would like to have it ready for Gettysburg and enter it in the Albright award but don't see any reason because there is no chance of winning... that is if Russell has one to enter:ohmy: -LOL- stay tuned for more pix.CG

RL Chilton

Clutch guy wrote:

Well, finally got all settled back in from OKC. What a trip,great to see old friends and new as well. This car has really peaked my interest. I expect it did the same with Steve Blake too, but he decided he was never going to get around to it so he sold it. I did put a rachet of the crank and it started to move so I stopped,pulled all of the plugs out and poured a bunch of atf down each cylinder,left it for a few days and went back and cranked it over. It has compression on 3 cylinders. I really look forward to building this car and putting it back to original! It is definately a mixing bowl of 3 different models of a Hudson,which in my opinion makes it so interesting. I just took my computer in for a tune-up,so I will be able to post pictures much easier-been a problem for awhile. I would like to have it ready for Gettysburg and enter it in the Albright award but don't see any reason because there is no chance of winning... that is if Russell has one to enter:ohmy: -LOL- stay tuned for more pix.CG

Doug-

Glad you are back. We may be making a trip up to IN in the very near future. If I go with the crew, I'll stop by and see you.

Oh, and IF Russell can find enough time to work on the car, I will have it in Gettysburg. But it sure seems that with our current workload, that IF is lookin' just too big. Time will tell.