When a museum has a microcar on display it’s usually one of the more prevalent types like the BMW Isetta or the Messerschmitt KR175. However, the world of microcars contains hundreds of models, many of which never even made it past the prototype stage, so it’s always a thrill to come across an example of Lilliputian automotive design that is rarely seen at your local cars and coffee.
For the first part of this two-part story, we’ll focus on Europe, where the 1950s were a golden era of microcars. Wartime restrictions on German armaments manufacturers steered them toward creating ground-based transportation while the Suez Crisis of 1956 led to oil supply constraints and the reinstitution of wartime petrol rationing in Great Britain.
Mathis VL333 (France)
Before World War
