Car Restoration Projects

Following an exhaustive multi-year restoration, RM Auto Restoration unveiled this 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C ‘Tulipwood’ Torpedo on the concours field in mid-2025. The result was a Best of Show win at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, adding to this car’s already substantial provenance.

The story of the 1924 ‘Tulipwood’ Torpedo begins with one André Dubonnet, the grandson of Joseph Dubonnet, founder of the Dubonnet apéritif firm, from whom he inherited substantial wealth. 

However, André was no chinless wonder, living a dilettante’s life off his inheritance. In contrast: he was a French World War One fighter pilot, credited with six aerial victories; a prominent race car driver; a 1928 Olympic bobsled team member and an inventor. (We’ll post a feature on him, on this website, in September 2025.)

At the outset, HV has to thank RM Sotheby’s, RM Auto Restoration and Hispano-Suiza marque historian, Hans Veenenbos, for their research into the history of this wonderful car.

The Tulipwood Torpedo

Dubonnet was a connoisseur of coachbuilt automobiles – in particular, Bugatti and Hispano-Suiza chassis –  tailored to his demanding specifications. For the 1924 racing season he wanted to contest the Targa Florio and Coppa Florio races in Sicily. After 1914, the Targa consisted of four 108km laps and the Coppa, an additional lap.

André decided that a heavier Hispano chassis and powertrain was preferable to a Bugatti for this event, but to make it as light and slippery as possible, he would commission an aircraft-style body for it.

Another decisive point in favour of the Hispano-Suiza was the recent release of the eight-litre, overhead-cam Hispano-Suiza H6C Type Sport chassis. 

Before the H6C’s 1924 release, the Hispano-Suiza 6.6-litre H6 was already outstanding and was described by British historian T R Nicholson as: “the last word in advanced transport for the rich”. 

Developed from the company’s proven aero engines of World War I, the 6.6-litre, overhead-cam, straight six was cast in aluminium, with a fixed head, steel liners, two valves per cylinder, and a seven-main-bearing crankshaft, with full lubrication. Mated to a light, rigid chassis, it resulted in outstanding performance and its servo-assisted brakes, with finned aluminium drums, assured quick stops.

The H6 was succeeded in 1921 by the H6B and then the H6C. This larger 7.9-litre ‘C’ engine was the ultimate six-cylinder Hispano-Suiza, based on those in the ‘Boulogne’ racing cars and was capable of speeds approaching 110 mph.

Only Hispano-Suiza co-founder, Marc Birkigt, took delivery of an H6C earlier than did André, reflecting the aperitif heir’s importance to the firm. Dubonnet’s was one of three factory-built lowered surbaissé chassis, fitted with a lowered radiator, plus the 52-imperial gallon fuel tank needed for long races. 

Some of Dubonnet’s competitors were also aviators and had worked out that aircraft construction methods could be used to make lightweight racing car bodies; particularly since steel chassis had adequate strength and didn’t need load-bearing bodywork. Thus began an interest in fabric-over-frame and all-wooden bodies.

‘Skiff’ car bodies were pioneered in the post-War period, most notably by the French coachbuilder Labourdette and followed closely the construction and beautiful appearance of lightweight boats and rowing skiffs.

Dubonnet commissioned aircraft manufacturer Nieuport-Astra of Argenteuil to design and make the body for his car. Henri Chasseriaux, the company’s engineer, employed decorative 3.2mm-thick strips of mahogany – not actually tulipwood – over a strong base wooden layer, on top of 19mm-thick ribs. 

The wood layers and ribs were held together by around 8500 aluminium rivets and then varnished. Successive honey-coloured varnish coats gave the exposed rivet heads the golden appearance of brass, not silver alloy.

Nieuport’s open torpedo reportedly weighed only around 50kg and that was featherweight in comparison with traditional steel panels laid over wooden frames. 

On 27th April 1924, Dubonnet drove the open-wheeled H6C, Paris registration 6966-I6, through the torturous Sicilian mountains, at racing speeds. The Targa Florio was already recognised as one of the most rigorous and dangerous performance tests and remained that way until the last race, in 1973. 

The Tulipwood Torpedo finished sixth overall, before André then ran the additional lap, to complete the Coppa Florio, in which he finished fifth overall. The Hispano Suiza was on the Madonie circuit for 8.5 hours, including time delays to change wheels, following several tyre punctures. 

Following its brief but successful competition career, the car was then set up for road use, with flat mudguards, a low windscreen, a small door, a large searchlight on the passenger’s side and headlights.

Subsequently, the Hispano-Suiza was bought by the Coty family of perfume fame and was probably used mainly by the noted Hispanophile, Roland Coty, the magnate’s son. 

According to the biography A Zest for Life, Scottish marmalade heir and archaeologist, Alexander Keiller, acquired the car in early 1925 and it was registered in London as XX 3883.

It acquired flowing open fenders and some other touches that were likely added for Keiller by coachbuilder, Barker, whose name appears on original photographs of the car, held in the Nethercutt Collection’s library. These changes were very similar to those on Barker-bodied Mercedes-Benzes and Rolls-Royces of the era.

