The Last Bultaco

[pschrauber]

I have been checking an original Bultaco parts book special for official dealers, and in that book you can read that the first six speed Bultaco was frame number   JB-19912885B.

 

pschrauber, you talk about JB-19912876B being the first B model. Maybe those 9 bikes 12876B to 12884B could be prototypes for competition using the 326,2 cc engines 5 speed or maybe even 350cc with the older 5 speed gear box?

 

The first one we have recorded at the moment is JB-19912920B in Palma de Mallorca, also another early one JB19912941B in Córdoba in southern Spain.

 

The later ones still JB-19914912B in Bilbao and JB19914920B in Barcelona.

 

 

To the numbers, as mentioned before, when Bultaco made up there system of frame numbers they should have had a system that is in itself logical.

 

With new models they changed the first three numbers and started again with zero.

 

With the model 199a and model 199b these were just models with "small" improvements, so they went counting up between model 199 up to 199b I think.

 

I don't think that there were given double numbers in purpose, at least all vehicle data in Germany were already in the end of 70's recorded electronically and the data collected at the KBA (Kraftfahrbundesamt), once they were put in traffic, (not before).

 

Same with the Italians which did punch the registration numbers below / under the frame number to the frame of the bike when imported as a single bike.

 

Motorcycles with double numbers could be easily noticed later when set up for road and this done by the manufactor would be a crime.

 

I believe when the reminding workers of Bultaco that didn't got a job after the bankrupty of Bultaco and were assembling bikes from piles of spares without superstition at the Derbi facilities as part of a social program of the state, may not have been precisely those that were easy to convey, thus couldn't count right ... hard thesis ... I know ...

Edited January 29, 2016 by pschrauber

[stevem75]

Hard to say the exact time that the factory was shut. We know that in the fall of 79 that it closed its doors for a short time until the Spanish government gave them a grant to reopen and keep going. I believe in doing this the factory was required to considerably downsize its workforce. The workers revolted, didn't downsize, and basically took over the factory. At around this time Honda was looking to purchase Bultaco but because the workers couldn't get their &$@# together Honda passed them up and went to montesa. By this time sr bulto was locked out of the factory and I've even heard rumours that an workers burned an epitaph of him outside the factory. Hard to believe that such a wonderful man like bulto was treated so badly by his staff. In any case some development work continued. Like the prototype mk 15 pursangs and the m199b Sherpa t. By 1982 all funds and loans were drying up and the factory could t continue so it was closed. The extra stock of parts was for whatever reason ( I'm not sure ), sent to the derbi factory where some of the original Bultaco workers continued to build m199b's with whatever was left. This is why some of the later bikes came with different brand parts like motoplat vs femsa. It's also worth noting that the mercurio road bike was also being manufactured too in this way. So by 1985 all leftover parts were gone and that was the end of a brand that actually close three years before.

Steve

[stevem75]

I actually think Bultacos model numbering system worked quite well. It enabled them to not be confined to "year" models. If they wanted immediate production changes the model number system allowed it.... They didn't have to wait until the next model year to make the change. the problem comes when the rest of the industry uses the year to identify a motorcycle. It causes confusion amongst owners. A 1975 Sherpa t means nothing to a parts person at Hugh's or in motion. Bultaco had the m151, m159 , and possibly the m183 all in that year. The bike could have been titled in your home country in 1975 but that is inconsequential when it comes to a Bultacos actual manufacture date. I think with the 199 series that the factory was going through so much strife that changing model numbers would only add to the confusion that was already occurring. They had no idea that 30 years down the road a bunch of Bultaco enthusiasts would try to decode why they did what they did. But .... In saying that, separate model numbers at this point would make our lives a little easier. We would wonder what the first 199b serial number actually was. We just know it's in the 12000 range.

Steve

[pschrauber]

I believe the extra stock of parts was for whatever reason ( I'm not sure ), sent to the derbi factory where some of the original Bultaco workers continued to build m199b's with whatever was left. This is why some of the later bikes came with different brand parts like motoplat vs femsa. It's also worth noting that the mercurio road bike was also being manufactured too in this way. So by 1985 all leftover parts were gone and that was the end of a brand that actually close three years before.

Steve

To the bike production at Derbi I have read in several magazines and books. Too in an article about the future of Bultaco from 1982 on German Trialsport Magazine. It makes too sense to set up the production somewhere else to get the old equipment ... sold.

The model 199b is the only Sherpa with no parts catalog I believe this is an evidence that in the end not everything went always in the right direction.

[markg]

That is interesting Greg. My 199B is 14773B and it was the first one and only one over here in Australia for a long time. It was privately imported from England in about 1982 I think. A mates one is 13441B so it is much earlier than mine. So going by your numbers mine is a very late one. Graham.

[markg]

I have just brought over one of my 199B's along with a SWM Jumbo from the United States to Australia so there is one more B down under. Mine is 13439B in Australia and the one still in the States is 14055B. Both have matching engine numbers if that helps any research.

[greeves]

So when did the last 199B leave the factory. Or should I say when did the doors shut for good.

 

Those 2 questions are the million dollar questions 2fargone.

 

Easy to say when Bultaco history started and the first bike leave the factory:

 

- The company 19 May 1958.

- The first bike launched; the Tralla101 leaved the factory on the 21st March 1959. (see photo).

 

But when we come to put an exact date to the last bike leaving the factory and the real close up of Bultaco... nodoby really knows as there were so many people interested in keeping all this away from prying eyes...

