AVIONS VOISIN

Avions Voisin, cars, airplanes and motorcycles Issy-les-Moulinaux France 1905-1946

Avions Voisin

Industry	Manufacturing
Founded	1905
Founder	Gabriel Voisin
Defunct	1946
Headquarters	Issy-les-Moulineaux (France)
Products	Cars, airplane

1919 Avion Voisin C1

1920 The first Avions Voisin C2 prototype

1921 C3 objet c3L

1923 Avions Voisin Type C3L Limousine

1922-26 Avions Voisin C4-C4S c

 

Voisin C5 1924

1923 Avion Voisin C6 Lab

1925 Avion Voisin C7 Chastness

1924 Avion Voisin C8L

1924 Avions Voisin 10CV as shown in the 1924 October catalog.

1926 avion voisin-c11-la-lumineuse

1926 This huge and imposingly elegant Avion Voisin C12 convertible was bodied by Duvivier.

1927 carte Avion Voisin c14 espagnole

1929-30 Avions Voisin C15

1932 Avion Voisin C16, unique example bodied by Ottin

1930-35 Avions Voisin C18

 

1931 Avion Voisin C20

1931-35 Avion Voisin C21 Unique

1934 carte Avions Voisin C22

1931 Avion Voisin C23 Myra Saloon

1934 C24 Figoni a

 

 Voisin C25 Aérodyne, 1934, in a Paris Museum

 Voisin C25 Aérodyne, 1934

 Voisin C26

 Avions Voisin C27

1935 Avion Voisin C28 Aerosport

1936 Avion Voisin C28

1938 Avion Voisin C28 Saliot Cabriolet

1938 Avions Voisin modèle C30

1939 Avion Voisin C30

Avions Voisin was a French luxury automobile brand established by Gabriel Voisin in 1919 which traded until 1939.

History

Gabriel B. Voisin was an aviation pioneer and manufacturer who in 1919 started producing cars using Knight-type sleeve valve engines at Issy-les-Moulineaux, an industrial suburb to the southwest of Paris. Former student of the Fine Arts School of Lyon and enthusiast for all things mechanical since his childhood, Voisin’s uncompromisingly individual designs made extensive use of light alloys, especially aluminum. One of the company’s most striking early designs was the Laboratoire Grand Prix car of 1923; one of the first cars ever to use monocoque chassis construction, and utilising small radiator-mounted propeller to drive the cooling pump. The characteristic Voisin style of ‘rational’ coachwork he developed in conjunction with his collaborator André Noel. Noel prioritized lightness, central weight distribution, capacious luggage boxes and distinctively angular lines. The 1930s models with underslung chassis were strikingly low.

In the early 1930s, Gabriel Voisin could not pay all of his draftsmen any more and a young creative engineer called André Lefèbvre quit, recommended by Gabriel to Louis Renault. Lefèbvre finally entered Citroën where he led three particularly significant car projects: the Traction Avant, the 2CV and the DS, using a lot of Gabriel’s lessons.

Engines

Sleeve valve Knight engines were used exclusively until some later models switched to Graham 3.5 litre engines. The Knight engines included: inline four; inline six; V8 (prototype); V12 – 7.2 liter, 1921 (prototype); Inline twelve and a Seven-cylinder radial (prototype).

After the Second World War

After the war the business was nationalised in the political turmoil and the Government installed directors who did not continue the original engineering traditions. The Voisin business was integrated into that of its principal creditor, engine supplier Gnome & Rhône which was in turn nationalised in 1945 to form the basis for what now became the state-directed SNECMA business.

Voisin presented a “Biscooter Voisin” at the 1950 Paris Motorcycle and Bicycle Show, a voiturette intended for the impoverished age, with a front mounted 125 cc engine from Gnome & Rhône. The aluminium-bodied vehicle had a three-speed transmission with a secondary gear and did not require a driver’s license. The company failed to proceed with the Biscooter and instead mandated a Mr. Moglia, previously employed by Hotchkiss to develop an alternative voiturette. Moglia’s design appeared at the 1952 Paris Motor Show fitted with the same Gnome & Rhône engine, but on Moglia’s design the engine was moved to the rear of the little vehicle. The braking and suspension systems were also quite different. The Moglia design was presented as the new “Biscooter Voisin”, a nomenclature which at least one commentator found “abusive”.

