production numbers

[Deleted User]

of the 90,000 or so 46 hudsons produced, were they so bad that very few survived ? i have searched for information on these on google and very little is there. are they un-desirable or are they scarce ? i sure like mine and they seem to be easily repaired, maybe they are too easy and there are many of them out there somewhere. anybody got any thoughts on this ? there are also two others close by that are possible restorers and 2 pickups, one of which is restored and ready for running gear the other is a parts truck. guy wants 5 grand for all 4 peices. is he nuts or am i ?

[Deleted User]

Five grand for the four cars??? Jump on it, especially if that truck that's waiting for an engine is anything. The days of a $100 restorable car are long gone. Parts cars are from $100 - $1,000 and more, depending on condition. Ragtops are way more, obviously. Restore the truck, part the rest. A no-brainer.



If you don't want them, PM me.

hudsontech

The problem doesn't lie so much in how good or bad they were - the problem of survival lies in the number shipped - 90,776. Ford or GM will put out that many in a couple days, more likely in a day!!!

The 1946, and 1947, cars were 1942 carry overs, basically - actually the 1946's would have probably been 1943 models had WWII not reared its ugly head. Look at the numbers at the beginning of the serial number - begins with a '3'. Now if 1941's began with a '1' and 1942's began with a '2', well........................ Hudson, for 1946 just continued with what would have been the 1943 numbers. However, they did indictate these were 1946 models, which should have started with '6', but instead they indicated they started producing in 1945 by beginning the model numbers with a '5'. Then they went nuts in '47 with the number '17' in front of everything. Crazy. Cooler heads apparently prevailed in 1948-1949 with the 480, 490 series and 1950 with the 500 series. Ah the wonderful world of Hudson serial numbers.



Hudsonly,

Alex B

Jon B

The problem of survival also depends upon attrition. I read somewhere, once, that the number of surviving cars drops steadily from the year they are produced (through accident, retirement, etc.) until the number hits about 1/2 of 1 percent of the original number produced. Thereafter the decline is infinitessimal because at that point (usually 40-50 years after production) the surviving cars are seen to have some value and are no longer scrapped. So, this formula would show about 450 1946-model-year Hudsons still around in restored or restorable condition (and probably quite a few others that survive as parts cars only, in fields or woods). I would guess the actual number of 1946's is higher, merely based on the fact that Robbie Williams has more than that number of surviving 1937's on his 1937 Registry, and 1937's would be rarer than 1946's. So you see, all things considered, there are probably more than enough 1946 survivors to go around for everyone who would ever want one!

Aaron D. IL

davidh wrote:

of the 90,000 or so 46 hudsons produced, were they so bad that very few survived ? i have searched for information on these on google and very little is there. are they un-desirable or are they scarce ? i sure like mine and they seem to be easily repaired, maybe they are too easy and there are many of them out there somewhere. anybody got any thoughts on this ? there are also two others close by that are possible restorers and 2 pickups, one of which is restored and ready for running gear the other is a parts truck. guy wants 5 grand for all 4 peices. is he nuts or am i ?

They were not bad but as the others have said, they were only slightly re-vamped pre-war models. After the war the manufacturers could sell anything with wheels to a car-starved public and it was not necesary to redesign the whole car. However Hudson was one of the first companies to do so with the introduction of the step-down model. There is a good chapter about their development in Richard Langworth's book "Hudson, the post-war years" They are sturdy rugged cars, they do have lots of stainless and chrome trim though so the more complete the better. They are also unique among post-war cars in some ways. PU trucks were low production only about 2500 each year '46-'47 but many seemed to have survived. They just look damn good amongst all other company's PU's. But if you're tall they're not that comfortable on the interior space.MY own opinion is if I was in your shoes and I have the space I'd snap them up. But that's my bias.



Also there were shortages and work stoppages and other factory problems resuming car production after the war that kept production lower.

Park_W

And really, how many '46 - '47 Fords or Chevys do you see around? Not many, especially considering the production numbers. They're just ordinary looking, decent cars, considered nothing special until they got very old.

Aaron D. IL

You also see a lot more step-downs on the road and at HET meets than '46-'47 Cars. I'm restoring a '47 Commodore 8 sedan. If you're curious of how they were built as far as quality take a peek at this web address:

http://groups.msn.com/HudsonEssexTerraplaneBulletinBoard/ads1947c8restoration.msnw



Also, I have a 1947 Chevy I'm restoring for my dad and it's really no contest, the Hudson is better looking and better made than the Chevy hands down! (even accounting for the fact that the Hudson was a more expensive car in '47) Even the sheet metal on the Hudson is of a thicker guage than the Chevy.