Nacional Pescara

The history of the Nacional Pescara brand is closely tied to that of the Spanish marquis Raul Pateras Pescara de Castellucio. An extraordinary and somewhat eccentric man, he initially became passionate about aeronautics and built the first helicopters! Between 1917 and 1955, he filed numerous patents in various fields, gaining recognition primarily for his astonishing flying machines. In our context, he also co-founded an automobile marque with his brother in the late 1920s, aimed at revitalizing the Spanish automotive industry.

Supported by King Alfonso XIII, the brand was named Fabrica Nacional de Automoviles – Pescara, or Nacional Pescara. From its inception in 1928, the ambitions were grandiose! They immediately developed a comprehensive range, including popular small 4-cylinder cars, mid-range 6-cylinder models, and at the top, 8-cylinder and even 16-cylinder cars. Backed by royal and governmental subsidies, the Pescara brothers attracted renowned engineers, including Edmond Moglia, a Franco-Italian known for his racing engines (such as the Sunbeam and Omega-Six 8-cylinder DOHC engines), streamlined bodies (including the cigar-shaped Ballot and Bugatti bodies from the 1922 French Grand Prix), and the development of the Roots-type supercharger adopted by Bugatti for their Pur Sang models...

Moglia also engineered the legendary but short-lived Djelmo record car. For Nacional Pescara, he developed, without cost constraints, an 8-cylinder DOHC racing car, a design he particularly favored. Although the young marque employed nearly 200 people, it went bankrupt in the early 1930s, coinciding with the fall of the monarchy and the advent of the Second Spanish Republic. Production remained highly limited, with approximately a dozen civilian cars and 2 or 3 racing models produced.