Presenting: The CHP 1922 Hupmobile Patrol Vehicle

    SACRAMENTO, Calif.--Dec. 3, 2001--California Highway Patrol Officer T.V. Eisenhuth prowled the back roads of El Dorado County hunting bootleggers and speeders in his 1922 Hupmobile patrol car, an early predecessor to today's high performance CHP vehicles.

    CHP Commissioner Spike Helmick will accept the keys to the restored historic vehicle on Tuesday, December 4 when it is presented by its current owner, Luis Craig of Sacramento, for permanent display in the CHP's museum in West Sacramento.

    In the years from 1923 until the CHP was established by an act of the State Legislature in 1929, road patrol officers were assigned to individual counties and often supplied their own vehicles. Eisenhuth's Hupmobile was his own; an unmarked cruiser with a single red emergency light and a siren.

    Craig, a retired employee of the old State Division of Highways, discovered the vehicle in a farmyard barn in Coloma in 1951. He persuaded its owner to sell the car to him in exchange for an apple pie and $25.

    WHERE: CHP Academy, 3500 Reed Avenue, West Sacramento, Lobby of the Administration Building

    WHEN: 10 a.m., Tuesday, December 4, 2001

    WHO: CHP Commissioner Helmick, Mr. And Mrs. Luis Craig, academy staff

    VISUALS: 1922 Hupmobile CHP Patrol Car