The vehicle, renamed Biscúter, was adapted for Spanish conditions and about 12,000 were produced in Catalonia between 1953 and 1960.

Modern life

• A 1934 C-15 Ets. Saliot Roadster won best of show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance for 2002
• A 1934 C-25 Aérodyne owned by Peter and Merle Mullin won best of show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance for 2011
• A 1935 Avions Voisin C25 Aérodyne was auctioned in Pebble Beach, California on August 18, 2013 for a price tag of $1,925,000.

Popular culture

In the 1933 Universal Pictures film adaptation of H. G. Wells‘s The Invisible Man, Dr Kemp drives a Voisin C-3 touring car.

In the 2005 movie Sahara, the car stolen from the dictator is a 1936 Avions Voisin C-28. Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt recognizes the car and says “It’s a 1936 Avions Voisin. Six-cylinder sleeve valve engine, you know there was only six of these ever made.” In actuality, the movie car is a fiberglass replica of a 1936 C-28 Avions Voisin with a 4.2 Jaguar engine and Rover automatic gear box on a 4WD chassis built by D Tessier (a well known restorer of Avions Voisin automobiles) in Tours, France. Clive Cussler (author of the novel the movie was based on) has a genuine 1936 Avions Voisin, similar to the C-28 that inspired the replica, in his Colorado museum. It was designed by well-known British special effects expert and stunt vehicles coordinator, Steve Lamonby and completed in four months. To make the actors more visible, the roof was removed giving it the appearance of a mid-1930s four-door cabriolet. “GV” letters on the registration plate are an insider tribute to the original C-28’s legendary manufacturer, Gabriel Voisin. The Voisin C-28 Sahara, as it has become known, sold at auction for US$23,400 in 2008.

The 2011 video game L.A. Noire features a driveable 1938 Voisin C30 (not C7) hidden at the corner of La Brea and Sunset Boulevard, in an Alaco gas station.

References

1. Jump up^ G.N. Georgano, G.N. (Editor) (1982). Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars. London: Ebury Press. ISBN 0-85223-234-9.
2. Jump up^ Artcurial Motorcars à Rétromobile (Vente n^o 1957), Paris, France: Artcurial-Briest-Poulain-F.Tajan, 2011-02-04, p. 113
3. Jump up^ “Automobilia”. Toutes les voitures françaises 1953 (salon Paris oct 1952) (Paris: Histoire & collections). Nr. 14: Page 77. 2000.
4. Jump up^ Vaughn, Mark (September 5, 2011). “French Elegance”. AutoWeek 61 (18): 7.
5. Jump up^ Jerry Garrett (July 26, 2013). “A Deco Confection, Flamboyant and French”. The New York Times. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
6. Jump up^ http://www.goodingco.com/vehicle/1935-avions-voisin-c25-aerodyne/
7. Jump up^ http://www.imcdb.org/movie_24184-The-Invisible-Man.html
8. Jump up^ http://www.imcdb.org/vehicles.php?make=Voisin&model=C28&modelMatch=1&modelInclModel=on
9. Jump up^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318649/trivia
10. Jump up^ “Lot 327: Avions Voisin C28 Sahara Convertible Recreation” (Auction catalogue). Bonhams. 2008-08-15.

• Website (english/french) about the Avions Voisin automobiles
• “Driving a 1935 Avions Voisin C25 Aérodyne”

More pictures I collected:

1934-Voisin C27 Figoni Cabriolet

That’s what I could find about Avions Voisin.

Buses, cars, trucks, aeroplanes, machinery HISPANO-SUIZA Spain

Hispano-Suiza

Hispano-Suiza

Industry	Automotive/Engineering
Fate	discontinued
Founded	June 14, 1904
Defunct	1968
Headquarters	Barcelona, Spain
Key people	Emilio de la Cuadra, Marc Birkigt
Products	Automobiles, Machinery

Hispano-Suiza (literally: “Spanish-Swiss”) was a Spanish automotive and engineering firm, best known for its luxury cars and aviation engines in the pre-World War II period of the twentieth century. In 1923 its French subsidiary became a semi-autonomous partnership with the parent company. In 1968, the French arm was taken over by the aerospace company Snecma, now a part of the French SAFRAN Group. The Spanish parent sold all its automotive assets to Enasa in 1946.

