Hispano-Suiza

The name of the car is derived from the names of the two countries, Spain and Switzerland. The latter indicates the home country of the engineer, Marc Birkigt. He was born in 1878, not far from France in the town of Geneva, where he was trained to be a mechanic.

In order to found the company in Spain, as a relatively young man he had to go there. One couldn't call it emigration, because he returned to Switzerland over and over again. The first company, for whom Birkigt worked around the turn of the century, which built electric cars, went bankrupt.

This however, wasn't the fault of the young designer, because already for some time, he had been occupied with internal combustion engines. After further failures, Birkigt took part in the search for a new financier, thus in 1904, did the later world famous company name come to be, this can be seen in our above picture, where the two national flags are shown in the brand.

Astonishingly, the technical director of 'La Hispano Suiza Fábrica de Automóviles' was just 26 years old. He drove on the development of two four-cylinder saloons, which after all, did have a camshaft each, controlling the intake- and the exhaust valves. As was usual, the engine was still made up of two blocks.

The touring-cars progressed well, indeed, Bikigt's talent as an engine builder was revealed more and more. Already in 1912, he built four-cylinders into a one-piece engine block. There were also six-cylinder engines with a cubic capacity of 11,2 litres. The construction of their own trucks and coaches became possible.

Not only because Hispano-Suiza was the first Spanish car manufacturer, did it enjoy the special favour of the king. They were even permitted to call one model the 'Alfonso XIII'. It probably had the sportiest engine, with, after all, 47 kW (64hp) and already had a sort of dry sump lubrication. Even a large touring car is, with this type of power under the bonnet, way faster than 100 km/h.

The company's vehicles were also built under licence by other companies. Long before the first world war, a manufacturing plant was opened in Paris. Allegedly, there were even prototypes with compressors. Very early in fact, their standard engines were fitted with overhead camshafts. In the meantime, through moving to other premises in Barcelona, the company had increased in size.

During the war, the production in Paris had to be given up. Therefore, the chief technician in Barcelona worked on one of the urgently needed aircraft engines. A V8 was created, whose power to weight ratio of a little more than one kilogram per hp, sounded quite fantastic. During the course of the war, it would power about half of all the allied forces aircraft.

However, those of you who would have expected, the great depression after the first world war, would bring a widely expanded company to its knees, would have to think again. On the contrary, it would be the boom-time of the company. Surprisingly enough, the aircraft engine never appeared in the saloon cars, they carried on receiving the six-cylinder engine.

It wasn't as much the spectacular achievements, which allowed the car to easily distance itself from the, in the meantime, luxury-class competition. It was much more the well thought out solutions, which led to a solid construction. After all, already in 1919 the engine had dry-sleeves and an overhead cam, driven by a vertical bevel gear. Also the design for the opening of the bonnet was praised.

In 1919, the fact that a car was fitted with drum-brakes, also on the front wheels, amounted to a small sensation and, they were also given a mechanical assistance. Occasionally, it is said that this was developed by Rolls-Royce, indeed, they only took it over much later. Rolls-Royce took out a licence on Hispano-Suiza, did anyone know that?

They had arrived at their peak, both among the technically interested chauffeurs and among their bosses, who placed value on solid craftsmanship. Indeed, due to the fact that the coachwork was still chosen by the customer, they were able to place any chosen bodywork onto the solid chassis. This is exactly what they did (see video 2). Like we said, they had arrived at the top.

Thus, sometimes a Hispano-Suiza also became a racing car, slightly modified, it even became a winner. Also the company itself was diligently constructing and through boring it out, and increasing the capacity to eight litres with a shorter wheelbase and shorter bodywork, increased the chances of it winning races. The thus fitted cars were called the 'Boulogne', good for a maximum performance estimated at being 147 kW (200 HP).

Before we come to the demise of the company, due to the second world war, there was another climax that we'd like to mention, the twelve-cylinder. It was probably not the expected answer to the great crisis in 1929/30. The remaining manufacturers of luxury cars had enormously improved their products, so Hispano-Suiza was left no choice at all. Once again however, they were able to solve the problem elegantly.

12 cylinders in V-form, this time not with an overhead cam but one with push rods and rocker arms, controlled the filling of, at first 9,4 then later even 11,3 litres capacity. In this case, economy consciousness and/or the lower noise development probably played a role. The performance, also that of the saloon, finally amounted to 147/161 kW (200/220 hp), which in the past, with the trimmed down Boulogne-engine, was not possible.

There would still be a few good years, before the production in Paris, because of war production, would have to be stopped, during this time in Barcelona, the manufacturing of smaller cars was not neglected and was carried on. The production of the, hardly decreasing success, and the construction of aircraft engines also sealed their fate.

After the war, there were plans to start up again, which however, could not be realised. The demands, particularly those made on the French automobile industry, had changed too much. Instead of luxury vehicles, for decades to come one would be building small cars and the break-in to the upper-classes would often fail. Birkigt died in 1953 at the age of 74 in Geneva. His operation, the building of trucks, remained in the hands of the Spaniards. 05/14