KING OF THE ROAD
Cars don’t come much rarer or more imposing than Barrie Cannon’s 1933 Hupmobile K-321 Cabriolet Roadster. Paul Bussey delves into this stunning vehicle’s fascinating and well documented history….
Born in 1877, Robert Craig Hupp moved to Detroit with his parents when he was seven years old, where the burgeoning car industry fired his imagination. After working in many capacities for three car companies - Oldsmobile, Ford and Regal - he had learnt enough and made enough useful contacts to consider making his own cars, even though he was not an engineer himself. In November 1908, with a few backers and partners, he launched the Hupmobile Company and they had completed their prototype vehicle in a freezing cold shed by February 1909, just in time for the Detroit Auto-Dealers Show.
The car was a small two-seater runabout and was an immediate success. In 1909 they made 1618 of
