On 18 June 1910, Arturo Elizalde bought J.M. Vallet’s shares and the Company’s name was changed to “Biada, Elizalde y Cía”. The enterprise’s core activity was the manufacture of automobiles and vehicle repairs in general, including the Delahaye make, for which purpose they employed leading experts to collaborate in their projects.
In 1913, on the occasion of the International Motor Show in Barcelona, the ”Biada, Elizalde y Cía.” firm showcased different automotive parts, shock absorbers by Telesco – which they represented – and several Delahaye vehicle models.

The first prototype (Type 11), called “Biada y Elizalde”, was presented that same year (1913).

On 27 May 1915, Arturo Elizalde bought the Company shares held by his Biada in-laws, thus becoming the sole proprietor of the “Fábrica Española de Automóviles Elizalde”.

The driving force behind this company was unarguably Arturo Elizalde, ably assisted by his sons (Salvador in the Technical Department and Arturo Luis in the Test Department).

Leaders, and a driving force

Elizalde was the first national high-tech aeronautical factory in Spain, focusing on aircraft engines, which required highly refined technical training for its workers.

Once the civil war was over, and in the midst of industrial and social recovery, in 1940 the Elizalde Aviation Engine Factory created the first vocational training school in Spain as a pioneering project: the Elizalde Apprentices School (E.A.E.).

The E.A.E. produced several generations of highly specialised professional technicians who would later nurture Catalan industry, filling management and industrial development posts in important companies (Bultaco, Montesa, etc.).

On 27 December 1951, the agreement for the sale of Elizalde S.A. to the National Institute of Industry was signed, and the company was renamed Empresa Nacional de Motores de Aviación, S.A. (ENMASA).

A memorable apprenticeship

Created in 1940 under the impetus of Carmen Biada, Julio de Rentería and Manuel Torrado, the company’s general secretary, the Elizalde Apprentices School (E.A.E.) was set up with the aim of promoting the professional, moral and cultural training of the factory’s future workers. The training plan, in a building annexed to the factory, included a syllabus divided into four courses – two per year – with theoretical and practical activities in the company itself, to subsequently join the workforce as operators. The age of the students who entered the school was between 14 and 20 years old.

The E.A.E. developed its activity until 1960. Its first director was Mr. Luis Torra Almenara, and the most outstanding virtue of the school was to manage to combine the excellence of a great technical-professional academic training with a civic, sporting and religious education, without impositions and freely accepted. “ESTUDIO, ACCIÓN Y DISCIPLINA” was the motto and seal of identity that the E.A.E. instilled from the very beginning in all its students, many of whom went on to achieve very prominent professional positions in the motor industry.