Manufactured by Gimbernat Hermanos S.R.C., 17th Sant Pau, Figueres (formerly Gimbernat and Sons.
The business was established prior to WWI as a clockmaker and bicycle builder, and sold Automoto motorcycles in small quantities in those years.
In the mid 1950s they began building mopeds, initially using Gamo engines from the Parés brothers of Barcelona. At its peak, the original company had 100 employees, but faltered dramatically when the 1973 oil crisis hit and shortly afterwards when the Japanese companies began to flood the market. Under different ownership, the Gimson brand continued well into the 1980s.
Engines employed were Cucciolo, Villiers, Gamo, Flandria and Peugeot.
At the 1973 Barcelona Show they displayed an electric motorcycle powered by a Bosch engine. They were quite a progressive organisation. That said, the father sent his son Pierre off to work elsewhere due to his friendship with someone he frowned upon - Salvador Dali.
Gimson Models
Beneti
Motos del Sureste of El Palmar, Murcia (Motomur) reached an agreement in the mid-1970s with the Gimbernat brothers to take over manufacture of their Gimson mopeds. These were produced under the Beneti brand, and then were once more sold as Gimson.
Esbelta
Gimson in Figueres marketed the Esbelta during the mid 1950s and early 1960s. One was a Velomotor powered by a Mosquito engine and fitted with a Ducson front fork, and in 1962 they offered a 49cc moped with "Esbelta" embossed on the LHS engine cover. Using a second brand was presumably to achieve better market penetration.
N.B. There is some suggestion that a small number of Gimson motorcycles may have been created in years before the Civil War.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org, amoticos.org, Tragatsch p147, OTTW.
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