Auto-Tri 3-wheeler

Construcciones Gaitán was founded in 1936 by Francisco Gaitán Sánchez and was located at 10 Carlos Cañal street in Seville. Initially, it was a bicycle rental and repair shop but later started manufacturing its own delivery tricycles, bicycles, auxiliary motors for 76 cc bicycles, microcars, microvans, motorcycles, and invalid cars.

During the war, the company built hospital beds, field furniture, and movie seats. It even produced garbage trucks, vehicles for invalids with and without motors, and pedal cars. The company ceased operations in 1996.

Francisco Gaitan Sanchez and his son Francisco Gaitan Quintero worked together in 1953 to create fascinating prototypes of three-wheeled microcars, which they called Auto-Tri. These microcars were made in various forms, such as Tourism, Commercial and even as an Ambulance.

The microcars were powered by a 125cc engine. The engine was mounted at the front under a streamlined bonnet and drove the front wheel, which pivoted on the same axle to steer the car.

The two-seater body had no rigid roof, instead a folding roof was used which, when folded, took up the whole of the rear. The tiny windshield wiper was mounted on a windscreen.

The designers made sure that the vehicle could be quickly converted into a medical version. This was done by removing the folding top and fitting another ‘canopy’, a larger one to accommodate a lying patient on a stretcher. Similar simple medical vehicles had been planned for the Spanish Army. You can watch the process of transforming in the video above.

Ambulance version