HOME | DD
TwistedMethodDan β 1175 - 1938 Hispano-Suiza H6C
Published: 2011-09-24 14:11:42 +0000 UTC; Views: 1476; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 122
Redirect to original
Description
1938 Hispano-Suiza H6C Dubonnet Xenia Saoutchik (what a mouthful!)Awesome car which I came across on a thread of 1930s streamliner cars - to me this one looks ahead of its time, especially around the windows etc.
Related content
Comments: 19
Hard to believe this car came out in the late-30's.
I always thought some of the features shown on
this car originated in the early post-war era.
π: 0 β©: 1
I must admit, it does look rather futuristic for its age - though the 30s (and even earlier) were actually full of various weird and wonderful exercises in streamlining - though this sure is one of the nicer ones!
I can't remember who, or where - but I remember a friend saying he'd seen this car recently. Pretty special find!
π: 0 β©: 1
Speaking of weird and wonderful,
get a load of this "beauty":
[link]
π: 0 β©: 1
That's exactly the kind of thing I was talking about 
π: 0 β©: 1
The picture I added the link for
is of a Persu streamliner, designed
in Romania in 1923/4.
π: 0 β©: 0
I agree, they were pushing the envelope on this one.
And you did a great job drawing it!
π: 0 β©: 0
...and you should see it when the doors open. (They swing straight down the side of the car.)
π: 0 β©: 2
lol *nearly* as cool as the door on my Messerschmitt
π: 0 β©: 0
Oh yeah, I saw a photo - it's pretty darn cool; not many cars back then had doors like that.
From what I understand, the guy who came up with the idea had some relation to aircraft (hence the streamlined design and more plane-like windows), and his name was AndrΓ© Dubonnet. The car was called Xenia after his wife, and the coachbuilder was Saoutchik. Though, I have seen another 'dubonnet xenia' which is veeeery similar to this - only obvious difference being the windows - I think it could have been a Delage D8, or possible a talbot-lago.
π: 0 β©: 1
That I didn`t know. The aircraft connection makes sense.
π: 0 β©: 0
Funny, I thought the Dubonnet Xenia was a separate make. I saw one of these at the Cranbrook Concours near Detroit in '05.
π: 0 β©: 1
Well, not as far as I'm aware... in faact I found the other car I mentioned, it's a 1937 Delage D8-120S - a quick google image search will show you a very, very similar car. Funnily enough, despite the huge resemblance, I found out as well that they weren't actually made by the same guy, the Delage was done by Pourtout... so you didn't see 'a' Dubonnet Xenia, but 'the' Dubonnet Xenia... lucky you !
It was common practice for people back then to make bodies for cars, instead of making the whole car. Many car companies only built the chassis and mechanicals, sometimes with the only bodywork being the bonnet, and sent them to a group of 'standard' coachbuilders who made the most common body styles for those cars. Occasionally however we got people like Mr.Dubonnet and Soutchik who would make these lovely one-off works of art.
π: 0 β©: 1
A book is coming out from Mullin Automotive Museum about the French "couture" body artisans. That I wanna see.
π: 0 β©: 1
Cool! that sure should be interesting.
I'm not that much of a connaisseur in the area, but I do love many of the designs by Saoutchik and Figoni & Falaschi.
π: 0 β©: 1
My all-time fave is still the Teardrop Talbot-Lago. I saw "the blue one" when I was 12, and was speechless for probably 5 minutes as I walked around it.
π: 0 β©: 1
Nice car
I couldn't pick a favourite... there are so many beautiful cars around, many quite uniqe. I've been to the Bugatti museum, and the next day a german technical museum (lots of vehicles, not just cars) and over those two days, I saw 5 of the 7 Bugatti Royales... though I later learnt that one of them was a (proper, 100% accurate) replica. I wouldn't say they're my absolute favourite cars in terms of design - but it is by far the most impressive I have ever seen. Photos don't do this car any justice; being there and seeing the real thing up close in the flesh is quite an experience!
π: 0 β©: 1
Seen the Bugatti Royale at Henry Ford Museum. The Teardrop was at the Brooks Stevens automotive museum when it was in Wisconsin.
π: 0 β©: 0
Thank you very much
π: 0 β©: 0