Happy July Fourth! I’m a proud American, and as a proud American, I believe America’s automotive history is rich and diverse and complex enough that we don’t have to always celebrate, or even sale-a-brate, the usual suspects: the Corvettes, Bel-Airs, Camaros, Avantis, whatever. That’s why this year I want to honor…
If you had to imagine the ideal lineup for a car company, I suspect that most of you would come up with something like this: a tiny three-wheeled microcar called “the flying saucer,” a tiny knockoff Jeep, another microcar with four wheels, a Mercedes 190 SL knockoff, and a bizarrely misshapen sedan. Right? If that’s…
You don’t need a license to drive this weird plastic-bodied French microcar, nor do you need a reverse gear to get this wacky front-wheel-drive car to spin around in reverse.
I could never convince my mother to get me a BMW in high school. She had a BMW in high school, I would argue. But hers had a top speed of around 55 mph, provided there was a strong a tail wind. Mom had a BMW Isetta 300, and I finally got to see why she loved it so much when I drove one at the Lane Motor Museum.
European microcars: they’re like cars! Sort of! Well, technically they’re “quadricycles,” and not cars at all. And because they’re extra small and extra cheap, they don’t have to adhere to normal car safety standards. That doesn’t mean regulators can’t have a hell of a time completely destroying them, however.
Often, very cheap, basic little city cars have problems with status. They’re perceived as little rolling penalty boxes, an added insult to the need for frugality. That’s why Tata’s well-designed Nano sold slower than it was expected to — few people want to be seen in what’s known as a “cheap” car. But there does seem…
We all know Greece is in a tricky financial spot right now. Pretty much all of Europe is breathing down their neck for cash, no one has any, and it’s a big Greek mess. But, as always, ol’ Torchy has a plan. See, Greece used to build some pretty quirky cars. Quirky cars are becoming rare today. See? Quirky…
I think I’ve expressed before how much I love finding cars I’ve never heard of before. Chasing that joy, however, is a bit like being a junkie — getting the feeling at first is easy, but it gets harder and harder as time goes on. This car, today, is some hardcore car-junkie goods — wildly strange, obscure, and oddly…
Recently, I was in Italy to take part in the Mille Miglia, and, of course, I was surrounded by some of the most amazing cars I’d ever seen. That’s why it was so important for me to get out and cleanse my palate with some really awful shitboxes, and, thankfully, Rome did not disappoint.
Let me be up front here: I don't think the Lightburn Zeta is the worst car ever made. But many people do. It's not a good car, by any standard, but it was designed to be a super-cheap, incredibly basic form of transport, and considering the context, its flaws at least make sense. That said, it is sort of delightfully…
I'm researching a story on some odd little microcars (shock), and I came across this video that I felt should probably get its own post, because, come on, there's really valuable information on escaping roller-skating Ninjas here. Better grab a notebook.
The French Berliet T100 was the largest truck in the world in 1957. The Vespa 400, on the other hand, was an Italian bubble car also produced in France. Putting them together still looks like a fun afternoon.
It was a great day for wealthy microcar afficionados who have longed for a Biscuter to liven up their walk-in humidor, but a sad day for those of us who would just love to see a crapload of microcars all in one place. That's because the greatest microcar musuem, the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum is closing its doors…
Like an adorable, tiny zombie popping out of its tiny, adorable window-box grave, the Peel P50 and Peel Trident are back from the dead. Neither of the tiny, tiny cars has been built since 1966, but a new company, with funding from the BBC's show Dragon's Den, is starting production up once again, as announced earlier…
Goggomobils were among the most popular of the variety of odd little vehicles built during the German microcar craze of the 50s and early 60s. While we would like to attribute this popularity to the fact they were sold with one of the coolest names ever given to an automobile, something tells us it took more than that…
Although nicely restored examples of BMW's contribution to the microcar era can command serious prices the cost of filling at least part of your yard with this assortment of Isetta shells and parts currently listed on Ebay is surprisingly affordable—at least initially.
It's like the shot of the Vette towing the mini-Vette, but more quirky.
Fourteen people just got out of that car. It's an Indian-built Maruti-Suzuki 800 and it's just under 11 feet long at 131.5 inches. That's just under a foot longer than an original Mini.
In June 2010, we published a feature by the Hungarian auto historian Pál Négyesi on Hungary’s ruefully creative postwar microcars. The post has had quite the afterlife! In December, the story of the Balaton and the Alba Regia was published in the print edition of The Economist, and an expanded version of the microcar…
Although Messerschmitt remains best known for their World War II fighter aircraft, facing a ban on airplane production after the war the company expanded into other sectors. The three wheeled Messerschmitt KR175 seen here is the strange result of the company's entrance to the auto industry. Currently for sale on Ebay,…
