What was from Barreiros, the Spanish automotive company that manufactured the Dodge “Made in Spain” in the second half of the twentieth century

To Eduardo Barreiros the automotive was in his blood. With just 12 years he worked already in the workshop of the small bus company that his family had constituted in Ourense shortly before, in 1929, and it is said that over time he came to develop such an expertise that he could mount a truck with scrapping pieces. His other great inheritance was The businessa facet that his father had already deployed as an emigrant in the Canary Islands, where he created A CEDAZOS FACTORY.

With such a cocktail running through its veins, a mixture of mechanics and entrepreneurial pulse, it does not surprise that Eduardo Barreiros ended up becoming one of the great magnates of the automotive of the Spain of the twentieth century. And rightly.

Perhaps the passage of the decades and memory has not done justice, but there was an era, there for the third quarter of the twentieth century, in which his last name became one of the most popular brands in the sector and he in one of the most admired entrepreneurs, inside and outside Spain. Still in 2023 there are those who present it as “The Spanish Henry Ford”. And also in that there is enough.

A logo for memory

The company that constituted in Madrid in the 1950s, along with his brother, Valerian Its characteristic logo In the form of eight, sum of its initials “E” and “B”.

Thanks to his business alliances, towards the mid -60s of his factories even a Dodge came out “Made in Spain”the emblematic Dodge-Dart, a high-end car launched to compete against the SEAT-1500. The brand would end up becoming popular for an episode that has little to do with mechanics: when he suffered the attack that ended his life, on December 20, 1973, the Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco traveled aboard a Dodge 3700 GTsuccessor of those Dodge Dart, today Property of the Army Museum.

To learn about the origins of your company, baptized not without controversy as diesel sweeps, it is necessary to go back a few years before, to the Spain of the 50s, on horseback The autarkic and developmentalism.

It was then, in 1954, when Galician Eduardo Barreiros decided to constitute his own automotive company with his father and brother in Madrid. It was the result of an intuition that had been maturing since the previous decade: the business that could be created with the conversion of diesel gasoline engines, which allowed lower consumption and the use of a fuel cheaper.

As the Spanish Patent and Brands Office (OEPM) A detailed essay Dedicated to the company, Barreiros did not lack experience in the matter: he had accumulated it with the transformation of the engines of his own trucks and those of other transporters. Several years before founding Barreiros Diesel, in fact, he had had the good tino to protect his system with two patents.

The business started on a plot of almost 16,000 m2 of Villaverdesouth of Madrid, and a capital of 10 million pesetas. Enough to make diesel engines, tractors and trucks. The young Barreiros soon demonstrated his good eye for the sector: at the months of constituting the company he made an intelligent movement that –Remember the OEPM– It allowed it for practical purposes to introduce the Perkins P-6 engine in Spain without the need for its manufacturer’s license.

Boom and fall

Throughout the following years the company experienced considerable growth, with the constitution of different societies related to its activity and an increase in personnel, facilities and of course production capacity. From the factory, emblematic creations came out, which even today place in the second -hand market, such as the TT-90 trucks, Goshawk and Super Azorthe Tempo van or the tractors Hanomag Barreiros R-335 and Barreiros 5500.

Barreiros also sought alliances with other companies, such as Vidal & Sohn Tempo-Werk GmbH either Hanomag. The most relevant, due to its impact, contribution of funds and – I live in perspective – business repercussions would be the agreement with the European subsidiary of Chrysler, closed in 1963 and that allowed the Spanish firm to clear its future and take a decisive step for the manufacture of cars. It did not go free, of course: the multinational was done with 40% of the capital.

A few years later from the Villaverde factory, the first Dodge-Dart of Barreiros, also known in the national market-how “Dodge Barreiros” came out. The remarkable injection of resources that accompanied the pact with Chrysler also allowed him to manufacture the popular Simca 1000launched in the early 60s in France by Simca with a commercial approach other than that of Dart.

The Barreiros brand was popular, had an interesting catalog, manufactured emblematic models and had even managed to face SEATdriven by the powerful National Institute of Industrybut Not everything was good news in the offices of Villaverde. By the end of the 60s the firm faced a financial crisis that allowed Chrysler to reinforce his control and gain even more weight in the capital of the company, which soon derived in Chrysler Spain.

The family that had captained the beginnings of the project, back in the 50s, ended up ceasing its activities in the company. His last name, yes, still survived as a commercial brand for years, proof of the success he achieved.

The old Barreiros business project, cemented on their ideas for the conversion of gasoline engines for use with diesel then employed more than 20,000 people directly, generated a considerable business flow and, above all, had earned a prominent place in the history of Spanish automotive. The very New York Times It came to include to the Galician tycoon in his list of entrepreneurs most influential in Europe.

The veteran businessman would still continue with his career, betting on the livestock sector and with an adventure on the other side of the pond, in Cuba, where he promoted the creation of Taíno engines. There, in Havana, he died with 72 years in 1992.

Images | Txemari

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