Hupmobile
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| Automobile Manufacturing | |
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1909 |
| Defunct | 1940 |
| Headquarters | Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Products |
vehicles Automotive parts |
Coordinates: 42°22′53″N 83°02′04″W / 42.3814774°N 83.0343323°W
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.
Robert (Bobby) Craig Hupp (June 22, 1877, Grand Rapids - December 7, 1931, Detroit), a former employee of Oldsmobile and Ford, founded the company with investors J. Walter Drake, Joseph Drake, John Baker and Edwin Denby. J. Walter Drake was elected president and Bobby Hupp as vice president and general manager. Emil Nelson, formerly of Oldsmobile and Packard, joined the company as chief engineer, Charles Hastings, formerly of Oldsmobile, joined as 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 sufficient cash deposits at the 1909 automobile show 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."
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