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| Although the birth of Fabrica La Hispano Suiza de Automovils is agreed to have been 1904 the history goes back to 1898. In Spain 1898, an artillery captain by the name of Emilio de la Cuadra proceeded with electric automobile production in Barcelona under the name of La Cuadra. La Cuadra met the talented engineer Marc Birkigt in Paris and got him to come work for his company in Spain. La Cuadra built their first petrol powered vehicles from Birkigt designs which incorporated shaft drive instead of chain. Financial woes finally closed the factory in 1903. Post La Cuadra became the Fabrica Hispano Suiza de Automovils in 1902 under the ownership of J. Castro. Birkigt was again cheif engineer of a company doomed to close in a short period of time as the doors closed in December 1903. It is unclear at which point in time La Cuadra became Fabrica Hispano Suiza de Automovils. In 1904, under the name Fabrica La Hispano Suiza de Automovils, Castro four cylinder cars were still produced. An astonishing four new engines were introduced in the next year and a half. A 3.8L, a 7.4L four were produced as well as a pair of big six cylinder powerplants. The Barcelona facility was closed in 1938. A factory was opened in Paris at Levallois-Perret in 1911 (a larger factory was built in 1914 in Bois-Colombes) to meet demands from French clientele. The French plant generally built the most desireable of all Hispano Suiza models, including the H6B shown on these pages. When the Depression made itself known in the 1930s Hipano Suiza production didn't slow or adapt changes. Instead, they introduced the Type 68 with its 9.5L V12 (which through further development became 11.3L). Tha Paris factory closed in 1938 as well.  |