Barreiros (automotive)

Barreiros Diésel S.A. was a Spanish industry producing mainly engines, trucks, tractors, buses and later automobiles, which also manufactured vans, forklifts and truck bodies. Founded by the Spanish industrialist Eduardo Barreiros in 1954, it was active from 1954 to 1978.

In 1969 and due to the bad results of the company, Eduardo Barreiros and his brothers left the company, selling their shares to Chrysler, changing the name of the company to Chrysler España S.A until its disappearance.

History

Until 1954: background

In 1925 the father of Eduardo Barreiros began his relationship with the automobile with the operation of the Orense-Luintra-Orense bus line with the purchase of a Panhard-Levasor 10 HP bus. After the concession of the Orense-Los Peares-Orense line, in 1929 he acquired an old Renault. Eduardo Barreiros works as a inspector in the family business and begins as an apprentice at ARCE, a mechanical workshop.

In 1937 they sold the bus lines, since, at the beginning of the Civil War, the vehicles that provided the services were requisitioned.

From 1938 several vehicles were acquired to cover the Orense-Parada de Sil-Orense line. Due to the shortage of mobile fleet in 1939, the Barreiros created a small family workshop where buses are rebuilt and gas generators are manufactured.

In 1945 Eduardo Barreiros sold the bus line that his father owned in Orense and founded BECOSA (Barreiros Empresa Constructora S.A.). The purpose of the company was the contracting of public works.

In 1949, the transformation of gasoline engines to diesel began in the family workshop, to cover the needs of the vehicles used in the contracts. All this began with the purchase of two trucks of German origin (Krupp) in a Air Force auction, which was soon followed by some of the 2000 units of ZIS-5 "ЗиС-5" Russians, who circulated around the country, after the civil war.

Calls for gasoline-to-diesel conversions soon mount, especially among carriers (many of whom had gotten "3HC" army surplus). The workshop became too small and in 1951 it was decided to move production to Madrid. Barreiros rented some workshops at kilometer 7 of the Madrid - Andalusia highway, for 50,000 pesetas a month and created the company Galicia Industrial. Barreiros had patent no. 198,618, granted on July 7, 1951, where he described the diesel transformation process. His brothers began to work with Eduardo and set up the first materials laboratory.

In the period 1952-1953 some 700 transformations were carried out and the first engine prototype was made with its own technology.

1954-1962: Barreiros Diesel S.A.

The transformation of gasoline engines into diesel, gave him a certain economic solvency, which led him to found in 1954 Barreiros Diésel S.A., with headquarters in Madrid and a capital of 10,000,000 of pesetas. Barreiros Diesel was initially established as a manufacturer of diesel engines, beginning with the EB-2, a two-cylinder engine for tractors, of which 480 units were sold during the first year. But the success was the manufacture of the EB-6 engine based on the evolution of Perkins engines. Production began with three daily units (for application in trucks of 5 to 7 Tm).

The next logical leap was the manufacture of complete vehicles and for this the first 20,000 m² of land were purchased in Villaverde (Madrid). But the regime did not give him the license to do so, probably due to pressure from the INI manufacturer of the Pegaso through ENASA.

In 1955 CABSA (Compañía Anónima de Bombas, Sociedad Anónima) was created to manufacture injection pumps and electrical equipment and began to manufacture the EB-4 engine (4 cylinders) for passenger cars and taxis.

In 1956 MOSA (Motor Nacional S.A.) was founded, with a capital of 5,000,000 pesetas, for the commercialization of Barreiros products, and built a foundry for the manufacture of engine blocks and cylinder heads.

In 1957, it won a tender to supply 400 trucks to the Portuguese Army. The prototype (actually 2) of that truck, known today as "El Abuelo", was made largely with scrap parts. To get around the ban on truck manufacturing, he became an assembler for the Polish STAR brand. He bought bodies in Poland (which he paid for with engines instead of money) to which he added an EB-6 engine. CEESA (Constructora Eléctrica Española S.A.) is established to manufacture dynamos, starters and regulators. Later it also produced generating sets, welding and electric brakes for trucks. Annual production increased to 4,500 engines and the workforce already exceeded 1,700 employees.

