Facundo Amado
08/28/2021 3:55 PM
Clarín.com
International
Updated 08/28/2021 3:55 PM
Ladislao Biro, Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega, Letitia Geer, the Wright brothers, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Nikola Tesla ...
The list of great inventors of the 20th century
could be endless, let alone if it is extended to the rest of history.
All of them are and will be part of a transcendent legacy for humanity thanks to the thousands of creations that changed people's lives.
Unfortunately some are overshadowed by other names, however their developments persist today with remarkable force. In 2019, Spain remembered the 100 years since the birth of one of the greatest exponents of those "forgotten". A Galician who, thanks to
a great and cheap idea, hired 20,000 people
and manufactured almost 50% of Spain's trucks and tractors. A working man who was
recognized by the New York Times
as one of the most important businessmen in Europe.
In short, one of people who change the world forever, who was able to make his last name synonymous with the diesel engine and without which the world of the automotive industry as it is known today would not be understood.
His name doesn't say much, Eduardo Barreiros;
His example will last forever.
Eduardo Barreiros, the man, the legend, the great inventor who put Spain at the top of the automotive industry.
Those who knew him agree that he was a tireless worker,
with few words and a low profile, a close and endearing employer
, of great human quality and that, due to his gift of genius, he always needed to be creating.
Formula 1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio, in a photo dedicated to his visit to the Villaverde plant in 1969.
Eduardo Barreiros was born on October 24, 1919 in Gundiás, Nogueira de Ramuín, Orense, in the heart of Galicia.
At the age of 12, his permanent concerns led him to be by his father's side, helping him in the bus company that he had founded.
He charged two pesetas a day - the old Spanish currency before the arrival of the euro - and learned by taking mechanics courses
.
His life passed like this, between iron, engines and oils, until the arrival of the Civil War.
His father's public transport bus company, where Eduardo Barreiros earned two pesetas a day.
The idea of becoming independent was made possible after the end of hostilities.
He opened a workshop in which, with scrapped components, he began to manufacture his own buses to add them to the family business.
In addition, he
began to adapt engines for use with gas
, a procedure of his that allowed him to obtain gaseous fuel from solid fuels such as coal and firewood.
His first converted prototype engine, made from two old German Krupp engines.
Those early geniuses led him to have a broader vision.
He quickly realized that after the Civil War, in Spain there was little availability of gasoline, but a lot of diesel, a cheaper fuel whose consumption was lower.
Thus, he
thought that the business was to modify gasoline engines to use diesel
, to reduce their consumption and with it, their costs.
In 1951 he hit the key and patented the transformation procedure, a work of his from beginning to end.
The workshop was too small for him and he decided to take the big leap: his horizon was Madrid, and in 1954 he founded the cornerstone of his future empire: the Barreiros Diesel engine factory.
The first floor of Madrid, opened after the Spanish Civil War.
In order to "explode" his business, Barreiros brought to light another of his great gifts as an entrepreneur:
the management of marketing and advertising
. From being an almost family company, his factory began to transform into a large company, especially due to the excellent working conditions that it offered its employees: excellent salaries, bonuses, help for workers to buy their houses, medical checks ... Working at Barreiros Diesel was already, in those years, a luxury.
The year 1957 would mark what was the hinge. Barreiros won a competition to supply 400 military trucks to Portugal. But the INI (National Institute of Industry) was not interested in a humble Galician winning that contract. Without really knowing how, Eduardo got Franco to request an exhibition of the Portuguese prototype (which everyone called “El Abuelo”) in the Montes del Pardo.
Barreiros personally drove him in a suit and tie and was congratulated by the dictator Francisco Franco.
The industrialist took the opportunity to remind him that there was the possibility of manufacturing 400 trucks for Portugal to which the caudillo, in front of the president of INI and the Minister of Industry, exclaimed: "Go ahead, Barreiros, go ahead." He had a free hand, no one would get in the way of his business.
In a coat and tie, driving the vehicle with which he impressed Franco.
