Now forgotten except by automobile historians and collectors, the Hupmobile Company was a popular automobile maker for many years, from 1909 until 1941.
Robert C. Hupp founded the Hupp Motor Car Company in 1908 and began producing Hupmobile cars in 1909. Although Hupp left the company in 1911, the Hupmobile enjoyed considerable success well into the 1920s. In 1928, Hupmobile sold more than 65,000 cars - a record performance. Just a few years later, Hupmobile was struggling to survive the Great Depression. Trying to break away from the humdrum, the company introduced a radically styled Aerodynamic Series in 1934. The new streamlined cars were designed by the famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy.
The Hupmobile Aerodynamic was too advanced for its time and never did catch on. The basic design was built, with minor styling changes, through 1937. Hupmobile offered a new, more traditional design for 1938, but it was too late. The last Hupmobile was built in late 1939.
By 1937, when this attractive Hupmobile coupe was built, the company was in financial difficulty. In fact, production was temporarily halted, until July 1937. The cars built and sold in 1937 were 618-G and 621-N models using 1936 parts, making any 1937 Hupmobile relatively rare.
Two coupes were available from Hupmobile in 1937 - a standard business coupe and a custom series rumble seat coupe. This car is powered by a 245 cubic-inch, inline-six that developed 101 horsepower. The price new was $840.
Hupmobile rolled on the rapidly-expanding Detroit automobile scene in November of 1909, established by Robert C. Hupp. The same year saw Ford's first full year of Model T production and the acquisition of Oldsmobile by the new General Motors Corporation. An engineer, Hupp had ties to both companies, having worked with Ransom E. Olds during Oldsmobile's earliest years, and later with Ford, up to the development of the Model T. Joined by his brother Louis, Hupp found financial backing and the first Hupmobile, Model 20, made its debut at the Detroit auto show, with a price - $750 - a bit lower than the new Ford. The first-year production was modest at 550, but the following year over 5,000 cars rolled out of the Hupp Motor Car works at 345 Bellevue Avenue, in Detroit. Although Hupmobile went on to moderate success through the teens and twenties, it did so without its founder. Like Ransom Olds, Hupp had a falling out with his financial backers, sold his stock, and left the company in 1911. Also like Olds, he soon established another car company, RCF. But unlike the Olds REO, RCF soon failed. Hupmobile's fortunes declined sharply with the onset of the Great Depression. In an effort to add a little flash to its conservative styling, the company hired designer Raymond Loewy in 1933. Loewy created the Aerodynamic series, exemplified by this handsome coupe. But sales continued to slide, and in 1940 Hupmobile closed its doors for good.
