1948 Hudson Super 8 Convertible Value?

[Deleted User]

I have a 1948 Hudson Super 8 Convertible and wanted to know the possible value and how to decode the total vin. It is pristine and a very beautiful car. It has been stored indoors now for close to 25 years. I am considering selling it but wanted to know or have more detail concerning the vin in order to communicate with potential buyers.

[Deleted User]

Sorry it also has only 53,268 original miles on it as well.

[Deleted User]

Your VIN tag should begin with 483........ This indicates that your car is indeed a Super Eight built in 1948. If those numbers don't appear on your triangular VIN tag on the front passenger side door piller then you have an issue. Also, this number minus the model number should be the same number on the block. Not a big deal if it's not but engine and body share the same number if it's a number matching car. Next, value. Check completed ebay auctions for what cars of comparable condition and features go for. That should give you one way of getting a feel for what it's worth. Be leery of circus type televised auction results. A few use shills to run prices up. The other numbers in your serial number are just production numbers assigned to the car when newly manufactured. There is no specific order for those. A Commodore 6 may have been the number on the car before yours or it may have been a Super 6 . Dosen't matter . Date of manufacture can be determined through Alex Burr's website.

hdsn49

Hudson never produced a Super 8 convertible. The first convertibles were shipped in July of 1948. They were Super 6's and Commodore 8's. The Commodore 6's were introduced in September of 1948. You probably have a Super 6 that someone put an eight engine in or
you have a Commodore 8. The VIN tag on a Super 6 starts with 481....... A Commodore 6 starts with 482......... and the Commodore 8 starts with 484........ If it is indeed a Super 8 it would be very rare. Hudson was known to do some strange things.

dave s

I keep HET club registry for stepdown convertibles and there are thirteen 1948 Hudson convertibles registered with club. If you are HET Member, send me your name, city and state, vin number and condition and I will make sure your car is added to list. (Currently we have 5 that are Commodore 8, 2 commodore 6, 3 Super Six and 3 with no reported VIN numbers.)

Browniepetersen

If you are going to accept what the collector car price guides report, a 100 point (that would be a perfect car with no flaws detected in class judging) car would be 40K plus change. A very nice and very presentable car (I would guess your car would be in this class) would be priced around thirty or thirty one thousand. So provided your car is a true eight this is what the spin masters will tell you. However, with that said--all stepdown convertibles do much better than what the price guides call for. The only way to know for sure is to put it out there and see what happens. A very nice (very close to a 98 point car) 8 convertible was on eBay last week and was a no sale at 58K. The price guide value was the same as your car--so, that would indicate that the owner thinks the car is worth more than 10K above book value. Bottom line is that these convertibles are very sought after and in the end they are worth what someone is willing to pay. So good luck with your decision. I would hope that you would keep and enjoy this fine car but if that does not happen my next hope would be that it would go to someone who would love and enjoy it. Good luck.

oldhudsons

<<<< agrees with 49, they only built Super 6 & C8 convertibles

[Deleted User]

1948 PRODUCTION RUN - All Hudson Models
1948 models used the number "48" to denote the year in the vehicle identification number. The third number denotes model designation. For example, a 1948 Super Six would begin as 481 with the following numerals being the serial number. super 8 would be 482, commodore 6 would be a 483, and a commodore 8 would be 484.

This is the info I have gotten from the Hudson vin decoder from their site. It was also built in September of 48 in accordance with their records. The full vin is 482103156. The 482 would signify that it was a Super 8, and not a commodore 6, or commodore 8. I do not know how many there are still out there.

Also the number on the block does match this vin number.

Thanks guys for all of your help. I hope that the info that I have been given from the site is correct. I am not an expert by any means and the assistance that you guys have provided has been great. Also the value I thoguht to be around 40,000 so I wasn't too far off.

If they are incorrect or I am wrong with my understanding of the site please feel free to let me know. I am just trying to get to the nuts and bults of the whole thing.

If I get a chance I will get pictures up once i take her out and wash her. You guys can tell me what you think.

Ric West IN

482 = Commodore 6 ; 483 = Super 8 Look in your Owner Manual .

Hudsons number system is confusing as they changed it so often.

[Deleted User]

I'm not sure where you got your info from . However in the model identification chart in my Hudson Master Parts Catalog of 1948-54 models. The number "482"is the Commodore 6 model starting serial #482101.
I know as far as convertibles go there are very few 1948 models. I think conditions what they were at the time they just wanted to get a couple new models out. And would fine tune the line later once it got moving . I would need to check but the Brougham 2-door was also delayed possibly till 49.
Roger

[Deleted User]

Here is the vin decoder information. I had to change it from a excel ot a word document to make it fit, sorry for the way it looks. This is where I got the info from. I hope this might help decipher some of the information. I also hope that it is correct per the differences in opinions from each of us from the inforamtion above. Please let me know your thoughts.

1948 PRODUCTION RUN - All Hudson Models
1948 models used the number "48" to denote the year in the vehicle identification number. The third number denotes model designation. For example, a 1948 Super Six would begin as 481 with the following numerals being the serial number.

Note: On chart below, X Denotes Year/Model combination.


Super 6 Super 8 Commodore 6 Commodore 8
Model 481 482 483 484
DATE SERIAL NUMBERS GRAND TOTAL

Oct 1947 101 - 860 759
Nov 1947 861 - 5023 4163
Dec 1947 5024 - 13282 8259
Jan 1948 13283 - 21238 7956
Feb 1948 21239 - 32374 11136
Mar 1948 32375 - 45032 12658
Apr 1948 45033 - 57029 11997
May 1948 57030 - 69696 12667
June 1948 69697 - 84119 14423
July 1948 84120 - 95687 (484)90870 LIMO 11568
Aug 1948 95688 - 96217 530
Sept 1948 96218 - 104327 (484)99601 Conv 8110
Oct 1948 104328 - 117301 12974
TOTAL UNITS BUILT 49,388 5,338 27,159 35,315 117,200¹
CONVERTIBLES²
1. Total Shipments: 142,454

[Deleted User]

hudsonjet.net scroll down to the 1948 models that should help make it easier.

