Hispano-Suiza H6b Million-guiet Dual-cowl Phaeton

Hispano-Suiza means Spanish-Swiss and is the result of a collaboration entered into around 1900 by the Spanish electric car manufacturer Emilio de la Cuadra and the Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt.

Pale blue is not the colour you would normally expect to see on a car such as this. Nevertheless, the Parisian coachbuilder Million-Guiet was commissioned by Norma Talmadge in 1924 to build this Dual-Cowl Phaeton, based on a Hispano-Suiza H6B. Norma Talmadge was a very popular American movie star of the 1920s; her brother-in-law was the famous actor and comedian Buster Keaton. Hispano-Suiza produced cars and lorries, moving on to aircraft engines a little later. Initially the factory was situated in Spain, but as many orders came in from France, a branch was also opened in Paris. The H6 was the first all-French model. The flying stork, which graced the radiator of each Hispano-Suiza after World War I, was the squadron mascot of the French fighter ace Georges Guynemer. During the war he flew a SPAD biplane, which was powered by a Hispano-Suiza V8.