Category: classic cars

The 1938 Hispano-Suiza “Xenia”

by BJM Publishing, posted in classic cars

Some cars are just on another level—so exotic and impressive that they make everything else look ordinary. Most countries are lucky to have even one “legend” to their name. You’ve got the American Duesenberg SJ, Britain’s 12-cylinder Rolls-Royce Phantom III, Germany’s supercharged Mercedes SSKL, and France’s massive Bugatti Royale. But then there’s Hispano-Suiza. These cars were in a league of their own. No expenses were spared on their creation ensuring they were the best ever built.

The brand started back in 1901 when a Swiss engineer named Marc Birkigt convinced his Spanish boss, Emilio La Cuadra, to pivot from electric buses to motor cars. The name “Hispano-Suiza” literally means Spanish-Swiss, a nod to the Spanish money and Swiss engineering behind it.

During the 1920’s and ‘30s the company produced the vehicles that established its reputation among the elite of the world’s great motor cars. The H6, which debuted at the 1919 Paris Motor Show is still considered one of the greatest cars ever made.

When the Great Depression hit in the ’30s, most luxury carmakers panicked as their pool of wealthy buyers dried up. But Hispano-Suiza doubled down, refusing to compromise on their huge, powerful, over-the-top designs. While they eventually stopped production in France by 1938, they kept things going in Barcelona until World War II began.

One of the coolest stories from this era involves André Dubonnet, a wealthy heir to the aperitif fortune and race car driver. He commissioned the 1938 “Xenia”—named after his late wife—which is basically the peak of pre-war Art Deco design. It’s a sleek, curvy, one-of-a-kind masterpiece that looks like it’s from another planet. He won a sports car race at Boulogne with it in 1921.

In the end, Hispano-Suiza was a perfect mix of world-class engineering and pure style. Marc Birkigt eventually retired in 1950, and in a fitting twist, the French side of his company ended up merging with Bugatti.

A collage of luxury cars from long ago era

Can you guess the other luxury cars in the above collage? Which is a kit car?

Volkswagen – Punch buggy

by BJM Publishing, posted in Adventure, Art, classic cars

In the 1960s, Volkswagens—specifically the ‘Beetle’ and the ‘Microbus’—attained legendary status by serving as both practical transport (more miles to a gallon of gas) and powerful cultural symbols. Their popularity was driven by a combination of affordability (everyday working class and students), mechanical simplicity (easy to repair), and a revolutionary marketing campaign that resonated with a generation looking for an alternative to mainstream American consumerism. Check out “think small” campaign on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8KQVjvmEGk

The car’s modest, unchanging design represented a rejection of “planned obsolescence”—the American trend of changing car styles every year to force new purchases. Young people today would know that term from the Apple and Samsung lawsuit for deliberately slowing down the performance of older models of their phones.

Many critics, consumer advocacy groups, and technology analysts consider the constant upgrading of Windows—specifically the transition from Windows 10 to Windows 11—to be a form of planned obsolescence. This perspective argues that Microsoft is employing a “design to die” approach, where functional hardware is rendered obsolete by software requirements, forcing consumers to purchase new devices.

 Ecclesiastes 1:9 says, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

The Beetle and Microbus were available, cheap, and relatively reliable by the standards of the 1960s. These were solid assets for a subculture that could be short on funds. Volkswagen managed to fulfill this niche despite its less than savory origins.

In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler commissioned Ferdinand Porsche to design an affordable, reliable car for the German masses—a “Volkswagen”. It was intended to represent Nazi Germany’s engineering superiority.

The production of the Beetle relied on forced labor, including prisoners of war and victims from concentration camps, to build the factory and the vehicles. The Nazis launched a program allowing workers to save for a car by buying stamps. Thousands of Germans paid into this scheme, but when war broke out, the factory pivoted to military production, and not a single civilian customer ever received their promised car, nor were they refunded. So a product of the usual political corruption and fraud that runs rampant today.

How then did the Beetle become a symbol of fun, freedom, and rebellion?

The Volkswagen Beetle became immensely popular in the United States and Canada during the 1960s and 1970s by offering a, reliable, and affordable alternative to the large, fuel-thirsty “land yachts” produced by Detroit at the time. Its success was driven by a combination of, clever marketing, superior engineering for its price point, and its eventual adoption as a counterculture symbol partly through movies like the ‘Herbie’ series, etc.

The punch buggy game involves players spotting Volkswagen Beetles and calling out “punch buggy!” (and colour) when they see one, earning them the right to deliver a (supposedly) gentle punch to a fellow passenger’s arm. And that’s really the whole game: The first person to spot a VW Bug and call it out gets to punch someone. Simple but possibly quite bruising to one’s arm. We still play it today but since volkswagens have all but disappeared around our area, we don’t play as frequently. I have heard though that the VW beetle is supposed to be making a comeback in 2026. Fingers crossed!