HISPANO SUIZA / SPAIN

HISPANO SUIZA  ( 1904 - 1944 )

HISPANO SUIZA was founded and built vehicles in Spain. Due to its great success, another plant was built in France as early as 1911, where most of the vehicles were then also manufactured.

The HISPANO - SUIZA (1904 - 1944)  emblem is showing the Spanish flag (red and yellow) and the Swiss flag (white cross on red ground) in a cercle between two wings because this high price car was produced in this two countries.

The money to  build this car came from the Spanish founders Damian Bisa and Francisco Seix, the technology from the Swiss founder  Marc Birkigt.

From 1919 to 1931 the type " H6 " was the most expensiv car in Europe.
As the car was expensive the emblem is still expensive. So there are a lot of reprodctions, even more than originals !

the holes are original

Size	15.1cm x 5.0 cm
Year	1923
Estimate

As always the backside is telling the truth. On top an original HISPANO SUIZA emblem (the three wholes are also original).

on top: original    bottom: repro . You see that the contours are not so deep

In the following ad the HISPANO SUIZA crane is lfying to the left:

Interestingly, the Italian car brand Ansaldo and Hispano Suiza advertised together in Germany in an ad in 1926. I have not yet been able to determine what else links these companies. For more information about ANSALDO click here.

very early emblem without holes

1912 sales brochure showing the first emblem without holes

Here is an early advertisement showing that HISPANO SUIZA vehicles were manufactured in  Spain and France even before WWI. The factory in Levallois-Perret operated there from 1911 to 1914, then moved to Bois-Colombes; both cities are located in the immediate vicinity of Paris.

 advertisement published in OMNIA January 1914

1924 advertisement showing the emblem 

 

HISPANO SUIZA radiators were built by Chausson

and HISPANO SUIZA body work was built by the Belgian D`Iteren Fréres which is still in the automotive business.

 

1922 advertisement

 In the meantime, I've found a second advertisement that proves that the radiators for HISPANO SUIZA were also manufactured by G. MOREUX & Cie:

Advertisment published in OMNIA Oct. 1923 (H.S. radiator at thr top in the middle)

In 1938, production was moved to Geneva, Switzerland. There, weapons and ammunition were produced, but also heavy engines, probably for the railroads, because the emblem shown here is massive and much too heavy for an aircraft engine:
 

Here the Hispano Suiza crane is flying to the right

 

Sometimes you can read that  HISPANO SUIZA emblem or mascot is showing a stork, but  it is a crane. The best way to tell these birds apart is by the length of their beaks; the crane’s is shorter. 

For more  emblems from other automobiles see older posts or top right  ( list of car makers ).

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