HudsonCommodore

01

Origins

The Commodore arrived in 1941 as Hudson's top of the line, a handsome eight-and-six range that sold in its best numbers in the brief boom after the war, when anything on wheels found a buyer. Its significance is as a hinge point: the first Commodores were conventional, body-on-frame American cars, and in 1948 the nameplate carried Hudson's revolution — the 'step-down' body, with its floorpan slung inside the chassis rails so passengers sat within the frame rather than on top of it. The result was the lowest, best-handling big car in America, and the Commodore wore it with the most chrome and the plushest trim. It was discontinued in 1952 as Hudson's finances tightened, outshone by the Hornet that the same engineering had made possible.