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Carrero Blanco's Dodge, the most controversial car in Spain

[su_highlight]2/10/2014 – We recap the story and publish a new report. The car has once again been exposed to the public. To consult the updated information, click here.[/your_highlight]

The title that opens this article has an explanation that is not intended to enter into the controversy. The first sentence illustrates what is the subject that will be dealt with in the following lines, in which an attempt will be made to describe what it was and what happened to the vehicle that regularly transported an important Spanish military and politician until his death in an attack carefully planned and executed by ETA. The challenging second part of the headline was used by Chrysler in one of its promotions, trying to wink at the "Best car in Spain".

Inevitably, history takes us to December 20, 1973, in front of number 104 Claudio Coello street in Madrid. There, the then president of the government Luis Carrero Blanco lost his life in his car along with his driver and a police inspector who was traveling in it.

As almost everyone knows, Carrero was traveling in a shiny black Dodge 3700 GT - without the Dart, something that is mistakenly repeated in other publications, with registration number 16.416 of the Ministerial Mobile Park. As a curiosity, the vehicles whose plates followed the 16.400 were the Dodges destined for the ministers and senior government officials of the time.

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Detail of an advertisement for the Dodge 3700 GT

All of them were manufactured at the Chrysler factory in Villaverde in 1971 and included, except for the automatic transmission -which would not arrive until 73-, power steering, power brakes and air conditioning. The model was then chosen as Car of the Year in Spain.

Like most units, Admiral Carrero Blanco's vehicle belonged to the first series, which was characterized by having the GT badge on the rear wings and not located on the base of the roof on the rear sides; lights integrated into the front bumper, absence of side moldings below the door handles and mirrors inherited from the previous model, that is, from the Dart manufactured by Eduardo Barreiros.

Contrary to what has been believed and has been repeated in the film and television recreations that were made of this particular vehicle -perhaps the most successful is the one that could be seen in the miniseries directed by Miguel Bardem for RTVE-, the cars of the Ministerial Mobile Park did not have two pennants on the front, on the flippers, but only one on the right front flipper.

Arrival of official vehicles at the Ministry of the Interior, after the attack on Carrero Blanco
Arrival of official vehicles at the Ministry of the Interior, after the attack on Carrero Blanco

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unshielded

Also against what was disclosed in the media, the Dodge was not armored, something that the manufacturer itself, Chrysler, was precisely in charge of disseminating, with the aim of spreading the idea of ​​the great safety of its sedan. There is talk of an internal report in which this and other "values" of the 3700 GT are extolled, such as the fact that, after the explosion, the left turn signal continued to work, possibly activated by the driver when turning. This report was as unnecessary as it was controversial.

The robustness of the chassis of the 3700 GT was demonstrated without the need for publicity artifice. The vehicle endured an explosion in its lower part that hit it squarely, caused, according to known data, by some 100 kg of dynamite placed in a tunnel dug under the aforementioned street in the Salamanca district.

However, there is an unofficial theory in which it is said that, in addition, the load of several North American anti-tank grenades that had been stolen months before from the Torrejón de Ardoz air base was added. These grenades were placed together with the dynamite presumably by the secret services of another country, to ensure that the attack would not fail.

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December 1973. Remains of Dodge in the Mobile Park of the Civil Ministries (Photo: ABC Daily Archive)
December 1973: Remains of Dodge in the Mobile Park of the Civil Ministries (Photo: Diario ABC Archive)

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If this last theory were true, here could be the explanation that, after bursting the asphalt of the street where the Dodge rolled, the effect of the enormous deflagration made the almost 1800 kg of the vehicle rise vertically, parallel to the rear façade of the church of San Francisco de Borja -Convento de los Jesuitas-, approximately 30 meters high, breaking the cornice located at the top and after rolling down the roof, falling 10 meters below in the first gallery of the inner courtyard of the building.

Despite the tremendous damage to the car, especially in the boot area -which was deformed upwards in the shape of a V but without breaking the rear window!-, two of its three occupants, at first, survived the crash. burst. José Antonio Bueno Fernández, a police inspector who was sitting in the passenger seat, died instantly since that side was the most damaged. Carrero Blanco died inside the vehicle while, dying, he was treated by the health services. The driver, José Luis Pérez Mogena, was able to be taken to the hospital alive but there nothing could be done for him given the seriousness of his injuries.

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no museum

Leaving aside everything that has been narrated so far in reference to the fact of this unfortunate event, After the attack the 3700 GT had two destinations. First, it was taken to the garage of the Civil Ministries mobile park, where it remained in custody until its imminent transfer to the Army Museum was authorized.

1974. Installation of the vehicle at the Army Museum (Photo: ABC Daily Archive) / 2002. Packaging of the vehicle during the start of the works at the Army Museum (Photo: ABC Daily Archive)
1974: Installation of the vehicle in the Army Museum (Photo: ABC Daily Archive) /
2002: Embajale of the vehicle during the beginning of the works in the Museum of the Army (Photo: Diario ABC Archive)

On January 1, 1974, it could be seen for the first time in a facility where it was exposed along with the vehicles in which Juan Prim and Eduardo Dato lost their lives. It was there for a decade, first open and then in a kind of transparent box with methacrylate walls, until it was removed from the museum's permanent exhibition in the mid-80s.

In November 2002, it was carefully packed for shipment from Madrid to Toledo where, according to some sources, it arrived. However, and according to other testimonies, said transfer never took place. After having made some inquiries through consultations with the military, it currently appears that it is inside the same metal frame made for its last trip, in a warehouse that the Ministry of Defense has in Madrid. It has not been shown to the public for more than two decades. Given its undoubted historical value, do readers think it should be shown again?

(Thanks: Diario ABC and Ministry of Defense)

 

What do you think?

Written by Albert Ferreras

Alberto Ferreras (Madrid, 1968) developed his professional career in the newspaper El País since 1988, where he worked as a graphic editor and editor of the supplement Motor until January 2011. Graduated in Photography, he was a finalist for the Ortega y Gasset Award of ... Read more

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