Those Marvelous Mini and Micro Cars
When I was a teenager, a friend of mine pulled up into our driveway with a very unusual car. It was called a King Midget, and had been made right here in Ohio! King Midgets were made continually from 1946 to 1970, and they were certainly head-turners wherever they went.
Since that time, I have always been fascinated by small cars. Actually, the Templar "Superfine" Touring Roadster, made right here in Lakewood from 1917 to 1924, was such a car by the standards of the time.
Small cars have been around since motors were first attached to buggies. The first "car" inventions could probably be attributed to Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz in 1886. Benz' s version was actually a tricycle, and of course it, too, was a small vehicle.
The first real proliferation of compact cars started in Europe before the Second World War. Strangely, Adolph Hitler encouraged the design of a small car called the "Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) Wagen" (otherwise known as the kdf-wagen, volkswagen, or "people's car"). It was designed through the offices of Ferdinand Porsche. Although the vehicle was widely desired, actual production of civilian vehicles in quantity did not transpire until after the war was over.
The end of hostilities for WWII marked widespread shortages for war-ravaged Europe. Small, gas-saving vehicles started to sprout like daffodils. Some of the first post-war mini-cars to emerge came out of the defeated Germany. The Messerschmitt aircraft factory, prohibited from making weapons of war, turned to building prefabricated housing and, of all things, a super-small car.
It seems there was a German engineer who wanted to design a tricycle that could be hand-operated for some of the disabled war veterans. The project developed into a motorized model having two wheels in the front, with one bringing up the rear. When he started making the device, he was swamped for orders, not only from wounded veterans, but by the public at large. He took the project to Messerschmitt where they developed an enclosed body having a cockpit similar to their wartime fighter plane. Many people felt that this odd but efficient machine, called the "Kabinroller," used leftover parts from the German fighter, but that was not the case.
Another unusual mini-car came out of a refrigerator factory in Italy. It was called the Isetta. The front of the car actually opened like a refrigerator, and it, too, had a "reverse tricycle" design, with two wheels in the front and one in the back (two in the back of the later models). Isettas were made in a number of countries, but it was in Germany that the BMW company helped the concept to really shine. BMW popped a 247cc motorcycle engine into the baby and improved the suspension, making a truly road-happy car. Our fearless lead Observer, Jim O'Bryan, happily tootles around Lakewood with his distinctive 1957 Isetta.
You might be amused, dear reader, at my own Isetta tale of woe. My good friend, Neil Zurcher, of TV8 fame, has gone through a number of mini-cars over the years while doing his famous "One Tank Trips." A few years back, Neil bought a yellow Isetta to use in parades. I was out at Vermilion's Woolly Bear Festival as "Tenderfoot Gary the Scout Banjo Player" some years ago, when Neil drafted me to drive his car. It seems that the Isetta developed engine problems and had conked out just before the parade. The Isetta was then tied to the back of Neil's Metropolitan (another small car built in the 1950's by Nash in this country), and off we went with Neil's wife, Bonnie, driving the Met.
I was in the driver's seat of the Isetta and Neil was sitting on the back of the seat with his head and shoulders sticking out of the sun roof! We both waved and grinned to the crowd while, to my utter terror, I discovered that the spongy brake pedal on the thing turned out to be more of a suggestion than a fact. The Scout expression "to do a good turn daily" took on a new and sublime meaning for me as I negotiated that parade route. Miraculously, we finished the parade unscathed. You can read more about our great misadventure in "More of Neil Zurcher's One Tank Trips" book.
In the 1970's, America saw the birth of the Citicar, a short-lived battery operated electric mini-car. There was even a van version available for the few years that the company was in business.
Yet another post-war mini-car was the British Motor Corporation (and later, Rover) Mini. Our own Jim O'Bryan also has one of these babies. Unlike other designs, this car was built to compete on the road with the big boys, and with stellar performance. An 848cc powerhouse of an engine was turned sideways with the gearbox situated under it. At the time, this was a revolutionary design. The entire mechanical business end went into just 18 inches of space. Thus, passenger and cargo space was relatively generous. Over 5 million original Minis were built before they were discontinued a few years ago.
Recently, the Mini concept has been revived by the BMW corporation. With roughly twice the horsepower of the peppy original, and with an updated design, this new BMW MINI (the new brand is expressed with capital letters) is making a history of its own. Other new smaller cars with retro appeal, like the Chevrolet HHR, the new Volkswagen Beetle, and my own family's DaimlerChrysler PT Cruiser, join even smaller vehicles around the world in providing drivers with that incredible blend of tradition and technology that marks the pulse of this city, and of this world.