[Deleted User]

I don't know where you get the idea Hudson put "Opinion" in their parts catalog. I told you what it says in black and white letters interpret it how you wish,
Roger

RL Chilton

kjbeamaolcom-

Unfortunately, there are gross errors in that information on that site, as we have pointed out here on the forum in the past.

Model # 483 was indeed a Super 8 and #482 is a Commodore 6. Hudson listed the 6's first and then the 8's, i.e., 481 and 482 Super 6 and Com 6, then 483 and 484 were the 8's: Super 8 and Com 8.

The word "CONVERTIBLES" listed above, I'm not sure why it's printed there, but total convertible production for '48 is 200, as none were completed before August of '48. Hence, any '48 Convertible is quite rare.

Looking forward to the pictures!

Jon B

WHOA! I'm getting lost, here.

What is the website with the gross errors? Has anyone attempted to contact the website owner to set them straight?

[Deleted User]

Thanks a ton for the help, and now I am totally confused. I believe what RL is saying and since the website is way off is that it is a commodore 6 convertible.

Tallent R, no they didn't put opion, I did since the website was saying one thing and you guys were saying another. I was jsut trying to get a better understanding, and you guys know much more than those idiots on that website.

Is there anyway to find out the total production of Commodore 6's vs 8's. We really had no idea when we bought it just how rare it was.

Thanks for your help, and I appreciate all of you guys.

RL Chilton

kj-

Back to your original question: Unfortunately you can't "de-code" the VIN, like you can on a lot of other cars. As far as the serial # goes, it's only going to tell you what year and what model. Not what color, not body style, not upholstery color, options, nothing. An original bill of sale would be more helpful in that area. That's Hudsons, for 'ya.

As far as the model breakdown, again and unfortunately, no, that information has been lost. Some of us (yours truly included) have made educated guesses when it comes to body style breakdown for the various years. In an article printed in the WTN nearly 20 years ago, it was listed that '48 Com 6 Convertible production was 49 units.

Additionally, as far as how many are left, if you noticed D Sollon's post above, there are 2 Commodore 6's (that have been registered), which means there are most likely 3 or 4 left (based on percentages within my research). Which, of course makes it rare . . . but as I tell everyone, they ALL are (Hudsons, that is). There are some models that simply no longer exist (some, might never have existed).

Keep in mind, that of the 716,426 Step-downs that were made from '48-'54, only 10,138 were convertibles (1.4%). About 300 survive. Hand-made cars in a mass-produced world. You might want to consider keeping yours. After all, they are the most beautiful, finely crafted automobiles to ever have come out of Detroit.

lostmind

Photos of the engine , interior ( Dash) , and taillights would help answer a lot of questions.
Do you count 8 spark plugs in the head? Sorry if you take that wrong , but you may have a 6 , not an 8.

RL Chilton

The full vin is 482103156--kj

That's very interesting. From August 31st until October 26th, 1948, there were 7 convertibles that were assigned to Hudson Executives: 3 Com8, 2 Com 6's and 2 Sup 6's. Of those seven cars, 4 were assigned to Hudson Executives and three of them were for testing purposes. The two Commodore 6's serial #'s were:

482103285 & 482103565

Which means that your 482103156 was a very, very early convertible.

nick s

The Convertibles were released in July not September. Initially only Comm 8 and Super 6 just as in 47 but sometime by september they did add the comm 6. probably 1/4 or more of the 48 convertibles on the road are super 6's disguised as commodore 6's. i recall one true commodore 6 in the roster (and as mentioned earlier not all have vin's listed) and some 481's listed as commodores. Where any of the 48 convertibles are among the scarest of all postwar hudsons, I believe that the 48 commodore 6 convertible is the lowest produced and rarest of all production stepdowns. Super 8's were not produced as convertibles in any stepdown year I believe that the factory would have stuck to their guns in that just as they would not build a commodore brougham.

RL Chilton

Thanks, Nick. I had some figures wrong in the above post, so I adjusted them. According to Langworth's book, Convertibles were announced on August 19, 1948.

I completely agree on the Super's. It seems the never-ending trend is to turn the super's into Super-dores and there are more "Commodores" out there than there used to be (since the demise of Hudson, of course). Same goes for the fact there are less HLWYD's, when they get turned into convertibles.

TOM-WA-

TALK ABOUT CONFUSING.....I think it might be easier to figure out the national debt....

It's possible that I own the ONLY waspadoresuper 8 ItaliaJet in existance

RL Chilton

Tom-
Nah. I've seen one of those. You must have the 2nd one.

commodorecollector

a Wasp-adore-Super 8 ItaliaJet? :-/ What is that?

RL Chilton

Very rare car . . . I've only seen two of them. )

Courtesy Man

All I can add to the discussion is 484 109 029 (spaces added by me). This is the serial number on the title to my 1948 Commodore 8 convert. Could be an early one ? It needs an enormous amount of work. Gert Kristiansen

RL Chilton

Gert-
Your car was made in the middle of October, 1948. Very late car . . . within 2 to 2-1/2 weeks of the end of production for '48.

Got any pictures? Would love to see it. Can't be worse than mine when I got her.

bent metal

Wow Russell, I've made rat rods out of better cars than that.

[Deleted User]

Russell,
That inspires me on a few of my projects.
Rick