Tool Talk
Classic Auto and Motorcycle Tools => Classic Auto and Motorcycle Tools => Topic started by: Wrenchmensch on December 01, 2012, 10:50:37 AM
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A 9-inch Walden-Worcester 9/16 - 5/8 double fixed-socket wrench which was stamped "Hupmobile Service" for its customer the Hupp Motor Car Company.
The wrench is also stamped "50-B". I am not sure if this was a Walden-Worcester Model number or perhaps a special number put on Walden-Worcester for Hupmobile. The 1923 Walden-Worcester "C" catalog does list fixed-socket wrenches for sale as service wrenches for various car brands. I do not know if this was one of those wrenches.
The Hupp Motor Car Company of Detroit started delivering Hupmobile cars in September, 1908. Hupmobile jumped into public favor with a light four-cylinder Model "20" in 1910 and averaged about 10,000 cars per year through 1921. During this period Hupmobile built four-cylinder cars exclusively, and then added a line of straight eights in 1922, skipping over the six. Production rose to 34,000 cars in 1922, but Hupp could not achieve the top ten due to the expansionary moves of the larger car companies at this time. Hupp finally added a six-cylinder model for 1926 and phased out the four, leaving the low-priced field where they had won their first success. Output in 1928 was 66,000 cars. In 1929 Hupmobile took over the Chandler Motor Car Company and its subsidiary, the Cleveland Motor Car Company, which further expanded Hupmobile's range. However the company did not fare well during the Depression; production figures were disastrously low in 1933 and 1934. The Hupp Motor Car Company had a $9 million plant in Detroit and was debt free but lacked operating capital. Production was suspended in 1936. Hupp tried to make a comeback in 1938, but finally ended all automotive production in mid-summer 1940.
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Interesting, I have a very similar wrench without the Hupmobile.
I always assumed it was a tool kit wrench.I'll have to pay closer attention to the others I passed up and didn't examine.
Thanks for posting.
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Neat, stick that one in the same package as that Star and Durant wrench just to save the shipping