Whaddyacallit #125 - Solved! 1949 Hurst 250cc

[Ray B.]

Ever seen this ?

Please, respond below and let us know the make and model designation of the car posted here.
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Thanks!

[Ray B.]

Microcars for the experts.

[Quiller]

The wheels look very Kleinschnittger

[DynaMike]

It's German indeed, a 1949 Hurst 250, designed by Arthur Friedrich Hurst especially for disabled people.

[Ray B.]

I thought it was from Belgium, I don't know why, but you're right. And it's a Hurst 250cc anyway.

[Arthur Dent]

Interesting looking one. Looks like cheap to make body work.

[Arunas]

Any information available? Pictures (sources)?

[DynaMike]

There's a pic in the book "Kleinwagen International" by Walter Zeichner (Bleicher Verlag, Gerlingen, ISBN 3-88350-160-3).
The (German) text tells: Arthur Friedrich Hurst recognised the post-war need for vehicles for disabled persons. Summer 1946 he started to build a 4-wheel driving machine that could be handled by a sort of a 'joystick' to accellerate, brake and turn. But at the end of the year his first prototype had a normal motorbike steering and a 100 cc 2 bhp NSU engine behind the rear wheels and a chain transmission to the left wheel.
Then he got support from an insurance company to get permission to by materials. In 1947 and early 1948 he made three more prototypes with an integral body construction with a high placed central tube between the two passengers as basis. The 4 wheels had torsion suspension. The engine was now a 250 cc 6 bhp ILO one-cylinder two-stroke machine.
He had to sell these three prototypes to have enough money to continue. Summer 1948 showed a new prototype with angular fenders and two headlights. Production began in April 1949 in Mannheim (in an old glass tiles factory that had bought a license to build the Hurst) and in Summer 1949 in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim (close to where he lived). The car didn't have any pedals (since most of the customers would be people that had lost their legs), the front suspension was on coil springs and it even had a windscreen wiper and a fold-down softtop.
In Autumn 1949 the production in Mannheim stopped (only 32 cars had been built here by hand). In Stuttgart-Untertürkheim they managed to continue till 1950...

[Arunas]

There's a pic in the book "Kleinwagen International" by Walter Zeichner (Bleicher Verlag, Gerlingen, ISBN 3-88350-160-3).
The (German) text tells: Arthur Friedrich Hurst recognised the post-war need for vehicles for disabled persons. Summer 1946 he started to build a 4-wheel driving machine that could be handled by a sort of a 'joystick' to accellerate, brake and turn. But at the end of the year his first prototype had a normal motorbike steering and a 100 cc 2 bhp NSU engine behind the rear wheels and a chain transmission to the left wheel.
Then he got support from an insurance company to get permission to by materials. In 1947 and early 1948 he made three more prototypes with an integral body construction with a high placed central tube between the two passengers as basis. The 4 wheels had torsion suspension. The engine was now a 250 cc 6 bhp ILO one-cylinder two-stroke machine.
He had to sell these three prototypes to have enough money to continue. Summer 1948 showed a new prototype with angular fenders and two headlights. Production began in April 1949 in Mannheim (in an old glass tiles factory that had bought a license to build the Hurst) and in Summer 1949 in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim (close to where he lived). The car didn't have any pedals (since most of the customers would be people that had lost their legs), the front suspension was on coil springs and it even had a windscreen wiper and a fold-down softtop.
In Autumn 1949 the production in Mannheim stopped (only 32 cars had been built here by hand). In Stuttgart-Untertürkheim they managed to continue till 1950...

Thank You very very much!

[DynaMike]

:

[grobmotorix]

A rare 1949 contemporary magazine clipping:

[grobmotorix]

And yet another 1949 magazine clipping:

[Wendax]

Some more pictures of the Hurst 250:

[grobmotorix]

 

[Wendax]

A leaflet:

[Wendax]

A picture series showing the Hurst workshop turned up: