Kapi

Federico Saldaña Ramos was an infantry captain posted to Burgos, and there he developed a small vehicle of his own. He showed it to the Captain General of the VI Military Region and to the Civil Governor of Burgos, who were, by grupo7’s account, pleasantly surprised, and he registered it under patent no. 194,762.source 1source 2 He always thought Barcelona the right place for an industrial project, the city history museum’s booklet says, and that is where Kapi was built.source 3 The Weiner museum puts the first prototypes in Bilbao in 1950, but grupo7 and the museum booklet say Burgos.source 4source 1source 3

The first Barcelona car, of 1950 by grupo7’s dating, was a four-wheeled coupé with a 125 cc Montesa engine and a top speed of 50 km/h (31 mph); a Hispano-Villiers later replaced the Montesa, and a version with a 250 cc Montesa was announced but probably never built.source 1 The museum booklet dates the first public showing of a Kapi to December 1951, in the Carrer Pelai.source 3 The firm, Automóviles y Autoscooter Kapi, moved from Calle Valencia 550 to Calle Robreño 86, with offices on the Rambla de Cataluña.source 1source 4

The Kapiscooter

Kapi’s best-known model was a three-wheeler, the Kapiscooter of 1951, sold for passengers and as a delivery tricycle.source 1source 4 The 125 F had a 125 cc Hispano-Villiers two-stroke and the 175 F4T a 175 cc Fita-AMC four-stroke, both mounted at the back and driving one wheel by chain.source 1 The Weiner museum describes it with two wheels in front, a V-shaped two-tone front and a 125 cc Montesa, while grupo7’s rear engine driving one rear wheel implies a single wheel at the front; the photograph of the Kapiscooter at Sils on this page shows one wheel in front.source 4source 1 In 1952 it cost 24,000 pesetas, and in 1953 a 197 cc Hispano-Villiers became an option; in 1954 the 125 was renamed the FV3, at 24,900 pesetas, and the 175 the F4T, at 28,900.source 1

Beside it came a stream of others. In 1952 there was a doorless convertible with a 350 cc twin of 16 CV, claimed to reach 94 km/h (58 mph) and built in small numbers at almost 50,000 pesetas, and a 250 cc model called the Topolino was announced; the Weiner museum describes a Topolino as a three-wheeler with one wheel in front and a 197 cc engine.source 1source 4 Kapi took a stand at the Barcelona trade fair that year, and at the 1953 fair it showed two sporting models, one open and one closed.source 3source 1

1955

1955 brought a burst of new models.source 1 The Chiqui, at 26,000 pesetas, looks like a three-wheeler in photographs but has four wheels, the rear pair set very close together. The 7TR had four seats and two doors, and its Lujo version, at 32,500 pesetas, reminded the Weiner museum of a Fiat 600. The Kapi 2CV was a convertible advertised with four seats or two, at the same price.source 1source 4 The Platillo Volante, the flying saucer, was a Kapiscooter with doors, a hardtop and more modern lines, and the Jip 2CV was an open utility inspired by the Jeep, at 21,900 pesetas.source 1source 4 The Jip made the supplement of the Anuario Automovilista de España in May–June 1955, and grupo7 wonders how the one in a period photograph managed to tow a caravan.source 3source 1 There was also the M190, a brazen scaled-down copy of the Mercedes-Benz 190 SL with a one-cylinder engine, which probably never went into production. Kapi badges also went on motorcycles and three-wheeled trucks built in Arcadio Dunjó’s workshops.source 1source 4

No other Spanish microcar maker produced so many models and versions, the museum booklet says, with engines from Montesa, Hispano-Villiers, Fita-AMC and IRESA; it also judges the mechanicals unreliable.source 3 grupo7 compares Kapi to a computer assembler of the 1990s, putting parts from everywhere together without order or method.source 1

Pinguy

After serious difficulties the firm closed in 1956, by grupo7’s and the Weiner museum’s dates; the museum booklet has it making vehicles until 1957.source 1source 4source 3 What stock was left was sold off in 1958–⁠59 under another name, Pinguy.source 1source 2source 5 One more claim has a single origin in grupo7’s text, repeated by Spanish Wikipedia: that Kapi’s manufacturing licence went to Munguía Industrial, which used it to build the Spanish Goggomobil.source 1source 2 Kapi’s smaller neighbours are on the page of Spanish microcars.

In 2002 the Weiner museum estimated that about three Jips survive, and called its own 1955 Jip the oldest and one of the rarest Spanish cars it owned.source 4 It went when the museum’s collection was sold in 2013, and what it fetched has not been found. Another Jip, still under restoration, was shown at the Mollerussa fair in 2000.source 1 No Kapi club or register has been found. Among the pictures here are a Chiqui and a Jip at the Barcelona exhibition of 2013, a red Jip at Vall de Guadalest, a Kapiscooter at Sils and another in a museum in 2004.