Blog — Friends of HISPANO-SUIZA

Last November we started to work on a beautiful Hispano-Suiza H6B Coupé Chauffeur that was created by the J. Fernandez coachbuilder. I can finally say the car has been done, assembled, tested and oh boy, the engine works perfectly!

The engine suffered from both having spoiled cooling system together with cracked (or corroded) block resulting in leakage of cooling liquid into oil further spoiling the greasing capabilities of the engine. We did not invest time to search for cracks or holes where the leak occurred as it was meaningless. Nevertheless the result of the problems were totally worn out conrods bearing shells (with some even partially collapsed), scratched crankshaft, badly damaged main bearing shells and fried pistons with further damage on the liners. It was decided that the engine will be redone with partially new parts, partially renovated ones.

And here come the photos!

In the month the work began a new block with pistons and piston hinges arrived. We still had to wait for the crankshaft to be machined, the bearing shells on both crankcase and conrods to be made and of course for the manpower to have time!

*The crankcase with all new main bearing shells, cleaned and ready for use*

*The crankshaft machined with the conrods already fitted on*

The crankcase with new bearing shells together with the crankshaft and the conrods arrived during December. The old bearing shells were torn off both the conrods and the crankcase. The crankshaft needed only light machining on the main and rod journals, otherwise it was measured as perfect. Then the bearing shells on the crankcase were cast new and machined to fit perfectly the existing main journals. The bearing shells on the conrods were also cast new and then machined to fit the rod journals and the already measured piston hinges. So all the work proceeded with the original crankshaft in mind so all would align just fine. The conrods themselves were measured and considered to be in good condition. All was put together, and all lined up perfectly, one might say better than new.

When the crankcase was assembled, the polishing took place. The old crankcase needed some work as the aluminium looked really worn out and faded when the car was delivered. These H6 engines look fabulous when the aluminium parts are carefully polished and shiny and put in contrast with black paint of the block and cover. There was no debate over this, this engine was to be 100%.

*The bottom of the engine polished and assembled, ready for the block. Shinies!*

*Some parts were machined new, like these knees from the cooling system that sit on top of the engine right before the radiator*

*The side with edges polished and almost ready for painting*

*The front dynamo cover also during the process of becoming shiny*

The process of having an old part polished is a labour intensive work that takes days to perfect. It took about a month of work of several people to have all the engine parts carefully restored to their designated state. But the results are amazing.

*First glance at the engine already sitting in the chassis*

*Ready to have the camshaft put in place*

We put in proper Millers Oils oil, more specifically the M50 Vintage. Instead of regular antifreeze liquid we use Evans Vintage Cool 180, so unlike with water-based coolants, we should not see any water-aluminium corrosion in the decades to come.

The result is amazing. The old lady is again running with ease and the power is overwhelming, this car just pulls like it doesn’t mind! This Hispano-Suiza will be put in a very well maintained garage with stable temperature and humidity. This is exactly the love that every collector’s car should get. Perfecting its state and being stored properly.

It should be noted that the gearbox and clutch were all fine so there was no need to work on those. Only the engine was rebuilt.

Thank you for reading, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask!

On 27th April 2019 a Bonhams auction in Tupelo took place. An auction that featured hundreds of lots consisting of both automobilia and great cars. The origin of the featured lots were in Tupelo Museum which was founded in 2002 and which had its depository inserted by late Frank K. Spain, US inventor and television engineer, best known for founding and building WTVA, an NBC affiliate in Tupelo, Mississippi. Frank Spain died in 2006, but the museum kept on going, until eventually in 2018 it was closed and it was decided that his heritage would be sold through an auction. Who else to pick but the famous Bonhams?

A beautiful Hispano-Suiza H6B from 1928 was one of the cars that were in Frank Spain’s possession and thus was auctioned. The car itself has a beautiful Coupé Chauffeur body by J. Fernandez, a body he built before partnering with the famous H. Darrin to create the famous Fernandez & Darrin combo. It had been in the collection ever since 1995 and he was only the last of the high-profile owners. The car was originally owned by the Potter Palmer family, the family who ran the Potter Palmer & Co. stores with its innovative ideas like no question asked returns policy or try home before buying… All these about 160 years ago! In 1968, the car was sold for the first time to Walter Weimer who shortly after sold it to Jim Stickley. In 1971 was the car acquired by Al McEwan who gave a lot of love to the car. So in the 70’s the car was restored to the state it was in when purchased from Bonhams Tupelo Auction in April 2019. After McEwan’s ownership, the car was sold to Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza chain who at the time had a very significant collection. Then it passed to Mr. Spain.

The person lucky enough to win the car in the auction is also our member and friend of Hispano-Suiza brand so I have the opportunity to share this story with you. When bought, it had to be moved from the state of Mississippi to the center of Europe… Hard task, but with the help by the company CARS UK, the logistics were handled with ease and not a single problem occurred. The car arrived to the UK in July and had to undergo a trip on a trailer to the heart of Europe, Czech Republic.

When it arrived, the condition of the car was inspected. The paintwork and interior that had supposedly been worked on in the 70’s are still in great condition and do not require further work but some polishing and work on preservation. The chassis seems to be in a really good condition with only some minor work should there be any will to have the car in total pristine condition. The engine however needed some work to be done. Actually, a lot.

*Hispano-Suiza H6B 6.6L straight six engine in the workshop*

The engine has aluminium engine block with steel liners and built in head, so basically the engine only consists of crankcase, block together with head in one piece, and cover of camshaft. The aluminium and water over time reacts and the result can be seen above. The oxidised aluminium parts cannot be replaced since they are a part of the whole block and even though the degradation of the engine can be stopped and current state preserved with advanced fills like Evans Vintage Cool 180, the engine’s thermal management would be corrupt for good. Unfortunately, the previous owner did nothing in this sense to preserve the engine, the above is the result of years and years of water oxidising the aluminium.

Also there was water found in the oil so one could expect other surprises in the engine, the dismantling thus kept on.

*The crankcase and lower crankshaft bearings shells with the scratches*

The lower crankshaft bearing shells have big scratches. The greasing was a problem for long periods of usage.

*The connecting rods. See upper bearing shell of the second rod from bottom…*

You can see some of the connecting rods with the bearing shells as they were in the engine when dismantled. Scratched from bad greasing but what’s worse, you can see even a total collapse of some of the shells. You cannot think of anything good that could have happened to the crankshaft…

Above you can see some details of the crankshaft. The scratches are visible even from distance. The bearing shells collapse led, as feared, to damage on the crankshaft itself. But there are good news! The damage on the crankshaft is not beyond the point of no return! The crankshaft can be repaired.

The state of the engine made the owner a little bit sad and because he likes things preserved and working, it led to the decision to have the engine redone to 100% state. So stay tuned, I will continue with this story as soon as the material is ready and the engine gets assembled again! In the meantime, the car will sit here and patiently wait!

PS: Yet another Hispano in the workshop! About that one maybe in the future. :-)

PS2: I am not an English native, so please, be a little bit forgiving for my English…

A story of French returning to its former glory! part 2

A story of French returning to its former glory! part 1