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Origins
Hupmobile built its reputation on cars like the Model R of the late 1910s: honest, well-made machines for the American middle class, engineered with a care that earned the Detroit company a following out of proportion to its size. The R carried a reliable four-cylinder engine and sold on durability — Hupp advertising leaned on testimonials from owners whose cars had covered enormous mileages without complaint. In an industry still full of assembled cars and short-lived ventures, Hupmobile's consistency was the product. The company prospered through the 1920s on exactly this formula before losing its way in the following decade chasing style — culminating in building cars from the dies of the failed Cord 810. The Model R era shows Hupmobile at its best: unglamorous, competent and quietly proud of it.
1941 Hupmobile Skylark - fvr2 · Rex Gray · CC BY 2.0
