For Sale at Auction: 1936 Hispano-Suiza J12 in Atlanta, Georgia for sale in Atlanta, GA
Vehicle Description Chassis No.
13033 Engine No.
321113 Body No.
4557 It is almost a cliche to refer to any great, powerful performance car of the 1930s as being another country's Duesenberg - but to call the Hispano-Suiza J12 France's Duesenberg would not be inappropriate, as the car was fully deserving of the title.
The J12 featured pushrod overhead valves, twin alloy cylinder blocks on a common crankcase, a seven-main-bearing crankshaft with side-by-side connecting rods, and convex pistons, altogether coming together to displace nearly 9.
5-liters and churn out some 220 hp.
Not merely vast and fast, it was exceptionally well-engineered from tip to tail, rewarding its driver with a balanced automobile that provided some of the most modern driving experiences of its era.
Those who drive a properly sorted J12 never forget the experience, and it is a rare one; just 114 of the cars were produced, of which only about ten survivors with open coachwork remain.
The J12 offered here, chassis number 13033, was ordered on 29 November 1934, and bodied by the noted Belgian coachbuilders d'Ieteren Freres, Carrosserie de Grand Luxe.
Its impressive design exhibits the solidity of construction common to d'Ieteren's outstanding work, while also having a rather elegant yet bold curved beltline molding flowing back from a distinctive aviation-style three-piece windshield.
The car was also equipped with a folding windshield for the rear seat passengers, a thoughtful and considerate touch more often found on four-door open cars of the era.
On 29 January 1935, the Hispano-Suiza was delivered by the Dutch sales agent, Greve et Cie, to its original owner, a Dr.
Moll (also spelled Mol) van Charante.
A 1974 Dutch newspaper notes that in this era the doctor also owned two other Hispano-Suizas, though somewhat reclusively, as he did not really socialize with the people of his town of Voorschoten - and they largely believed that his home was haunted.
Notes in the file from Hispano-Suiza historian Jules Heumann indicate that the car was carefully dismantled and cleverly hidden through World War II, likely accounting for its survival; later restorer Roger Blumner wryly noted, It was not (the owner's) first war.
The file includes a small copy of a receipt from a garage in Wassenaar for fuel purchased by Moll van Charante of Voorschoten in April 1951.
On 2 November 1954, the Hispano was sold, presumably by the Moll van Charante family, to Dr.
E.
P.
Rink, a physician at the Wallon Hospital in Leiden.
Dr.
Rink then sold the car later in the 1950s to William A.
M.
Burden, Jr.
, of New York City.
Mr.
Burden was the great-great grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and great-grandson of Henry Burden, founder of the Burden Iron Works, with family ties back to the early settlers of Virginia.
He was born into utterly immense wealth, and through his efforts in establishing William A.
M.
Burden & Co.
, one of the earliest and wealthiest family investment offices in New York City, was successful in managing his share.
An avid art collector, he was for six years president of the Museum of Modern Art, and was also active in politics, serving as the United States Ambassador to Belgium under President Dwight D.
Eisenhower.
More pointedly to this story, Bill Burden was a passionate automobile enthusiast, in the truest sense of the word.
In an era when many young men of his means acquired great cars more or less as a matter of course in living their large lives, he was no dilettante, corresponding avidly with all of the great manufacturers and coachbuilders.
His cars were usually finished in rather sober colors, suiting his conservative nature, but were built on the best chassis with the finest, costliest bodywork.
The roster of automobiles that passed through the Burden stable both as new and later in the collector era is extraordinary:
a pair of Duesenberg Model Js; multiple Mercedes-Benzes, including one of the finest SSKs, a fully bespoke 540 K, and a 770; and, later, a 300 SL Gullwing, a Bentley R-Type Continental, and a Cunningham C3 - also offered in this auction.
Mr.
Burden kept the J12 at his palatial estate at Mount Kisco, New York - a manse significant enough that its name, Uplands, was sufficient for its address on his 1959 registration cards.
The car was used regularly until the water pumps failed sometime in the 1960s.
Following Mr.
Burden's death in 1984, the Hispano-Suiza was inherited by his grandson, Edward E.
