The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-08-13
R. c. HUPP TALKS OF
NEW EMERSONFOUR
Vice President and Chief
Engineer of Emerson Co.
Enthusiastic Over Car

While it is a fact that the new Emerson
s'Four'' has received a more satisfactory
reception than almost any new car that
has ever been put on the market, still
the Doubling Thomas" element is be-
ginning to come around and sagely shake
their heads and mutter, 1T can't be
done" After seeing the car on the floor
of the New York show room, at Fifty
sixth street and Broadway, and infinitely
examining every part on the lookout for
defects, they walk away and say, at
can't be done" This is in keeping with
the farmer who saw a camel for the first
time at a circus and, after gazing at it
for two hours, shook his head and said
'Shucks, there amt no such animal"
They belong to the same class of men
who did not believe that the steam loco
motive or the steamboat could be made
practical.
Musing along these lines. R. c. Hupp
vice president and chief engineer of the
Emerson Motor company recalled his ex-
periences in the early days of motor car
production. II remember very well when
Henry Ford first started to manufacture
low priced cars in 1908. l was at that
time with the Odds Motor company, and
most of the well known manufacturers
were banded together in what was known
as the Licensed association. In other
words, they were operating under the
so-calied Selden patents. Ford had been
making a few special racing cars and
had also been connected with the De-
troit Automobile company, which had not
been a successful producer of cars.
Among the members Of the association
the general comment was that the new
Ford car could not possibly be a success
because it was not licensed machine
and that Ford himself would probably
be driven out of business. / myself
thought at the time that this would be
. pretty big hurdle for the new company
to make. as it was quite evident that
the manufacturers Of parts would be
chary of doing business with company
that was likely to be on the receiving
end of tremendous legal attack by
practically the whole automobile world
On the other hand, the fact that pros
pective buyers were given to understand
that they would invite legal action against
themselves in buying an unlicensed ma
chine kept many people from buying
Fords. The company itself was not par
ticularly strong financially, one of the
officers of the company being quoted at
fhe time as saying that they started with
a cash capital Of $4,000 and did not own
any experience In quantity production
of motor cars at the time, and in spite
of all this they went ahead and pro-
duced and sold cars at a price other
manufacturers said was impossible And
so, in spite of those lit can't be done
people the company went ahead. I adj
mired the fighting spirit shown by the
new company and decided to leave the
Odds works and enter the arena with
them. After two years of hard work,
during which time I saw the company
grow to great proportions and prosper,
came to the conclusion that good
car could be built for even less money
and still show a profit to the maker. So
in 1908-July, to be exact-I, with three
other gentlemen who were not we'll
known in the automobile world, discussed
plans for the designing and manufacture
of the first Hupmobile. The Hupp Motor
Gar company was organized on Novem-