Gyula REIMAN

(Julius Reiman or if in Hungarian order: Reiman Gyula)

Gyula Reiman (1868-1933) today lies in a derelict grave in a closed-for-public cemetery in Budapest. His name rarely appears in articles which deal with the history of Hungarian motoring, though he played a key role in the creation of the first club, the first dealer association not to mention his work as a Renault dealer for decades!

Hewas the son of Armin Reiman, head of Fonciére insurance company's Hungarian department. Gyula was a rising star in banking circles during the late 19th century. Through his banking connections he got to know several aristocrats. He saw the potential in cars and decided to set up an automobile club in Hungary. On the 30th of November, 1900 he managed to persuade enough people to form the Hungarian Automobile Club.

It may not have been the first automobile club in Hungary as several newspapers reported another one in 1899, but it wasn't a properly registered association.

The Hungarian Automobile Club (Magyar Automobil Klub) was registered as a cultural association. Gyula's friend, Count Pál Szapáry was elected president, while Gyula became secretary.

His first task was to organize a promotional tour between Graz-Wien-Budapest. Although it proved to be a challenge too big, he managed to create the first automobile exhibition in Hungary, which was held in Budapest at the Tattersall (a hall next to the main horse track, where usually horse trading took place) between 20-23, June, 1901.

Later on Reiman, who still worked as a banker used his short-living magazine, Közgazdasági Híradó (Economical Reporter) to convey his ideas on how to make cars more popular.

It was not until 1907 that he launched his second career as an automobile dealer. He first sold Lorraine-Dietrich out of a showroom in downtown Budapest (József nádor tér). A year later together with some business partner he set up Helios Automobilforgalmi Vállalat (Helios Automobile Transportation Company). It was based in Bálvány street 12, which today is called "Október hatodika" street - again in downtown Budapest.

Helios focused on Opel, Overland and later on it added Renault and Büssing to its portfolio. Lorraine-Dietrich was ditched.

In 1912 Reiman parted ways from his company, which was then known as Hazai Automobil Rt. His new company, Royal Automobile Garage was set up together with another important person in Hungarian motoring circles: József Bárdi (Bárdi József). Their posh showroom was opened in Gizella square No 3 (today Vörösmarty square). It became the Hungarian Renault center for many, many decades.

Bárdi and Reiman parted ways during the 1st World War and from then on, the company was known as Automobil Kereskedelmi Rt (Automobile Trading Co), which later on set up a huge garage in Aréna street 50 (today Dózsa György street). In addition to Renault, the company distributed Audi, Pic-Pic and Rolls-Royce for a few years. Delage and Cadillac cars also appeared briefly in the central showroom.

In the meantime, Gyula who left the Hungarian Automobile Club in the early 1910s created a new association: in 1918 he set up the Magyar Automobilkereskedők Országos Egyesülete (Country-wide Association of the Hungarian Automobile Dealers) and became its president.

In 1926 Gyula retired from this association as well. He died in 1933 but his company still used his name in advertisements up until 1947.

Gyula Reiman's wife, Margit Auspitz (Auspitz Margit) was the son of a wealthy land-owner. Together they had three children: Andor Reiman (Reiman Andor), Magda Reiman (Reiman Magda) and Erzsébet Reiman (Reiman Erzsébet). Andor was the one who helped his father and took over the company after Gyula's death.

Just as all Hungarian companies, the Automobile Trading Co became a state-owned company and was absorbed into the chain of automobile repairshops in 1949.

The fate of the Reiman family is unknown. For what its worth, Erzsébet Reiman was married to Imre Bársony (Bársony Imre) in the 1930s, while Andor Reiman married Adi Kohut (Kohut Adi) in 1937.

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