Stihl Contra Info Sharing Thread

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I don't believe the Contra G was introduced until 1964. I could be wrong but, in 1959 the debut of the "regular" Contra was a pretty big deal.

Yes, I think you are correct! I referred to information on CSCC first. It is listed there with 1959 as the year of introduction.
There is a site in Germany that shows an easier to follow list of the major Stihl models: motorsaegen-portal.de - Das Motorsgen-Portal
Here the years of production are as follows:

- Contra: 1959 - 1968
- Contra S: 1964 - 1967
- Contra G: 1964 - 1969
- Contra GS: 1964 - 1969

And the introduction years of the 070/090:
- 070: 1968
- 090: 1968
- 090G: 1969
- 090 S1: 1968
- 090 S2: 1968

These dates seem to be more to the point.
Interesting is, that the S1 and S2 (stone cutter versions) of the 090 were introduced one year earlier than the "regular" 090G and the Contra G and GS were produced during that year...
 
Thanks for the nice ads Sawbones. I wish new Contras were still at that price!

That price list with the D 24 lightning and the 07 and 08 might be from 1963

I have a receipt here dated 1960 for 2 new Lightnings that Sam Wold at the Sultan Saw Shop bought for his cutting crew.

He paid about $159 each for the power heads and the bars were listed seperate.

Sam was selling Homelite in 1960 and went to Hood river Oregon to buy the Stihls. He ran cutting crews for probaly at least 30 years.

Around 1970 Sam picked up the Stihl line at his saw shop and was selling those till he passed in 2006.









 
Contra Lightning GS


Brilliant ad! ("for people who must cut jumbo sized trees" :D)
Since the day you first uploaded that, I have wanted a Contra-Lightning GS really bad.
After a long long search and increadible luck I finally have one since a couple of weeks.

contra_gs_resized.jpg


Here's a couple of more high resolution pictures (they seem to be almost as scarce as the saw itself). I'll upload some additional ones in a second post as the board will not allow more than 5 per post.

View attachment 311108 View attachment 311109

View attachment 311110 View attachment 311111

137cc cylinder check right after unpacking

View attachment 311112

Even though I'm already extremely happy with the saw as is, I do have a great desire to display it as in the ad above. Therefore I'm desperately seeking the bar that is mounted in the picture sawbones uploaded. So far I have been unable to find one just like it. I'm assuming that it is the original 47" (120cm) duromatic from Stihl. Can anyone confirm this? Unfortunately the picture doesn't show enough detail to tell if that bar has the engraved sawtooth logo on it. Is there anyone here that could help me further with this quest to find the bar?

Besides the bar there's the PNW spikes. Has anyone ever seen the big spikes in Contra style? I've seen a couple original 090 ones (bare metal) but not in contra lightning red. I think they are Stihl original because I do have another German ad with the same spikes but on the smaller Contra Lightning G. However, I never anountered them besides these two advertisements.
 
As promised some more detailed pictures with. One of the reasons I'm so excited about this find is the condition of this saw and the fact that all original parts seem to be present.

Still a lot a cleaning to do. All I will do is clean and replace the rubber on the handle with some NOS stuff I had already located. Plus some needed mechanical repairs like a new starter ring (also NOS of course). The previous owner said the saw would still run with another starter cover borowed from an 070/090. Currently it doesn't catch the engine at all.

View attachment 311118

This model is fairly early I think? Still has the cast muffler.

View attachment 311120

Type 1109S on the serial plate.

View attachment 311116

Even still has the little rubber cover on the kill switch. The previous owner must have been really carefull with his tools. 99/100 times this piece is gone.

View attachment 311117

This I have also never seen before. The original "GS" marks on the hood.

View attachment 311119
 
Thanks for the comments guys! This one has indeed been preserved nicely.

I've checked the Contra/Lightning G manual/parts list, there's No part number listed for the larger (PNW) spikes!........And yes, that's a very nice saw, well done!

Thanks for looking that up. Do you reckon those spikes are aftermarket then? Like the H&S ones you see every now and then on 60s saws? Perhaps they only became available after the GS was introduced. I believe sawbones pointed out some time ago that the GS was probably couple years later than the G. Here is the other ad I mentioned

attachment.php


Seems to be the same spikes and an official Stihl document. But I have to admit that I have never seen those things outside the above pictures.
 
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