 

We all know on 1st July 1980 an agreement was signed to resume activities with 412 workers. Inside  the company; designers designing new models, pilots tuning bikes for competition and dealers all over the world puting their eyes in the new models for competition and market, all this new projects would have meant the salvation of BULTACO, but the resumption of production was very slow, workers unions did not have a clear intention to save Bulltaco, but to take profit of the situation building bikes too slow to stop the economic bleeding...  so the factory did not have enough money to hold the necessary time.

 

There was no money for develolments, so there would be no new models at all, production will use all the old parts available in stock. There was no money to pay elite riders to participate in world class competitions so could not keep the name BULTACO on top of the sport. The solution to save BULTACO passed through a loan from the state... to the workers unions now in charge of the factory.

 

The official closure of the production was in 1982, but workers unions were waiting to collect money from the estate and the "Operación puntilla"** name they gave to the sell of all the actives of the factory; specially spares, bikes... and this was not ended untill up to 1984.

 

This is why the news about BULTACO in between 1982 and 1984 are few and very confusing. Workers unions wanted it to be this way...

 

In 1984, after (UNFAIRLY) distributing the last money coming from the sale of facilities, tools, spares and lately aseembled machines, Bultaco CEMOTO deffinitely closed the doors forever. It was a slow and gradual death about which no newspaper or magazine devoted a single line.

 

So which one is the last Bultaco ever? At the moment JB19914920B

 

"Operación puntilla"** - Puntilla is the thin and long knife used time ago to kill the cows in the slaughterhauses.

 

Edited January 31, 2016 by greeves

[scot taco]

That is pretty sad.

Edited February 1, 2016 by scot taco

[pschrauber]

Well, probably ask Orlando Calonder in Switzerland, may be he knows, he was in business as Bultaco Importer then and is still as manufactor of cables and spokes and dealer for Bultaco parts. He does not like to talk about the time after the bancrupty, I have already asked ....

[nigel dabster]

That is pretty sad.I hope all those union people responsible for the demise of my favorite motorcycle ended up in the bread lines after 1984 and could only find jobs cleaning toilets!!!

 

It is very easy to point the finger at the end of our favourite bike directly at the unions, but as with most things to take an incident in history is to forget history itself. Some might say that the start of the demise was the spanish war, compounded by the Dictator Franco and the way workers under the socialist government held restrictive practices. To have such a devisive dictator who was only deposed on death meant a lurch to the left, as much as anything to facilitate entry to the then EEC.

We all regret Bultaco closing and if indeed the workers ended up on the breadline there is nothing really to be grateful for.

 

(the accuracy and simplistic short nature of the above is obvious)

Edited February 1, 2016 by nigel dabster

[big john]

It is always simple to try and blame someone or something for the demise of an entity. It all depends which 'side' you have taken because the other 'side' will undoubtedly be the target for blame. I'm sure this went on following the downfall of Bultaco in Spain. There are books on it, published by labour unions.

We will probably never know the true reason for the ultimate demise of Bultaco - CEMOTO. For sure, the company was never the same post-1979 and the Bulto family had in reality nothing more to do with the day to day running of the factory.

I do recall an effigy being burned, hanging from a window of the factory - that was reported in the motorcycle press at the time, but whether it was to depict Snr Bulto or someone else depends on interpretation by the reporter at the time.

There was definitely unrest, the firm was broke, the workforce dissatisfied and ultimately production suffered and no new models were forthcoming. Very different from the halcyon days when Bultaco had won back-to-back world championships and sold motorcycles in their thousands.

I wonder if enthusiasts of the current day manufacturers will be having this debate in 2046?

 

Big John

[greeves]

I don´t know were I will be in 2046 Big John; most probably playing a lyre while lying on a cloud, or maybe being boiled in a cauldron while pricked with a trident; but what I know for sure is that workers unions played an important role in Bultaco´s death.

 

Maybe not because what they did, but for sure because what they didn´t do, and definitely they did not had the passion for bikes and motor sports the Bultó family and specilly D. Paco had. Unions definitely let Bultaco die as they were more interested in closing the factory and divide the remains between them rather than to work and raise the company owned by them then to were it had been.

 

Sad story that was repeated too frequently then when democracy started again in Spain.

Edited February 1, 2016 by greeves

[guys]

All of Europe was in an economic crisis at that time.

So blaming mainly the union, isn't fair i.m.o.

They had to follow state directives to receive grants to keep the company alive.

For instance, keep the full workforce, when only producing a fraction of what they did before.

So maybe all help came too late, maybe Bultaco was doomed to die.

And democracy, at any level, isn't a magic solution for everything, but it's the best we've got.

[mrb505]

Most have probably read this but it's a good read like the rest of the site.

http://www.retrotrials.com/exclusive-ignacio-bulto-interview-20122.html

In my opinion the last true Bultaco would be when Paco still had control of the company

[big john]

Most have probably read this but it's a good read like the rest of the site.

http://www.retrotrials.com/exclusive-ignacio-bulto-interview-20122.html

In my opinion the last true Bultaco would be when Paco still had control of the company

A very frank interview with Ignacio Bulto on Retrorials. I had the great pleasure of having Ignacio and Oriol Puig-Bulto as guests at our Highland Classic Trial in 2013.

 

James Brown went to a lot of effort to bring this interview to the internet. It tells the position from the Bulto family's perspective, but of course from 1979 the family were out of the picture.

 

I am still keen to find out which was the last 340 model 199B, whether that be assembled out of spare parts bins at the Derbi factory or otherwise.

 

Big John