P.
Burden, a member of the Hispano-Suiza Society, who had its chassis and engine rebuilt in the late 1980s by a young Paul Russell at the Gullwing Service Company.
Edward Burden submitted photographs of the car, still otherwise in very original condition, for the HSS Newsletter in June 1987.
In the early 1990s, it was acquired by collector Alfredo Brener of Texas, who had it cosmetically restored with the addition of rear fender spats and a prominent dorsal molding down the tail.
Soon after the car was acquired by Dr.
Joseph Murphy of New Hope, Pennsylvania, at the time building one of the country's most impressive collections of Full Classic automobiles, which in addition to the Hispano included several significant Duesenbergs and Dietrich Individual Custom Packards.
During his ownership, the car was featured in Dennis Adler's book on the Murphy collection, aptly titled In Search of Excellence.
Dr.
Murphy sold the J12 to his longtime collaborator Jerry Sauls in 1999; it shortly passed back into the care of an apparently nostalgic Mr.
Brener, then into the large Hispano-Suiza collection of Jorge Fernandez.
Mr.
Fernandez had the car refinished to the present more appropriate livery; he then exhibited the car at the 2003 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
From Mr.
Fernandez the J12 was purchased in 2004 by J.
Peter Ministrelli of Michigan, then in 2006 was acquired by the Academy of Art University, in whose collection it has happily resided now for thirteen years.
The restoration of the car is well-mellowed, with the expected age visible to the paint and interior, though it remains quite solid and all body panels still open and close with authority.
Within is remarkably well-detailed, with overstuffed brown leather seats surrounded by rich, hefty woodwork and chrome, and accents including crystal ashtrays.
The original engine number stamping is still present on both the oil filler cover and is of the correct sequence to be the original engine to this car.
Accompanying the J12 is a small history file, complete with the documentation mentioned here, as well as original Burden registrations and excerpts from the Hispano-Suiza and d'Ieteren archives.
It seems fitting for a bidder to consider the same points that Dr.
Rink made in writing a letter to Bill Burden.
I assure you that this is a real royal voiture.
I have always had extraordinary cars, but something like this Hispano will never come back.
13033 Engine No.
321113 Body No.
4557 It is almost a cliche to refer to any great, powerful performance car of the 1930s as being another country's Duesenberg - but to call the Hispano-Suiza J12 France's Duesenberg would not be inappropriate, as the car was fully deserving of the title.
The J12 featured pushrod overhead valves, twin alloy cylinder blocks on a common crankcase, a seven-main-bearing crankshaft with side-by-side connecting rods, and convex pistons, altogether coming together to displace nearly 9.
5-liters and churn out some 220 hp.
Not merely vast and fast, it was exceptionally well-engineered from tip to tail, rewarding its driver with a balanced automobile that provided some of the most modern driving experiences of its era.
Those who drive a properly sorted J12 never forget the experience, and it is a rare one; just 114 of the cars were produced, of which only about ten survivors with open coachwork remain.
The J12 offered here, chassis number 13033, was ordered on 29 November 1934, and bodied by the noted Belgian coachbuilders d'Ieteren Freres, Carrosserie de Grand Luxe.
Its impressive design exhibits the solidity of construction common to d'Ieteren's outstanding work, while also having a rather elegant yet bold curved beltline molding flowing back from a distinctive aviation-style three-piece windshield.
The car was also equipped with a folding windshield for the rear seat passengers, a thoughtful and considerate touch more often found on four-door open cars of the era.
On 29 January 1935, the Hispano-Suiza was delivered by the Dutch sales agent, Greve et Cie, to its original owner, a Dr.
Moll (also spelled Mol) van Charante.
A 1974 Dutch newspaper notes that in this era the doctor also owned two other Hispano-Suizas, though somewhat reclusively, as he did not really socialize with the people of his town of Voorschoten - and they largely believed that his home was haunted.
Notes in the file from Hispano-Suiza historian Jules Heumann indicate that the car was carefully dismantled and cleverly hidden through World War II, likely accounting for its survival; later restorer Roger Blumner wryly noted, It was not (the owner's) first war.
