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Auto ID #43 FINISHED!


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A lot of you guys got this one right... but not on the first try!

Only a handful of you guessed right the first time. Most of you guessed wrong, but got it right the second time.

The car in the photo is not a Graham Hollywood, it's a 1940-1941 Hupmobile Model R Skylark (the '41s were identical to the '40s, so you got credit if you guessed either year).

If the styling looks oddly familiar, read on…

A short history of the Hupp Motor Company of Detroit, Michigan:

Hupp began producing cars in 1909, but by the '30s, mainly due to the Depression, demand for their cars was down dramatically (like many other independent carmakers). Coupled with internal strife amongst the stockholders and an attempted hostile takeover, Hupp was on life support by 1936, when it was forced to sell off some of its plants just to stay afloat. In 1938 they did manage to offer a new line of cars, but by this time, due to previously poor sales, many Hupp dealers had either gone bust or bailed on the company, so sales were pretty low.

Hupp was basically toast by this point, but they had one last trick up their sleeve. They managed to obtain the body stamping dies from recently-defunct Cord. Hupp figured that they could produce a "new" Hupmobile using 1937 Cord bodies (not FWD cars, however, as Cords had been, but conventional RWD).

Since by this time Hupp lacked adequate manufacturing plants (remember, they sold off some assets a few years earlier in a desperate attempt to stay in the black), they struck up a deal with another failing car company, Graham-Paige, to share the Cord tooling. The new Hupp/Graham cars would be built by Graham.

So two car companies, both basically with one foot in the grave, joined forces in a desperate attempt to stay afloat.

The two "new" cars were the 1940 Skylark (Hupp) and Hollywood (Graham). They were basically identical except for minor trim variations (the Hupps had "Skylark" scripts above the three horizontal slots on the sides of the hood, like the car in the picture does). But sales never took off, and only a few hundred Hupmobile Skylarks were built before production ended just a few months after it began. The Graham Hollywood also ended production shortly after. The "1941" Skylarks were just leftover 1940s that hadn't sold. And so ended the story of the Hupp Motor Company… like so many other independent American auto makers, a victim of terrible economic times.

Who got it right (eventually... :P ):

MrObsessive

MikeMc

sjordan2

Junkman

Ryan S

mr moto

carsntrucks4you

my66s55

Johnny

mr chips

peter31a

PatRedmod

MaindrianPace

BigDaddy

ChrisR

Badluck13

trogdor

George

Art Anderson

Bart R. Orlans

jaymcminn

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I had the same guesses as everyone else, having said Graham Hollywood at first too, but noting that it was nearly identical to the Hupp Skylark in my original message. I guess there were too many others for me to make the cut!

I gave credit to those who admitted the error of their ways, came crawling back embarrassed and ashamed, and agreed that it was, in fact, a Hupmobile and not a Graham. :P

I don't think you ever atoned for your original sin of calling it a Graham... so, no credit for you! :lol:

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I gave credit to those who admitted the error of their ways, came crawling back embarrassed and ashamed, and agreed that it was, in fact, a Hupmobile and not a Graham. :P

I don't think you ever atoned for your original sin of calling it a Graham... so, no credit for you! :lol:

This message to you didn't count?

Sent 01 December 2011 - 02:38 AM

Right you are. The Graham badge says "Hollywood Supercharged". I stand corrected. Can I get a "Close Enough" on this one since I hit on the correct car, just the wrong variant? After all, these two are about as close as a mid-60's Chevy Bel Air and an Impala are... :rolleyes:

Well, humpf! :(

Edited by CorvairJim
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