All you need to know about ... Hupmobile
Born: 1909 Nationality: American
Robert Hupp, who had previously worked with Ransom Olds and Henry Ford, set up his own Hupp Motor Car Company with his brother Louis. They showed their first car, the Model 20 2-passenger roadster, at the 1909 Detroit car show. It immediately attracted attention for its technical quality and value, and in 1910 it evolved into the Hupmobile Runabout, with a reliable 4-cylinder engine.
A year later the Model D 4-passenger touring car was introduced, and virtually sold itself in the course of a round-the-world endurance tour covering almost 50,000 miles. Robert Hupp had made sure of the quality of his components by investing in foundry and engine parts companies, but in 1911, after a disagreement with his backers about expansion, he sold his shares in the company and left. Before he died in 1917, he was in the business of building mainly electric cars.
The original company - now Hupp Corporation - grew quite successfully, with even Henry Ford at one point wondering if he could build such "a good small car for as little money". In 1924, an 8-cylinder Hupmobile was launched, and two years later a 6-cylinder.
The company experimented with mechanical and hydraulic braking systems, but in the end developed its own Steeldraulics system with a one-piece internal expanding band instead of the usual brake shoes.
Quality and endurance were the selling points for Hupmobiles. Even though a car/train race stunt between Capetown and Johannesburg in 1924 went in the train's favour, Hups were so well thought of that over 40 per cent of owners in 1927 were repeat buyers. By then, the emphasis was moving to style, and in 1928 a good-looking Hupmobile was introduced which captured the interest of that market.
Even before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the company was in financial trouble having expanded by buying the Chandler Motor Corporation of Cleveland.
In the early 1930s, designer Raymond Loewy produced a range of Hupmobiles, including the 1932 Comet which was raced in the 1932 Indy 500, and a 1933 roadster with a rumble seat. By 1934 the marque was respected for its aerodynamic styling. The 1935 Aerodynamic was Loewy's take on the Chrysler Airflow styling and looked very well. But a bruising period with a corporate predator, when control of the company fell into outside hands, set Hupp Corp on its last downhill.
The original members of the company regained control but had to suspend production and sell some facilities. No new car was produced for 1937. The new cars of the following year had dropped Loewy's streamlining, and a new general manager, Norman De Vaux, set out on a plan to build Hupmobiles based on the tooling for the defunct Cord 810 and 812. Although they got the tooling for virtually nothing, the expense of building the Cord-bodied car was too much and Hupp had to close again in 1939.
An arrangement with Graham-Paige for that marque to build cars for both brands with the Cord tooling failed to solve Hupp Corp's financial difficulties. Though G-P did build the beautiful Hupmobile Skylark and its own Hollywood from the middle of 1940, Hupp itself was closed three months after full production started. Graham-Paige closed a year afterwards.
BEST CAR: The 1928, beautifully styled and technologically advanced, yet affordable
WORST CAR: Only because it killed the company, the now much sought after Skylark (pictured)
WEIRDEST CAR: Not in the designers' dictionary