1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C "Tulipwood" Torpedo

In the years arond 1920, French coachbuilder Labourdette built a body style called "skiff," because it reminded people of small boats.

Perhaps the best-known skiff style car known today was not made by Labourdette.  It's our subject for this post, a Hispano-Suiza; spefically, an H6 Hisso created as a racing car for André Dubonnet, of the aperatif family.  More specifically, it's a 1924 H6C Dubonnet Boulogne Targa Florio speedster, body built by Nieuport-Astra, an airplane maker.

I used to see it every so often at the Blackhawk Collection in Dublin, California.  But in 2022 it was auctioned by RM Sotheby's, the hammer price being an astonishing $9,245,000.

RM Sotheby's page devoted to the car is here.

It mentions: "The true brilliance came in the coachwork.  Some of Dubonnet’s competitors, many of themselves aviators, had begun to figure out that aircraft construction methods could yield techniques useful in the construction of lightweight bodies; thus emerged the earliest fabric-bodied coachwork of the period.  Dubonnet seemed to cut out the drawing board between aviation and automobile, commissioning aircraft manufacturer Nieuport-Astra of Argenteuil to body his car.  Their creation was designed by their engineer Henri Chasseriaux and formed of delicate 1/8-inch-thick strips of mahogany—not actually tulip wood, but romantic legends and alliterative names both die hard—formed over an external layer that was in turn laid over inner 3/4-inch ribs, all secured together by many thousands of aluminum rivets and varnished.  Similar to the “skiff” bodies pioneered in the Teens and Twenties most notably by French coachbuilder Labourdette, Nieuport’s torpedo reportedly weighed only 160 pounds, featherweight by the standards of bodywork to be fitted to such a large automobile; by comparison, it added virtually nothing to the weight of its chassis and engine."

Gallery

1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C "Tulipwood" Torpedo
A period photo, André Dubonnet posing with the car.  Note the original fenders.

1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C "Tulipwood" Torpedo - D.B. Pittenger photos
These were taken by me years ago at the Blackhawk Collection.  My frustration with the Blackhawk was its concept of displaying cars like jewelry items; dark background and many small spotlights creating multiple highlights on the cars, making it difficult to create realistic photographs of car's shapes.

These fenders were added years ago, but in synch with the body style.  That said, their "teardrop" profiles are more 1930s than 1920s, though the body seems more 1930 than its actual 1924.

Note the cover over a rear passenger compartment.

1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C "Tulipwood" Torpedo - photos via RM Sotheby's
As was true of most custom cars in those days, the front is close to what emerged from the Hispano-Suiza factory.

1925 Hispano-Suiza H6B Skiff Torpedo by Labourdette - via St. Louis Art Museum
For context, a Labourdette Hispano skiff.  It's pretty flash, yet not in the same league as the "Tulipwood."

Here the rear passenger compartment is exposed.

Note the rounded rocker panel, absent in the top photo.  The RM Sotheby's link goes into detail regarding the various restorations and modifications of the car.

Less a boat tail, more a jet fighter rear 20 years ahead of its time.

Cockpit.  Leather added in a restoration, but very nice.

1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C "Tulipwood" Torpedo
This overhead photo looks pre- Blackhawk Collection, because the fenders differ.