A lot of good questions, there, Tim!

I can tell you that Wasps sometimes had the emblem on the decklid and sometimes not. However, the "Hollywood" emblems weren't used until the '54 models came out. Folks would buy them from the dealer and retro-fit them to their earlier HLWYDS.

As far as the trim on the sides, yes it's going to be tougher than a sedan, but not impossible. Just have to have a lot of constitution and stick-to-it-iveness. It's out there, it's just harder to find and generally more expensive.

Russ,

Thanks for responding. I think I remember reading this about the Hollywood cars (including Hornets) regarding the script. I would be a bit surprised about the rear decklid Wasp plate not being on the 52 cars. I think they would have put them on all Wasp models. I will have to look carefully under the decklid for evidence of hole filling. Ken has provided a lot of info on the Wasp Hollywoods on the other forum in terms of numbers of cars that have been seen. THe take home for me is still that they seem to be more rare than the larger series Hollywoods. THey just weren't that popular when new -- people would rather put the money down for a Hornet even if it was a little more. What I've read is that they're just about as good in the performance area, with the 262 now pushing the smaller and somewhat lighter hardtop. The 262 engine is hard to beat in terms of reliability.

I take it that the trim is basically the same as used on convertibles. Would the trim from a brougham work for these hardtop cars?

my 52 hardtop has the holes on the trunk

For what its worth guys, I'm looking at the large sales catalog for 1952, and on the page showing a rear quarter view of the Wasp Sedan, there is no "Wasp" badge shown on the deck lid.

[quote="Jerry Bean" post=13106]For what its worth guys, I'm looking at the large sales catalog for 1952, and on the page showing a rear quarter view of the Wasp Sedan, there is no "Wasp" badge shown on the deck lid.

Interesting!

Tim-

As far as the side trim goes, all 2DRs are interchaneable, regardless of body style, so yes, 'vert trim would fit the HLWYD.

I had made a post on the other forum about the possibility of the '52's not having the trunk badge and '53 having them. If this is true, or even partially true, then it could have been a situation of the supplier not being able to have them in time, in which case early '52's might not have them while later ones did have them.

I think for now, I'm gonna stick with the not-on-52's, but-on-53's theory.

Russ, that sounds about right to me. Hudson introduced all their 52s on Jan 1, 1952. They started late in other words. I think a lot of speculation was that they had too much unsold stock from 51, so they started a bit late before releasing 52 models for sale.

Sarah Young's website says there were approximately 1320 Wasp Hollywoods built in 1952, approximately half the number of Hornet Hollywoods and about the same number built as the 1951 Super Six Hollywoods. Actually, I think the columns are mixed up for Hornet Hollywoods and Commodore 8 Hollywoods on the website. There are definitely some errors there, and I'm not sure where the data came form. Can't glean any data on 53-54 models. Her website states that none (Wasp Hollywood) were built in 1953, but it seems to be data error in the columns. One might guestimate around 400-500 Wasp Hollywoods were built in 1953, or about 1/2 to 1/3 built the previous year. The numbers for 54 are probably even less.

There ARE mistakes on Sarah's charts. Alex and I have pointed that out to her before. In 1952, as far as the convertibles go, the C8's and Hornets are mixed up. It would not be surprising if the info for the Wasps were mixed up.