The car then had what seemed to be a new exhaust system, a cover over the rear seat, cycle-style fenders and other minor trim changes. 

Keiller put the Hispano-Suiza into storage in Plymouth for the duration of World War II and, according to the late British motoring historian, Bill Boddy, in the September 1959 issue of Motor Sport: “A bomb splinter caused some damage to the tail, but otherwise it remained in original trim”.

In 1950, Rodney Forestier-Walker acquired the car and repaired the War wounds in the tail with plywood. He changed the front and rear windscreens, and replaced the original Blériot headlights with Lucidus units.

He drove the Hispano-Suiza for six years, writing fondly of his travels in an article, A Journey to Remember that was published in a March 1954 edition of The Motor magazine.

Then London resident, Gerald Albertini, a Standard Oil heir and passionate automobile enthusiast, spotted the parked Hispano Suiza in 1955 and left a note on the windshield, offering to buy it. 

Forestier-Walker was in no mood to sell his prized car, but, some six months later, changed circumstances forced the sale. Interestingly, the transaction was concluded at a Welsh roadside, because the seller’s family was heartbroken and could not bear to see the car go. 

Albertini soon undertook a restoration of his new acquisition, with the mechanical components rebuilt under the supervision of the great Hispano-Suiza technician, George Briand. Reportedly, the car had run only a little over 17,000 miles and showed virtually no wear, aside from the clutch. To suit Mr Albertini’s build, a smaller steering wheel was fitted; the seat moved back and a longer, cranked outside gear-lever was mounted.

Coachwork restoration was handled by Panelcraft of Putney, with  new-wood repairs made to the areas damaged in the War.

A much more significant change was replacement of the cycle-style fenders fitted by Mr Keiller with elegant wooden torpedoes. Each mudguard was meticulously hand-crafted by an elderly boat-builder, Harry Day, who fitted shaped wooden strips over a hand-beaten alloy shell. Perfectly matching the car’s body, these wooden strips were attached by aluminium rivets, then sanded and varnished. 

Trim changes including copper-plating of the wheel hubs, spokes and ‘knock-offs’, and some lower body panels. The interior was recovered in cream leather. 

At its completion by Panelcraft, in 1957, the restored Hispano-Suiza was taken by Mr and Mrs Albertini on an extended tour of France and Italy, where it attracted the interest of the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, which featured it on its cover, complete with mounted luggage.

In 1964, the Hispano-Suiza made its way Stateside, courtesy of renowned Bentley collector E Ann Klein, from whom It was soon acquired by Richard E ‘Jerry’ Riegel, Jr. This motoring enthusiast and historian occasionally showed the Hispano-Suiza during the 1960s – notably appearing in the annual Sports Cars on Review exhibit at the Henry Ford Museum in 1965 and at the 1969 New York Auto Show.

The Hispano-Suiza was bought at Kirk F White’s 1973 Philadelphia auction by the late John Warth, who, his son Richard fondly recalled, drove it from Pennsylvania into New York City, to dine at Lutèce with the restaurant’s owner, fellow French coachwork partisan André Surmain. 

The car was then sold to Anthony Bamford; then to wealthy racing driver, Michel Poberejsky – nom de course Mike Sparken – who registered it in France in Hauts de Seine as 2396 EA 92. From Poberejsky, the car is believed to have passed, in 1982, to a Greek shipping executive, Ares Emmanuel, who was then living in London. 

In 1983, the car was acquired by a new owner, who engaged Mike Fennel to conduct an eight-month restoration in 1985. In this refurbished condition it was entered in the 1986 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, winning the Alec Ulmann Trophy for Most Significant Hispano-Suiza. 

Several years later, it was purchased for a collection, where it remained preserved and largely out of sight. During this time, it was occasionally featured in books and magazines – most notably in the November 2021 edition of the Hispano Drivers Club Newsletter.

The Tulipwood Torpedo sold for US$9,245,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction in 2022. 

Following the sale, RM Auto Restoration took custody of the car and embarked on an extensive research and restoration program. The result was a return to its original 1924 configuration, restoring one of the most unique and complex automobiles in history to concours-winning condition.

“This car is simply a masterpiece,” said Gord Duff, president of RM Sotheby’s. 

“To me, this is the Mona Lisa of cars and I never imagined years ago that our company would be involved in the sale of this car, let alone serve as the restoration firm to return it to its original glory. 

“The fact that our team was entrusted to restore something this important is an incredible honour.”

The Tulipwood Torpedo’s 2025 return to Pebble Beach is the result of more than 12,000 hours of meticulous craftsmanship by RM Auto Restoration. 

The car’s fenders that had been replaced in the 1950s, were re-created to match the original 1924 design. Countless small but significant details were sourced or custom-fabricated, requiring a level of precision and historical accuracy that few restorations demand. The result is a faithful return to form for one of the world’s most celebrated automobiles.

The Tulipwood Torpedo is the best-known Hispano-Suiza in the world and among the most famous French automobiles ever built. This hallowed field includes the Bugatti Atlantic and ‘teardrop’ Talbot-Lagos – privileged company, indeed.

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