It’s Amazing What Is Still Out There To Be Found.

It’s usually rare barn find cars that you can’t believe were still hiding away somewhere but other automotive artifacts can be just as surprising. I just got my hands on a couple of Hupmobile promotional filmstrips from 1928. Somehow these rolls survived in a drawer somewhere all this time and they’re still in great shape. I just finished digitizing the first one, which was intended to promote the brand to prospective dealers. It gives some insight into how they were trying to grow the brand at their peak of production and sales. At that time, they wouldn’t have been able to imagine that in ten years time, the company would be on the verge of going under.

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Oct 20, 2026

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Replies (7)

· 1w

Neat!

"50 body styles on 3 chassis" stood out to me. Who was building Hupp bodies in the late 20s? In house?

· 1w

That stood out to me, as well. It seems like an impossible number but for that one year it may have been legitimate. The standard production bodies for Hupp were built by Murray through the 20’s and early 30’s. In fact, Murray Body Corp was formed from the H&M Body Corp (Hupmobile and Mitchell) so they were their biggest customer for some time. They also briefly had custom bodies by Dietrich in the late 20’s. By 1928, they added Raulang for the open body styles and custom town sedans. So for that one particular year, there would have been a choice of production, Dietrich, and Raulang bodies.

· 1w

Super cool Travis! I saw the body quote too and thought to myself "Wow, that is way too many!".

What I always find amazing in period promotion pieces and news releases is the level of optimism before the cliff. Sort of bums me out actually.

· 1w

Absolutely, like when they were saying how hundreds of cars had come and gone in the 19 years that Hupp had been around. It was true at the time but very cringe-worthy in hindsight.

· 1w

1928 do you think?

· 1w

Yes, definitely 1928 models that are shown in the strip.

· 1w

I have the second film strip digitized. This one was to promote the new Century Six to buyers. Interesting to see the small details on the cars as they were when new.

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