1933 HISPANO-SUIZA J12 ‘LABOURDETTE’ ROADSTER
Following the Second World War French industry was in a parlous state. Materials and skilled personnel were in short supply and car production was slow to resume.

With this background in mind, Jules M. Heumann, the president of Hispano-Suiza Club of America and of the world’s great experts on the Marque, wrote an article in June 1996 for the club magazine explaining in 1949 Prince Poniatowski a Senior Vice President of Hispano-Suiza, received intelligence all the Hispano-Suiza spares from the Bois-Colombes factory, had been secreted away along with all the factory records in the Artic Garage in Neuilly during the occupation. Arctic Garage was run by Henri Moreau the ‘Chef du Garage’ at Hispano-Suiza who looked after and serviced all the customers cars, so the Prince took it upon himself to ask Henri to build him a Hispano-Suiza J12, a rare and prized car pre-war, would be a sensation in austerity ridden 1949 and Mr. Moreau was more than qualified and had everything at hand to fulfil the task.
The chassis number 14001 was then allocated to an ultra-rare ‘court’ or ‘short’ chassis and construction began, only 8 ‘court’ chassis are believed to have been made and only 4 of those have survived, including 14001. In the course of the build the V12 engine was enlarged from 9.4 Litre T68 to 11.3 Litre T68 bis specification, originally T68bis engines were installed on just two J12 chassis.
This combination of a short chassis, 11.3 litre engine and preferred early crash gearbox gave the car stunning performance.

At the same time Hispano-Suiza were using the former premises of coachbuilders Vanvooren as warehousing, employing the workforce from the former coachbuilders Labourdette. On discovering that skilled staff remained working there, Moreau gained approval from the Prince to use their talents to create the body for 14001. A simple but flowing design, with two small doors and rudimentary fittings including a plain flat windshield. A small rear seat had to be entered by climbing over from the front and the car had no soft top and the 14001 when finished was registered in France as 2432-RG4 and remained with Prince Poniatowski until he sold it in 1954 to a Mr. Ruggiero, who took the J12 to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.
Later the J12 was returned to France by a Mr. Fougeron from Montpellier. It was from him that Dr. Irvin Ginsburg of Buffalo NY purchased the car during the late 1970’s and In the course of a complete refurbishment Dr. Ginsburg had the doors enlarged and hinged on the rear edge to allow access to the rear seat, a more elaborate and larger windshield, reshaped front wings and a remodelled rear panel enclosing the spare wheel. Finally, a full convertible top was designed and fitted and as such the J12 appeared at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elégance of 1988, where it was awarded second in class.
The J12 was subsequently owned by a Mr. Brozler in Austria, then a Mr. Zweimüller in Austria, and Mr. Seekamp in Germany.
Now tax paid and registered in the UK, maintained in fabulous condition by the current highly experienced multiple Hispano-Suiza owner, this J12 with its unique provenance is an amazing example of post war resourcefulness married to classic touring car elegance and exceptional drivability.

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