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Early 20's Hupp for reliable touring?


Lahti35

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Recently in my search for a late teens-early 20's touring car I ran across a '23 Hupp touring car. It looks like an older restoration.

 

It has a 4 cylinder engine in it and I was just wondering how reliable these are assuming its in good working order to begin with. That and if any parts are available (clutch, rings, spark plugs...) for a rebuild if needed down the road.

 

I figure cruising speed is most likely 35mph... is that close to actual?

 

I was considering a model T so how do they stack up against one of those?

 

Thanks guys!

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Ok,  My  friend  from the  Hupp  club, Bill Shift drove  a 1923  Model  R  touring  from Hurly  N.Y. to  San Francisco  and  back. and  yes to the  speed  but  do not  be afraid to  step  up to  40  once in a while. Shifting is  also  easier than the  other  car  you  mentioned.

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7 hours ago, Hupp36 said:

Ok,  My  friend  from the  Hupp  club, Bill Shift drove  a 1923  Model  R  touring  from Hurly  N.Y. to  San Francisco  and  back. and  yes to the  speed  but  do not  be afraid to  step  up to  40  once in a while. Shifting is  also  easier than the  other  car  you  mentioned.

I'd say that's a ringing endorsement...

 

The car I'm looking at is am older restoration, looks 99% complete except for missing the saddle irons for the top... It has wood wheels which I'm not a hug fan of... is it possible to switch to disc wheels? I've seen some with disc wheels so it must have been an option?

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Yes,  the  disc  wheels  were an  option. You  can  put  them on a wood  wheel  car  but  you have to use  the  hubs that the  disc wheels are on.  The  wood  wheels  have the  hubs  built in. They used hickory wood  for the  wheels and if the  wood is in good  order they  are  very  trust worthy. My  1924 R  sedan  has  wood  wheels and  they  are  fine. I  also  have  a 23 R  speedster  with  disc  wheels  but its  not  running at  this time..

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I'm going to check out the car Wednesday after work so we'll see what happens... I can see it has some handy man repairs that would need to be corrected, but I think it would be a nice car to re-restore with minimal difficulty.

 

Is there a website of mailing address for the club?

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The 23 Hupmobile is  a generation ahead of the Model T in development and it shows . I have  owned and driven extensively a 1913 T 

Mine was really reliable but  had  no water pump No oil pump and of course the planetary  transmission . Interestingly comparing the T to my Model 20 Hupmobile it  was the T that was the generation ahead (detachable cylinder head , Advance and retard on the ignition , Proper radiator fan , Flywheel at the back of the engine etc) I consider the Model 20 to be more akin to the  Ford Model S  even looking  a bit like it -Not really a surprise as Bobby Hupp worked  for  Ford prior to setting up his own company.  Despite the T's advantages over the Hup 20   to me it  was a little soul less and when I chose to rationalise my veteran collection it was the T that went -Karl

 

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I have a 1923 Hupp Model R touring car right now, which has been in my family for well over 50 years. We have driven it all over the state of Ohio, and into neighboring states. It is comfortable at 55 mph, and will run faster, but seems to be straining a bit. Thus, we keep it at 55. We have rarely had a total breakdown, other than tire troubles. The biggest problem we have faced with reliability has been rust in the gas tank, which we finally fixed by putting a new, hand fabricated tank in place. The wood spoke wheels have never given us any trouble. Our Hupp is getting old now, and needing attention, but still keeps on ticking, and keeps on making our family smile.  

IMG_6011.JPG

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  • 7 months later...

Either my T  was a rocket ship or  my Hupmobile  has something wrong with it

My T was good for  45 mph  the Hupmobile is only good for about 35 mph . The Hup Club guru on  Model 20's  Bill Cuthbert  told me 35 mph is a good one .

Were you really notice the difference is hill climbing when the T has much more slugging power . 

 

The interesting thing with the  Hupmobile is that it is fixed ignition  and the  timing as set up by the instruction manual  is retarded after TDC . No kick back but must limit top end speed 

Having said that I have played with variable ignition and didn't seem to gain much from it -Karl

 

Edited by 1910Hupp (see edit history)
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In  1995 we  had  a Hupp tour starting  in Finley Ohio.  Granted its  kind  of  flat in that  part of the  USA. Ed  Kiely  was  driving his 1909 Hupp model  20. I  had  on a few different days followed Ed in our  1936 Hupp N 8cyl with  factory overdrive. At  times  on  straight  and  level roads he  would be  doing  between 45  and  50 mph.  

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On 1/20/2019 at 2:56 AM, Hupp36 said:

In  1995 we  had  a Hupp tour starting  in Finley Ohio.  Granted its  kind  of  flat in that  part of the  USA. Ed  Kiely  was  driving his 1909 Hupp model  20. I  had  on a few different days followed Ed in our  1936 Hupp N 8cyl with  factory overdrive. At  times  on  straight  and  level roads he  would be  doing  between 45  and  50 mph.  

 

Interesting  I once read something that said the Hupp was  rated at 50mph when sold but no one had  ever seen one go that fast  except on a trailer ( I just thought Hupmoble was using a bit of advertising license,   as they did with the model 20  when really only 16.9 Hp! ) Edgar Bowen and David  both have or had Hupps that would  do these speeds . But it would appear that most of us  don't-  I have seen  46 mph on my speedo but that is downhill  and was pretty scary . I have a theory that  timing as   mentioned and  also valve clearance  may be  relevant - Edgar  certainly set his valve  clearance  a lot  wider  than I do-He may have had a high lift cam -Unfortunately Edgar is no longer with us  to ask 

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Well Ed was  a master when  it  came  to  tuning a Hupp  20.  I  watched him  start his car  after we  had a  stop for  lunch or ice cream and did it  in  1  pull of  the  crank  and  it  was  running.   I sure  do  miss seeing  him.

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