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French industrial planner Jacques Riboud, of Vitrex Industrie, promoted and designed microcars as a solution to increased urbanization in 1970’s Paris. He believed full-size cars to be too big and too expensive for the old city’s infrastructure. In his publication, Three Wheels and a Brake Pedal he states “For each role … it is conceived, […]

Poland did not produce any cars until after WWI.  Right after WWI the defense ministry formed the CWS (Central Automobile Works).  In 1927 production of cars was started by CWS – the car was called the T1, and was a large and sturdy car.  Since Poland had a nonexistent service network at that time, the

It may seem hard to believe, but the manufacturer of the Scootacar also produced railroad locomotives.  The Scootacar was developed in 1957 by the Hunslet Engine Works of Leeds, Yorkshire, UK, by Henry Brown, using a Villiers two stroke engine. The basic design was arrived at by having Mr. Brown sit astride the engine while

Almost as a hobby, in 1977 Guy Duport built a prototype, first-of-its-kind diesel-powered microcar. It was a small car with a plastic body and 2 doors, equipped with a 510cc (about 31 cu. in.) Lombardini diesel engine. According to Duport, that 10HP engine assured 3,500 hours of operation, allowing it to travel potentially more than

The Pionier is a 3-wheeled economy vehicle that was designed for the German market. It’s robust, yet light, because of its wood frame body covered by a synthetic fabric. Carl Borgward designed this car to evade the annual German tax that was put on 4-wheeled vehicles. Three-wheel vehicles escaped this tax until 1933, and this

The Vignale-designed Tatra 613 was introduced in 1975, and was too primitive to attract Western buyers after the fall of Communism across Europe in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Tatra was evaluating two approaches to the new proposed Project T-625 – a front-engined, water cooled sedan, and also a more traditional rear air-cooled option. Unfortunately, Czechoslovakia’s

  In 1925 Tatra decided to enter the famous Targa Florio road race in Italy to help publicize its name.  Since Tatra had only been making cars for two years, many outsiders believed the Tatra cars would never be able to finish the grueling 450-mile road race.  It seemed even more unlikely that Tatra would

The Lotus Super 7 was the brainwork of famous race car designer Colin Chapman, who loved the phrase “less is more.” The Super 7 was a simple, fast, minimalist sports car. Production started in 1957, and continued until 1972 under the Lotus name. In 1973 Lotus sold the Super 7 rights to Caterham, which continues