Horacio Anasagasti

Horacio Anasagasti (1879 – April 8, 1932) was an Argentine engineer, manufacturer of the first Argentine car, the “Anasagasti”, that ran on the Tour de France (1912) and won the Madrid-Paris 1515 km Race in 1913.

Horacio Anasagasti
Born	July 16, 1879 (1879-07-16) Bariloche, Rio Negro, Argentina
Died	April 8, 1932 (1932-04-09) (aged 52) Buenos Aires
Resting place	La Recoleta Graveyard
Occupation	Engineer

His family, of Basque origin, was a rich family of the growing Argentine bourgeoisie and aristocracy. As a car lover, he was always interested in all the news of the  automotive industry. At 23 he graduated as Engineer at the University of Buenos Aires and was a student of the prominent German engineer Otto Krause. He won an academic award and was able to travel to Milan where he attended a course at the Isotta Fraschini company, returning to Argentina with a car of that brand. In 1907 the Touring Club Argentino was founded and he was part of the first Board of Directors as vice president.[1]

On December 30, 1909 he created his own company, Anasagasti & Cia, located on Avenida Alvear in Buenos Aires (today Avenida del Libertador), a precision mechanical workshop, that offered repair and sale of car engines, airplanes and agricultural vehicles. The engineer Antonio Bianchi wrote an article for the newspaper La Prensa where he told the story of Anasagasti y Cía.[2]

In 1910 he presented his first prototype at the Exposición Internacional de Ferrocarriles y Transportes Terrestres (International Exhibition of Railways and Land Transportation): a 4-cylinder in-line engine and a 4-speed gearbox and recoil, and won the Grand Prize Diploma of the exhibition.

The same year he traveled to France, and bought engines and molds from the Ballot brothers and began manufacturing bloks, crankcases, crankshafts, speed boxes, differentials, suspensions and bodies. In 1911 the company already manufactured cylinders, shaft tip and cardans.[3]

He took part  in the Rosario-Cordoba-Rosario Race (1911) driving his first vehicle and won the race.

At 1912 the company produced two models: Doble Phaeton and Landaulet; selling the vehicles for $6500. The first versions were armed with the French engine of 2125 cm3 and were offered with double phaeton bodies and a single door on the left side.[1]

As Horacio Anasagasti was a great car racing enthusiast, three Anasagasti cars were shipped to Europe and took part in different competitions. The  cars, with 15 HP engines, participated in the Tour de France, driven by Engineer Brown, Marquis D’Avary and M. Repousseau.[2]

In 1915 due to World War I, the financing system fell due to lack of payments and Anasagasti's workers proposed to continue working without collecting salaries. Anasagasti was influenced by the new social theories of the early twentieth century; his factory was the first in the country with the 8-hour work day, the company's salaries were among the highest in the Argentine industry. In 1915, decided to close its workshops. At the close of Anasagasti & Cia there were approximately 50 cars, most of them continued driving along Buenos Aires as taxis.[3]

On April 8, 1932, Horacio Anasagasti died. The city of Buenos Aires honored him with a street in the Palermo neighborhood.