Chassis No. CH14019

Seule l'Hispano Suiza fait connaître à ses passagers les joies pures de la vitesse dans le confort, la sécurité, le silence

Speed, Comfort, Safety, and Silence were the stated characteristics of the Hispano Suiza in 1934, yet curiously, elegance is not mentioned among them. Perhaps the quality could go unsaid as the French company was at their apex as a pre-war leader in luxury automobile manufacture with numerous esteemed European firms such as Saoutchik, Graber, and Fernandez et Darrin contributing bespoke bodies. Among its greatest achievements was the truly magnificent J12 that existed as the ultimate expression of the company's engineering and design prowess. The J12 chassis was the near exclusive domain of Vanvooren, which formed elegant bespoke coachwork on the ultimate Hispano chassis just a few hundred meters from their factory.

Introduced in 1931, the J12 was powered by a 9.4-liter V12 engine producing 220 horsepower. This refined yet massive powerplant featured twin banks of six cylinders set at a 60-degree angle, ensuring effortless performance. The chassis, with its leaf-spring suspension and a live axle, was impeccably balanced and arguably superior even to the Rolls-Royce Phantom III. Despite the economic challenges of the 1930s, the J12 attracted an elite clientele including royalty, aristocrats, and notable figures-the King of Romania and Pablo Picasso among them. It is believed that only 120 J12s were built between 1931 and 1938, and today the J12 remains an exceptional masterpiece of style and power and the highlight of any collection or concours d'elegance it attends.

Hispano Suiza J12 Cabriolet chassis number CH14019 was commissioned by industrialist Baron Jean Empain of Belgium, one of the world's wealthiest men during the Great Depression. Originally a cabriolet bodied by Fernandez et Darrin, the chassis is noted to have received its Vanvooren coachwork just three years later. Empain used the J12 for his travels between Europe and Africa, however it was later seized by the Axis powers during World War II. The car was later acquired by The Hon. Sir Michael Kadoorie who commissioned a full concours restoration to Pebble Beach standards beginning in 1998. The car, in fact, was shown twice by Sir Michael at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 2013 and 2024, when less than 12 months ago it received the Alec Ulmann Trophy as "the car that best embodies the combination of excellence in performance and elegance in design."

Just two and a half weeks after its second in class and trophy winning-performance, tragedy struck. While in an enclosed trailer leaving the peninsula a fire engulfed the trailer and the Vanvooren Cabriolet; it was devastating news for the car collector community and those who tirelessly restored and prepared the car for the prestigious show. While the damage suffered that day was extensive, the car remains a heron-badged Hispano Suiza J12 and one with Vanvooren coachwork, no less. As such, it affords the enthusiast an opportunity for restoration and presentation in the years ahead.