To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION WITHOUT RESERVE at RM Sothebys' Amelia
Island event, 8 - 9 March 2019.
Estimate:
$200,000 - $250,000
- Offered from the Leon-Hackney Collection
- One of the best-known K6s; an international tour veteran
- Part of the collection since 1981; award-winning older
restoration
- Featured in The Classic Car by Beverly Rae Kimes
- Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) Full Classic
Born in Spain, Javier "Jay" Leon naturally appreciated the
Hispano-Suiza native to his homeland, even the more famous French
models of the Classic Era. It was inevitable that one of these
superbly engineered automobiles would eventually join the
collection that he and Berta built, and that it would be so loved
that Berta would maintain it for many years more.
This K6 berline, among the last of the classic six-cylinder
Hispanos, was bodied by Vanvooren of Paris with their typically
rakish lines, on the longer 148-inch-wheelbase chassis. It had been
owned by early enthusiast Bob Marceca of New York City, who sold it
in 1976 to Richard B. Wilder of Kent, Connecticut. Mr. Leon found
the car with Mr. Wilder, and in 1981 the Hispano-Suiza of his
dreams was added to the collection. For the next seven years the
car was occasionally driven, including in the Monterey to Lake
Tahoe CCCA CARavan in September 1988, the Pacific Northwest CARavan
of 1990, and overseas in the Hispano-Suiza Rally through Spain.
With Mr. Leon's health failing, Berta did the driving - with the
car retrofitted with power steering to accommodate her, and her
husband glowing with pride at her side.
Yet this was also a showstopper, in an attractive and subtle
two-tone blue color scheme chosen from the period Cadillac palette,
Marchal Aerolux headlamps, and an interior finished in stunning
rosewood with a leather driver's seat and broadcloth rear
upholstery, accented by throw pillows and a handsome Art Moderne
floor heater. In 1990, the Leons exhibited the car at the Pebble
Beach Concours d'Elegance, winning the Alec Ulman Memorial Trophy
as the most elegant Hispano-Suiza present.
Berta continued to tour with the car, following her first husband's
passing and following her marriage to Jim Hackney, up until recent
years keeping it a regular presence in Classic Car Club of America
activities in the Southwest. Today it is still a beautifully
preserved restoration and would require little to continue showing
proudly. It is offered with an impressive history file, including
extensive correspondence and research.
Many in the Hispano-Suiza Society and the Classic Car Club of
America knew and loved this car and its owners; thanks to its
extensive use on two continents, it may well be the best-known
surviving K6. It deserves to be kept on the road, in loving tribute
to the couple that loved and used it, with the joy of living that
characterized everything they did.
Please note that this title is in transit.
To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction,
please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/am19.
