1929 Hispano Suiza H6C

The Hispano-Suiza Company was birthed in Spain and grew to notoriety with the help of Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt. The Hispano's that gained legendary status, however, were produced in the French factory which opened in 1911. This included the H6 of 1919, introduced at the Paris Show. It had a lightweight but rigid chassis with four-wheel servo-assisted brakes and a Marc Birkigt-designed, 6,597 cc, overhead-camshaft six derived from one half of a proposed V-12 aero engine. It had pressure-fed lubrication, a seven-bearing design, a light-alloy block, aluminum-alloy pistons, and steel cylinder liners. It offered 135 horsepower at just 2,400 rpm and was mated to a three-speed gearbox.

The brakes were so phenomenal that Rolls-Royce acquired the rights to build the design under license. The well-engineered H6 offered performance, comfort, safety, reliability, and good handling. It was large enough to carry heavy, elegant, and formal coachwork. Europe's finest coachbuilders clothed the H6 in some of the finest bodies of the era.

In 1921, Hispano-Suiza introduced the H6B, which retained the original 6.6-liter engine but was bored out to 110 mm for a capacity of 7,982cc. This more powerful unit was adopted for the successor H6C model, introduced in 1924. Production of the H6 in all its forms continued until 1933, by which time 2,158 examples had been made.

by Daniel Vaughan | Sep 2019