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A long time ago, people close to me from my family environment proposed a topic that they knew I could be interested in and like.
They put me in touch with the family of the man who was in charge of the Communication and Press Department of Bultaco (EPD), and therefore they have good information about the brand and the factory.
The family has a photographic archive of nearly 90,000 photographs, divided into negatives, contacts, paper copies, leaflets, catalogues, etc., but always related to Bultaco. Motorcycle models, prototypes, tests of all specialties, riders, etc.
I had never seen such a large amount of information from Bultaco in my life. Not even motorcycles, and even less, so well classified, ordered and registered.
From what they explained to me, it is clear that he was so meticulous, that he did not fail to note, at any time, all the events that, through the lens, he decided to reflect with a “click-clack”.
I don’t know if anyone is aware of all this information, I don’t even know if the family is aware of knowing the “treasure” they have at home.
I also don’t know if anyone present noticed my excitement, emotion and how my body looked like what I saw (far above) the brand of my loves, Bultaco. I didn’t sleep very well that night.
The family told me that they wanted to make this “treasure” public. The objective was not economic (which I also was), but rather sentimental , to which I subscribed, so I offered to, without knowing how, in what way and even less when, help to make this entire archive public.
It is the history in images of Bultaco and, why not say it, of the industrialized Barcelona and Catalonia, also of Spain.
It has always been said that a picture is worth a thousand words is worth a thousand words, well, this photographic archive believed that it should be made public with a thousand images and a few words.
“The image of Bultaco”
After speaking with several experts in programming, computer scientists, printers, designers, “bulkscrews” and various people who may be interested in the subject, Everyone advised me against making a publication, collectible, book or something printed, since, apart from the fact that it would be worth a “paste” without knowing very well the benefits that would be obtained, only a part of this archive would remain public, losing the rest, regretting this situation.
I made available to them a domain registered in my name www.bultaco.cat a portal that is still clean of content, since I have never used it.
The idea was to present a good home page where the story of this Bultaco journalist would be very clear and explained. From here, structure it by content: speed, motocross, off-road, TRIAL, motorcycles and miscellaneous. Digitizing the negatives, paper, contacts, etc. and uploading it to the web at times and in parts, it was not necessary to do everything at once. I volunteered to do it.
I made it very clear to them that, for my part, This whole project was more sentimental than economic and that would be what would motivate me to see the light of day in a short space of time. The rights to the digital file (but not the paper and negatives) should be formalized in writing (something simple) in my favor. Not with the desire to raise money, but to protect the many hours that I should dedicate to it.
I never found out because the family never answered my questions. Maybe because it would be more of an economic issue and not so sentimental? You may have wondered… What benefit do we get from all this?
I proposed an alternative… On the web,all uploaded photos must be protected (copyright) from any download. These could only be made, and in high resolution, under payment (the amount had to be specified) by transfer to the author of the photos, in this case to the family.
It was difficult to specify the income from these downloads and even more so knowing how the situation of the country is currently, but as I understood, or at least that’s how they made me see, that the economic issue was not prioritized, but the sentimental one of the family, I think that with all the above, the issue of the archive would have been solved and that it would not be lost in the trunk of memories. which is likely to happen.
To this day I don’t know anything else about the family, nor about Bultaco’s archive , but I did want to comment on this situation “in the first place” which, as beautiful as it is, is still sad.
David has provided the means to channel any comments, but if you want to make it more personalized, you will always find me at bona
igua@motocat.cat
Lots of zeros!
Victor Martin
“Bonaiguá”
