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Vespa is known around the world for its scooters, but few people may know it produced one economy car. The company’s president felt that FIAT’s prominence in Italy should not be challenged, so the Vespa 400 was produced in France. The four passenger coupe had a rolltop roof, all-independent coil spring suspension, and hydraulic brakes. […]

The Urba Centurion was a kit car designed by Quincy-Lynn Enterprises in 1982. A full set of plans, available through Mechanix Illustrated, cost a mere $17.00! The basis for the car is a 1970 Triumph Spitfire chassis with the British engine replaced by a three-cylinder 18 hp Kubota diesel engine. The body is handcrafted fiberglass

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

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. Porsche’s prototypes came to the attention of the newly elected chancellor of

Here is an unassuming-looking Volvo 142 that has been modified for racing, and is raced by Jeff Lane.  SCCA created the “Improved Touring (IT) class” race cars in the late 1980s.   This class is meant to be an entry-level racing class – the cars have to be at least five years old, and only

Hans Trippel is known as the man who designed the Amphicar. Before the Amphicar, he designed the Weidner Condor. The Condor was presented to the public at the 1957 Geneva Auto Show. It was built by farm equipment manufacturers Fritz and Reinhold Weidner. The body, provided by the Binz factory, is made of the most

Zündapp is one of the best-known makes of German motorcycles. The company’s first car was in 1931 and it was Ferdinand Porche’s design for a “people’s car.” They concentrated on motorcycles until 1956 when production began on an unusual microcar designed by aircraft-builder Claudius Dornier. As you can see, this car has two doors and

The Twini Mini was an idea that was never fully developed. In 1962, British Motor Corporation built a Mini Moke with 2 engines to help its off-road capabilities. It was hugely successful as an experimental vehicle, and when John Cooper visited BMC and drove the vehicle, he was impressed. Cooper envisioned a “Twini Mini” for

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