Collector Classics: 1927 Chandler Standard
These beuaties don’t fetch a lot of money even though there aren’t that many out there
Only a handful of Chandlers have survived since production ceased 86 years ago, so you would think that would make them quite valuable. That’s not necessarily the case; rare does not always equal big bucks.
Take, for example, the 1927 Chandler Standard 6 shown here. It sold at an auction seven years ago for a mere $10,000.
Frederick C. Chandler was the chief designer at the Lozier Motor Company, which was famous for building top-of-the-line luxury cars. Until 1910, they were the most expensive cars in the U.S., where they retailed from $4,000 to $7,000.
Chandler left Lozier in 1911, taking a number of the top executives with him to form the Chandler Motor Co., which was up and running by 1913. Lozier never recovered from losing its most talented people and closed its doors in 1915.
Chandler and his team decided to focus on building quality cars for middle-class America, a decision that paid off. Before the outbreak of the First World War, the company moved into a new factory enabling them to more than double their production to 15,000 cars a year.
During the war, they were kept busy producing a 10-ton artillery tractor under contract to the U.S. military. After the war, Chandler decided to branch out and form a subsidiary company called the Cleveland Automobile Co. The Cleveland model range sold for $1,495 to $2,375, while the slightly more up-market Chandler models sold from $1,995 up to $3,595.
They grew too quickly, resulting in reduced sales and declining profits. Chandler and the board decided to amalgamate the two companies. The new name would be the Chandler-Cleveland Motor Corp. Ironically, at the same time, the Cleveland model line and name was dropped. This took place in 1926.
Enter the Hupp brothers, who had established quite a solid reputation during the 1920s for building fine automobiles called Hupmobiles. Following in the footsteps of the early Chandler days, their sales and profits were soaring and they were looking to expand. Part of that expansion took place in December of 1928 when they took control of the Chandler-Cleveland Motor Corp.
They were really after the factory, so that they could expand. The Hupp Motor Car Corp. made it through the Depression and continued building cars until the end of 1940.