The file includes a small copy of a receipt from a garage in Wassenaar for fuel purchased by Moll van Charante of Voorschoten in April 1951.
On 2 November 1954, the Hispano was sold, presumably by the Moll van Charante family, to Dr.
E.
P.
Rink, a physician at the Wallon Hospital in Leiden.
Dr.
Rink then sold the car later in the 1950s to William A.
M.
Burden, Jr.
, of New York City.
Mr.
Burden was the great-great grandson of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and great-grandson of Henry Burden, founder of the Burden Iron Works, with family ties back to the early settlers of Virginia.
He was born into utterly immense wealth, and through his efforts in establishing William A.
M.
Burden & Co.
, one of the earliest and wealthiest family investment offices in New York City, was successful in managing his share.
An avid art collector, he was for six years president of the Museum of Modern Art, and was also active in politics, serving as the United States Ambassador to Belgium under President Dwight D.
Eisenhower.
More pointedly to this story, Bill Burden was a passionate automobile enthusiast, in the truest sense of the word.
In an era when many young men of his means acquired great cars more or less as a matter of course in living their large lives, he was no dilettante, corresponding avidly with all of the great manufacturers and coachbuilders.
His cars were usually finished in rather sober colors, suiting his conservative nature, but were built on the best chassis with the finest, costliest bodywork.
The roster of automobiles that passed through the Burden stable both as new and later in the collector era is extraordinary:
a pair of Duesenberg Model Js; multiple Mercedes-Benzes, including one of the finest SSKs, a fully bespoke 540 K, and a 770; and, later, a 300 SL Gullwing, a Bentley R-Type Continental, and a Cunningham C3 - also offered in this auction.
Mr.
Burden kept the J12 at his palatial estate at Mount Kisco, New York - a manse significant enough that its name, Uplands, was sufficient for its address on his 1959 registration cards.
The car was used regularly until the water pumps failed sometime in the 1960s.
Following Mr.
Burden's death in 1984, the Hispano-Suiza was inherited by his grandson, Edward E.
P.
Burden, a member of the Hispano-Suiza Society, who had its chassis and engine rebuilt in the late 1980s by a young Paul Russell at the Gullwing Service Company.
Edward Burden submitted photographs of the car, still otherwise in very original condition, for the HSS Newsletter in June 1987.
In the early 1990s, it was acquired by collector Alfredo Brener of Texas, who had it cosmetically restored with the addition of rear fender spats and a prominent dorsal molding down the tail.
Soon after the car was acquired by Dr.
Joseph Murphy of New Hope, Pennsylvania, at the time building one of the country's most impressive collections of Full Classic automobiles, which in addition to the Hispano included several significant Duesenbergs and Dietrich Individual Custom Packards.
During his ownership, the car was featured in Dennis Adler's book on the Murphy collection, aptly titled In Search of Excellence.
Dr.
Murphy sold the J12 to his longtime collaborator Jerry Sauls in 1999; it shortly passed back into the care of an apparently nostalgic Mr.
Brener, then into the large Hispano-Suiza collection of Jorge Fernandez.
Mr.
Fernandez had the car refinished to the present more appropriate livery; he then exhibited the car at the 2003 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
From Mr.
Fernandez the J12 was purchased in 2004 by J.
Peter Ministrelli of Michigan, then in 2006 was acquired by the Academy of Art University, in whose collection it has happily resided now for thirteen years.
The restoration of the car is well-mellowed, with the expected age visible to the paint and interior, though it remains quite solid and all body panels still open and close with authority.
Within is remarkably well-detailed, with overstuffed brown leather seats surrounded by rich, hefty woodwork and chrome, and accents including crystal ashtrays.
The original engine number stamping is still present on both the oil filler cover and is of the correct sequence to be the original engine to this car.
Accompanying the J12 is a small history file, complete with the documentation mentioned here, as well as original Burden registrations and excerpts from the Hispano-Suiza and d'Ieteren archives.
It seems fitting for a bidder to consider the same points that Dr.
Rink made in writing a letter to Bill Burden.
I assure you that this is a real royal voiture.
I have always had extraordinary cars, but something like this Hispano will never come back.
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