"Microcars?" you ask, "what are microcars?"
World War II came to an end in 1945 and Europe lay in ruins. A shell-shocked population came out of the bomb shelters and faced an unimaginable scene of devastation and ruin.
As if the seemingly endless task of clearing away the rubble wasn't enough, there were crippling shortages of food, raw materials, electricity and gas. Value and worth were measured in Chesterfield cigarettes.
The population collectively rolled up its sleeves and went to work. The astonishing rebuilding of an entire continent over a period of ten years was accomplished through a unity of spirit and purpose unimaginable today. Bright, talented engineers, many out of the former aircraft industry, put their minds to the problems of mobilizing the population under adverse conditions. It's said that the true master reveals himself within limitations and so this focusing of energy and talent resulted in an enormous variety of small vehicles; some successful, others less so - but all of them interesting!
You can click here for a virtual tour. But unfortunately, you can no longer be one of the 35,000 annual visitors to the Microcar Museum, as all the cars and memorabilia were auctioned off in February.
Be careful not to step in that Messerschmidt.
3 comments:
What about the big stuff? Is it a different department, or what?
Too cool, Haz.
I am of Jurassic vintage, but I can recall seeing only one or two of these tiny cars...the Isetta, in various versions, and some three wheeled trucks in Asia.
Interesting how many tiny cars there were...perhaps living in Michigan (160,000 lb truck load limits, frequently ignored up to 200,000 lbs +) made a difference. Bugs get squashed easily here...big K-whopper or Peterbilt hauling an 11 axle steel rig would never even notice.
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