Hupmobile

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emblem
Hupmobile model 32 touring car (1913)
Hupmobile RRS Special Roadster (1924)
Hupmobile touring car (1924)
Hupmobile Series M De Luxe Century Opera Coupé (1929)
Hupmobile Series M De Luxe Century Limousine 4 Doors (1929)
Hupmobile Limousine 4 doors (1932)
Hupmobile series 417-W sedan 4 doors (1934)
Hupmobile Skylark Sedan (1941)
Hupmobile interior view

Hupmobile was an American automobile brand that was built by the Hupp Motor Car Company in Detroit, Michigan from 1909 to 1941 . The first car, the Model 20 , was presented to the public at the Detroit Auto Show in February 1909. 500 of this vehicle were built in the first year.

history

Robert Craig Hupp (1877–1931), who previously worked for Oldsmobile and Ford , founded the company together with his brother Louis Gorham Hupp (1872–1961) in 1908. Production of the first model began in 1909. In 1910 there were already 5,000 cars more manufactured. Because of a dispute with his financiers, Robert Hupp sold his company shares and founded the short-lived RCH Corporation , which was later renamed the Hupp-Yeats Electric Car Company . Louis G. Hupp founded the Tribune Motor Company in Detroit in 1913 . A prototype with a four-liter Buda four-cylinder engine was created, but the implementation of series production failed due to financing.

The Hupp Motor Car Company continued to grow even after its founders left.

H&M Body Corporation

In 1919, Hupmobile purchased over 1,000 bodies a month from CR Wilson Body Company . When a strike at this supplier shut down Hupmobile's production, the Hupp Motor Car Company and the Mitchell Motors Company founded their own body shop, the H & M Body Corporation, in Racine (Wisconsin), Mitchell's headquarters . In 1922, 20,000 bodies were required, which exceeded the capacity at H & M. Hupmobile needed additional suppliers. When Mitchell went bankrupt in 1924, Hupmobile tried to buy this plant and set up a second production facility. This failed and Hupmobile sold the plant to Wilson's successor, the Murray Body Corporation , at a preferential price in return for a guarantee of sufficient delivery for the next five years.

A new factory was bought in 1924 as Hupp was a strong competitor to Ford and Chevrolet , and in 1928 the company sold 65,000 cars. In order to increase its production and to manage the further increase in sales figures, Hupp bought the Chandler Motor Car Company because of their production facilities. The advertisement took on aspects of automotive prose used by the Jordan Motor Car Company . In 1930 a Hupmobile advertisement announced: “A Hupmobile will become something more than just a car for its owner. He opens the hood like a war veteran would and shows Hupp's mechanical finesse. He knows! He's been driving Hupmobile since the old, but still admired, first Hupmobile with the high steel grommet on the radiator was around. There is something about Hupp's loyalty that touches a man. A feeling that cannot be named. But it is the same feeling a sailor has for his ship, an engineer for his engine or a woman for her home. He doesn't need an adjective for it any more than a cowboy needs a powder compact. He's tough. Promise of an automobile. He is an old Hupmobile owner. He's seen cars come and go. But he doesn't speak. He deals! Presents one fact after the other, not through words, but through deeds, as the speed of the bullet and the performance of the "Big Bertha" (well-known gun, translator's note). "

Sales and production began to decline before the onset of the Great Depression in 1930. The strategy of making the Hupmobile a bigger and more expensive car began in 1925 with the introduction of an eight-cylinder model and the abandonment of the traditional four-cylinder as a result. Because they were trying to find a supposedly more lucrative market segment, Hupp neglected its regular customers. Nevertheless, Hupp introduced a number of innovations in a constant effort to remain competitive. Hupp was one of the first automakers to add freewheel to their cars , a facility that was hugely, if only briefly, popular in the early 1930s. The company made the same mistake that many other mid-range car manufacturers made at the time. Above all, because they wanted to fill every niche in the market to increase sales opportunities, they offered too many different models. Given the relatively low production figures of the Hupmobile, this meant that none of the models were manufactured in sufficient numbers to keep production costs low enough to result in a sufficient profit. Hupp parted with its conservative product line and turned to industrial designer Raymond Loewy , who designed the 1932 Hupp Cyclefender , an elegant roadster that achieved success in races but was unable to reverse the downward trend in sales. In 1934, the sleek “Aerodynamic” style designed by Loewy was introduced, as was the cheaper Series 417-W , which had slightly modified Ford bodies made by Murray .

Despite these innovations, in 1935 the company had to pay tribute to the disputes between the shareholders and the attempt at a hostile takeover . In 1936 the company had to sell part of its plants and land and in 1937 production of the Hupmobile was temporarily stopped. A new line of six- and eight-cylinder cars was brought out in 1938, but Hupp had lost too many dealers and sales were disappointingly low.

In order to regain its old market presence in any case, Hupp bought the plans for the Cord 810/812, designed by Gordon Buehrig , from the former Cord Automobile Company in 1938 . Hupp hoped they could fix themselves financially by showing off the elegant corduroy design on a cheaper, conventional car called the Skylark . There were thousands of orders from enthusiastic customers, but delays in production angered buyers.

Since Hupp no ​​longer had the necessary production capacities, an agreement was reached with the ailing Graham-Paige Motor Company about the joint use of the Cord plans, with both models being produced in the Graham factory. The Graham edition, called Hollywood , differed from Skylark in only a few details.

