SIATA Española: The Italian Dream That Ended Up Delivering Bread Britain had its kit-car dreamers and its backyard sports-car builders — the men who, with more passion than capital, tried to bottle a bit of Italian glamour in a draughty shed. Most failed. A few became legends. But almost none of them did it under … Read more
VIASA: The Train Builder That Made Spain’s Forgotten Jeep Picture the scene. It’s the late 1950s, you run one of Spain’s biggest railway manufacturers, and the order book for train carriages has just gone quiet. The factory floor is cooling down. Hundreds of workers are about to go home with nothing to do. What do … Read more
URO: The Spanish Factory You’ve Never Heard Of That Builds Tactical Vehicles For Thirty Countries Three letters, zero recognition In the English-speaking world, when someone says “Spanish car industry,” the answers are predictable. SEAT. Maybe Hispano-Suiza if the person reads about pre-war luxury. Pegaso if they know their Wifredo Ricart history. Spano if they follow … Read more
Santana Motor: the Spanish 4×4 that humiliated the British, died with the country — and just came back with Chinese blood You’ve probably never heard of Linares. It’s a small city in the south of Spain, sitting in the middle of an olive-tree ocean in the province of Jaén — historically one of the poorest … Read more
