Items starting with V

The ladies’ Hirondelle model features slightly more modern features than its predecessor such as both front and rear brakes. It also offers a “basket weave” protection to keep ladies’ garments away from the rear spokes.

The Velorex was developed in Czechoslovakia in 1936 by two brothers who ran a bicycle shop.  After WWII, automobiles were very scarce and expensive, and the brothers realized the Velorex would be a cheap, affordable car for the masses.

In 1940, Marcel Mennesson had a prototype built for a bicycle equipped with a motor on the front wheel. The 38cc engine was outfitted with a roller transmission, carburetor and tank, and mounted on the front 700-millimetre wheel.

Vespa is known around the world for its scooters, but few people may know it produced one economy car. 

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Gabriel Voisin was a major manufacturer of airplanes during World War I. The end of the war saw him with a large fortune and an equally large factory, but a very small market for airplanes. In 1919, he decided to become a car manufacturer and acquired a ready-made engine design–a 3969cc sleeve-valve four which had been considered and turned down by Citroën as unsuitable for mass production. Voisin remained faithful to the sleeve-valve principle for the rest of his career as a car maker. Voisin built lightweight cars using techniques learned in his years as an aircraft designer. The type C28 “ambassade” body design was inspired by the art-deco period and was the last model Voisin was personally responsible for.

The Volkswagen Beetle is a car we are all familiar with.  More than 20 million were sold.  While the name “Porsche” is associated with expensive cars, Ferdinand Porsche had a life-long interest in a small car that an average working person could afford.