A battery is just a battery.

For a positive ground car, the positive terminal of the battery goes to the battery cable that attaches to the engine and frame. It is simply the reverse of the now more common negative ground system.

Mike, the battery will flow forward or reverse. The positive and negative terminals are the same on todays battery as the original batteries that came in your Hudson, the wiring on the car is set up for positive terminal ground and will automatically flow in the necessary direction.

A few points, on the battery hookup. In case you didn't know...
1. Assuming you're sticking to 6 volts, shop around and get a battery with the most Cold Cranking Amp rating. If you go with the old style lead/acid battery, you can find them as high as maybe 780 CCA (at least that's the rating of my DEKA battery)., and the new Optima 6-volt is over 800 I believe. Don't settle for some cheap-o tractor battery with 600 CCA if you can help it.

2. Be sure you have the right battery cables for 6 volt. They will be about 3/4" in diameter. In a pinch you can go to a place like Tractor Supply to find one, because there are still a lot of older 6-volt tractors out there.

3. Be sure you have the ground strap going not only from the (+) battery terminal to the engine, but also from the engine or bellhousing to the frame cross member. In other words, that both the body/frame and the engine are grounded. And be sure that all the connections are shiny and tightly connected. Six volts will work fine, but it is less forgiving of a bad connection than 12 volts is.

Thank you for all the great info .

I have stumbled on something both interesting and possibly disturbing .

The battery is hooked up like a negative ground car . I watched the guy attempt to start the car like this a few times and I do recall seeing an interior light come on . He also hooked up a modern truck to the car to jump start it as he made the starting attempts .

The seller claimed he drove it like this .

What damage could have been done ?

Is possible to change it to a 6v negative ground car . Beyond the battery , which may or my not be hooked up properly , how would I know if it was changed to negative ground ... if that is even possible .

If you have the battery changed to negative ground then will have problems with the voltage regulator points burning. Plus if the coil has not been changed the spark will be weaker. if you have a radio there will be issues there as well.

My 1951 came into my posession in the negative ground - 6 volt configuration. It ran "ok" and the gauges worked. The radio blew a capacitor. Once corrected to positive ground, everything seemed to perform better.

The voltage regulator points did burn but were recoverable with light polishing.

Ok I’ll take a look at the regulator points

I’m replacing the battery and the coil anyway so I’m covered there .

No radio just a delete plate that I’ve been afraid to take off for fear someone chopped up the dash .

What about the starter ? When the guy was trying to start it the starter made a crunch noise .now when I’m looking at it the threaded Bendix shaft looks like some of the the raised threads are sheared off.

I tried to charge the battery and the entire system is dead . The only thing that seems to be sort of active is an electric fuel pump & the coil is screaming hot.

[quote="Commodore_mike" post=21945] He also hooked up a modern truck to the car to jump start it as he made the starting attempts .

The seller claimed he drove it like this .

What damage could have been done ?.

When he jumped the battery from the "modern" truck, he may have damaged the starter. Running a 6-volt starter from a 12-volt source, is not recommended. It sounds like someone has screwed up the system royally, through ignorance. Maybe the best way for you to proceed is to find a good NOS voltage regulator and hook it up. And a good, strong 6-volt battery. Then carefully go through the wiring making sure that the circuitry on your car matches that in the wiring diagram for your car. Then just get it running as original (6-volt, positive ground). There will be plenty of time to experiment with conversions to negative ground, 12 volts, etc., later on. First just get your car running as original, and enjoy it!

I was already planning to basically rewire from the firewall forward .

I’ll just add the replacement starter and dig through / replace the regulator .

Thanks for the input

Pulled the regulator cover all points are fine except the one for the connection”arm” . It’s kinda sizzled . Can that be filed or is it just need a new one now

That will be the voltage coil, and is the one that cooks when reverse polarity. You may be able to clean it up, but if not you will have to replace it. I have one if you need one, but you will have to pay postage from New Zealand!.
Geoff

I’ll keep that in mind if I can’t find one - what would you want for it ?

Shouldn’t be too bad to ship . I had a buddy of mine send me a new footy from Melbourne and it took like 5-5 days to get here

Does anyone happen to know which if any of the regulators interchange

Mine reads - positive ground on the left

And on the right

Auto lite 6002a
2e

If I'm reading this bulletin correctly, the Commodore 6 can use either a
Auto-Lite, VRR-4001-A regulator (with generator GEC-4801-A)
Auto-Lite, VRP-6002A regulator (with generator (GDZ-6001-B)
Maybe someone more knowledgeable can verify this.
I'll bet there are interchanges with other years.
If you look carefully, you might find an NOS one for something in the $50 range.