Hispano-Suiza

Succeeding Castro, Fabrica La Hispano-Suiza de Automovils recorded its Swiss designer, Marc Birkigt, in its title: production was, again, in Barcelona.

At first, the Castro four was continued under the Hispano-Suiza name, then, in late 1906, two pair-east fours of 3.8 and 7.4 litres were introduced, followed by two big sixes in 1907. Already, the young King Alfonso XIII had a Hispano in his stable, the first of some 30 he would own.

A racing Hispano built for the 1910 Coupe des Voiturettes sired the famous 3620cc Alfonso XIII sports model (Queen Ena of Spain gave her husband one for his birthday). By 1912, a Paris factory was in operation, and it was here that the famous 6.5 litre ohc H6 of 1919 was principally built, though Barcelona did turn out a limited number as the T41 (T56 8 litre from 1928: the T49 used the same chassis but a 3750cc six-cylinder engine.

In the 1920s Barcelona also built the ohv T30 4.7 litre (1914-24) and T16 3089cc (1921-24): the 2500cc T48 was built for the Government public services. Between 1932 and 1943, Barcelona built a series of six-cylinder models, the last of which was the T6ORL, introduced in 1934, a depressing machine with servo-assisted Lockheed hydraulic brakes and central gear-change.

Hispano-Suiza (France) 1911-1938.

To satisfy its fashionable French clientele, Hispano-Suiza opened a Parisian assembly plant at Levallois-Perret in 1911, moving to larger premises at Bois-Colombes in 1914.

It was the French factory which produced the immortal 32 cv H6B in 1919, with its ohc light-alloy engine of 6597cc, joined in 1924 by the even more exciting Boulogne sports derivative, of 7983cc. The H6B was built under license by Skoda of Czechoslovakia from 1924-27.

In 1930, Hispano took over Ballot, who built the 4580cc Junior six-cylinder. In 1931 Hispano-Suiza, loftily ignoring the Depression, brought out the magnificent Type 68 V12 of 9425cc; it was later developed into the 11,310cc Type 68 bis, A six-cylinder version, the K6, succeeded the Junior in 1934.

Post-war, the French factory built a fwd prototype using a Ford V8 engine, which never reached production.

(Vintage European Automobiles)