They designed the first 4 cylinder 16 valve engine and the car considered to have been the very first real sports car in history, the Hispano Suiza 45 Cr. 

History

Early years

In 1898 a Spanish artillery captain, Emilio de la Cuadra, started electric automobile production in Barcelona under the name of La Cuadra. In Paris, De la Cuadra met the Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt (1878–1953) and hired him to work for the company in Spain. La Cuadra built their first gasoline-powered engines from a Birkigt design. At some point in 1902, the ownership changed hands to J. Castro and became Fábrica Hispano-Suiza de Automóviles (Spanish-Swiss Automobile Factory) but this company went bankrupt in December 1903.

1908 Hispano-Suiza 12-15 HP

Yet another restructuring took place in 1904, creating La Hispano-Suiza Fábrica de Automóviles, under Castro’s direction, also based in Barcelona. Four new engines were introduced in the next year and a half. 3.8-litre and 7.4-litre four-cylinder and a pair of big six-cylinder engines were produced. This company managed to avoid bankruptcy and its largest operations remained in Barcelona until 1946, where cars, trucks, buses, aero engines and weapons were produced. Other factories in Spain were at Ripoll and Guadalajara.

France was soon proving to be a larger market for Hispano’s luxury cars than Spain. In 1911, an assembly factory called Hispano France began operating in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret. Production was moved to larger factories at Bois-Colombes, under the name Hispano-Suiza in 1914.

1911 hispano-suiza-alfonso

1911 Hispano Suiza King Alfonso XIII Double Berline

1915-Hispano-Suiza-15-20HP-Omnibus

1918 Antoni Bellet Hispano Suiza 15-20

World War I

With the start of World War I, Hispano-Suiza turned to the design and production of aircraft engines under the direction of Marc Birkigt. His chief engineer during this period was another Swiss, Louis Massuger. Birkigt’s solution to building aero engines was ahead of its time. Traditionally, aircraft engines were manufactured by machining separate steel cylinders and then bolting these assemblies directly to the crankcase. Birkigt’s novel solution called for the engine block to be formed from a single piece of cast aluminum, and into which thin steel liners were secured. Manufacturing an engine in this way simplified construction and resulted in a lighter, yet stronger more durable engine. Thus, Birkigt’s new construction method created the first practical, and what are commonly known today as, “cast block” engines. His aluminum cast block V-8 design was also noteworthy for incorporating overhead camshafts, propeller reduction gearing and other desirable features that would not appear together on competitor’s engines until the late 1920s. Another major design feature was the use of a hollow propeller shaft to allow projectile firing through the (reduction geared only) propeller spinner, avoiding the need for a synchronization gear, a feature used in future Hispano-Suiza military engines. Hispano-Suiza’s aero engines, produced at its own factories and under license, became the most commonly used aero engines in the French and British air forces, powering over half the alliance’s fighter aircraft.

1918 Antoni Bellet Hispano Suiza 15-20

1918–1936

After World War I, Hispano-Suiza returned to automobile manufacturing and, in 1919, introduced the H6. The H6 featured an inline 6-cylinder overhead camshaft engine based on the features of its V8 aluminum World War I aircraft engines and a body design by the American coach designers Hibbard & Darrin.

Licences for Hispano-Suiza patents were much in demand from prestige car manufacturers world-wide. Rolls-Royce used a number of Hispano-Suiza patents. For instance, for many years Rolls Royce installed Hispano-Suiza designed power brakes in its vehicles.

Through the 1920s and into the 1930s, Hispano-Suiza built a series of luxury cars with overhead camshaft engines of increasing performance. On the other hand, in the 1930s, Hispano-Suiza’s V-12 car engines reverted to pushrod valve actuation to reduce engine noise.

