Elig (Elche 1953-1966)

Elig was a motorcycle brand, founded by Francisco Candela Mas and manufactured in Elche, in the province of Alicante.   In 1942, he had set up a workshop to construct and repair machinery associated with the production of footwear – one of the main industries in this area.

His hobby was motorcycling, and, in his spare time, he also renovated old motorcycles, using them to take part in various sporting events where he enjoyed some success.  In mid-1953, he launched a moped equipped with a Mosquito, two stroke engine.

This Elig moped is fitted with a Mosquito M60 engine and was part of a display of the Sala Santy Collection.

Following this, he started planning to produce a new motorcycle under the Elig brand name.

This unrestored, 1953 Elig 125cc was part of a display of the Sala Santy Collection and is an early example of the first Elig motorcycles, as indicated by the plunger rear suspension.

This Elig 125cc is from the Kisko Mercado Collection, who kindly supplied the photographs.

Based at Carrer del Marquès d’Asprella, Elche, Candela started to assemble the parts necessary to produce his new machine which was based round his choice of the Hispano Villiers 125cc, two stroke engine.   Production started in 1954 and, after a short production run with the initial model, improvements were made to the frame and suspension. 

After 1955, few further changes were made until the end of the production run in 1966 but an additional 200cc model was introduced, again based on the Hispano Villiers engines (197cc).

This Elig 200cc is from the Kisko Mercado Collection, who kindly supplied the photographs.

The final output figures for Elig are recorded as 652 units and the end of the Elig brand coincided with the end of the Hispano Villiers engine production.  After this, Senor Candela returned to the construction of presses for the manufacture of flooring and rubber plates for footwear.

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