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Topic starter
31/01/2021 4:07 pm
1938 marked both the demise of Hispano Suiza and the debut of the H6B/C Xenia Coupe with coachwork by Jacques Saoutchik. The letters on the designation denotes the car employed an H6B chassis and an H6C engine and drivetrain. The engine was that monster 8 liter straight 6 that was 1/2 of a Nieuport Aviation V12. H-S also supplied a one-off 4 speed transmission. The styling on this car always reminds me of the futuristic Flash Gordon space ships of that same era. Andre Dubonnet used his family money to indulge himself in the cutting edge of the automotive world. He started out as a driver for Bugatti, developed many innovations in suspensions and, of course, commissioned some of the most beautiful cars of his era.
31/01/2021 4:35 pm
Fantastic report: write-up & photographs. Are these really models of Flash-Gordon featured space craft or creative imaginings of the ilk? They are wonderful. Any further information would be much appreciated.
John Kuvakas and John Kuvakas reacted
31/01/2021 4:58 pm
I could not resist adding an old shot of mine featuring the Xenia docked alongside other spacemobiles of the time: a Partout bodied 1937 Delage D8 120S and a 1940 (41?) Alfa-Romeo 6C 2500 by Pininfarina.
31/01/2021 5:26 pm
@charles-rockett Beautiful automobiles. Is this the Spark Delage? I am aware of 2 other renderings in 1/43 by IXO and Heco (Heco's window is rolled half down). Who made the Alfa? Looks like it is a white metal model...
John Kuvakas and John Kuvakas reacted
31/01/2021 5:47 pm
@chav Hi Chav, indeed this is the Spark Delage, but I've since acquire the Heco edition produced under the label 'Challenge by Heco'. The Heco version captures a very subtle 'flat curvature' that is hard to describe, but popular - notably by Figoni et Falaschi at the time. Bonnets were quite flat at the top and sides yet at the same time bulbous: giving quite a muscular, aggressive stance to these vehicles. The Spark rendering appears too refined to my eye. Added to this, there is a wonderful detail, again often used at the time, whereby the line where the windscreens meet the roofline on a plan view is markedly curved, yet horizontally cut aggressively straight which gives a heavy-browed appearance to the vehicle. It is well worth getting the Heco version. I shall try and take some shots over the next day or so (very busy at the moment): Plus, as you know, my photography isn't great!
The Alfa is ABC Brianza, though again, there are I believe a number of different renderings of these about.
31/01/2021 6:01 pm
@charles-rockett Alright, we have to talk about it ... I have the IXO version in 1/43 and the Automodello version in 1/24, my favorite scale is 1/24. Unfortunately, I am not entirely happy with the Automodello's shapes ... and I love this car. Heco's shapes/proportions looked better, I have noticed only one error on the Heco's model but I've seen it on pictures only. When you have time, let's open a new thread and talk about it, I also have many photos of the 1:1 that I photographed at Concours d'Elegance few years ago.
31/01/2021 8:00 pm
@charles-rockett there are already pictures on eBay of the Heco model, perhaps if you want a specific angle than you can take your own one. I can put a post together in few days, I am off work this week.
Topic starter
31/01/2021 8:07 pm
@charles-rockett The top model is the Dr Zarkoff ship that took the 3 to the planet Mongo.
The lower one belongs to Ming the Merciless.
31/01/2021 9:54 pm
@rich-sufficool My goodness! So many far off worlds I never knew existed. I shall do a little intergalactic research on the interweb.