1919 HUPMOBILE Model R Roadster

1919 HUPMOBILE Model R Roadster. Hupmobile was an automobile built from 1909 through 1939 by the Hupp Motor Car Company. The prototype was developed in 1908 and had its first successful run on November 8 with investors aboard for champagne at the Tuller Hotel a few blocks away. The company was incorporated in November of that year. The first Hupmobile model, the Hupp 20, was introduced at the 1909 Detroit automobile show. It was an instant success. Founding In 1909, Bobby Hupp co-founded Hupp Motor Car Company, with Charles Hastings, formerly of Oldsmobile, who put up the first US$8500 toward manufacturing Hupp's car. They were joined by investors J. Walter Drake, Joseph Drake, John Baker, and Edwin Denby. Drake was elected president; Hupp was vice president and general manager. Emil Nelson, formerly Nelson, formerly of Oldsmobile and Packard, joined the company as chief engineer. Hastings was named assistant general manager. In late 1909 Bobby's brother, Louis Gorham Hupp (November 13, 1872, Grand Rapids – December 10, 1961, Bloomfield Hills), left his job with the Michigan Central Railroad in Grand Rapids and joined the company. Hupp Motors obtained US$25,000 in cash deposits at the 1909 automobile show (the lowest capitalization of Detroit's eight major car makers) to begin manufacturing the Hupp 20. The first cars were built in a small building at 345 (now 1161) Bellevue Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. The company immediately outgrew this space and began construction of a factory a few blocks away at E. Jefferson Avenue and Concord, next to the former Oldsmobile plant. The company produced 500 vehicles by the end of the 1909 model year (the fall of 1909). Production increased to more than 5,000 in the 1910 model year. Henry Ford paid the Hupp 20 the ultimate compliment. "I recall looking at Bobby Hupp's roadster at the first show where it was exhibited and wondering whether we could ever build as good a small car for as little money." When Hupp left Hupp Motors in 1913, he informed the company his supplier companies would devote their full capacity to make parts for RCH. Facing the loss of manufactured parts from Hupp Corporation and increasing demand for the Hupmobile, Hupp Motors acquired seven acres for a new factory at Mt. Elliott and Milwaukee. It moved into the new plant in late April 1912. (This factory was demolished as part of site clearance for General Motors' "Poletown" assembly plant in the early 1980s.) Hupp Motors sold the Jefferson Avenue plant to the King Motor Car Company. Production of the Model R began in October 1917 and would continue, with many improvements, through 1925 when it was discontinued. During 1925, Hupp Motor Car Co. introduced the new Series E cars with an eight-cylinder in-line L-head, 60-Horsepower engine. During the years of automobile manufacturing, Hupp Motor Car Co. went through some trying and turbulent times with the internal make-up of the company executives. These squabbles, accusations, charges and resulting trials had a negative effect on the Hupmobile name, and the public acceptance of the car began to turn. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Great Depression had many prospective new car buyers holding onto what little money they had and not purchasing any high-cost items. When the Depression began to subside, Hupp Motor Car Co. was in debt and began the decline to extinction, which ended in 1940. Decline: During WWII, Hupp Company made parts for the US Government effort. After the end of the conflict, the company began making parts for other automobile manufacturing companies. In 1946, Hupp changed its name to Hupp Corporation and confined to machining and stamping operations, along with changing the company headquarters to Cleveland, Ohio. Then, in 1955, it became part of Gibson and Easy home appliances, making parts for commercial heating and cooling equipment, conveyors and other industrial equipment. In 1967, Hupp became a division of White Consolidated Industries Inc., supplying parts for their products. In the late 1990s, White Industries dropped the Hupp name from its list of subsidiaries, ending almost a century of company operations. Legacy In 1914, Eric Wickman tried to establish a Hupmobile dealership but could not sell them so he started transporting miners in one of the vehicles and founded Greyhound Lines. The National Football League was created at Ralph Hay's Hupmobile dealership in Canton, Ohio in 1920. The Skylark's grille later inspired the grilles used on Lincoln Continental models in the 1940s. Their heater technology became widely adopted in the industry. The Hupmobile dealership in Omaha, Nebraska is a prominent historic landmark. The dealership building in Washington, D.C. is now the H Street Playhouse. CC rating: 1,210cc 74 ci (1.2L) Inline 4 NZ First Registration: 24-Feb-1966