Automobile manufacturer
Arturo Elizalde Rouvier opened a
garageAn automobile repair shop is a place where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and electricians.- Types :The automotive garage can be divided in so many category....
in
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in 1909, and used it to manufacture automobile parts. He and his brother-in-law, Rafael Biada Navarro, were co-managers of the company they had formed with J. M. Vallet y Arnau, under the name "Sociedad Mercantil J. M. Vallet y Cia". Vallet provided the company with a workshop at 149 Paseo de San Juan in Barcelona.
Elizalde soon received backing from the Biada brothers, who began building complete cars. The first prototype, called the
Tipo 11, made its debut in July 1914. It covered the route between Barcelona,
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,
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and
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in 13 hours. By 1915, Alfonso XIII owned a 20cv Biada-Elizalde cabriolet
Tipo 20. A 25cv
sportsA sports car is a small, usually two seat, two door automobile designed for high speed driving and maneuverability....
version of the same car was marketed, with Alfonso's blessing, as the
Reine Victoria. It was claimed to be the first Spanish automobile to feature four-wheel
brakeA brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. Its opposite component is a clutch. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes....
s. The
Reine Victoria was first shown at the Salón del Automóvil de Barcelona of 1919. In 1920, the company announced production of a 19/30 cv model, the
Model 29; it would have an ohv 3817 cc four-cylinder
engineAn engine or motor is a machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Heat engines, including internal combustion engines and external combustion engines burn a fuel to create heat which is then used to create motion...
. Similar models would be built until 1927.
Elizalde caused a sensation in 1920, by beginning production of a 50/60cv straight-eight known as the
Tipo 48 - one of the first cars in this configuration to go into production. Its 8143 cc power unit had four valves per cylinder and incorporated a tire pump. This pump doubled as a
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to be used on the car's interior. A 5181 cc straight-eight Gran Sport version of this model, capable of reaching 160 kilometre per hour, was also offered.
In addition to producing cars, Elizalde built trucks and aircraft engines.
Aero engines
From 1925 the company produced aero-engines initially
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Lorraine engines under licence and just prior to the outbreak of the civil war it produced two types of air-cooled engine the Dragon IX and Super-Dragon.
Aero engine designs
- Elizalde Dragon IX
- Elizalde Super-Dragon
- Elizalde Tigre IV
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London. Studio Editions Ltd, 1998. ISBN 0-517-67964-7* Gunston, Bill. World Encyclopedia of Aero Engines. Cambridge, England. Patrick Stephens Limited, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-163-9...
(four-cylinder in-line air-cooled)
- Tigre IVA - 125 hp
- Tigre IVB - 150 hp
- Elizalde Sirio S-VII-A (450hp seven-cylinder radial air-cooled)
External links