THE AUTOMÓVIL CLUB ARGENTINO’s ONE-HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

On next June 11, the Automóvil Club Argentino, a private non-profit institution providing a number of services and renowned as the main automobile club in Latin America and one of the main of its kind worldwide, will celebrate its first 100 years since its foundation date.

For making a summary of ACA’s beginnings, it should be recall the times when cars first appeared in the so- called “Great Village” that has since then become the vigorous city of Buenos Aires. In 1892, Dalmiro Varela Castex, like other personalities of those times, imported a boiler-driven Benz car. In 1894, Castex brought a De Dion Bouton, i.e. a benzene-engine tricycle, into Argentina. Then in 1895, always owing to his unyielding actions, another Benz came to the country. Finally, as a corollary to Mr. Varela Castex’s contribution, in the year 1896 a two-cylinder Decauville made in France arrived in Argentina.

The idea to create such a Club as might gather the incipient car drivers was encouraged both by those drivers and their friends who would usually meet on their cars at the current crossing between Del Libertador and Sarmiento Avenues upon completing their drive on the streets and lanes of Palermo woods.

The first formal meeting was held at the premises of the Sociedad Hípica Argentina (Argentine Horse-Riding Society), chaired by Baron De Marchi, for the purpose of founding the Automóvil Club Argentino. Mr. Nicanor Magnanini (Atty.) was assigned with the task of drafting the Club’s articles of incorporation. The ACA’s incorporators used to travel to Europe very often, which enabled them to get to know the operation of similar institutions created in other countries, e.g. France (1895), Belgium (1896), and England (1897), and then made it suitable to our national reality in that time.

The first ACA’s president, as elected for the 1904-1908 term of office, was Dalmiro Varela Castex. Juan Abella, Carlos de Álzaga, Félix Álzaga Unzué, Alfredo De Marchi, Juan Drysdale, Alfredo T. Fernández, Emilio D. Laborde, Nicanor Magnanini, José Pacheco y Anchorena, Ubaldo de Sívori, José Semprún, Henry Thompson, Luis Valiente Noailles, Alfredo Tornquist, Félix Gunther, Miguel Marín, Carlos Morra, Elías Romero, Antonio De Marchi, and Carlos Tornquist joined him to found the Club.

In 1905 the intrepid and enthusiastic drivers and their cars began to circulate on the dusty and muddy roads in the interior of Argentina, covering distances that had only been run by horse-driven carriages, e.g. diligences or covered wagons. Buenos Aires-Rosario was a landmark, thereupon becoming renowned as one of the classical national car events. In 1906, as encouraged by Carlos Pellegrini’s El País Newspaper, took place the first car race as run on a South American road. The Automóvil Club Argentino, as the governing institution for automobile sports, drafted the first Regulations for that type of event, which were commended for their remarkable foresightedness. The route was established from Recoleta to Tigre Hotel. Engines of as much as four-cylinders participated. The winner was Miguel A. Marín, on a 20 HP Darracq. Francisco Radé got the second position on a Dietrich 24-32 Hp belonging to Carlos Lamarca.

Cars were gradually substituting horse-driven carriages or covered wagons, and would progressively become a quick and safe means of transport. During such decade began to be raced those motor sport events the routes of which would be subsequently used as roads linking Buenos Aires with a number of cities located in the interior of the country (e.g. Rosario, Mar del Plata, and Córdoba.)

The imperious need to signalize roads prompted to adopt immediate actions. Even though automobile sports were already conveying a promise, the Automóvil Club Argentino‘s authorities - taking into account that cars were already increasingly used in rural areas that offered a diversity of landscapes - undertook to develop tourism and road marking. Then they began the difficult task of making the first surveys of roads, which drafts were then published in guidebooks and plans. In 1923 was established the Club’s Technical Topographic Office and then the first Road Leaflets and travel descriptions began to be drafted.

Some years afterwards, the Automóvil Club Argentino acquired the first machines for route maintenance purposes and distributed them among its delegations in the interior of the country, where deep tracks left by carriages, apart from plenty of marshes, were frequently found on roads. Genuine resources were raised by agreements with car importers who assigned the Club with a share in the price of every unit that arrived in the country, while the ACA granted them fifty percent of its membership's subscription fees. Afterwards the Road Division was established, undertaking the duties to survey, maintain, and signalize the main national roads.