1920 HISPANO-SUIZA Bus

During this time, Hispano-Suiza released the 37.2 Hispano-Suiza car built at the Hispano works in Paris.

In 1923 the French arm of Hispano-Suiza was incorporated as the Societé Française Hispano-Suiza, the Spanish parent company subscribing to 71% of the share capital. The French subsidiary was granted a large degree of financial and project independence but the technical co-operation between the Spanish and French arms of the company was always closely maintained. Luxury car production was increasingly concentrated in France while the Spanish operations moved into the production of commercial vehicles.

Hispano-Suiza stork hood ornament.

The mascot statuette atop the radiator after World War I was the stork, the symbol of the French province of Alsace, taken from the squadron emblem painted on the side of a Hispano-Suiza powered fighter aircraft that had been flown by the World War I French ace Georges Guynemer.

1921-1925 HISPANO SUIZA

In 1925, Carlos Ballester obtained permission to represent Hispano-Suiza in Argentina. The agreement consisted of a phase in which the chassis were imported, followed by complete domestic production in Argentina. Thus “Hispano-Argentina, Fábrica de Automóviles S. A. (HAFDASA)” was born, for the production of Hispano-Suiza motors and automobiles, and also the production of spare parts for other car, truck, and bus manufacturers.

1922 Hispano Suiza  30-40  R Spanje

A fictional example of a Hispano-Suiza appears in the P.G. Wodehouse “Blandings Castle” stories; the family drove or rather were driven in a Hispano-Suiza (H6), rather than, say, a Rolls-Royce. Also in the Agatha Christie novel The Seven Dials Mystery the main character, Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent, drives herself about in her “Hispano”. In Kerry Greenwood‘s detective series set in 1928 Melbourne, the main character Phryne Fisher has a large red open-top Hispano-Suiza. In Evelyn Waugh‘s Decline and Fall Margot Beste-Chetwynde has at least two, as her ‘second best Hispano Suiza’ collects Paul Pennyfeather before his wedding. A yellow open Hispano-Suiza plays a central role in Michael Arlen’s The Green Hat. Perhaps the best known example of a Hispano-Suiza in cinema is the leopard-skin upholstered 1927 model belonging to the demented Norma Desmond, which features prominently in the 1951 classic “Sunset Boulevard”.

Spanish Civil War and World War II

In 1936, the French arm of Hispano-Suiza was told to stop production of cars and turn solely to aircraft engines once again. At the time they had just introduced a new series of water-cooled V-12 engines and the Hispano-Suiza 12Y was in huge demand for practically every French aircraft. However Hispano was never able to deliver enough of these engines, and many French fighters sat on the ground complete but for the engine. Meanwhile, the Republic of Spain conscripted Hispano-Suiza’s Spanish operations into war production of trucks, armoured vehicles and weapons for the civil war of 1936-1939. After the war, the company was severely affected by the devastated state of the Spanish economy and the trade embargoes imposed by the victorious allies. In 1946, Hispano-Suiza sold off its automotive assets to ENASA, the maker of Pegaso trucks.

1922 Hispano Suiza 30-40. Four cylinders, 4710 cc, 43 Horsepower Madrid

A development of the era were a series of 20 mm autocannon, first the Hispano-Suiza HS.9, followed by the Hispano-Suiza HS.404. The 404 was licensed for production in Britain and equipped almost all RAFfighter aircraft during the war. Production was also set up in the US, but these versions never matured even though the USAAC and US Navy both wanted to use it in place of their existing .50 BMG weapons. A lesser-known success was the Hispano-Suiza HS.820, a higher performance 20 mm design that was also used in the US as the M139. A variation of the 20 mm guns used on the Lockheed P-38 Lightningaircraft were produced by International Harvester. In 1970 Hispano-Suiza sold their armaments division to Oerlikon, the HS.820 becoming the KAD.

1922 La viajera Hispano-Suiza de Sagalés

In 1940, Hispano-Suiza, together with the Spanish bank Banco Urquijo and a group of Spanish industrial companies, founded the ‘Sociedad Ibérica de Automóviles de Turismo’ (S.I.A.T.). This led to Spain’s first mass-production car maker SEAT.

