Citeria year 1958 dark green 1:43 AutoCult

The model was produced in the usual AutoCult high-quality and reflects back the original as possible. Made from resin.

Model features:

• Limited edition

Failed Dream

The sporty two-seater, which is known in car history as “Citeria”, reflects the personal fate of the Dutchman Puck van Beekum.

Together with the designer Han van der Blij, he initiated the construction of a small car, especially for the Dutch market. Initially, it was intended to fit a 23 hp-strong drive into the light tube frame at the rear. The car body was made of plastic and with a total weight of roughly 500 kg, the quite sporty looking two seater could be moved very fast for sure. However, technical shortcomings required a revision of the whole vehicle concept. Han van der Blij designed a new frame, which allowed to fit a 30 hp BMW 600 engine with a four-speed gearbox. This engine rating was anything but whitewashed, since the stated top speed of the Dutch car was 135 km/h. At the premiere of the future production vehicle, the prototype with the fitted BMW engine was presented to the journalists at the Dutch race track ‘Zandvoort’ on November 17, 1958. The planning for the start of series production may have been already underway that day, but in the end the came to nothing.

As it quickly became apparent, Puck van Beekum’s financial situation was extremely tense. In order to fulfil his obligations, he acted with fake cheques. But as is generally known this scam will and did not go well for long and the fraud of the Dutch was exposed. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for fraud and the four-wheeled project called ‘Citeria’ already ended before it even began.