Hispano Suiza
Swiss engineer Mark Birkigt had been hired to design engines for a company in Barcelona which was later restructured in 1902 and finally became "La Hispano-Suiza Fabrica de Automoviles" in 1904, manufacturing a range of 4 and six cylinder cars.
As the main market for Hispano-Suiza sales was in France, a factory was opened to assemble the cars in the popular French motor car manufacturing suburb of Paris in 1911, with production moving to much larger premises in 1914 under the name Hispano Suiza. During the first war Marc Bikigt designed the water cooled Hispano-Suiza V8 aero engine, undoubtedly the best engine the Allies had (which were then also built under licence by many companies), while immediately after the 1914 - 1918 war Birkigt came out with the H6 series of Hispano-Suiza, being replaced only in 1934 with the J12. The Hispano-Suiza H6 was also built under licence in Czechoslovakia from 1926 to 1930. The French government had taken a majority stake in the French company during the first war to assist with production of the Hispano-Suiza aircraft engine. During the following war in 1940 (of which Spain was not a part of) the Spanish Hispano-Suiza works were restructured into what later became SEAT, while post 1945 the French arm carried on solely in the aviation sector, specialising in aircraft landing gear, much of which was made at the Bugatti works at Molsheim which they eventually took over . . .
Blockley Tyre Co. produces a huge range of tyres and inner tubes for all Hispano Suiza models. A set of 33x5 Blockley tyres were fitted to the 2025 Pebble Beach Best of Show winner, the exquisitely restored "Tulipwood" Hispano-Suiza. See full details of our range of high quality authentic Hispano-Suiza tyre sizes at the links below:
