I’m about to go to the airport after a very fun but exhausting Monterey Car Week – we should have lots more content about it all coming soon – and while I’m tired and my head is so sunburnt it feels like it’s been well-microwaved, I feel like I should at least inform you of a bit of Pebble Beach news I usually never pay attention to: who “won” the damn thing.
I know it’s a big deal and all, but the truth is usually that I just don’t really care about which car gets Best in Show, like a well-groomed terrier, not because I don’t care about the cars, but more because I usually find that there’s so many remarkable, unique, and unexpected cars out there that picking one to somehow elevate just seems a little silly.
But I get why they do it, people like trophies and the gift cards to the Sizzler or whatever you get when you win the Concurs D’Elegance, the element of competition is exciting, and what else would all the Monterey back alley betting parlors do if there was no competition?
This year, though, I think I at least can see why the winning car was singled out for special attention, because it really is remarkable: the 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C Tulipwood Torpedo.
I’m showing the rear first for two reasons: one, it’s stunning, and B., this sort of wooden boattail is something you’ve probably seen before on vintage cars. But what I suspect you may not have seen is something like this:
An entire body done in strips of wood. At first this feels like boatbuilding techniques, but it’s actually not: it’s aircraft fuselage-type contstruction, and it wasn’t done for the aesthetics – which are stunning – but for weight reasons, because this was a racing car.
The whole body only weighs about 160 pounds. The wood is mahogany, cut into 1/8″ thick strips, held together with aluminum, flush-mounted rivets. This was the carbon fiber of its day, just, I think, far lovlier.
Oh, and I know it’s called “Tulipwood” but it’s not tulip-tree wood, the name comes from the ruddy color and curvy-ness. And, I suspect, an urge to be confusing.
The car has a pretty fascinating history: it was commissioned by André Dubonnet, the grandson of the guy who made the booze you’ve likely heard of, which, I just learned, contains a bit of quinine, so if you don’t want to get malaria, maybe have yourself a glass.
Being an apéritif heir meant that André had the resources to pursue whatever he wanted, which included flying planes, being on the Olympic bobsledding team, and racing cars, which he did for Bugatti and Hispano-Suiza. He even designed an independent front suspension system that was, for a time, licensed by GM.
He also had a few of cars built on Hispano-Suiza H6C chassis, one of the earlier ones of which was this racing car, the Tulipwood. The chassis for this car was only one of three specially lowered, and with a lowered radiator and an absolutely massive 52-gallon fuel tank, to allow for long rally racing.
The body was built by aircraft manufacturer Nieuport-Astra of Argenteuil, with whom I’m all certain we’re familiar, having enjoyed many flights on a lovely wooden Nieu-Astry, and this lightweight body in conjunction with the 8-liter engine made for a formidable and extremely advanced racing car.
I was told the car makes close to 200 horsepower, though I have seen power figures online as varied as 45 or 160 hp. This was a racing car, so I’m inclined to believe the higher numbers.
Dubonnet raced the Tulipwood in Targa Florio in 1924, finishing 6th in that grueling race, and enjoyed it for racing, but then added fenders and headlights for road use. The car later was sold to a perfume magnate, a marmalade heir, stored during WWII, and was later sold in the 1950s to an heir to the Standard Oil fortune, which leads to this amazing anecdote, from the RM auction page when it was sold for over $9 million in 2022:
Gerald Albertini, a Standard Oil heir and passionate automobile enthusiast living in London, spotted the car at roadside in 1955, and in the age-old fashion left a note on the windshield offering to buy it. Six months passed before a change in Forestier-Walker’s circumstances led to the consummation of the transaction, held at an appointed spot on a Welsh roadside, as the seller’s family was heartbroken and did not want to see the car go. The return trip home necessitated a pause for fuel, at which Mr. Albertini sat down for a leisurely cup of tea, emerged, and found the attendant still laboriously hand-pumping vast quantities of fuel into the tail’s 52-gallon tank! To add insult to injury, the wealthy owner found his wallet empty, and was forced to pawn his watch to pay for the fuel.
Even with gas as expensive as it is now, so far I’ve never had to hock my watch for a tank. Yet.
The car went through a few changes over time, like these more bulbous wooden fenders that were fitted, as you can see in this video:
…and this video from 2022:
Since that sale, the car has been restored to the roadgoing spec that Dubonnet himself used, with metal fenders, and different, huge headlamps:
The whole car is just stunning. Look at the interior and dashboard:
I think those are alligator-leather seats, and that very fully array of instruments is just perfect. There seems to be no provision for a roof of any sort, so maybe bring a hat, that most personal of roofs.
Unusually for a racing car, the Tulipwood has a rear seat, complete with a speedometer/tachometer combined gauge so passengers can, you know, stay in the loop.
Since I’m sure you’re wondering about the taillight situation, let’s take a look at it. Oh, also, note that matching wooden mat/drip tray(?) below the car up there.
It’s an unusual taillight setup; there are two taillamps and a license plate light, but the setup is asymmetrical. There’s what I suspect is a brake lamp at the place where, if this car were a spider, the spinneret would be, and there’s a taillamp mounted on the license plate frame. There’s no turn indicators or anything, so I think that’s it. It’s simple and novel, and I think works well with the car.
This is a genuinely stunning car in person: huge, yet with so many beautiful details that you want to both scrutinize it up close as well as appreciating it as a whole. It’s an interesting and unexpected car, and I think it’s actually a worthy Big Prize winner here.
I’m very happy I got a chance to see it up close! And mazel tov to Lee Anderson of Naples, Florida, who seems to be the owner. I hope Lee has a good tarp to put over this, I hear it gets rainy in Florida.
A great choice for best of show. I do question that it used airplane design when the airplane design was appropriated from ship building from times before airplanesxexisted.
True, however aircraft manufacturing brought a heightened focus on weight reduction and development of specific weight reduction methods. It appears an aircraft manufacturer was chosen specifically to leverage this weight reduction aspect (the current being a fighter ace probably played a part too ???? )
Any thoughts on the ginchy muffler system?
Wow that thing is gorgeous
Gift card to the Sizzler? Ooh, I wonder what the poor people are doing?
What’s with all the dots??
Ribbit, ribbit…
I never had to either, but I did have to give my phone to a gas station attendant at the place near to the Galeão Airport in Rio de Janeiro when I went to fill up my rental car before turning it in. Filled the car up, found out my bank-issued Mastercard had been flagged (even though I’d informed them of the trip). They didn’t take Discover. Was five Reias short in cash(just a couple bucks at the time). Alright, to the ATM. Oh, of course there’s no ATM at the main gas station outside of the main airport. That’s when the attendant suggested we drive back to the airport to use their ATM which was right behind us. We just had to leave one of our phones with the attendant.
Because of construction traffic was slow, access to the other lanes on the highway was blocked, and we had to drive out around 10km to a “Retorno” so we could turn around, go back to the airport, go to the ATM, return to the gas station, pay our bill in cash, and get my phone back.
Of course, now we still had to return the rental car. There was a turn around point open to the other side of the road, but it was almost directly across from the gas station exit (we missed it the first time) and there were several lanes of busy traffic to cross. As it was slow-moving, my wife got out of the car and went and started blocking the lanes one by one so I could creep across. Lots of honking, waving, and thumbs upps ensued, but we made it to the other side and finally back to the rental place. Thankfully we had set out with plenty of time to spare, and still made our flight.
If I had been wearing a watch, and the attendant liked it, I would’ve gladly hocked it for a tank of gas without having to go through all of that.
Anyway, as to this completely over-the-top Hispano-Suiza – I agree, simply stunning and I’m glad it won!
Great great article Jason. Got to view this car up close at the Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville California. A unique priceless work of art!
I always thought “consummation of the transaction” was something you did with a lady of the night, though I guess you could also do it with some wealthy gentleman at the side of a Welsh road. The car really is gorgeous though, and deserving. And also not a Mercedes with a highly questionable provenance…
What a testament to the care its owners have taken with it for 101 years. One extended stint in a barn somewhere and you can forget about the tinworm, here come the termites.
I saw this car at the Geneva (IL) Concours some years back. It truly is a stunner.
I forgot Sizzler existed. I now realize it’s a west coast thing. And, you love bugs, with lots of references to them on this trip.
A tarp, LOL.
Isn’t it basically the Golden Corral of the West?
We had them in FL in the 80s IIRC, otherwise how else would I have the whispered tagline “Siizzzzzler” burned into my brain?
Sizzler is down to 100 restaurants from a high of 700 and most are located in the West though a few outliers still hang on. The chain is working its way back from a second bankruptcy.
And here in Indianapolis we still have a Ponderosa Steakhouse. So you can visit Louis Chevrolet’s grave and grab you a thin cut rib eye on the same day.
We had them in the northeast back then, IIRC. I think I remember the commercials, but you certainly brought back the “Siizzzzzzler” thing in my memory.
No they were Western Sizzler, or something that Golden Corral is just a mess
I think it was called Ponderossa out my way back in the day.
I’m pretty sure Ponderosa was a different franchise, but the last time I saw one was in the ’80s, I think.
Different franchise, same market model. How are Outback, Longhorn, and Texas Roadhouse really any different aside from decor and peanuts?
Ok, and Bloomin’ onions
Haha, the first Outback I saw replaced a Ponderosa. (Outback is better, but Ponderosa had a sauce I really liked, I think it was for chicken, that you could buy. Of course, I hadn’t had it since I was a kid, so it probably wasn’t that great.) If you want to think that way, yeah, most fast casual is the same. I had a friend who used to work for a company whose main business was attending antique auctions to acquire the wall decor for those restaurants, it was all basically the same decor, same basic menu, different numbers of flare.
I actually think Texas Roadhouse has the best bang for the buck steaks available. There are better steaks, but the price seems to increase exponentially while the quality increases linearly.
It was a different chain but we had one in Western PA less than 10 years ago
I had Sizzler confused with Bonanza, and the internet tells me Bonanza is Ponderosa like Carl’s Jr is Hardee’s.
Same restaurant, different name. Same buffett, same cheap steaks. Just ask Happy Gilmore.
Texas had Bonanza, my first job (washing dishes and bussing tables). I think Bonanza and Ponderosa were the same people. People got testy if you ran out of A1 and believe me, they needed it.
My guess is the wooden panel on the ground behind the car is the cover for the rear seat opening. Think hideaway rumble seat. The extra gauge is probably for the copilot/navigator. If so, I wonder how they communicated with the driver.
With frantic hand gestures.
Tapping on the shoulder in Morse code.
Jeeves, please speed up so I may fully attend cocktail hour at the club.
Well deserved, stunning and with a pedigree. A hallmark of a lost time and lost craftsmanship. Also, the rivets are not perfectly spaced.
“The little lights are not twinkling.”
“I know Art.. and thanks for noticing.”
10/10
Engineer, OCD mindset. It is perfectly imperfect. Art.
Granddaughter: “He worked really hard Grandma.”
Art: “So do washing machines”
Apologies if you’re not familiar with “Christmas Vacation”. For whatever reason, the bit about the lights was the first thing I thought of when I read your callout on those not-perfectly-spaced-rivets.
Also, I totally get the OCD thing. I’ll spend two hours hanging up a picture so that it’s exactly where I want it when simply eyeballing it would have been more than good enough.
One of my all time favorites, watch it annually. Got the reference immediately and laughed at myself. I’m late GenX.
I also recognize my own hang ups…
Certain things are good enough, others are never good enough.
Awesome – same here (and also GenX). Every year after Thanksgiving is wrapped up, Christmas Vacation hits the DVD player.
A perfect encapsulation of the needless chaos of the season. I also adore and grew up with the ’83 original. European is the weak link.
Oh yeah, the original is still the OG masterpiece. My family and I have watched that DVD the night before a long road trip several times. I also enjoyed Euro, but I think of it mostly as just a decent sequel. Glad you didn’t mention… (shudders)… the other ones.
Same here with the hanging a picture thing.
But the next morning they are all tilted again.
Might be a ghost?
I live close to a railroad track – little bits of plasti-tac or tape are necessary to keep the frames in place on most of what’s hanging on our walls or the same thing happens.
The unsung Greek ancient Mediocrates – for most things good enough IS good enough. 80-20 rule – 20 percent of your time gets you to 80 percent to goal. The other 80% of your time completes the task. For 80% of your life, the first part applies.
Don’t get hung up on details unless that is your passion
Many cultures honour great craftsmanship, but feel perfection is dehumanizing and an insult to nature. For example, the Japanese notably practice this.
Me, I go with perfection is the enemy of completion.
Bingo – there are things I’m absolutely passionate and obsessive about. They need to be perfect. The rest of my life, ehh it’s good enough.
Put your energy into your passions.
Perfectly imperfect, true Art.
“I know it’s called “Tulipwood” but it’s not tulip-tree wood”
Ha, seems to be a thing with transportation-based wood being incorrectly identified, like with the Spruce Goose where the wood was actually mostly birch and with woody station wagons just having vinyl siding rather than, you know, actual wood.
“Even with gas as expensive as it is now, so far I’ve never had to hock my watch for a tank. Yet.”
Many years ago I knew someone who drove a late 70s Mercury Marquis that was in poor tune and consequently even more of a gas-guzzler but he was dependent on it to get to his mininum-wage job where he couldn’t ever save up enough money to buy a better replacement; during the first (!!) Gulf War when gas was extortionately and predatorily so expensive he ran out of gas on his way to work and would have lost his job if he didn’t show up so he hocked his wedding ring for gas money. He made it to work and kept his job but at the time of my acquaintance with him he had yet to get his wedding ring back out of hock. At least the last time I saw him he had managed to replace his moribund Mercury Marquis with a more fuel-efficient Toyota Camry so there was that…
Had a ’78 LTDII (Torino) in high school. Ride and and handling? were vastly different if the 26 gallon tank was full or empty. It rode far better on full, got bouncy and squirrelly empty.
Goodwood festival of speed wins Pebble Beach !
I was thinking Woodhood.
So glad that won and not another 1939 Mercedes
That would be a little too on the nose.
I thought this had already won at some point, but maybe I’m thinking of a different strip-build body car or maybe it just hadn’t won.
Maybe I missed that it was a joke, but I think it’s more likely that wood tray underneath is the cover for the rear seat.
This is amazing. How many of us spend our lives dreaming that someday hundreds of people will fawn all over our wooden torpedo and give it a trophy? And this dude managed to pull it off years after his death, and the wood looks just as firm and smooth as when it was new.
Oh **** what did I just write.
I literally just put my hat on to go to the mailbox in a pitter-patter rain, and thought to myself: “This is like a little umbrella I can wear on my head.”
Then I came in a read Torch’s comment about no roof, so wear a hat.
The universe aligns in strange ways sometimes.
And gosh is that a beautiful car! Hats off to the designers, restorers, and owners. Oh wait, now my head is wet.
Good grief that’s the most beautiful car I’ve ever seen – Alligator leather and all!
(Which would be historically accurate considering alligator luggage, shoes, etc from the era…)
“This was the carbon fiber of its day”
Wood (bamboo too) is nature’s carbon fiber always.
That is a PROPER motorcar. Absolutely lovely.
That “45hp” number is probably tax horsepower, which was based on some weird formula involving the bore and stroke and cylinder count and bore no direct relationship to how much actual horsepower the car made.
“Tax horsepower” is now my new favorite unit of measurement.
It’s long been one of mine. It’s how the Citroen 2CV got it’s name! Chevaux fiscaux, abbreviated as CV? “2” screaming tax horsepower! The British did it to, but with a different formula, which is why a lot of old British cars had names like the Vauxhall 30/98 and whatnot. Tax horsepower, then actual horsepower.
And the tax was based on bore, not stroke, so that’s how British cars became known for undersquare engines and good low end torque.
And needing a full engine rebuild after one LA-to-Vegas run.
I prefer tax kilojoules. It sounds so much more progressive.
I saw the rivets and my brain immediately thought they were 3d scanning markers. ” Why are they 3d scanning the car at a car show”
I mean if I could get away with it I would 3D scan some of those cars at the events.
Same. Although I would want some shade!
I’ve seen this car in person – its magnificent!!
I always thought the rivets were copper. Perhaps it was the wood reflecting on the aluminum.
You sure it doesn’t have chickenpox?
At this age, more likely shingles.
Tee’d up and straight down the fairway
Shingles would be too heavy for a racecar, you need to be able to get up there in measles per hour.
Why, is it RFK Jr’s car?
This is the type of car I am fine with having sit in a museum. It’s gorgeous and with a history that should be enjoyed. The driving of it in this case is not as valuable as the history and build beauty in my eyes.
Put the original in a museum and make a copy to drive ala Pursang.
Curious what happens if it gets rear ended with that massive fuel tank in the back. For that alone, keep this thing off the road.
Splinters. So many splinters.
I have this image of rolling into a body shop to get that taken care of.