Let's see what he came up with (click images to enlarge):
Gallery
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Thursday, October 31, 2013
Raymond Loewy's Hupmobiles
Famed pioneer industrial designer Raymond Loewy is best known for his association with the automobile manufacturer Studebaker. But his first car-making client was Hupmobile. As the linked article indicates, Hupp was moving into the middle and upper-middle price class during the late 1920s in a poorly timed effort to expand its product line. The Great Depression hit and Hupp, like most other carmakers, scrambled to make its product line appeal to a shrinking market. So it hired Loewy who came up with a clean, conservative redesign for 1932. Then for the 1934 model year, he styled a body with aerodynamic features, a fashion coming into play in those days.
Let's see what he came up with (click images to enlarge):
Gallery
Above are images of Loewy's 1932 Hupmobile design. The most distinctive
feature being front fenders that fairly tightly wrapped around the tires. Some observers retrospectively call these "cycle-fender Hupps," but the term is relative: true cycle-type automobile fenders lack the curved transition to the running board and wrap the tires even more fully. Otherwise, the Loewy design was a cleaned-up version of normal 1930 vintage style.
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Loewy's 1934 design was fairly radical for its time. The most conspicuous features aside from the rounded-off shape are the three-piece "wraparound" windshield (a similar windshield design was on the 1934 Panhard) and the headlights blended into the hood. The upper photo seems to include professional models and the lower features El Brendel, a comic popular at the time.
This advertisement shows the rear of the car (though the back windows are depicted smaller than they really are). The ad includes a pitch for Hupp's aerodynamic design by noted aeronautics professor Alexander Klemin.
Sales of 1934 Hupps were disappointing, so the facelift for 1935 models included a reversion to a conventional one-piece windshield and a redesigned grille and front bumper. I suspect that Loewy was not involved with this facelift, so invite Hupmobile mavens to set the story straight in Comments if I'm wrong.
Let's see what he came up with (click images to enlarge):
Gallery
I came across your blog, in a sort of roundabout way, from a Facebook group I'm on in my hometown area of Kingston, NY. A lady on that group is renovating a building in that city, on a street where a relative had a Hupmobile dealership. That ignited my curiosity because my dad, Otto Zoehrer, drew Hupmobiles, probably in the 1920s or 1930s, no doubt when he lived and worked in Detroit. I know he was living there in 1928, from an art group I came across that he belonged to. The woman who is renovating the building posted an ad for a Hupmobile costing $795, and I see on your blog a similar one, or the same one. I commented that my dad drew Hupmobiles, and may have drawn the car in the ad she posted. Of course, she didn't comment, like I didn't grow up in that area, or work in Kingston. Typical, sometimes. Have you come across my dad's artwork, in your research of cars? He also drew Cords, Hudsons, Packards, Dodges, and Buicks, in the timeframe before color photography, so 1920s, 1930s, and possibly 1940s.
ReplyDeleteBonnie -- Thank you for your interesting comment regarding Otto Zoehrer. I did a quick Google search and nothing much came up other than images of some old Kingston and Poughkeepsie newspaper pages. I also looked at some Hupmobile advertisements. For 1926-27, the artist was Larry Stults. In 1929 it was Bernard Boutet de Monvel. One 1932 ad illustration was by "Eric," (Carl Erickson) a famous fashion illustrator of the day. I saw one 1935 ad with an artist's signature that I cannot decipher (but not your Dad's). Otherwise, the illustrators' works were unsigned. Too bad, as I wanted to see what he did.
ReplyDeleteHi Donald, I didn't get a notice that you'd answered me, but I was just now searching Google for "Otto Zoehrer's drawings of cars." That caused your answer to me to pop up, so great. Gosh, that's rather surprising that you didn't find any Hupmobile drawings by my dad. The Facebook group that I found the post about a Hupmobile dealership, and the lady, Marie Beichert, who posted it, is called "I'm From Kingston." I think it is an open group, but I'm not positive about that. I will have to ask my brother, Richard, who also draws (and writes) when our dad might've drawn Hupmobiles, as he might know. Dad also drew Cords, Hudsons, and Buicks, etc., as I mentioned in my first comment. If you know of that drawing that starts out with a buggy and then goes up to how cars looked at the time (the l930s) my dad drew that. I think I saw it in the office of one of the Buick dealers' salesmen one time, in Charlotte, and was going to comment that it was my dad's drawing, and then I didn't. Well, thanks, again, for your response, and I will check on your blog for a response to this comment. Bonnie
ReplyDeleteBonnie -- I probably do have some of your Dad's car ad art in my Car Ads computer file ... those for Hupp and perhaps the other brands. The latter I didn't investigate for artist signatures. But unsigned Hupp (and others) art makes it impossible for me to identify his work. That is, without having seen examples of works known to be his that might offer a clue as to his style.
ReplyDeleteProblem is, there were many artists doing car ads in those days, and if unsigned, it's hard to tell who did what for whom.
Hi Donalf! I don't think I found this answe of yours until now. I was prompted to share some of my dad's drawings, especially Cords, by a friend on my Facebook sccount. I had shared a car post from a car group I'm on, and I had mentioned my dad, Otto Zoehrer's drawings. No, my brother, Richard Zoehrer, and I have noticed that our dad, Otto, often did not sign his work. I don't know if that was modesty, or if he wasn't supposed to when he drew cars for ads that were published in magazines. If you are interested in connecting with me on Facebook to see my share of 2 of my dad's drawings, I am on Facebook as Bonnie Zoehrer Will. One of them is the no-doubt famous car drawing that starts out with a buggy and goes up to a 1920s, or 1930s car. It could be a Cord, and my brother, Richard, would probably know.
ReplyDeleteI've seen that cord illustration, it's a great piece
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