{"id":19581,"date":"2026-11-06T07:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/?page_id=19581"},"modified":"2026-11-03T08:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T11:08:14","slug":"steyr-puch-650-tr-29-spark","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/steyr-puch-650-tr-29-spark\/","title":{"rendered":"Steyr-Puch 650 TR #29 &#8211; Spark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/p-z\/steyr-puch_650tr_29_01.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-preformatted\"><strong>1965 Steyr-Puch 650 TR #29<\/strong><br>Pilots: S. Zasada \/ K. Osi\u0144ski<br>Team:&nbsp; <em>Sobies\u0142aw Zasada<\/em><br>Race: 17<sup>th<\/sup> overall (first in 1.1 class) at the Monte Carlo Rally <strong>1965<\/strong><br>Spark - S2133 (resin)<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-medium-gray-color has-text-color has-link-color has-small-font-size wp-elements-1 wp-block-paragraph\">Published 11\/06\/26<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">Steyr-Puch began in 1864 as a rifle company, in Steyr, Austria. In 1894 they expanded their manufacturing to also produce bicycles. With business booming, by 1920 they launched their first automobile. In 1934, they merged with Austro-Daimler-Puch, and formed Steyr-Daimler-Puch, initiating a vast range of off-road vehicles. However, with the post-WWII situation in Europe, they decided to launch a small and affordable car. To minimize development costs, they approached FIAT to buy and adapt the complete bodyshell of their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fiat500enthusiasts.co.uk\/_webedit\/cached-images\/146-0-0-253-10000-9493-1920.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">500 \u201cTopolino\u201d<\/a>. Officially called <strong>Steyr-Puch 500<\/strong>, their first models rolled out of the production line in 1957. Though the body came from FIAT, Steyr-Puch produced the engine cover and the roof. And with that, they only offered the 500 with a long folding roof and rear-hinged doors (&#8220;suicide doors&#8221;). Moreover, FIAT also supplied the steering and suspension systems. Yet, what set the 500 apart from the Topolino was the engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/p-z\/steyr-puch_650tr_29_02.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In 1941 Steyr-Puch opened a new factory for their automobiles in Graz-Thondorf.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the Topolino came with an inline-4 569 cm\u00b3, Steyr-Puch used a 493 cm\u00b3 boxer-2 with hemispherical combustion chambers. Though only producing 12 kW (16 hp), Steyr-Puch&#8217;s unit ran far smoother, and could resist high revs for quite longer. And to make things even better, Steyr-Puch used a much better transmission, differential driving axles and brakes. The car was an immediate hit in Austria, and received the nickname \u201cPuchwagen\u201d. With the good sales, in 1959 came the first revision of the model, followed by another in 1967 and then in 1961. In 1962, Steyr-Puch introduced the 650T model, sporting a new and expanded 650 cm\u00b3 that delivered 18.5 kW (25 hp). Shortly after, in 1964, they released the <strong>650 TR<\/strong>. The strongest version so far, it was initially intended for the public emergency services. With dual carburetors, the 650 cm\u00b3 engine developed 20 kW (27 hp).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/p-z\/steyr-puch_650tr_29_04.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Despite having a smaller engine, the Puchwagen was always superior to the original FIAT.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the 1960s, and now produced in Thondorf, in Graz, Austria, the Puchwagen developed a solid reputation as a \u201cmountain car\u201d. To the point that Steyr-Puch called the new 650 \u201cTR\u201d (for Thondorf Rally). With that reputation, Sobies\u0142aw Zasada bought a brand new 650 TR and took it to the <em>34e Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo<\/em>, in 1965. That year, The Monte was held from January 16th to 23rd, and started in quite a few cities \ud83e\udd28. Depending where you lived, you could start at Lisbon, London, Paris, Athens, Frankfurt, Monte Carlo, Warsaw or Minsk. The finish line, obviously, was at Monte Carlo. There were 237 cars on the starting lines, but due to a difficult route and heavy snows, only 35 finished. And one of them was the Steyr-Puch 650 TR #29, piloted by Zasada and his navigator Kazimierz Osi\u0144ski. They came in 17th overall and first in the 1.1 class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/+upload\/p-z\/steyr-puch_650tr_29_03.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Together, the 1965 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/bmc-mini-cooper-s-52-spark\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overall winner<\/a> and the 1.1 class winner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In my eyes, the 650 TR is a total oddball. Just look at the size of it, it\u2019s even smaller than a Mini Cooper \ud83d\ude32! So, a strange car with a very nice story behind it \u2013 my kind of car. And of course, Spark majestically recreating it in 1:43 helps a lot. The detail level is terrific and the paint job is top notch. In other words, Spark being Spark. However, I\u2019m positive that this won\u2019t be a very popular model with collectors (maybe with the hardcore rally collectors, perhaps?). I asked my regular dealer and according to him I\u2019m his only client that goes for these oddballs \ud83d\ude01. What can I do if I like the cool and different stuff?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1965 Steyr-Puch 650 TR #29Pilots: S. Zasada \/ K. Osi\u0144skiTeam:&nbsp; Sobies\u0142aw ZasadaRace: 17th overall (first in 1.1 class) at the Monte Carlo Rally 1965Spark &#8211; S2133 (resin) Published 11\/06\/26 Steyr-Puch began in 1864 as a rifle company, in Steyr, Austria. In 1894 they expanded their manufacturing to also produce bicycles. With business booming, by 1920 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/steyr-puch-650-tr-29-spark\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Steyr-Puch 650 TR #29 &#8211; Spark&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19581","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19581"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19645,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19581\/revisions\/19645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}