Curious to identify the mystery vehicle in the 1914/1915 photo of the bank building, primarily in an effort to date the photograph conclusively, I started putting messages out on various antique and vintage car groups on facebook. I got a lead that the mystery vehicle was something called a Hupmobile. It’s okay, I never heard of them either. Hupmobiles were built by the Hupp Motor Co of Detroit from 1909 to 1939. When they were exported to Australia, some were sent complete, however quite frequently it was just the rolling chassis that was shipped, and the body and other trims were completed by Australian coach builders. You can read a little more about Hupmobiles, and the rise and fall of the Hupp Motor Co on Wikipedia.

Armed with this newfound knowledge, I joined a Hupmobile group in Australia on Facebook. The members there were incredibly helpful and identified the vehicle in the photo as a Model 32 from either 1913 or 1914, which perfectly fits with the estimated date of the photo.
In amongst the various searches I completed to try to work out what a Hupmobile was, I also stumbled upon a little ad. Just a little ad that caught my eye and I sent to my stepdad as a point of interest. I actually thought it was listed in a suburb in South Australia, so imagine my surprise when my stepdad advised me it was the next suburb over from his home! He looked at it for me, shook hands with the seller and a month later my dear husband along with my dear friend drove 1000km each way to collect the old girl and bring her home.

She is slightly younger (1923) and a different model (Model R) than the one in the photo, but is already partly restored with some of the hardest bits already sorted. This will be a long term project, it will not be rushed, but I’m hoping to one day recreate the 1914/1915 photo of the bank. I’m still looking for a name…