Do Tou Remember The LLoyd Cars?

Source: LLotd Automobiles

Hupmobile

Hupmobile Nameplate


1929 Hupmobile

The car in the foreground, on the back of a $10 bill is a 1925 Hupmobile.

The Hupmobile was an automobile built from 1909 through 1940 by the Hupp Motor Company of Detroit, Michigan, which was located at 345 Bellevue Avenue. Their first car, the Model 20, was introduced to the public at the Detroit Auto Show in February 1909. The company initially produced 500 vehicles.

History

Robert Craig Hupp (June 2, 1877 in Grand Rapids, Michigan – 1931), a former employee of Oldsmobile and Ford founded the company with his brother Louis Gorham Hupp (November 13,1872 in Michigan – December 10, 1961 in Michigan) in 1908. Production began in 1909. In 1910, production increased by more than 5000. Following disagreements with his financial backers Hupp sold his stock in the Hupp Motor Car Company and established the short-lived RCH Automobile Company, later the Hupp-Yeats Electric Car Company.


Hupmobile Model 32 Touring 1913

Hupp Motor Company, however, continued to grow after its founder had left. A new plant was purchased in 1924 as Hupp competed strongly against Ford and Chevrolet and by 1928 sales had reached over 65,000 units. To increase production and handle the growth in sales, Hupp purchased the Chandler-Cleveland Motors Corporation (Chandler Motor Car) for its manufacturing facilities. Hupp advertising began to take cues from the romantic Ned Jordan style of automotive prose. A 1930 Hupmobile advertisement read.


Hupmobile RRS Special Roadster 1924

"A Hupmobile becomes a little more than just a car. He'll lift the hood as a veteran would, and show Hupp's mechanical fineness. He knows! He's driven Hupmobile since the old outdated out-of-context but still-revered early Hupmobiles with the tall steel spout on its radiator. There's something about Hupp's faithfulness that gets to a man. A feeling that hasn't a name. But it's the same as the feeling a seaman gets for his ship, an engineer for his engine, or a woman for her home. He's got as much use for an adjective as a cowboy for a powder puff. He's rough on claims. Promises of what a car can do. He's the old-time Hupmobile owner. He's seen cars come, seen 'em go. Only he won't talk. He'll act! Give you fact after fact, not in words but in deeds, in bullet speeds and 'Big Bertha' power."


Hupmobile Touring 1924

Sales and production began to fall even before the onset of the depression in 1930. A strategy to make the Hupmobile a larger, more expensive car began with the 1925 introduction of an 8-cylinder model, followed by the discontinuance of the traditional 4-cylinder Hupmobile. While aiming for a seemingly more lucrative market segment, Hupp essentially turned its back on its established clientele. Nevertheless, in a constant effort to remain competitive, Hupp introduced a number of new features. They were one of the very first automakers to equip their cars with "free wheeling," a device that enjoyed immense, but brief, popularity in the early 1930s. Unfortunately, the company made the same mistake that many other medium-priced carmakers were making at the same time. Namely, in an attempt to capture every possible sale, they offered many different models. With Hupmobile's relatively low production volume, the result was that no model could be produced in sufficient quantity to keep manufacturing costs low enough to provide an operating profit. Hupp abandoned its more conservatively styled product line and turned to industrial designer Raymond Loewy to design its 1932 Hupp cyclefender, a flashy roadster which did well at the track, but sales continued to decline. 1934 saw the introduction of a striking restyle called the "Aerodynamic" by Loewy, as well as the lower-priced series 417-W using Murray-built slightly-modified Ford bodies.


Hupmobile Series M De Luxe Century Opera Coupe 1929

Despite these innovations, squabbles among stockholders and an attempted hostile takeover in 1935 took their toll on the company. By 1936 the company was forced to sell some of its plants and assets and in 1937 Hupmobile suspended manufacturing. A new line of six- and eight-cylinder cars was fielded for 1938, but by this time Hupp had very few dealers, and sales were disappointingly low.


Hupmobile Series M De Luxe Century 4-Door Sedan 1929

Desperate for a return to market strength, Hupmobile acquired the production dies of the Gordon Buehrig designed Cord 810/812 from the defunct Cord Automobile Company in 1938. Hupmobile hoped that utilizing the striking Cord design in a lower-priced conventional car, called the Skylark, would return the company to financial health. Enthusiastic orders came in by the thousands, but production delays soured customer support.


