The Hispano-Suiza J12 is a by arrangement with the customer's coachbuilder from Hispano-Suiza, built from 1931 to 1938, when streamlining and independent suspension were arriving together. Under the bonnet: V12. Marc Birkigt drew it. The total made was 114.
The background
The Hispano-Suiza J12 is a luxury automobile that was made by Hispano-Suiza in France from 1931 to 1938. It was the largest and most expensive car ever built by Hispano-Suiza. It replaced the Hispano-Suiza H6. The J12 was only available as a chassis, buyers having to arrange with an outside coachbuilder to add a body. Hispano-Suiza suspended automobile production in 1938 to concentrate on the manufacture of aircraft engines.
The engineering
Power comes from V12. It weighs 2000 kg. It shifts through a 3-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Hispano-Suiza H6. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Bugatti Type 57, the Chevrolet Suburban, the Tatra V570 — show what else the money bought that year. Its Hispano-Suiza stablemates include the HIspano-Suiza K8 and the Hispano-Suiza Alfonso XIII.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the Hispano-Suiza J12 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.