In 1950, Alonso Bonet Carrascosa had a workshop where he repaired and restored old cars, but it was a diminishing market with poor financial renumeration, so he had to look at other opportunities. He had set his sights on building motorcycles as there was a growing market and demand. He spent a couple of years studying and experimenting and, in 1951, he created Motociclos ARC SA along with his brother Rafael and his accountant, Carlos Gómez and they sought a permit of authorisation from the Ministry of Industry in Madrid to manufacture motorcycles.
The bike in the photographs was donated to the Sala Santy Collection and is believed to be the first prototype completed.
The ARC derives from the initials of the Christian names of the three partners. Permission was finally granted in 1953, and, by December 1953, they had finalised the preparation of their 125cc prototype. They intended to produce 2 models, the basic SE (Super Economical) and a more luxurious B Model with enhanced electric, equipment and finish.
Both models were based on a Villiers 125cc (123cc), air cooled, single cylinder, two stroke engine. The engine featured a cast iron cylinder with a separate alloy cylinder head, 3 speed gearbox with a hand change mechanism on the prototype. Exact details are contradictory in different sources; on the excellent (www.ottw.es) – One, Two, Three Wheels (OTTW) website there are images of both models annotated as having a Hispano Villiers Mk IX D of 123cc (1954) but, to my knowledge, the Mk IX wasn’t produced under licence in Spain, but it could have been imported directly from Villiers UK. The prototype has an ARC embossed crankcase cover.
Despite all the preparatory work that had gone into the project, production lasted less than 2 years and totalled circa 100 units.
Spanish Motorcycles 
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