In those years, the Spanish automobile industry was controlled by the regime through SEAT (which manufactured street cars) and ENASA (which manufactured trucks).
That was not an obstacle to the tenacity of Barreiros, who despite having many enemies in all Francoist ministries, was able to start manufacturing their own engines, vans and civilian trucks (the Azor and the Super Azor).
That opened the door to exports to Portugal, Africa and South America for the tireless Galician, who always repeated: "
You don't have to look down on anyone, and always surround yourself with good collaborators and friends
."
The transformation of diesel engines greatly favored the business of the field, due to its use in agricultural machinery.
The business expanded exponentially.
It had to seek international financing in order to continue growing.
He negotiated with Fiat and General Motors, until finally, in 1963, he reached an agreement with the North American giant Chrysler, giving him 40% of his company.
Thus was born Barreiros Chrysler
, with an investment of more than 4,000 million pesetas of the time (currently, about 24 million euros), also expanding the plant and commercial distribution.
From that "marriage" were born classics that toured Europe such as the legendary Simca 1000, Simca 1200 and the Dodge Dart.
Together with the then Prince Juan Carlos, watching how Princess Sofía handles a mythical Simca.
Thus, Barreiros put Spain on the big map of the automotive world.
Almost 50% of the heavy vehicles in Spain are Barreiros, he
exports products to 27 countries, the New York Times recognizes him as one of the most influential businessmen in the Old Continent
, and employs 20,000 people, becoming the third Madrid company after the Renfe and Standard Electric monsters.
Street cars, trucks, tractors, buses, vans, utility vehicles ... Barreiros built everything on wheels.
In a Dodge Dart, chauffeuring King Faisal of Arabia.
That was his peak, the zenith of his career and his life.
In '67, taking advantage of the international momentum, Chrysler Corporation squeezes its tentacles and buys the majority of the shares: Barreiros Chrysler becomes Chrysler Spain, which decades later would be Citroen-Peugeot.
In 1969, Barreiros left the company
, sold his stake and signed a contract with Chrysler Spain with a commitment marked in blood: not to carry out any activity related to the automotive industry for the next 5 years.
In full explosion, Barreiros Diesel came to employ 20,000 Spaniards.
At that time his constant restlessness led him to change his area.
He threw himself into livestock and out of nowhere he raised PUVASA (Explotaciones Puerto Vallehermoso), which in a short time became one of the most important artificial insemination laboratories in Europe and the main source of
supply of stallions for livestock farms throughout Europe
.
But his "iron" essence was missing something ...
Barreriros Diesel became the third largest company in Spain.
And the life preserver to his heart appeared from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
In 1978 he met Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, Cuban vice president and at that time Fidel Castro's right-hand man.
The temptation to repeat his motorcycle experience on the island was immediate.
In a contest organized by the Cuban government,
one of its prototypes manages to beat the one presented by the Japanese giant Nissan
.
He meets with Fidel Castro and signs a contract for the country's automotive development, to produce diesel engines and convert gasoline engines, under
a new brand, Taino.
In Cuba, he won an open competition from the Japanese giant Nissan and began to build engines and vehicles for the government of Fidel Castro.
The maxims of Eduardo Barreiros, a perennial legacy that every businessman could follow to the letter.
They were 10 years of work and development in Cuba.
His work was considered so important in the Caribbean country that in 1991 the University of Havana awarded him the title of Doctor Honoris Causa in Technical Sciences.
The projects followed and intimately the idea of having revenge in their land was always latent.
However,
a heart attack took him in Havana, young, barely 72 years old but with the strength of that little boy
who in his native Orense played to grease his hands with the motors.
In the Eduardo Barreiros museum his work is detailed year by year.
His daughter today runs the Barreiros Foundation and the museum in his honor, but beyond that family bond, Spain and the world's automotive industry will always recognize his legacy, to the point that today, at the Barreiros Diesel facilities in Villaverde, Madrid , are the facilities of the PSA Group and Renault Industrial Vehicles. And
the street that leads to the main entrance of the monumental plant bears the name of Eduardo Barreiros.