Topic: SOLVED: Cuno Bistram 1954 - Siata 004

[Siata1]

For one point, please identify this car and its year.

[Siata1]

UP...

[Oguerrerob]

Cuno Bistram 1954

[woodinsight]

Real car or a child's one?

[Oguerrerob]

Another one-off custom vehicle from Hamburg, Germany
1 cylinder 146cc engine, kickstart

[Wendax]

Too late again!

I've been knowing the car for more than thirty years. It was on display at the car museums at Hamburg and Tremsbüttel. When the museums were closed, the Cuno Bistram was sold to Bruce Weiner together with the Hillersa, the Daus and a Fuldamobil S-4.

[Siata1]

The car was shown in 1975 in a special exhibition "Kleinmobile nach 1945" at "Oldtimer Gasse" by the VW-dealer Raffay in Hamburg. Erik Eckermann wrote in the catalogue of the exhibition:
At the opening of the children's playground at Hagenbecks zoo in Hamburg, the real sensation for the children were six engine-less Bistram racers (ordered in 1949 by businessman Cuno Bistram and built by the Spindler workshop in Eppendorf), which shot down a wooden ramp like soapbox racers. Just for fun, in 1954 Bistram installed the 150-ccm-ILO-engine in one car, which reached 70 km/h - a bit fast for the children. In 1955, the remaining five cars got less powerful engines and were used on a flat circuit until 1973.

[Wendax]

The car was shown in 1975 in a special exhibition "Kleinmobile nach 1945" at "Oldtimer Gasse" by the VW-dealer Raffay in Hamburg.

I was there, too. 
The car was also featured in the "Klein aber mein" movie about German microcars.

[Wendax]

At the opening of the children's playground at Hagenbecks zoo in Hamburg, the real sensation for the children were six engine-less Bistram racers (ordered in 1949 by businessman Cuno Bistram and built by the Spindler workshop in Eppendorf), which shot down a wooden ramp like soapbox racers. Just for fun, in 1954 Bistram installed the 150-ccm-ILO-engine in one car, which reached 70 km/h - a bit fast for the children. In 1955, the remaining five cars got less powerful engines and were used on a flat circuit until 1973.

Four of them were discovered recently and will be on display at the "Museum der Arbeit" in Hamburg in connection with an exhibition about the car related city development of Hamburg. The exhibition will start on Friday. I'll be there.

[Wendax]

The less powerful Cuno Bistrams once...

[Wendax]

...and now

[Wendax]

The fifth one was unearthed, too. So now all six Cuno Bistram ever built are known to exist.

The five cars in Germany will be treated differently: one will remain unrestored, the second one will be conserved like an artifact, the third one will be restored partially, the fourth one will be restored completely, but with the means and methods available in 1948, and the fifth one will be restored using modern technologies.

A sixth car will be built from scratch as a replica of the non-motorized Cuno Bistram, using 1948 methods.

A seventh car will be built as a modern interpretation with solar power supply and electric drive.

[Wendax]

A contemporary picture:

[Wendax]

Now all Cuno Bistrams are reunited. The Hagenbeck family bought back the ex-Weiner puzzle car.

[grobmotorix]

I think this one was on display at this year´s Techno Classica fair in Essen.

Here are some more contemporary photos: