Catalogue · Anglada
Automóviles Anglada (El Puerto de Santa María) and the Anglada 24 HP, Alfonso XIII's first car
Where were Anglada cars built? El Puerto de Santa María
Anglada, Fábrica de Bicicletas y Automóviles, better known as Anglada, was a Spanish car maker based in El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz, Andalusia.
Francisco Anglada Gallardo and the workshop in Calle Cielo
Francisco Anglada Gallardo was born in Málaga in 1865 and arrived in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz) in 1896 to work at the Lebon gasworks. Shortly afterwards, around 1899, he decided to set up on his own, opening a small workshop where he built bicycles under the Hércules brand.
In 1901 he went into partnership with Juan Osborne Guezala and Carlos Scandella, two well-known local businessmen, with the aim of building motor cars; the company was named Anglada.
In 1902 the Guía Oficial del Puerto de Santa María (official town guide) carried the following advertisement:
"Anglada, bicycle and motor-car factory, machine shop, steam-engine building, construction and repair of all kinds of industrial and agricultural equipment, mechanical locksmithing, estimates on request, Cielo 30, Puerto de Santa María"
The Anglada factory and workshop stood at number 30 Calle Cielo in El Puerto de Santa María and employed 40 workers. The press reported that "it was a modern firm with the best machinery of the day and highly skilled workers who had come from other parts of the country."
Anglada did not work from its own catalogues, as it built cars to order, according to each client's request and to the specifications he wanted.
Besides cars, the firm is known to have built at least one omnibus that ran on the Cádiz–Algeciras route. Given the variety of engines used in its cars, from 1 to 4 cylinders and of various outputs, it seems unlikely that Anglada built them itself. Reviewing what is known of the engines fitted to its cars, and the engines on the market at the time, they may well have been De Dion-Bouton units, but since no Anglada car survives this cannot be confirmed.
How many cars did Anglada build? About 24, to order
It appears to have built about 24 cars:
- King Alfonso XIII bought one of them: a 4-cylinder 24 HP with a three-speed gearbox plus reverse, shaft drive to the rear axle and calliper brakes. A four-seater convertible, it became the first Spanish-built car acquired by the Spanish Royal Household.
- Another car was exported to Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1903; it is known to have been a two-cylinder model, and it became the first Spanish vehicle exported abroad.
- It also exported to Argentina.
- In Seville it sold one to Doña María Dilme Carbonell, registration SE-13.
- Another was sold in Córdoba to Don Ángel Méndez Hidalgo, registration CO-39, according to the 1930 guide of the Real Automóvil Club de Córdoba, which lists every registration from CO-1 to the last one of 1930.
- Anglada also sold cars in Aragon, Catalonia and Extremadura.
It seems that unpaid bills for some exported cars may have led to its closure: the firm was struck off El Puerto de Santa María's register of businesses on 12 September 1906 in order to move to Córdoba, and in 1908 it closed for good and gave up car making. Don Francisco Anglada moved to Madrid, where he opened a mechanical and vehicle repair workshop. He died in Madrid in 1917, leaving 14 children.
Source: historiadelautomovilenmalaga.blogspot.com/
The Anglada 24 HP, Alfonso XIII's first car, sold by the Auto Garage Términus (1904)
The big news of the sale of an Anglada 24 H.P. to King Alfonso XIII by the Auto Garage Términus was published in Los Deportes on 22 May 1904, and since it was the King's first vehicle, Mr Balet gave him private driving lessons!