1955 HSM V8
Lore
Andreas Holtzmann was a wealthy industrialist from the town of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. An avid automobile enthusiast, he owned a successful trading company that sold various European brands, as well as a coachbuilding company contracted to a couple of manufacturers. More importantly, he founded his own auto company on the side, HSM - Holtzmann Schaffhausen Motoren - for designing & building racers that he himself often drove. At first, these were largely based on components from existing cars, and were bespoke examples that nobody outside of him or the racers he sponsored would drive. With the global economy on it’s way to recovery though, and no longer content to simply kitbash parts together, he decided to try his hand at creating his own car for sale. Given his experience in luxury brands and in racing/motorsports, and the new trend of GT cars, it was almost a given that his first creation would be a sports GT too. Thus, the HSM V8 was born.
To create the engine, he brought in an engineer associate of his as a partner, Sandro Kobelt. Both Sandro and Andreas agreed on going with a V8, hoping that such an engine would make a splash. The engine ended up being a 3.0L, flatplane V8, using the slightly more modern DAOHC system as opposed to valves; carbureted with DCOE carbs, it generated a respectable 143 hp/145 PS. Mated to a 4-speed manual, the car could hit 100 km/h in a speedy 9.5 seconds - though the gearing was quite long.
Every car was hand-made, thus no two individuals were exactly alike. It used a tubular space frame chassis - derived from HSM’s experience with racers - and a classic steel body. It came as a 2+2 coupe as standard, but a 2+2 cabriolet version was also offered. Though Andreas had wanted to create an aluminum body for the car, HSM lacked the proper tooling and it proved to be too expensive to create with his limited resources. The suspension was rather innovative, being fully independent and based on double wishbones both back and front, for better handling and a softer ride. The interior featured both a high-end radio and plush leather upholstery with wood accents as standard, aiming for an ideal balance between luxury and sportiness in this GT car.
Ultimately, it was clear early on that the HSM V8 assembly cost way too much to make any substantial profit, despite it’s high price tag ($29,990 AMU) that put it in the realm of the (also unprofitable) BMW 503 and the legendary 300SL. From 1955 to 1959, only about 256 were produced, the vast majority of them being the coupe model.
In a way though, the lack of profitability of the HSM V8 was a good thing. Immediately after it’s launch, Andreas and Sandro decided to continue their partnership and focus on designing a more manageable, mass production car. They founded the company Automobile Munot on the basis of HSM in order to market this car, which would eventually become the Helvetia.