The last manufacturing

In 1939 the first Hupmobile Skylark (model 1940) were finally delivered. The waiting time was too long for most of the customers and they canceled their orders. The cars were only built for a few months and only 319 examples were made. Hupp stopped production at the end of summer 1939. The last copies were sold until 1941. Graham-Paige also closed its production shortly after the last Hupmobile left the production line. The Skylark's grille later inspired the grills on the Lincoln Continental of the 1940s.

The last Hupmobile dealer in the USA is in Omaha, Nebraska.

Models

model Construction period cylinder power wheelbase
20/20-C / 20-E 1909-1913 4 row 16.9-20 bhp (12.4-14.7 kW) 2,184-2,794 mm
32 1912-1915 4 row 32 bhp (23.5 kW) 2,692-3,200 mm
K 1915 4 row 36 bhp (26.5 kW) 3,023 mm
N 1916-1917 4 row 22.5 bhp (16.5 kW) 3,023-3,404 mm
R. 1918-1925 4 row 16.9–39 bhp (12.4–28.7 kW) 2,845-2,921 mm
E. 1925-1928 8 row 60–80 bhp (44–59 kW) 3,004-3,175 mm
A. 1926-1929 6 row 50–57 bhp (37–42 kW) 2,896 mm
M. 1928-1929 8 row 80 bhp (59 kW) 3,048 mm
S. 1930-1932 6 row 70 bhp (51 kW) 2,896 mm
C. 1930-1932 8 row 100 bhp (74 kW) 3,073 mm
H 1930-1932 8 row 133 bhp (98 kW) 3,175 mm
U / V 1930-1932 8 row 133 bhp (98 kW) 3,480 mm
B. 1932 6 row 75 bhp (55 kW) 2,946 mm
L. 1932 8 row 90 bhp (66 kW) 2,997 mm
F. 1932-1934 8 row 93–96 bhp (68–71 kW) 3,099 mm
I. 1932-1934 8 row 103-109 bhp (76-80 kW) 3,200 mm
K / KK 1933-1934 6 row 90 bhp (66 kW) 2,972-3,073 mm
W. 1934-1935 6 row 80–91 bhp (59–67 kW) 2,972 mm
J 1934-1935 6 row 93-101 bhp (68-74 kW) 3,073 mm
T 1934-1935 8 row 115–120 bhp (84.5–88 kW) 3,226-3,239 mm
D. 1935-1936 6 row 91-101 bhp (67-74 kW) 2,997 mm
O 1935-1936 8 row 120 bhp (88 kW) 3,073 mm
G 1936-1937 6 row 101 bhp (74 kW) 2,997 mm
N 1936-1937 8 row 120 bhp (88 kW) 3,073 mm
E / ES 1938-1939 6 row 101 bhp (74 kW) 3,099 mm
H 1938-1939 8 row 120 bhp (88 kW) 3,175 mm
R. 1939 6 row 101 bhp (74 kW) 2,921 mm
Skylark 1940-1941 6 row 101 bhp (74 kW) 2,921 mm

Racing

A Hupp Comet Special racing car with an inline eight-cylinder engine built by the driver and designer Russell Snowberger (1901–1968) came fifth in 1932 in 500 miles from Indianapolis . A Studebaker engine had previously been used in the chassis developed by Snowberger . The winner was Fred Frame on a Miller .

In film and television

In Billy Wilder's film Some Like It Hot , the car that the two protagonists Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon want to pick up from the garage is a "green" (the film is black and white) Hupmobile Coupé from 1925. Later, at the rendezvous on the yacht, "Shell Junior" (Tony Curtis) invents a story and tells "Sugar" ( Marilyn Monroe ) that his problems began when his fiancée, the daughter of the Hupmobile president, had an accident in the Grand Canyon.

In the television series Leave It To Beaver , Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont) longingly remembers the Hupmobile family car.

A yellow Model 32 Touring with aezetylene lighting (i.e. before 1914) drives up in front of the German high command in Lille in the remake of The Red Baron (2008, directed by Nikolai Müllerschön).

A reddish brown Model R Touring with a light top, circa 1922, can be seen in Out of Africa (1985, directed by Sydney Pollack ).

A similar, dark blue Model R Touring with a nickel-plated radiator grille made an appearance in Ich, Dr. Fu Man Chu (1965, directed by Don Sharp ).

A 1925 Model R Roadster has appeared in numerous films, most recently in Aviator (2005, directed by Martin Scorsese ). The same car, now painted red / black, was seen in the TV feature film Love Never Dies (2005, directed by Darnell Martin ), with Halle Berry .

At least two Hupmobiles can be seen in the movie Bonnie and Clyde (1967, directed by Arthur Penn ): a brown Victoria with orange wheels from 1933 and a burgundy-red Model 518-D Aerodynamic Sedan.

Episode 4 of the fourth season of the TV series Waltons (1974) shows an Aerodynamic Model 427 from 1934.

Web links

Commons : Hupmobile  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georgiano: Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars (1973), p. 680
  2. ^ Kimes / Cark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 (1996), p. 1478
  3. ↑ coachbuilt.com about CR Wilson & Co. (English)
  4. ↑ coachbuilt.com via the H & M Body Corp. (English)
  5. ↑ coachbuilt.com via Murray Corp. (English)
  6. ^ The Endangered List. (PDF file; 91 kB) In: Landmark News. April 2007