Cars

Driven by the need for post-WWII affordable transportation and restrictions placed by post-war agreements, in 1955 BMW decided to supplement slow sales of their larger models with an inexpensive car.

The car seen here is one-of-one; it was designed, built, and raced by Frazier Sibbald, George Olsen, and Howard Bliss, all of California. A triangulated square-tube frame was utilized, with a fiberglass nose and tail, aluminum doors, a hot-rodded BMW “airhead” from a 700 Sport Coupe, and LeGrand Formula car suspension were blended into this miniature Lotus 23B.

The Göbel brothers of the Netherlands established Duckhunt Company in 1993. Dimitri Göbel is the engineering genius, and Iwan Göbel has the business expertise. 

This Italian manufacturer of mopeds, scooters, trikes and small cars produced the amusingly-named Sulky 3-wheeler–a very small vehicle powered initially by a 50cc or 60cc engine.

In June 1973, Caterham cars took over production of the Lotus Seven. The move was an historic one and secured Caterham’s long-term future. Three decades, and ten thousand sales later, Caterham has spawned an incredible forty different interpretations or limited editions of the Seven. 

One of the most controversial cars to ever come from Detroit, the Corvair still sparks conversations and perpetuates myths to this day. With a ten-year production run and 1.8 million produced, it was also a surprising success story, considering how different it was from everything else coming from America’s automotive manufacturers at the time.