1946 Hudson Super Six Pickup
Predating the Ford Ranchero and Chevrolet El Camino by more than a decade, Hudson’s “Cab Pickup” was a car-based utility vehicle unlike anything else on American roads in 1946.
The concept originated in the pre-war period with Betty Thatcher (widely credited as the American auto industry’s first female automotive designer), and carried forward largely unchanged into the postwar years.
The styling was distinctly automotive rather than commercial, sharing its sheetmetal with Hudson’s passenger car line and offering a level of refinement that conventional trucks of the period simply didn’t offer.
Power came from Hudson’s 212 cubic inch L-head inline six, fed by a single downdraft Carter carburetor and rated at 102 horsepower at 3,800 rpm, backed by a three-speed manual transmission.
Despite its practicality and distinctive character, sales were modest (approximately 1,900 Cab Pickups were built for 1946), and the arrival of the all-new Step-Down Hudsons for 1948 brought production to an end after the 1947 model year, leaving relatively few survivors today.
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