Hupmobile 4-Door Sedan 1932

Lacking adequate production facilities, Hupmobile worked out a deal with the ailing Graham-Paige Motor Co. to share the Cord dies, which would be built at Graham's facilities. The Graham edition, called the Hollywood, differed from the Skylark in only a few minor details.


Hupmobile Series 417-W 4-Door Sedan 1934

Final production

In 1939 the Hupmobile Skylark finally began delivery. Unfortunately, it had taken too many years to produce and most of the orders had been canceled. Production lasted only a couple of months, and only 319 Skylarks were produced. Hupmobile ceased production in late summer. Graham-Paige suspended production shortly after the last Hupmobile rolled off the line. The Skylark's grille later inspired the grilles used on Lincoln Continental models in the 1940's.

The last preserved Hupmobile dealership in the United States is located in Omaha, Nebraska.

Reference in Hollywood movies

In the Billy Wilder's movie Some Like It Hot Hupmobile is mentioned several times. When Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon witness a gangland slaying like the St. Valentine's Day Massacre it is in a garage to get a Hupmobile borrowed from one of Curtis's girlfriends. Later, when telling a fictional story to Marilyn Monroe while pretending to be a sexually frustrated millionaire, Curtis says his problems began when his fiance, the daughter of the President of Hupmobile, got killed in an accident at the Grand Canyon.

In the TV series Leave It To Beaver, Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont) would on occasion wistfully recall his family's Hupmobile.

Hupmobile production models

For specifications on various Hupmobile models:

Hupmobile Club Sedan - R

Hupmobile Touring - E

External links:

Hupmobile Building

Hupmobile Welcomed at UniversalCity

Hupmobile at UniversalCity

Motorbase "Hupmobile"

"Skylark/Hollywood"

The Hupmobile Club

'47 International Harvester Coe Car Hauler

Beautiful One of a kind. Only 8,500 miles! 454 motor. Three Speed 400 turbo Hydra-matic Transmission. . "178" wheelbase. Dual Rear axle with dual tires on both. Air Ride Suspension with auto compressor. Power windows, steering, brakes. 6 way power seat. Digital heat, air, CB Radio. Absolutely beautiful

Source: Hotrod Hotline

'54 Plymouth Wagon , V8

Arizona car, in Michigan & Florida for the last 4. years. Always garaged. 2 door, Suburban model.
Gets over 20 mpg on highway at 75-80 mph on Regular gas...It will, however, go MUCH faster.

•Engine 1996 Dodge 360ci. efi,
•4 speed automatic overdrive transmission
•B&M shifter
•Lokar gas pedal
•Power steering
•Power brakes - Disc front, Drum rear
•8" Ford rear end
•3.00 gear ratio
•Mustang II front suspension with sway bar
•ididit tilt steering column with Lacarra wheel
•am/fm CD stereo
•Coker wide whites
•Aluminum radiator and overflow tank.
•Body is very straight and about 1/2 the paint is original
•Re-chromed, bumpers & headlight rings.
•Carpet Replaced 3 - 4 years ago
•62,500 Mileage showing
•VIN # 25164819
•We believe it is San Gabriel Green with Shasta Green around windows
This is a very rare car... when the licensed appraiser was over to appraise our cars, he was impressed with the condition and all the upgrades and appraised the car for $32,000.00. We did some research and found a production figure of only 450 Vehicles listed in the box for the 1954 2 door Plymouth Suburban

It appears that this car was one of 12,377 Plymouth Plaza, Savoy and Belvedere vehicles produced in Los Angeles

Source: Hotrod Hotline

1948 International Harvester

Red Arrow Harvester

The End?

By John Gilbert
Photography by Ken Lorek





From the sunset coast of southwest Michigan, Ken Lorek spotted what he thinks is a '48 International Harvester. "It was in plain sight along the Red Arrow highway between Hartford and Lawrence in Van Buren county about 10 miles from where I grew up." Ken went on to tell us southwest Michigan is the state's fruit belt and when these old produce haulers broke down they parked them in their tracks. The license plate is from 1967.