In 1958 he obtained permission from the Ministry of Industry to produce 1,000 trucks. The Puma TA-261, with an A-26 engine and bodywork by Carrocerías Costa (inspired by the French Berliet) appeared the following year.

In 1959, David Brown Engranajes (manufacture of gearboxes and differentials), Hanomag-Barreiros (manufacture of agricultural tractors under the license of the German company Hanomag, but Barreiros motorization), and the Portuguese Engine and Truck Company were founded.. The export of Barreiros products to Africa, South America and Portugal became widespread.

In 1961, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit (with white badge) and associated with the German firm Vidal & Sohn Tempo-Werk GmbH of Hamburg for the manufacture in Spain of the Tempo vans; For this purpose, the company called Tempo Onieva, S.A. was incorporated, in which Industrias Motorizadas Onieva, Barreiros Diesel S.A. and Rheinstahl Hanomag , owner of Tempo at that time and partner of Barreiros in the manufacture of tractors. The Azor and the Super Azor appeared.

In 1962, an agreement was signed with the British company AEC Ltd., creating Barreiros AEC, S.A. (75% Barreiros and 25% AEC) to manufacture buses and dumpers.

At the beginning of the 1960s, truck production grew to reach the Pegaso brand, the undisputed leader in Spain until then. Financing was mainly from its own resources, but the help of the Banco de Vizcaya also stood out, which came to take a stake in the company. As the price of the trucks was very high, it was not easy to collect them in cash, so the growth of Barreiros Diesel was hampered by the number of bills not yet collected. In 1962 Eduardo Barreiros made a general appeal to the political authorities and the main banks to help him mobilize the paper portfolio and thus continue the necessary investments, but the response was totally insufficient.

1963-1969: Chrysler stage

Eduardo Barreiros began to think about the possibility of forming an alliance with a foreign automobile manufacturer that would give him financial coverage but, at the same time, would allow him to continue with his own production of industrial vehicles.

After some attempts with Jaguar, Rootes, Mercedes-Benz or General Motors, Barreiros would end up contacting Lynn Townsend, president of Chrysler, who was willing to launch out of the American market, following the path previously opened by Ford and General Motors. Townsend had his own ideas and thought that it would be more efficient to consider joint ventures with local companies than to use own subsidiaries. Despite the fact that the agreement "hidden" a series of "tied purchases" (forced acquisitions of discontinued vehicles) and purchases of patents, Eduardo Barreiros only saw in the agreement the solution to his urgent financial needs and the possibility of expanding the offer with medium and high class passenger cars.

In 1963 the pact was signed and in June 1964 35% of Barreiros Diesel passed into the hands of the Americans in exchange for 18 million dollars, shortly after another 5% increased for 2 million more. The initial North American investment was of such magnitude (more than 1,000 million pesetas) that, although huge resources were invested in the Dodge and Simca divisions, the manufacture of Barreiros industrial vehicles did not seem to be in jeopardy. In the following years, the brand achieved sales unknown at the time, with a turnover of more than 7,000 million pesetas.

In 1965 the first Dodge would hit the streets accompanied the following year by the more modest Simca. This is the period of maximum expansion of the company, and when Eduardo Barreiros has greater national and international recognition, receives the Gold Medal for Merit at Work, the New York Times dedicates a report to him (highlighting him as one of the six businessmen largest non-Americans in the world) and was called "the Spanish King Midas" in Business Week. New plants were built to manufacture the Simca 1000 and the Dodge Dart, reaching facilities with two million square meters and a workforce of 12,000 workers. The number of workers of all the companies and distributors of the Group exceeded 25,000. Exports were made to 27 countries.

In 1966, the possibility of buying competitors such as SAVA and ENASA was even formally considered, but it was not achieved. The Saeta truck range appeared with three frame lengths and a payload capacity ranging from 1,800 kg for the 15 model to 7,525 kg for the 75 model, to which were added five other intermediate variants. A new cabin called "Panoramic" was created, after an agreement with the French brand Berliet, the assembly of this cabin in a semi-artisan way was quite expensive for Barreiros, which at the end of the sixties presented a cabin of own. Barreiros bought the Zaragoza company Factorías Nápoles, S. A. (NAZAR), in whose facilities most of the elements for the manufacture of public works machines, tractors and buses were grouped. A pioneer financial company in the installment sale of automobiles is founded, with a capital of 100 million pesetas (60% Barreiros). Cipsa (Centro de Investigaciones Petrolíferas, S.A.) appears, which carries out oil prospecting and geological research work. It is associated with Cepsa and Mobil Oil, for exploration and extraction of oil at sea, off-shore, in Equatorial Guinea.

In 1966 Barreiros Diesel bought the van company "Tempo Ibérica S. A.".

Underneath the successful image that transcended the public and the media, a battle was being waged between the Barreiros family and the Chrysler Group, as the organizational criteria and ultimate objectives differed more and more. It was enough that in 1967 sales fell sharply below forecasts for financial needs to surface again with all the harshness. Of the two partners, only the Chrysler Group could cope with this situation, and Eduardo Barreiros had to let the participation of the North Americans increase from 40 to 77%, losing control of the company. From then on, the Barreiros family lived through hell seeing how everything they had created with so much effort was getting out of hand. Chrysler drastically reduced investments in commercial vehicles and sought to strengthen the penetration of its passenger cars. The Americans had promised Barreiros to be able to use the entire world network of Chrysler and Simca with the necessary technical assistance, but this was never the case. The economic blockade established by the United States against different countries in South America, Barreiros' main export market, forced the Spanish businessman to cease this activity and thus, all the businessman's efforts were used by Chrysler to acquire a 97.53% of the capital and Barreiros became a subsidiary of Chrysler Europe, and shortly after the Villaverde factory was renamed Chrysler España S.A., although the commercial name of Barreiros was maintained for many years in industrial products. In 1968 Eduardo Barreiros received the prestigious Dag Hammarskjöld International Award for industrial merit and continued as Honorary President of the Company until 1969. From that moment on the Barreiros brothers separated professionally, each of them beginning a new stage.

Since 1970: Barreiros without Barreiros

In 1971, the quality of the work of the Zaragoza division (mainly in charge of bodywork for buses and coaches) caught the attention of the Belgian bodybuilder company Van Hool, becoming the new owner of the facilities.

During the 1970s, due to the bad financial situation of the North American parent company, it caused the sale of its European subsidiaries to the PSA Group. The sale took place for the symbolic figure of 1 dollar in 1978. The agreement included the maintenance of the Chrysler brand until the end of 1979. At this time, the old Barreiros factory had a Barreiros C38 in competition, already with Dodge logos.. Later all Chrysler/Simca models became Talbot (for example, the Chrysler 150 was renamed the Talbot 150). In Villaverde, the Talbot models launched under the command of PSA continued to be manufactured, such as the Talbot Solara or the Talbot Samba. Between 1982 and 1983 part of the factory undergoes modifications and the first Peugeot (Peugeot 205) and Citroën (Citroën LNA) vehicles are manufactured. Since then, many models of these brands have been manufactured. Currently, the Peugeot 207 (the 207 CC exclusively worldwide) are still being manufactured.

In 1981, the PSA group and the Renault Industrial Vehicles Group (RVI) created the HISPAVIINSA Society (Hispano Francesa de Vehículos Industriales, S.A.), to which they transferred both the activity and the means of the Center dedicated to industrial vehicles. In 1983 Renault Industrial Vehicles fully controls Hispavinsa. For a short period of time the models of the old Barreiros Diesel were sold as Renault models. These Dodge 300 (Renault 300) are the last vestiges of Barreiros.

The Spanish Dodges

From 1965 to 1970 the Spanish version of the Dodge Dart was built at the Barreiros de Villaverde factory in Madrid. Using the same 111-inch (2,819 mm) wheelbase, but with new bodywork, the Dodge 3700 was produced from 1971 to 1977. A total of 17,589 units between the two were built in Spain. The Dodge was produced as a CKD due to the Spanish regulations of those years.

The Dodge Dart had 3 versions: The 1965 (with the Normal and GL trim), the 1966 (with the Normal, GL, GLE, Diesel and SW trim), and the 1969 (with the Normal trim, GL, GLE, Diesel, SW and GT),.

The Dodge Dart and the Dodge 3700 were the largest domestically produced cars available in Spain during their production years; it was an expensive luxury car with very poor fuel efficiency by Spanish standards.

The GL designation was for the intermediate model, the GLE designation was for the "luxury" model, and the GT was the "sport" version.

All Dodges had the largest gasoline engine ever mounted in a mass production car in Spain until then, the Chrysler Slant 6 225 in³ (3.7 liters) engine. "3700" refers to the 3.7 liter displacement.

A Diesel Dart (called Barreiros Diesel) was made with professionals in mind, as a taxi, this model was very basic and very slow with a Barreiros engine, model C-65, weighing approximately equal to that of gasoline, and the power developed by this engine, with a displacement of 2 liters, is 65 CV SAE. The engine rotates at 4,000 r.p.m. Being a more austere model, it uses the rear lights that the Simca 1000 of the first generation had. 1381 units of this model were manufactured.

There was also an SW (family) version, of which variants such as ambulances, hearses, etc. were made.

In 1969 Chrysler had full control of the Madrid factory, which the Barreiros brothers left due to poor sales; a large number of unused parts from the Darts accumulated at the factory.

Production of Spanish Dodgers ended in 1977. Peugeot bought the Villaverde factory, as well as Chrysler's European operations in Spain, France, and the United Kingdom.

Spanish Dodges were used as official vehicles for Spanish politicians from 1965 to 1977. Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco was assassinated on December 20, 1973 while riding in his Dodge 3700 GT. This vehicle is currently in the warehouses of the Army Museum in Toledo.

From 1977 many Dodge 3700s that served as official cars were sold, although a few remained in service during the Transition.

Special Spanish Dodges

• Dodge Dart "Panolamic": In 1965 Eduardo Barreiros orders to transform into the factory of Villaverde a model 65 Dodge Dart to move the most illustrious characters to visit the factory, and among these characters one of them was General Franco. This Dodge had the characteristic of having a transparent roof made of plastic from a mold of its original ceiling. This transformation was made on the 1000 chassis.
• Dodge Dart convertible: In 1966 the Ibero-Italian Carroceros company had commissioned Serra to transform a model 66 Dodge Dart into convertible to propose to Barreiros its manufacture. This vehicle did not pass from the unit, as in the end the project was dismissed.

In Spain you can find more Dodge Dart convertibles of the time, but these were imported by Barreiros from the United States.

• Dodge Specter (Spectro): Surfaced by Pedro Serra in 1968 on a model 66 Dodge Dart.
• Dodge Boulevard: Built by Serra [1972-1973] on a square section tubular frame and the coupe body was made of fiberglass. Chrysler Spain supplied the engine (3,700 cc of 165 cv), the change, front subchasis, transmission, suspensions and brakes. Inside it was equipped with a 2+2 type room made with Dodge 3700 GT instrumentation with Jaeger and Veglia Bressel watches. Only 18 units were manufactured (with the 1972 prototype).

Barreiros engine models

• EB1: diesel transformation of six-cylinder engines using ZIS-5 "3HC" trucks.
• EB2: 2 cylinders, used in tractors (approximately 480 units).
• EB3: 3 cylinders and used in tractors.
• EB4: 4 cylinders, very used in taxis and light vehicles.
• EB6: 6 cylinders and 90 hp, used in the first heavy vehicles.
• EB55
• EB70
• EB100: 100 hp.
• EB110
• EB150: 150 hp.
• A16: 83 hp.
• A23: EB3 evolution
• A24: 62 hp.
• A26: 90CV, EB6 evolution.
• A60: 60 hp.
• A90: 90CV.
• A60M: 50 hp. Marino
• B24: 115 hp or 125 hp.
• B26: 170 CV.
• B36: 270 hp. Gas engine
• BS36
• BH26: 185 hp.
• C14
• C60: 60 hp or 65 hp.
• D24: EB70 evolution
• D26: 135 hp. EB110 Evolution

Taino engine models

(Cuban stage)

• Taino EB6: 6 cylinders in V, with 200 hp. Many versions (agricultural, industrial, etc.)
• Taino EB8: 8 cylinders in V. Up to 320 hp in its turbocharged versions.
• Taino EB10: 10 cylinders in V.
• Taino EB12: 12 cylinders in V.
• Taíno L3: prototype engine 3 cylinders online.
• Taino L4: 4 cylinders online and 80 hp. For taxis and other vehicles.
• Taíno L100: 100 hp. Turbo version of the L4.
• EB112: called "the posthumous", with 112 hp. Several prototypes built (possibly 3).

Barreiros truck models (from 1957 to 1965)

• Barreiros TT90
• Barreiros Star
• Barreiros Puma
• Panter Barreiros
• Barreiros Condor
• Barreiros Halcón
• Barreiros Azor
• Barreiros Víctor
• Barreiros Saeta
• Barreiros Command
• Barreiros Centauro
• Barreiros Super Saeta

Barreiros tractor models (from 1961 to 1980)

• Barreiros R335S
• Barreiros R350
• Barreiros R350S
• Barreiros R438
• Special R438 Barreiros
• Barreiros R440
• Barreiros R500 "labramatic"
• Barreiros R545
• Barreiros R545 I
• Barreiros R545 IA
• Barreiros 4000
• Barreiros 4000V
  

  Barreiros 40/45 with optional cabin
• Barreiros 5000
• Barreiros 5000 VL/VR
• Barreiros 5500
• Barreiros 7000
• Barreiros 40/45
• Barreiros 50/55
• Barreiros 70/70
• Barreiros 90/90 (prototype)

Tempo van models manufactured by Barreiros

• Tempo Onieva Lightweight version with low box
• Tempo Onieva Lightweight version with high box
• Tempo Onieva Frigory version
• Tempo Onieva Version combi

Simca car models manufactured by Barreiros

• Simca 1000
• Simca 1000 GL
• Simca 1000 GLE
• Simca 1000 automatic
• Simca 1000 Automatic Special
• Simca 1000 Commercial
• Simca 1000 GT
• Simca 1000 Gt Rallye
• Simca 1000 Special
• Simca 900
• Simca 900 Special
• Simca 1000 GLS
• Simca 1000 Rallye
• Simca 1000 LS
• Simca 1200 LS
• Simca 1200 GL
• Simca 1200 GL Special
• Simca 1200 GLS (90 octanos)
• Simca 1200 GL Special
• Simca 1200 LX-TI
• Simca 1200 L
• Simca 1200 Campero

Dodge car models manufactured by Barreiros

• Dodge Dart 270
• Dodge Dart GL
• Dodge Dart GLE
• Dodge Dart Diesel
• Dodge Dart GT
• Dodge 3700
• Dodge 3700 GT

Peugeot models manufactured in Villaverde

• Peugeot 205: 1,188,811 units were manufactured from 1983 to 1999
• Peugeot 206 SW
• Peugeot 309
• Peugeot 306
• Peugeot 306 Break
• Peugeot 207
• Peugeot 207 CC: world exclusive
• Peugeot 207 SW

Citroën models manufactured in Villaverde

• Citroën LNA
• Citroën Xsara
• Citroën Xsara Break
• Citroën C3
• Citroën C3 Pluriel
• Citroën C4 Cactus: world exclusive
• Citroën C4 III " ë-C4

In the Present

Currently the company Barreiros Diesel S.A. and Barreiros, as well as the use of the two names for the manufacture of vehicles belong to the company DORMA, S.A., owned by the Barreiros family