Micro Cars at 2018 Motorclassica

When punters saw that micro cars were part of the show at Motorclassica this year, it’d be fair to say that most of them wouldn’t have known what to expect.

While micro cars were a major part of the motoring landscape for a brief period across the 1950s and ‘60s, they disappeared almost as quickly as they arrived in most instances. But if the reception these cute and quirky cars received at Motorclassica this year was any indication, their popularity endures and is stronger today than it ever was.

European Origins While the micro car was a post-war phenomenon and predominantly a European one, it did have an antecedent in the ‘cyclecar’ that boomed in the years either side of World War I.

Somewhere between a motorcycle and a conventional automobile, cyclecars were offered in similar configurations to the micro cars, with three-wheelers, fabric-covered examples and tandem seating featuring in these stripped-back automotive offerings

Peugeot was one of the better-known marques to offer a cyclecar back then, and it was intriguing to see not one, but three of these compact machines on display. If the Peugeot ‘Bebe’ appeared spartan, it was actually larger and better-equipped than many other cyclecars from this period.

As the need for ‘austerity’ motoring decreased in the 1920s, the cyclecar gradually fell out of favour, but the hardships of the post-WWII era saw it return, with the ‘Suez crisis’ of 1956 accelerating the need for economical and affordable motoring.

Germany proved to be a particularly fertile ground for the creation of these machines, with former aircraft manufacturers Heinkel and Messerschmitt (technically FMR) producing the best-known German micro cars, but Dornier, Lloyd, Goggomobil and motorcycle manufacturer Zundapp also built microcars, as did BMW.

Heinkels were built under licence in Great Britain and rebadged as Trojans, with other micro cars of British origin including the Meadows Frisky, Berkeley and Fairthorpe Atom, while British-built three wheelers like the Reliant, Morgan and Bond Bug from the 1970s are considered to be micro cars in some circles, too.

However, when it comes to small, they didn’t get much smaller than the Peel P50. With seating for one and power from a tiny 50cc motorcycle engine, the P50 did have a three-speed transmission, but no reverse gear. That explains the desk draw handle at the rear of this three-wheeler – to “reverse” you simply lifted the car up and manually turned it in the direction you wanted to go!

The P50 on show at Motorclassica was a modern copy of the units originally built on the Isle of Man in 1962, offered with electric power and part of the collection of Oldtimer Australia’s Mark Jansen.

The Aussie Experience The best-known microcar here, thanks to its connection to Shannons, is the Goggomobil Dart.

The brainchild of Bill Buckle, who had produced fibreglass-bodied coupes and sports cars under his own name, the Dart followed other Goggomobil models that Buckle offered with locally-made fibreglass bodies in place of the steel and alloy bodies these Germanic machines wore in Europe.

A uniquely-Australian creation, the Dart actually celebrates its 60th Anniversary this year, with the example on show at Motorclassica also from the collection of Mark and Michelle Jansen.

The other Aussie microcar on show – three of them actually – were the Lightburn group, comprising a Zeta wagon, utility and the Dart-esque Zeta Sports.

The product of a South Australian company better-known for washing machines and cement mixers, the Zeta was introduced in 1963 with bold ambitions, but would be gone from the market less than three years later.

All three of these units were on loan from the National Motor Museum at Birdwood in SA and were presented with informative history boards that no doubt gave many visitors an education in these largely-forgotten Australian-made machines.

Also Appearing Italy was never a major player in the micro car market, even though the Isetta better associated with BMW was actually designed and built by Iso first.

Another bit of education no doubt came to many when they saw that Vespa also produced a micro car. Of course, Vespa is forever connected with scooters, but they nevertheless had a crack at a “car”, with the Vespa ‘400’ debuting in 1957.

While the early Japanese ‘kei’ cars produced to meet inner urban road regulations in Japan aren’t strictly micro cars, their compact dimensions and cute appearance mean they slot nicely alongside.

At Motorclassica, a Mazda R360 coupe flew the flag for Japan, but similarly-sized cars from Subaru, Honda, Daihatsu and Cony were also produced, with the Fuji Cabin being perhaps the vehicle closest to the whole micro car ethos.

Motorclassica, Australia’s International Concours d’Elegance, always presents some of the best automobiles this country has to offer. With the micro car display this year, they also presented some of the most amazing.

Words: Mike Ryan, Photos: Mike Ryan and Motorclassica media