Bultaco’s tough and reliable machines were shot in to the spotlight when, in 1973, Jim Pomeroy took a 250cc Pursang to overall victory at the Spanish Grand Prix, simultaneously becoming the first rider ever to win his debut motocross GP, the first American to win a GP, the first American to lead the MXGP point standings and the first rider of any nationality to win an MXGP on a Spanish motorcycle.įor the new “enduro” rider, the company developed the Matador, with lighting to qualify as a dual-purpose bike, but a capable competition endure machine straight out of the showroom. Francisco Bulto offered the first Bultaco in 1959 and spent most of the 1960s developing sports roadsters with a habit of winning, including European Grand Prix and the Isle of Man, and trials bikes, winning the National Championship eight times and the prestigious Six Day Trials a formidable four times. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can click here to visit the listing.Bultaco was born from a split in the partnership of motorcycle manufacturer, Montesa, following a disagreement about the company’s racing program. The Pursang has remained in private hands since filming wrapped and has more recently been carefully repainted and restored with great effort taken to keep the original patina from filming.īonhams estimate that it’ll sell for between $60,000 and $70,000 USD when it rolls across the auction block on the 6th of October in Alabama. The film is obviously famous for the two choppers that take up the majority on the screen time but these two other motorcycles are no less iconic, and both are an order of magnitude faster on the dirt. In the film Peter Fonda arrives at the Le Contenta Bar on a Bultaco Pursang with Dennis Hopper in tow riding what appears to be a Norton Ranger. The Bultaco Pursang you see here is doubtless one of the most collectible in the world, it never won a race or a championship, but it did feature as Peter Fonda’s motorcycle in one of the first scenes of the iconic film Easy Rider. Peter Fonda’s 1968 Bultaco Pursang From The Film “Easy Rider” Over the course of its production run it would be offered with 250cc engines, followed by 125cc, 360cc, and 370cc, with the original 250 producing 34 horsepower and tipping the scales at just 224 lbs. Throughout the 1960s and ’70s and the company would take a staggering assortment of wins and championships in Europe, the USA, and around the world. Each would be revolutionary in their own way, and it’s hard to argue that Bultaco didn’t have the most significant influence-to-company-size ratio in the motorcycle world at the time. Within a few short years Bultaco was building four primary models for off-road racing – the Astro for short flat track, the Matador for enduro, the Sherpa T for observed trials, and the Pursang for motocross.
“The market follows the chequered flag” – Paco Bultó
It was these men who convinced Paco to start his own motorcycle marque, even suggesting the name Bultaco using the first four letters of his surname and the final three letters of his nickname “Paco”. By 1957 the two men were at loggerheads as an economic downturn had left Permanyer wanting to disband the racing division, and Bultó lived for little else than competition.īultó would leave the company he had co-founded, and within days many of the leading lights of the racing division had followed him. Paco Bultó had founded Montessa motorcycles with Peter Permanyer in 1944 in their native Spain, the marque quickly gained a foothold and a reputation for race winning motorcycles. Perhaps more than anything his final request showed who he really was, an avid motorcyclist with an eccentric streak a mile wide and a famously wry sense of humor. A Brief History of Bultacoīefore he died Paco Bultó requested that he be laid to rest in a Bultaco shirt with his moustache properly waxed. The Bultaco Pursang was one of the most successful two-stroke motocross bikes of its era, taking on some of the biggest motorcycle marques and regularly trouncing them while hardly breaking a sweat.
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