Hupmobile Aerodynamic History

By the early 1930s Hupmobile was in serious trouble: Depression sales had collapsed, and the six-cylinder models introduced in 1926 had never found the audience the straight-eights briefly attracted. To reverse the slide, the company turned to the Paris-born industrial designer Raymond Loewy — Hupp became his first automotive client — who delivered the 1934 Aerodynamic, co-styled with Amos Northup.

The design was genuinely radical for the American mainstream: headlamps were fully faired into streamlined nacelles that swept from the sides of the hood to the cowl, a three-piece semi-wraparound windshield replaced the flat glass of contemporaries, and the cabin was moved forward in the body shell to reduce pitch. Inline L-head sixes and eights were offered, the eight producing up to 120 horsepower; engines were shifted forward in the chassis to balance the repositioned cabin.

Sales improved to roughly 9,420 for 1934, a meaningful uptick, but the Aerodynamic could not generate the volume needed to stabilize company finances. The styling theme continued with updates through about 1937, by which point a labor dispute had shut the factory entirely. Hupmobile would re-emerge for one final attempt — the Skylark.