It’s nearly forgotten today, but the Hupmobile 20 was one of the most advanced and important cars of Detroit’s early auto industry.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1876, Robert Craig Hupp developed an interest in automobiles the moment they appeared. At age 21 he went to work for the Olds Motor Works in Detroit and Lansing, then moved on to Ford in 1905, where he learned manufacturing and production. After a brief stint at Regal in Detroit, in October of 1908 he founded the Hupp Motor Car Company with backing from two Olds alumni, Charles Hastings and Dubois Young, and Detroit attorney J. Walter Drake.

In February of 1909, Hupp’s first production model was ready for display at the Detroit Automobile Show, and it was no doubt here where Henry Ford saw the Hupmobile for the first time. Years later, he said,  “I recall looking at Bobby Hupp’s roadster at the first show where it was exhibited and wondered if we could ever build as good a small car for as little money.”  That was tall praise from the man who had introduced the Model T the previous October, and it shows some affection for Hupp the man as well.

It’s not surprising that the Model T’s creator would approve of he Hupmobile, as there are a number of similarities. With its 86-in wheelbase it was a bit smaller than the Model T, but it employed the same light, simple, and sturdy construction. A pair of semi-elliptic leaf springs carried a forged I-beam axle at the front, while a single transverse spring suspended the torque-tube drive at the rear. Offered only as a two-seat runabout at the start, the Hupmobile 20 was priced at $750, undercutting the Model T by $100.

Designed and manufactured by Hupp, the four-cylinder L-head engine displaced 112 cubic inches with a 3.25-in bore and 3.375-in stroke. The iron cylinders, cast in pairs, bolted to an aluminum crankcase, while a 40-lb cast iron flywheel was pressed onto the front of the forged steel crankshaft. Output was variously described as 16.9 hp or 16-20 hp, hence the model name. In a few ways the Hupmobile was arguably (or debatably, depending on your point of view) upmarket to the Model T in its equipment, boasting a high-tension Bosch mageto and a two-speed sliding-gear transmission.

The Hupmobile Model 20 was an immediate success. Some 1,618 cars were sold in 1909, then more than 5,000 in 1910 as more body styles were added. The company moved from a small factory on Bellevue Street in Detroit to a big new plant at Harper and Mount Elliiott, and by 1912 the Model 20 production total reached 14,500 cars. But by that time, Bobby Hupp had already left the company.

Actively involved in a number of automotive enterprises, in August of 1911 Hupp formed the Hupp Corporation to produce the Hupp-Yeats electric car, and in September he sold out his shares in the original company to Drake and Hastings. The Hupp Motor Car Company then successfully sued Hupp, blocking him from using his own name on his products. Cars were then produced under the R.C.H. name, Hupp’s initials, but the brand did not prosper and folded in 1916. Several more automaking attempts failed as well. He died in 1931, age 55, at the Detroit Athletic Club from a cerebral hemmorrhage after a game of squash.

Hupmobile prospered into the 1920s with a series of well-regarded four-cylinder cars, but an unsuccessul move upmarket, a badly timed expansion, and corporate infighting in the 1930s crippled the automaker. The Cord-bodied 1940-41 Skylark was its final automotive product. In 1980 the old Hupmobile plant was demolished to make way for the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck plant, now known as Factory Zero.