Antoni Serra established the FNM factory at Badalona, Barcelona, in 1921. The firm built bicycles, sidecars and motorcycles using Ace, Villiers and JAP engines until 1936 when the Spanish Civil War errupted. The factory was destroyed during the war.
In 1921 the Spanish government was in search of a reasonably priced machine suitable for sidecar use for the armed forces. Inspired by FN's success as a manufacturer of motorcycles for the military, Serra's solution was an inline four cylinder motorcycle. (1)
The design was not adopted by the army, so the following year Serra created a new four-cylinder machine using an American Ace engine and once more submitted a motorcycle for military approval, which was not forthcoming. It is believed some 12 of the four cylinder machines were built with engines of 998cc and 1263cc capacity, and all went to the civilian market. One of these has survived.
In the early years of production Patria built attractive light motorcycles fited with a four-stroke 175cc JAP engines and two-stroke 250cc Villiers, both with three-speed Sturmey-Archer gearboxes. The JAP had chain drive and the Villiers retained a belt transmission. By 1930 the range had expanded to at least four models including a 500cc JAP.
Models included 1924 175 Sport JAP SV, 1930 200 Standard Villiers, 1930 250 Sport Villiers, 350 Gran Confort Villiers, 1930 350 Sport JAP OHV, 1932 500 Gran Sport 500cc SV.
There were also sidecar combinations used as taxis powered by 1000cc Ace and Henderson fours, and a goodly number of tricycles and motocarros, these being their most popular products.
See also: Patria Gallery
Notes
1. It has been suggested that this first multi was a six. Although such a machine exists, there appears no evidence that it was actually built by Patria.
2. The Bassella Museo Moto has a 1929 350cc two-stroke.
3. There was also a Patria built in Germany, Patria-WKC of Solingen - see Disambiguation.
Sources: Gérard Martin and Lolo Martin, both of the FB 1867-1930 Motorcycles group; entre-tubos.blogspot.com; period literature; OTTW
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