Uncommon antique cars in Geneva this week, News
Infrequent antique cars in Geneva this week
Joe Marino’s one thousand nine hundred thirty four Hupmobile 427T, a four-door vehicle. It is among the Hupmobiles to be featured in a national tour coming to Geneva embarking today.
Geneva resident Charlie Bauder’s one thousand nine hundred thirty four Hupmobile K421 Standard 2-Door Cabriolet Roadster.
- Submitted photo
GENEVA — Charlie Bauder has more than a little nostalgia for the Hupmobile, which he and other enthusiasts will put on display in a tour being held in Geneva embarking today.
“My father had a 1932, and my very first rail was in that car,” said Bauder, a native of Geneva.
His dad drove that car for thirteen years, mostly because during World War II, car production ceased as the industry geared up to produce products for the war effort.
Bauder doesn’t have that one thousand nine hundred thirty two Hupmobile his father drove, but he does have a one thousand nine hundred thirty four Roadster that he purchased and had restored, as does fellow Genevan Joe Marino, and the two of them will put their classic cars on display during the National Meet and Tour of the Hupmobile Club, which goes on today through Saturday.
While the Hupmobile might not be as common as antique cars like the Model T, of which a national tour came through the area just last week, it was a pretty popular car in its day, said Bauder.
Some 500,000 of them were produced at their plant in Detroit from one thousand nine hundred eight until the company went out of business in 1941.
Their fattest year was 1928, when the company built 68,000 of them, said Bauder.
Only six hundred twenty five are known to remain. Some eighty owners from across the U.S. and Canada are expected to take part in the tour, albeit just twenty one of them will be bringing their cars, which usually come by trailer.
Of course, there’s a good reason people don’t drive them from a long distance, noted Bauder. The cars don’t go much past forty mph, despite the fact that later models had either six- or eight-cylinder engines.
“Their engines are big, but their gears are different than modern cars,” Bauder explained.
He said the Hupmobile was unique.
“I like the styling of them,” said Bauder. “I tend to be more interested in the independent automakers, rather than the Big three (Ford, GM, Chrysler).”
“It was a good family car,” he said. “Basically, they competed with Buick.”
The group has a total slate of activities while in Geneva, where the tour is making its very first stop, including a excursion to Watkins Glen International Speedway, where the cars will make three laps on the track, as well as a day in Hammondsport visiting the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum and other stops. Another day will be spent in Canandaigua, including a visit to Sonnenberg Gardens and a boat rail and lunch on the Canandaigua Lady. Other stops include the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, as well as Rose Hill Mansion and Ventosa Vineyards, both in Fayette.
For those who would like to get a closer look of these antique automobiles, they will be on display in the parking lot of the Ramada Geneva Lakefront, forty one Lakefront Drive, on Wednesday from four to six p.m.
“Hupmobile owners truly love demonstrating and talking about their cars,” said Marino.
