Paco Bultó

Francisco Xavier Bultó Marquès (Barcelona, 17 May 1912 - Barcelona, 3 August 1998), popularly known as 'Paco Bultó' was a Catalan businessman, founder of 'Montesa Honda' (with Peter Permanyer) and Bultaco. Francisco "Paco" Bultó was a director of the Montesa motorcycle company founded in 1944. After several years of steady growth and road racing success, in 1957 Montesa moved to larger facilities. The move was protracted, disrupting production and was followed by a downturn in the Spanish economy. Bultó decided to leave Montesa to concentrate on his other business interests. The suggestion to form a new company is said to have come a few days later when Sr. Bultó was invited to a meeting by several of the former staff of Montesa's racing department. Keen to return to racing, they persuaded him that their greatest hope lay in forming a new company. Setting up shop in very primitive conditions at an old farm owned by Bultó, things developed quickly. On March 24, 1959, Bultaco held a press day and launched its first bike, the road-going 125cc Bultaco Tralla 101, named after a Spanish word for whip. Just two months later Bultaco entered its first Spanish Grand Prix taking seven of the first ten places.