Spanish dish
Sitting having its picture taken on the edge of a village often used for TV productions such as Midsomer Murders, the 350cc Sanglas did not look out of place. In fact, one dog-walking resident mistook the Spanish machine for a Matchless single of the same 1959 vintage as he used to own.
The Sanglas may have started life a few thousand miles away, but it looked very much at home in the quintessential English village, complete with stately home. Spanish by birth yes, but it was actually inspired by the engineering standards set by German manufacturers DKW, BMW and Zundapp, as an alternative to these firms as transport for official Spanish bodies.
The history of Sanglas began in 1942, three years after the Spanish Civil War ended, the firm being founded by two young engineering students in Pueblo Nuevo, Barcelona. Brothers Javier and Martin Sanglas Camps started the company with funding from their wealthy father, who was an entrepreneur in the textile industry. Not surprisingly given world events, it would be a further five years before the first motorcycle came to production.
The first machine was a tall, ohv four-stroke single, with
