1923 Hispano Suiza Victoria Town Car Model H6A
edited by David Barth, 10 January 2009.
Courtesy The Forney Museum of Transportation at 4303 Brighton Blvd., Denver,
Colorado. Photos were taken in January 2009.
This car has a 6-cylinder engine and 6 wheels.
It was recorded to have been built in Barcelona, Spain and the body is believed to have been designed and built by
Henry Binder of France. The car was ordered by a king who was deposed before he could take delivery. That king was
most likely King George II, the king of Greece from 1922 to 1923.
The car was brought by Hollywood director D. W. Griffith for $35,000, and it appeared in the 1933 film "My Lips Betray."
It also appeared in a few war movies.
La Hispano Suiza Fabrica de Automoviles, S. A. was founded in 1904 in Barcelona by Damian Mateu and other Spanish
capitalists. The engineering was given to a young Swiss engineer, Marc Birkigt, who had been working in Spain since
1900.
Literally translated, "Hispano-Suiza" means "Spanish-Swiss," which referred to the engineer and the investors.
From 1904 to 1914, Birkigt designed several different engines for La Hispano Suiza, starting with the 20/24 hp,
water-cooled, side-valve, 4-cylinder engine designed in 1904. Birkigt then went on to design supercharged
racing engines. He designed the first 4-cylinder, 16 valve engine and the car considered to have been the first
sports car: the Hispano Suiza 45Cr.
The 15T or Alfonso XIII model was derived from the series of long-stroke, 4-cylinder racing cars that the company
made in 1910. It was called the "Alfonso XIII" after the King of Spain who bought the first Hispano made in 1905
and was a great enthusiast of the brand. He owned approximately 30 of them during his reign.
In 1911, La Hispano Suiza opened a factory in Paris to meet the demand of the French market, particularly for the
racy Alfonso XIII. The factory in France grew larger than the original one built in Barcelona. At the outbreak of
WWI, Hispano Suiza turned to making aircraft engines and introduced the revolutionary Hispano Suiza V8. The engine
was excellent and was in great demand by the allies.
In the 1920's, the Hispano Suiza became better known as a French automobile, as the models built near Paris were more
glamorous and expensive than their Spanish cousins.
The Hispano Suiza H6 became the star of the 1919 Paris Motor
Show. Birkigt's experience designing aircraft engines transferred to this powerful automobile. Hispano Suiza was
also the first car to have four-wheel brakes using mechanical servo assistance, and these surpassed the Rolls Royce
in performance.
Wealthy sportsman Andre Dubonnet won a sports car race in Boulogne in H6 in 1921, and repeated it two or three years
later in the larger 8 litre Hispano, which was then appropriately named the "Boulogne."
The Hispano Suiza was very
popular both as a sports car and a glamorous luxury automobile. In their time they were the most expensive cars in
the world and were fitted with the most elegant bodywork of the period. They became the favorite of European Royalty,
Indian Maharahahs and wealthy celebrities. Hispano Suiza set a standard of quality, innovation, and performance that
no others could match.
Hispano Suiza ceased production in France in 1938. Production continued in Spain until the Second World War, ending
an era and the glamorous Hispano Suiza.
