The rampant finger brand developed one last model before its disappearance, a prototype that could have been its lifesaver, the long-awaited unborn Bultaco Montjuic 360.
Paco Bultó and Pedro Permanyer founded the famous Montesa brand in 1945. They will manufacture very cutting-edge motorcycles since then and others as successful as the Brío throughout the 50s. It is often said that at the end of that decade there are dissensions between them: Permanyer wants to close the competition department and for Bultó that is unacceptable.
It seems -according to the elders- that this was just one more drop among other problems between them, but the fact is that it led to the separation of the two partners and the foundation, by the latter, of the foundation of Bultaco.
With that background and Don Paco’s well-known love of racing -some say that he even said that he made motorcycles to be able to pay for the races- it is not surprising that the first thing that came out of the new Bultaco factory was the famous Tralla 101: a 125 of a certain utility cut, like everything that was sold at the time, but with a four-speed gearbox (generally they were 3) and substantially more powerful and sporty than any rival.
Two prototypes of the Bultaco Montjuic 360 were built, of which only one survived
From it immediately derive the TS or Tralla Sport for racing or the Sherpa S, the first national cross bike. Shortly after, in 1962, the Metralla was born with a larger cylinder, first in 200 cc and in 1967, with the Mk2, as a 250. This was considered the fastest 2T in world production. In the early 70’s this was no longer enough.
In 1969 Bultaco managed to win the 24 Hours of Montjuic with a TSS 360 prototype, in the hands of Cañellas and Rocamora. It would be a fantastic idea to repeat the Shrapnel feat, with mechanics derived from this racing prototype; a street version of that Montjuic.
In fact, the motorcycle was not born and it is already baptized with the name of the Barcelona mountain. But she never made it to the series. Much was said about it and it was taken to the Barcelona Salon. According to the documentation of the time and testimonies, two prototypes were made, one in red and the other in green, with the legend Montjuic in orange on the tank.
They have a specific version of the famous “Pedralbes” engine, which is only used as a base in racing TSS and in very expensive export motorcycles such as El Montadero or El Bandido. It is a very powerful 350, with a reinforced change, designed for thorough use.
Of the prototypes of the motorcycle, only one was saved, the red one. The other, the green one, famous for being the one in the famous photo of D. Paco at the factory going out to test it, with a red license plate, was lost.
The Montjuic that you can see exposed in the Museum of Alcalá is a reconstruction
The deposit and some other pieces were recovered and with them and with a careful analysis of the pieces that made it up, it was possible to reconstruct an exact replica of that motorcycle, including the famous red test plate of 74. This replica is the one that is exhibited in the Museum of Alcalá de Henares of the Spanish motorcycle Made In Spain.
It is not clear why that bike did not make it to the series. You hear all kinds of legends about it and possibly they all have some truth: to begin with, it used a mechanical base that was very expensive to manufacture: that Pedralbes engine was not seen on national market motorcycles and surely that would trigger the final prices of a 350, which was at heart a 2T single, once again.
On the other hand, there are those who say that the motorcycle simply did not go. And in fact, some of the decisions that were made are striking: the exhaust comes out of the cylinder and is divided in two under the motorcycle, it seems, only for aesthetic reasons; for pretending something more than that single cylinder.
This decision, at least, would have an impact on the operation of the engine: in a 2T the exhaust is essential and that effect sought with the cone and counter-cone of a normal tubarro disappears -or is complicated- in a split exhaust.
It is not known for sure why this model was never produced in series
It is also often said that they started from a competition engine from the 60s that did not have a precisely smooth response. Surely the reason for the motorcycle not reaching the street has a bit to do with everything. The case -and I know that from my own experience- is that it weighs a lot, for a motorcycle of medium physical size.
This story would repeat itself many years later. In the end, Bultaco did not manufacture, for asphalt, anything greater than the Metralla 250. At the end of its history, it did experiment with a 370 engine – Frontera-based – embedded in the chassis of one of those Metralla GTS with stick tires and brakes. disk. It also didn’t make it past the prototype phase.
And in this case it is said that that prototype of the Shrapnel 370 was sold to a factory employee, who gave it to a son who ended up “stamping” the motorcycle in Andalusia, where he lost track.
The point is that the latest Bultaco prototype, the Bultaco Montjuic, never made it to production, but luckily we can enjoy its reconstruction and we can admire it at the Made In Spain Motorcycle Museum in Alcalá de Henares.
Text: Nicolas Ortega
