Marc birkigt biography family

Jim Donnelly. Share this article. Due largely to political meddling from people in gaudy braid, Hispano-Suiza had its feet planted on opposite sides of the Pyrenees, depending on the point in time. Its wonderful motorcars were never produced in Switzerland, but Birkigt was a child of Geneva, a founding director of Hispano-Suiza, and a pure genius in both aeronautical and automotive engineering.

Marc Birkigt (born March 8, in Geneva, † 15 March Versoix) was a Swiss engineer.

That flopped. It was the greatest happenstance Birkigt could have enjoyed. He agreed to stay with the reconstituted manufacturer only as a partner and chief of engineering. Within two years, he had prototyped a 7.

Marc Birkigt (8 March , Geneva – 15 March , Versoix) was a Swiss engineer, automotive and aviation pioneer, and co-founder of Hispano-Suiza in He lived in Barcelona, Spain when he was hired by Emilio de la Cuadra in to work as an automobile engineer in Cuadra's firm La Cuadra.

Birkigt took the Hispano-Suiza racing team to France beginning in , where it enjoyed success. France became the first big export market for Hispano-Suiza, most notably in the form of a smaller car that had a 2. The car was so popular among French buyers that Birkigt was assigned to set up a plant at Levallois-Perret, which opened in Then the First World War started.

Birkigt returned to Spain and began designing aircraft engines. It was exponentially more reliable than other competing Allied engine design, including those being built in the Hispano-Suiza plant, then running under lease. Birkigt took the plant back and converted it to build the V-8, which close to a dozen licensees also produced.

Hispano-Suiza was suddenly a legend, and building cars in both Spain and France.