My Dad had a 1948 Hudson Commodore 8. He always said that it was by far the best vehicle he ever had or drove. I noticed your speedometer was at 380,000 miles or so. My dad drove his for some 10 years as a traveling salesman in the 1950s. Then he drove it as the family car for his young family. By the time he parked it it has some 400,000 miles, all without an engine rebuild! (But, with very religious oil changes every 3000 miles.) Then, a neighbor, bought the engine and ran that engine for some 20 years powering farm equipment. In the 80's my brother got the engine back and opened it up. There was absolutely minimal wear on the cylinder walls of that engine! Yes, engineering has improved but.....by all I heard from my father that was one magnificent automobile!
The hydramatic is a four-speed not a 3-speed. It featured a fluid coupling instead of a torque converter and it featured two planetary gear sets back to back. Fourth gear was not overdrive but was instead direct drive. First gear had a ratio of around 3.5 to 1. There was no multiplication from the fluid coupling.
The 1951 Hudson Hydra-Matic transmissions (first year of the GM transmission for Hudson) had the positions of N-Neutral and starting, DR- Driving Range, LO- Low Range and R- Reverse. Later starting in 1952, Hudson Hydra-Matics had the positions of N-Neutral and Starting , DR- Driving Range (has two positions indicated by the letters "DR" and the figures 4 and 3 on the indicator dial), R - Reverse. Perhaps it's this later "DR" Driving Range with the 4 and 3 that has created some confusion amongst Hudson owners over the years regarding a three speed versus four speed Hydra-Matic. But yes, you're correct in that the 1951 Hydra-Matic as discussed here is indeed a four speed automatic transmission.
Funny how your tastes change over time. I was born in 1954 and was a car nut at an early age. Hated the looks of the Hudson’s and Nash’s at that time because they were so big and bulbous while other makes had become sharper and sleeker. The ‘49 Ford was a trendsetter because it had chiseled, straighter lines. The tri-five Chevys were gorgeous. Plus, by the time I really got into cars around age 5 (in 1959) cars like the early’50 Hudson’s and Nash’s were just SO out of date. But now as a 70 year old, I’ve grown to really appreciate these chrome laden, rolling works of art deco. I especially hated the late ‘40’s early ‘50’s Buick grilles as being toothy chrome monster mouths. Now I see them and like them!! Ironically, I recently bought a new Lexus ES350. Nice looking car except for the ugly front end! Kinda reminds me of those old Buicks!! 😂
My Parents were Hudson, Chevy and International Truck Dealers. In 55 Hudson and Nash/Kalvanator merged that became American Motors Corp, leaving Packard behind!
I had a very nice 48 Commodore 6 Coupe as a High School Student, that I took in trade on my 52 Hornet. The Hornet & Commodore were the same Car except the 262 Six was hosted and stroked to a 308, and The Hornet didn't offer the 8 Cylinder Splashed as you could opt for in The Commodore.
If you put your car in reverse and shut off the engine the Hydramatics of this era will go into a PARK position .My old man junked a wrecked 51 Hornet to get a Hydramatic to replace the lousy Studebaker style Borg-Warnerthat came in his 54 Hornet. They used these because of the Hydramatic plant burnt to the ground in Aug 1953. The Hydramatics just don't have a P position for park before the redesingn of1956. I have looked at various shop manuals for automatics for Willys,Kaiser ,Nash, Hudson , Cadillac,Oldsmobile,Pontiac and GMC as well as Lincoln that used early Hydramatics and they all have this feature but at car shows and on the internet I see all these old vehicles mostly left in N because folks don't seem to know this.
Beautifull, beautifull. I hope to make a hudson commodore my last projectcar. Love the explanation of the switches. One question about the electric fuel pump: is seems noisy al the time. Is this normal?
