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In 1957, BMW brought out a 4-seater development of the Isetta. The 600 (named for its engine size), has two doors: the swing-up front door as on the Isetta, and a door on the right side for passengers. While it may be laughingly referred to as an “Isetta limousine,” the 600 took several steps to […]

Lawrie Bond designed his first three-wheeler in 1948. His most famous, the Bond Minicar, was the longest-lived and most successful of Britain’s minimal motoring cars. The replacement for the minicar was the Bond 875. It was first publicly announced in August 1965 and production began a year later. The 875 was a complete change for

The Citroën 5CV was shown at the Paris Salon in 1921, and production began in 1922. For the first time in France, the marketing was slanted toward feminine clientele, paying off handsomely for Citroën. The Trèfle has a torpedo body style with three seats in cloverleaf formation. The cloverleaf is designed for the third seat

André Citroën, the founder of Citroën, was first and foremost a communicator. To promote the brand’s products and image, he decided to take Citroën vehicles to the furthest reaches of the globe–from the heart of Africa with its immense stretches of desert to the untamed tracks of Asia. The “trans-Saharan expedition” (December 17, 1922 –

The H-Van was simple to maintain, cheap to run, and durable, enabling the French to have their goods to market after WWII. Its distinctive corrugated sheet metal bodywork was sturdy and light, and the 2-liter engine was virtually indestructible. The van was roomy and offered ample access – one sliding door on the side and

The Citroën D series was the sensation of the 1955 Paris Auto Show. With its streamlined silhouette and its hydro-pneumatic suspension (no springs), this car had many features that were ahead of its time. The D series was produced as both the ID and DS – the ID series had a manual transmission and cloth

Introduced in 1968, the Mehari was a new multi-purpose, all terrain pick-up joining Citroën’s family of light, flat twin vehicles. The Mehari was originally designed with a plastic body which prevented corrosion problems and resisted impact. Roughly 145,000 Meharis were produced from 1968-87, and in 1979, the 4×4, which you see here, was introduced. A

The SM came into being as a pure experiment. With the exception of small, low-powered cars, Citroën was practically alone in building front-wheel drive models. Worried that other manufacturers were right, Citroën began testing DS-based experimental cars with up to 380 horsepower. Finding they had the know-how to build front-wheel drive cars with any amount

When Crosley ceased production, the rights to the Crosley engine changed hands several times. During this period, the engine was manufactured and sold as a stationary engine for use by the military and for boat motors. In 1959, Crofton Marine Engine Company purchased the rights to the Crosley engine and the inventory. Crofton used the