Cars

Charles Mochet was France’s best known maker of pedal cars as a practical means of transportation for adults. It was not until after World War II that Mochet moved away from pedals.

Charles Mochet was France’s best known maker of pedal cars as a practical means of transportation for adults. He saw the advantage of designing a car where the rider could use the force of pushing against a back rest rather than relying on body weight to push down with gravity. 

The oversized Monopoly car you see here was made by Biscuit Filmworks, a London and Los Angeles based commercial production company, and featured in a 2009 AT&T commercial.

By the time of the Eight, William Morris had amassed quite a consortium of automotive component suppliers under the umbrella of Morris Motors Ltd. Hotchkiss and Wolesley provided engines, Pressed Steel Co. made body panels, Bishop supplied brakes and steering components, SU gave carburetors, and Wrigley made transmissions.

This “car” was built from body parts taken from a 1975 Mini, skillfully “shrunken” to approximately 2/3 the size of a “real” Mini. 

Morris Motor Company was started in the 1920s and established a reputation for reliable family cars. In the 1950s, Morris merged with its old rival Austin to form British Motor Corp. Economic factors in the UK in the mid-1950s made the creation of “a proper miniature car” a priority, and BMC assigned a small team of designers to the task.

In 1926, Max Williams-Mourlot created “Mourlot & Cie” to manufacture small cyclecars. The company was established in Billancourt, France with hopes to fill the gap between the simplicity of a motorcycle and the size and complexity of a larger automobile.