If you have ever wondered why Barcelona’ s cabs are black and yellow, the answer lies in a story that mixes dreaming doctors, Poblenou’s factories and a company with a biblical name: David S.A.
Yes: David, as in the one who defeated Goliath. And in a way, that’s exactly what the founder of this company tried to do.
The car that was born to fight giants
In 1913, Josep Maria Armangué, a doctor, journalist and tireless entrepreneur, decided to found the Fabrica Nacional de Cyclecars David. His idea was as simple as it was ambitious: to manufacture small, light and affordable cars to compete with the great European motoring monsters, such as Renault and Peugeot.
He first set up his workshop on Avinguda del Tibidabo and later moved it to Carrer Pallars in Poblenou, the industrial heart of Barcelona at the time. There the David cyclecars were born, sporty and elegant vehicles that came to participate in races such as the Subida a la Rabassada or the Barcelona-Madrid-Barcelona.
The birth of the yellow and black cab in Barcelona
Everything changed in 1917, when a plane crash killed Armangué. The company passed into the hands of the Moré brothers, who left the circuits to focus on a much more urban and, apparently, profitable business: the cab. And a legend was born.
The new David cabs were robust, reliable and, above all, eye-catching. Their bodywork combined black and yellow, a choice designed to stand out in the traffic of a city that was beginning to modernize. On the hood, a small figure of Michelangelo’s David was a reminder of where they came from.
Without knowing it, that color choice would forever mark the Barcelona landscape. David cabs were not only eye-catching, but also had a reputation for impeccability: drivers wore uniforms, did not accept tips and had to keep the vehicle clean and safe. In the 1920s, more than a thousand David cabs were on the streets of the city.
The end of the trip: the David SA building that you can still visit.
The Civil War and the post-war period put an end to the company, which lost its licenses and did not manage to survive the rise of the Seat 600. But its mark remains in something much more everyday: the color of the cabs that we still see every day on the streets of Barcelona.
So the next time you raise your hand on a corner to stop one, remember: that touch of yellow comes from a small factory in Poblenou that, more than a century ago, dared to dream of giants.
In fact, David SA was so successful that it left an important legacy behind that can still be visited: the David Building, at 240 Aribau Street, built during its years of splendor, which still exists, still bears its name and is a living symbol of the city’s history.