Source: Custom Classic Trucks

Ride in the Stout Scarab

Celebrating the Hudson's 100th anniversary

Legendary pilot Amelia Earhart christens the new Terraplane in Detroit in July 1932.

Somewhere near the headquarters of the Hudson Motor Car Co. on the corner of East Jefferson and Connor avenues in Detroit, nearly 2,000 Hudson dealers, auto industry officials, political dignitaries and members of the media jammed around a specially built outdoor stage. Everyone was filled with anticipation and excitement for the launch of a new car.

The date was July 21, 1932, three years after the stock market crash. My grandfather, Roy Chapin, was about to launch one of the most important new cars in his history as president of the Hudson Motor Car Co.

By 1931, Hudson sales had plummeted. Compared with 1929, they had dropped by 80 percent! Grandfather's solution for slow sales was a new car of extraordinary value. It combined a powerful six-cylinder engine with a lightweight body on a short wheelbase. It would sell for a low price. It was to be called Terraplane.

Grandfather decided to apply airplane imagery to the launch of the new car, so he invited Amelia Earhart, one of the most famous flyers of the day, to participate in the Terraplane launch event on this hot, muggy July day. After all, Americans had become fascinated with aviation following Charles Lindberg's historic 1927 flight. It was an extravagant introduction. Accounts of it appeared in newspapers throughout the country. But most importantly, it demonstrated that my grandfather's remarkable gift for salesmanship on a grand scale was not diminished by the depressing conditions of the time. Following the announcement ceremonies, dealers participated in a parade starting at the plant on Jefferson Avenue and then onto Woodward in downtown Detroit. It was the start of a journey for hundreds of bronze-colored Terraplane demonstrators as they returned to Hudson dealerships in 40 states throughout the country.

Terraplane was only one of the exceptional products designed and produced by the Hudson Motor Car Co. between 1909-54.

The Hudson story began in a leased, 80,000-square-foot plant on the corner of Mack Avenue and Beaufait in Detroit. (The building is still in use today.) My grandfather and a group lead by Joseph L. Hudson held the first board meeting of the Hudson Motor Car Co. on March 6, 1909. During the meeting, it was decided to name the company and the car after Mr. Hudson. After all, he was putting up the majority of the financing, and his name was already solidly established as a leading businessman and retailer in Detroit. His reputation and name recognition were particularly important because in the summer of 1909, there were at least 150 different companies engaged in the manufacturing of motor cars. That's a lot of competition!

The first Hudson was built in July 1909, just 10 months after Henry Ford built his first Model T in a plant on Piquette Avenue in Detroit, about 3 miles up the road. The Hudson was called the Model Twenty. Most everyone agreed it was a handsome new automobile with a low, racy and youthful look. The first Hudson ad promoted the Model Twenty as strong, speedy, roomy and stylish -- all for $900, which was only $50more than the launch price of the Model T Touring.

Maybe the most famous Hudson was the 1922 Essex Coach. In 1919, Hudson had launched the Essex brand as a lower-priced line for the company. By 1922, the company had decided to offer a closed car at a lower premium than anyone had ever tried before. The two-door Essex Coach provided all of the closed car comfort of much more expensive cars, at a price of only several hundred dollars more than an open touring car. Automotive historians generally credit the Essex Coach with being the one vehicle that heralded the end of the open car. Edsel Ford felt the Essex Coach was "Chapin's greatest contribution to the American public and to motor travel everywhere." The head of General Motors, Alfred Sloan, is quoted as saying that nothing like that had ever been seen before.

Hudson Motor Car Co. was one of a number of smaller, independent manufacturers that helped the formation of the American automobile industry. General Motors and Ford Motor Co. dominated in the early part of the 20th century, but many independent manufacturers made valuable contributions in engineering, product design, manufacturing and marketing.

Hudson merged with Nash-Kelvinator in May 1954 to become American Motors Corp. Although the Hudson name is not around today, the Hudson Essex Terraplane Club is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the company at a gala event this week at the Auburn Hills Marriott Pontiac at Centerpoint hotel on Opdyke Road.

















Hudson Motor Car Co. executive Roy Chapin drives a Hudson Model Twenty on the streets of Detroit in 1910.