Then the first road-service boxes began to be installed. Such boxes were highly useful to the occasional car drivers, offering them fuel supply, mechanic service, and in most cases phone lines. Box number 1 was installed between Lezama and Guerrero towns, on the road to the city of Mar del Plata, while box number 2 was built-up at the town of Morón, on the road to the city of Luján.

Even though the first tours arranged by the Automóvil Club Argentino date back from the year 1910 -to the city of La Plata- or from 1913 -to the city of Córdoba-, as roads and cars’ technical condition were surveyed, some tours began to be organized to more distant places for tourism purposes, e.g. Mendoza, Rosario, San Luis and then Nahuel Huapi Lake, which was discovered in the second decade of the century. It was in those years (1920-1930) that, as encouraged by the ACA, camping, an activity by then unknown in our country, began to spread.  Upon forest-development and conditioning of several difficult-to-access sites, this new challenge began to appeal. The first camping grounds to be installed were Chascomús, near to Chascomús lagoon, and then San Miguel. Subsequently were created the camping grounds in Luján, Punta Chica, Quilmes, Punta Lara, Timbúes, Carlos Paz, La Margarita, and San Clemente del Tuyú. Such facilities became known to the public through picture exhibitions, brochures, film shows, and broadcasting.

In 1926 the Automóvil Club Argentino affiliated to the International Association of Recognized Automobile Clubs, currently known as the Fédération International de l’Automobile (FIA.) From then onwards all of the members of the affiliated clubs were granted different benefits on their trips to other countries.

The year 1936 marks a highly significant stage to the ACA. In that year an agreement with Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF - The State Oil Company) was executed as intended to implement a filling (service)-stations installation program. A clearly patriotic spirit prevailed in the execution of that agreement. They jointed their efforts and created a perfect organization that enabled supplying car drivers with national products. An open call for bids was made for the construction of the first service stations, which were to show unified features and take into account every car driver’s needs. The institution’s purpose was attained by the construction of buildings characterized by their modern, sober and elegant style.

The ACA’s symbol - i.e. the dummy - shows the silhouette of a traffic agent waving the stop signal. His head is represented by the Club’s emblem, and the institution’s initials are shown on his unfolded arm. On the body of the thus stylized figure is reproduced the road span covered by the next service station. By the end of 1939, fifteen service stations had been inaugurated, e.g. those located in Córdoba, Samborombón, Dolores, Pirán, and Mar del Plata.

The ACA had different main offices over the years. On December 27, 1942, Ramón Castillo, Sq., then President of the Republic of Argentina, together with ACA’s president, Mr. Carlos Anesi, inaugurated the Club’s current main office located at 1850 Del Libertador Ave., in City of Buenos Aires.

Throughout its 100 years' existence, the Automóvil Club Argentino has developed an important task all over the country. A number of hotel premises, entertainment sites, camping facilities, service units, and car, life, personal accident, boat, fire, and home insurances contracted through La Caja S.A., formalities to procure and renew driving licenses upon an agreement executed with the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, national and international tourism, traffic planning, a Teaching Institute for gastronomy, hoteling, and touring, a nautics school, a law advising office, an office for car registration formalities, a library, the Autoclub magazine, an automobile museum, a deduction of 5% from fuels price, mechanical assistance on top-technology vehicles, nautical assistance, its own mechanic workshops and related ones, a health coverage plan, deductions from medical drug prices, formalities for National Identity Document D.N.I. issuance, are some of the allowances and renderings provided by this one-hundred-year-old institution to its members.

The ACA is also a member to the FIA (since 1926), to the AIT (Alliance Internationale du Tourism, since 1952) and to the FITAC (Inter-American Touring and Automotive Clubs Federation.) It holds the national automobile sports power (National Sports Authority) delegated by the FIA, which enables the ACA to organize and control national or international events (i.e. the Formula One Grand Prix, the International Rally, and the Argentinean Championships.)

The improvement, updating, and incorporation of new services constitute a common denominator to ACA’s authorities all over the country, always showing the club founders’ calling for progress and their spirit for service.

The foregoing is just a summary of the Automóvil Cub Argentino's beginnings, and a brief description of its current activities.

Buenos Aires, May 5, 2004.