1925 HISPANO-SUIZA Bus

1950s–Today

After the Second World War the French arm of Hispano-Suiza continued primarily as an aerospace firm. Between 1945 and 1955, building the Rolls-Royce Nene under licence, designing landing gear in 1950 and Martin-Baker ejection seats in 1955. The company’s attention turned increasingly to turbine manufacturing and, in 1968, it was taken over and became a division of SNECMA. In 1999 Hispano-Suiza moved its turbine operations to a new factory in Bezons, outside Paris, using the original factories for power transmissions and accessory systems for jet engines. In 2005 SNECMA merged with SAGEM to form SAFRAN.

1926 Hispano Suiza REINA VICTORIA HOTEL Y HOTEL NIZA

The marque may be seeing a revival in the automotive sector with the showing of a model at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show .

The Hispano-Suiza is driven by the affluent main character, Phryne, in the Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries television series produced by the ABC (Australia) and set in 1920s Melbourne.

1926-1930 HISPANO SUIZA

ENASA: http://myntransportblog.com/2013/12/20/10254/

1929 Hispano Argentina Bus

1931 Viajera imperial Hispano-Suiza sobre chasis de camión T69

1931-1935 HISPANO SUIZA

1933 Hispano Suiza R Spanje

1933 hispano suiza sanjustenca

1934 Autobús Hispano Suiza

1934 MARTOS (HISPANO SUIZA)

1935 Hispano Suiza de 28 plazas y más tarde un vehículo marca GMC de 30 plazas

1936 HISPANO SUIZA-Bus

1936-1952 HISPANO SUIZA

1938 Hispano Suiza poster

1944 HISPANO SUIZA 66 (PEGASO)

1944 HISPANO SUIZA BUS (PEGASO)

1948 Hispano Suiza. Berichtnavigatie. Buses CHAUSSON France

http://myntransportblog.com/2013/12/14/buses-chausson-france/

1948 hispano-suiza T69 9

1950 Ayats Hispano Suiza Pegaso Diesel

1950 Hispano-Suiza de la Chelvana

1950 hispano-suiza t69

1950 hispano-suiza t69

1950 Hispano-Suiza-Julian de Castro hispano-suiza t69

1952 Hispano Suiza Ayats Espagne 9efb9-smallbus

1952 HISPANO SUIZA Pegaso Z 401 Seida

1953 Hispano Suiza Pegaso Ayats Sp

1953 Hispano-Suiza Spanje

1957 Hispano Suiza Ayats Pegaso

1957 Chausson Hispano Suiza

1959 Chausson Hispano Suiza

1959 Chausson Hispano Suiza

1959 Chausson-Hispano Suiza de la serie 300

Nazar la hispano

1973 Ayats Hispano Suiza Pegaso Z1230

1973 Hispano Suiza Ayats Pegaso 5023 CL

1973 Hispano Suiza. Berichtnavigatie. Buses bodybuilders AYATS Gerona Spain II

1990 Hispano Avutarda Midi MAN Litouwen

1998 Hispano Vita Mercedes Sp

2000- …..HISPANO SUIZA

2001 Hispano Vita Mercedes Sp

2003 Hispano Habit Sp

2007 Hispano Divo II DAF Sp

2008 Hispano Habit Volvo Sp

2013

DAF SB220 with Hispano body

Hispano Astromega Sp

2011 Hispano Divo intercity 595

Hispano Divo Intercity Mercedes Sp

Hispano Divo Sp

Hispano Divo touriste coach 694

Hispano Divo touriste coach 683

Hispano Irisbus EuroRider 35 524

Hispano Iveco EuroRider 35 976

Hispano Sp

Iveco CityClass with Hispano Habut body

Volvo Hispano Habit

Hisp Suiza Tempest Mark V

C-534 EKW C-3603 met Hispano-Suiza motor, korte neus en zonder 3e staartvlak

Hispano Aviación HA-1109K1

Hispano Suiza’s

Hispano Suiza Spaanse He 111

Me 109  Hispano HA 1112 M1L Buchon

RAF S.E.5a (Hispano Suiza) WW1 fighter

END