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Hupmobile radiator test on film


Guest Gone Autos

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Guest Gone Autos

Hi, Hupmobile fans.

My name is Todd Ruel. I run a web site devoted to orphan cars. It's called Gone Autos.

I have a large collection of orphan car films, and one of the most interesting segments is a Hupmobile radiator test conducted near Barcelona, Spain. It must have been shot around 1929.

I recently uploaded this little silent film to my YouTube channel, and I'd love for you to take a look at it. I know nothing about it, and I'd love to get your input.

What car is pictured conducting the test? When do you think this film was made? Any historical context you could provide?

Go here to see the film: Hupmobile radiator test | Hupmobile

Thanks for any help you can provide! -----Todd Ruel

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Guest Tom Bastian

I have a copy of Automobile Quarterly Volume 16, Number 1, which pictures many of the Hupmobile models. The car in the film has many characteristics of the 1929 Model A Century 6 Sedan. The grill, front bumper, wheel hubs, hood ventilation louvers, windshield sun shade, front fender profile, doors, etc, are all consistent. I vote for your candidate, although I am not a Century expert.

Tom Bastian

1910 Model 20

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Guest Gone Autos
I have a copy of Automobile Quarterly Volume 16, Number 1, which pictures many of the Hupmobile models. The car in the film has many characteristics of the 1929 Model A Century 6 Sedan. The grill, front bumper, wheel hubs, hood ventilation louvers, windshield sun shade, front fender profile, doors, etc, are all consistent. I vote for your candidate, although I am not a Century expert.

Tom Bastian

1910 Model 20

Tom, thanks for your feedback. I bought this film off of eBay back in 2008 and an interested fan told me that the car was probably a Model A.

There is a fascinating story related to this home movie, and that story is evolving as I write this post. I'd like to share it here (even before I write anything on my Gone Autos blog page).

A few weeks after I uploaded this movie on YouTube, I received an email from some guy in Spain asking for a copy of the film. I'm not in the habit of giving away my content for free, so I asked him who he was and why he wanted the film.

He replied that he is Manel Fernández, and he's married to the granddaughter of the guy pictured in the film: Francisco Abadal. He and his wife Pilar founded the Asociación Cultural Paco Abadal - an organization dedicated to the heritage and artifacts of Francisco (Paco) Abadal.

He told me that Abadal was a businessman who created his own Spanish car brand - the Abadal - which lasted from 1912-1923. He also created and sold the Abadal-Buick from 1916-1919. (Still trying to find out more information about this partnership.)

Abadal's last effort at building a car with his name on it occurred in 1930 when Abadal briefly became a Hupmobile distributor and dealer. Abadal was trying to use the running gear and power train of a Hupmobile while creating his own custom coachwork.

This effort only lasted a year or two before Abadal gave it up.

That's when my movie was shot.

post-78963-143139324846_thumb.jpg

It turns out that the Asociación published a book about Abadal's automotive efforts just last year called La Firma Abadal: Aportaciones a la automoción by Bernardo Valadés. Manel and I agreed to exchange a copy of the home movie for a copy of the book. (Last week, I received the book in the mail, and it's a high-class, hardback history book. Unfortunately, it's in Spanish and I can't read a palabra of it.)

I'm going to try to get the chapter dedicated to the Abadal-Hupmobile translated so that I can understand more about what Abadal was trying to do with Hupp.

On a personal note, the Abadal family was astounded that this home movie exists. Me too, for that matter. After all, it's on a reel of 16mm film that is otherwise surrounded by unrelated, innocuous home movie footage of an American family from the late 1920s. Dahlberg was their name. The fact that they captured one brief moment in time related to Abadal's very brief association with Hupmobile is beyond amazing to me.

Do Hupmobile fans know about Abadal? Is this already a well-known story? If so, please tell me what you know. I've already learned more about Abadal than I ever dreamed possible. After all, I just wanted to share some vintage Hupmobile film (which is somewhat of an oxymoron).

I'll update this forum with more info as I learn more about the story. Stay tuned!

-----Todd Ruel,

Gone Autos: Tools for Living the Orphan Car Life

Edited by Gone Autos (see edit history)
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Todd I bought my first Hupp 55years ago, am a charter member of the Hupp club which is 42 years old. Hupp was talking with the Willys car company to see if they may go in together to produce an automobile. That did not happen. They did have Graham make most of the bodys for the Skylark & gave Graham permission to build a sister car for themselves, the Hollywood. Our club Librarian may have some information that he can share about the gentleman in Spain. He follows this Hupp sight. By the way thank you for sharing your great film with us Hupp nuts.

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Guest Gone Autos
Todd I bought my first Hupp 55years ago, am a charter member of the Hupp club which is 42 years old. Hupp was talking with the Willys car company to see if they may go in together to produce an automobile. That did not happen. They did have Graham make most of the bodys for the Skylark & gave Graham permission to build a sister car for themselves, the Hollywood. Our club Librarian may have some information that he can share about the gentleman in Spain. He follows this Hupp sight. By the way thank you for sharing your great film with us Hupp nuts.

Hupp36, thanks for your feedback. I'm a Nash/AMC man myself, but I always enjoy meeting fans of other orphan marques and learning about those cars. (The only thing I know about Hupmobile is that Raymond Loewy did some great design work for them in the early 1930s before he left for Studebaker.)

I love collecting films and radio/TV commercials for orphan car brands. The film that I've been talking about is the only audio-visual item I have related to Hupmobile. I know that they produced some dealer training filmstrip kits. (A fan out in California told me about them.) I've also heard that they produced one factory film, but no one has a print of it. It may no longer exist.

My little Hupmobile-related film turns out to be a rare document of a very, very brief moment in time. Since the movie appears to have been shot by someone named Dahlberg, I'm wondering if that person was a Hupmobile executive who got sent to Spain to see what Abadal was up to.

Right now, I know nothing more than what I've already told this forum. But if anyone can help shed some light on this story, I'd be very grateful for details. (In the meantime, I'll keep digging as much as I can.)

Cheers! ----Todd Ruel

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I have heard of the Abadal Buick, a picture of one as a kind of "barn find" appeared in Old Motor many years ago. It was a town car body of typical European appearance, built on a 1919 Buick chassis that had been stretched.

The information you have in this post, and film, is more than I knew about Mr. Abadal before.

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Guest Gone Autos
I have heard of the Abadal Buick, a picture of one as a kind of "barn find" appeared in Old Motor many years ago. It was a town car body of typical European appearance, built on a 1919 Buick chassis that had been stretched.

The information you have in this post, and film, is more than I knew about Mr. Abadal before.

Rusty,

Thanks for the info. There is a chapter in the book La Firma Abadal that's devoted to the Abadal-Buick. It was built from 1916 to 1919.

I think I'll ask Manel Fernández if it's possible to get an English translation of this book. All of our Abadal-Hupmobile questions would probably be answered. Would all of you Hupp fans be interested in that? (Trying to gauge interest so that I can approach him with some data.)

----Todd Ruel

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