The company Huracan Motors SA were founded in Barcelona in 1956 by José María Duran Balet. Their intention was to build motorcycles, motocarros (three-wheeled utility vehicles) and microvans using “bought in” engines. They had set themselves a target of building 3 vehicles per day and, with their commercially well-placed premises on Calle Almogàvers 122, in the Poble Nou district of Barcelona, just about half a kilometre from the “Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes”.
The “Huracan” output gained a reputation for being robust and reliable, in part because of their use of engines from the Barcelona based Hispano Villiers factory. Unfortunately, the Catalan manufacturers of that period had to contend with an obstructive central government that made it difficult to obtain the necessary manufacturing approvals. In addition, the poor quality of the only raw materials that were available in the impoverished periods following the Spanish Civil War and World War 2, made progress difficult.
Huracan produced mainly small capacity motorcycles, like those in the photographs. They also made prototypes of small vans and had proposed a small car, but these were unsuccessful. However, Huracan had some success with three-wheeler motocarros (or triciclos) built for delivery work. These were offered with a choice of 300 kgs or 400 kgs capacity, powered by either a Hispano Villiers 125cc or 197cc motor respectively.
This 1958 Huracan Silver deluxe, 200cc was photographed at the Museo de la Motocicleta Española 28802 Alcalá de Henares (Madrid).
The 1956 Huracan 200cc (Hispano Villiers 197cc) is on display at the Museu Roda Roda in Lerida, Catalonia.
Huracan 125cc with sidecar photographed at the Museo de la Moto y el Coche Clasico, 10700 Hervás (Cáceres)
Huracan eventually closed their doors in 1965 by which time, they had produced over 2,000 machines in total.
This advertisement is reproduced with the kind permission of the Lamaneta website http://www.lamaneta.com
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