Hispano Suiza - Hispano Suiza H6
The H6 Hispano Suiza first saw light of day just after the first world war in 1919, with an all alloy 6.6 litre six cylinder engine, with seven main bearings and twin ignition, exhibiting some of the features Marc Birkigt used in his highly effective war time V8 aero engine. By 1922 more power was extracted from this engine for the H6B, while for 1926 the engine for the H6C was enlarged to 8 litres (110mmx140mm). Hispano Suiza H6 production continued to 1933.
Tyre size for the Hispano Suiza H6 was originally beaded edge 895x135, and as straight sided tyres started to be introduced into Europe the equivalent straight sided 33x5 was used by some owners (first listed by the factory on the H6C in 1927), although in reality many European manufacturers listed their cars with beaded edge tyres into the later 1920's. The 895x135 was listed to 1927 on the H6B, while the H6C was listed from 1926 with the 33x5. From 1928 Hispano Suiza stopped listing the beaded edge 895x135. From 1930 the H6B and H6C Hispano models were listed with 33x6 tyres, which was the older way of writing 600x2, which by now was not a straight sided type tyre. We found a listing in the UK for 1929 still showing beaded edge 895x135 for the H6B with the smaller and wider low pressure "6 for 21" tyre, which will mean 6.00x21 tyre size. Over time with the difficulty in obtaining beaded edge/ clincher tyres, followed later by the non availability of the straight sided 33x5 tyre size, many of these H6, H6B and H6C Hispano Suizas had to be converted to 21" well base wheels. But it is now possible to go back to the original factory sizes and tread patterns with a tyre like the exceptional Blockley straight sided 33x5 or beaded edge 895x135, which we produce the perfect examples of, which apart from making the cars look so much better (for example see the Pebble Beach Best of Show winner for 2025), the steering will also become so much lighter as originally designed - full details of these exceptional tyres at the links below:
