Microcar

 

A Peel P50, currently holding the record for the smallest automobile to go into production

 

A Messerschmitt KR200

 

A microcar is the smallest automobile classification, usually applied to very small cars (smaller than city cars). Such small cars were generally referred to as cyclecars until the 1940's. More recent models (1960 and later) are also called bubble cars due to their bubble-shaped appearance.

 Definition

 

Smart Fortwo

 

The definition of a microcar has varied considerably in different countries. Since there are usually tax and/or licensing advantages to the classification, multiple restrictions are often imposed, starting with engine size. The Register of Unusual Microcars in the UK says: "economy vehicles with either three or four wheels, powered by petrol engines of no more than 700cc or battery electric propulsion, and manufactured since 1945". The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum (the world's largest collection of Microcars) says "Engine sizes of 700cc and less and 2 doors or less" and the US-based Vintage Microcar Club simply defines it as 1000cc or less.
Typical microcars usually have some of the following features:

• seats only the driver and a single passenger
• a 1 cylinder 49 – 500cc engine
• 1 wheel drive
• cable operated brakes on 2 or 4 wheels (no longer permissible in countries such as the UK)
• simple suspensions
• 6″ - 8″ roadwheels

Many, but not all, microcars are also:

• Three-wheeled.
• Not fitted with a reverse gear (the weight of the car was light enough for parking to be achieved by lifting one end of the vehicle).
• May have all gears operable in reverse as well as in forward gear such as the Messerschmitt KR200.
• Fitted with lifting bodywork instead of doors.
• Less than 3m in length (sometimes less than 8′, 2.440m).
• Less than 85 cubic feet/2400 litres interior volume.

There are also a variety of microcar trucks, usually of the "forward control" or van style to provide more cargo room. These might be used for local deliveries on narrow streets where standard small pickup trucks would be inconvenient, and full-sized delivery trucks would be impossible.

Legal position

The economy of operating such a small car (mostly in fuel and tires) has also often been helped by three-wheeled microcars or cars with very small engines being treated as motorcycles for tax and insurance purposes.

In some countries, microcars with a certain maximum weight are considered motorcycles and therefore no car driving licence is needed (Austria, France, Germany, Spain, Italy). This assures a certain market among older people who do not want to stand for, or who cannot pass an auto driver's licence test. More negatively, at least in Austria and France, such cars are sometimes derided as a solution for people who had their licence revoked because of drunk driving.

In some European countries, taxes formerly depended on engine displacement, and/or insurance rates depended on power. This has given rise to names of such cars as Citroën 2CV and Renault 4CV. This favourable treatment by governments is based on the benefits to a society of reducing use of such resources as minerals, parking space and foreign exchange, reduced noise and chemical pollution, reduced hazard to others (they are slow vehicles) etc. Reduced global warming from carbon dioxide emission has now been added to this list.

Another advantage is the ease of parking. Some microcars can be parked perpendicular, where other cars park parallel, or be lifted by hand, like a motor scooter, to get into a tight spot. The Isetta and some others had forward entry, to facilitate perpendicular parking close to other vehicles. The Myers Motors NmG (originally called the Corbin Sparrow) is licensed as a motorcycle and parked in motorcycle spaces in California, and probably in other places.


The small size improves handling by reducing the angular inertia. The Messerschmitt and Spatz have been described as much better than ordinary cars on snow and ice. Spare room on the road and ease of missing obstacles are also improved.

For the performance oriented, who prefer more than two wheels and a roof, the scaling laws show that one need not give up acceleration until the curb weight comes down to around the driver's weight, because power per weight of the car itself improves with small size, in an otherwise similar design. Top speed is lost with small scale, due to the decreased Reynolds number, but this is a small effect. The Messerschmitt TG500 had about a 78 mph (126 km/h) top speed with 15 kW (20 horsepower) and excellent aerodynamics.

In the UK before October 2000, a person who passed a motorcycle test was automatically granted a full sub-category B1 licence (lightweight car with an unladen weight of 550 kg or less, motor quadricycle, motor tricycle) as an additional entitlement with the full Category A (motorcycle) licence. Since 2000 a provisional car licence has to be requested.

The last major UK manufacturer, Reliant, ceased production of these vehicles in 1998.

Electric microcars

A Corbin Sparrow

Some examples of battery electric microcars are:

• The Think Nordic, imported to the USA by Ford Motor Company to satisfy California Zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) requirements in the state of California. Removed from the market by Ford in a bargain with the California Air Resources Board. See PZEV for more information.
• The Global Electric Motorcars GEM, a 2- or 4-passenger "Golf car" style vehicle.
• The REVA electric vehicle as used in its home environment, India. This may soon be exported to the USA with speed electronically limited and sold as an NEV.
• The Corbin Sparrow, a single-seat electric microcar that can be licensed as a motorcycle.
• The CityEl, a three-wheeled single-seat electric microcar built in Germany.

The obstacle to adaptation of such vehicles in the United States is less technical than cultural and political. The mandates by regulatory powers that such vehicles meet full U.S. safety regulations ensures the unavailability of vehicles suitable for use in the mixed traffic conditions that predominate in U.S. suburban areas.

• The French company SECMA produces the so-called scootcar FUN-ELEC.
• The TWIKE is a microcar that is pedal assisted.
• Electrocar is a small freight transporter typically used in enterprises or rail stations
• the 2012 PeelP50 comes in electric as well as the classic one cylinder gasoline.

Microcars by country of origin

  List of microcars by country of origin

Microcar makers

• Aixam
• Bamby Cars 
• Bellier 
• Berkeley
• Casalini 
• Chatenet: Barooder S2, Barooder X2 MUST Barooder Sport (diesel, 4 kW), Barooder X4 and Speedino (gasoline, 15 kW).
• CQ Motors 
• 4 Seasons Velos 
• Grecav: Sonique
• Hafei
• Ligier
• Litecars 
• Microcar make.
• Micro-Vett (Ydea electric).
• Mitsuoka
• Peel Engineering Company
• Piaggio
• Rodley
• Scootacar
• Renault (Twizy)
• REVA
• SECMA 
• Sharp's Commercials
• Simpa-JDM : Albizia basic, club and confort.
• Shuanghuan Noble Four seat front engine look-alike to the Smart car.
• Smart
• Takeoka 
• Tata Nano 
• Town Life 
• WeatherVelo 
• Zundapp Motors

See also

• List of microcars by country of origin
• Battery electric vehicle
• Bubble car
• City car
• Cyclecar
• Car classification
• Economy car
• Kei car a Japanese category of small vehicles, including passenger cars, vans, and pickup trucks.
• Low-energy vehicle
• MIT Car
• Neighborhood Electric Vehicle
• Vehicle size class
• Velomobile

External Links:

• The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum
• 3wheelers.com
• Peel Microcars
• The Vintage Microcar Club
• VintageMicrocar.com
• Electric Car Society
• The Micromaniacs microcar club

Source: Internet

Peel Trident

Manufacturer	Peel Engineering Company
Production	1965-1966 Approximately 45 produced
Class	Microcar
Body style	One-door coupe
Layout	Side-engine, rear-wheel drive
Engine	DKW 49 cc, 4.2 hp + some cars made with Triumph Tina 99 cc
Transmission	3-speed manual
Length	183 cm (72.0 in)
Width	99 cm (39.0 in)
Curb weight	90 kg (198 lb)
Related	Peel P50
Designer(s)	Cyril Cannell

The Peel Trident was the second three-wheeled microcar made by the Peel Engineering Company on the Isle of Man. It was manufactured in 1965 and 1966. The Trident featured a clear bubble top and either two seats or one seat with a detachable shopping basket. It has been described as "a terrestrial flying saucer". Like its predecessor it was marketed as a "shopping car" or a "Saloon Scooter".

Specifications

The car is 72 in (1,829 mm) long and 42 in (1,067 mm) wide, with a weight of 198 lb (90 kg). Like the P50, it uses a 49 cc (3.0 cu in) DKW engine, and a top speed at 28 mph. It was advertised that the Trident got 100 miles per imperial gallon (2.8 L/100 km; 83 mpg_-US), "almost cheaper than walking". The original retail price was £190.

All engines supplied to Peel from Zweirad Union (for both the P50 and Trident) were of the 49 cc 3-speed 4.2 horsepower 804-1600 type. Uniquely, however, the Peel engines had the 9th digit as a 4, thus being of the form 80416004 This car is one of the smallest in the world.

Media appearances

The Trident made a late transatlantic media appearance in the American television series Monster Garage, when a team of engineers and fabricators attempted to fit a high-performance Suzuki Hayabusa superbike engine into the bodywork of a Trident, mounted onto a conventional go-kart frame. The project was a failure, and the unfinished car was destroyed by the show's host, Jesse James, with a single shot from a .50 caliber sniper rifle. This car was actually a replica built by Andy Carter in Nottingham, UK.

It also made a brief appearance in the BBC motoring programme Top Gear on BBC Two, where co-presenter James May described the Peel Trident as "something out of The Jetsons". Co-presenter Jeremy Clarkson described the Peel Trident, along with its sister, the Peel P50, as his perfect two-car garage. The Trident appeared on the BBC business programme Dragons' Den in August 2010. The Trident made another appearance, driven by Rutledge Wood, on the second episode of the third season of Top Gear US.

Reviews

The Trident, along with its sister car the P50, have been on many of the world's Worst Car lists. TIME has it on its 50 Worst Cars of All Time.

External Links

1. "Lane Motor Museum - 1965 Peel Trident". http://www.lanemotormuseum.org/.
2. Monster Garage Season 3 Episode 58 
3. "Modern Microcars". Modern Microcars. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
4. "The 50 Worst Cars Of All Time". Time. 7 September 2007.
5. Peel Microcars
6. Peel Trident Factory Movie
7. Peel Cars photographs of 20+ Peel Cars at a rally in their hometown of Peel, Isle of Man.
8. A little about the car and company
9. Information and pictures
10. Time Magazine's 50 Worst Cars Ever
11. http://www.micromaniacsclub.co.uk " Multi-make microcar club welcoming owners and drivers of Peels"

Zündapp Janus

It was difficult to see what was front and what was rear.

The Zündapp Janus had doors in the front and rear.

Dornier Delta Prototype for the Janus

 

Zündapp Janus is a microcar model made by Zündapp in Germany between 1957 and 1958. It was the only car ever made by the company. Originally Zündapp made motorcycles, but in 1954 decided to make a more weatherproof vehicle. They looked at designs from Kroboth, Brütsch, and Fuldamobil before settling for a design by Dornier Flugzeugwerke. The novel design featured a front-opening door for access to the front seat, as well as a rear-opening door for access to the rear-facing rear seat; this "coming or going" design was given the name of the Roman god, Janus, usually pictured having two faces: one looks forward while the other one looks back. The car was powered by a mid-mounted 2-stroke single cylinder 245 cc (15 cubic inch displacement) engine unique to the Janus developing 14 hp (10 kW), enabling a top speed of 80 km/h (50 mph). The suspension was of the MacPherson strut type that proved to be very comfortable.

Production started in June 1957. Only 1,731 cars were made in the first six months. By mid-1958, Zündapp abandoned the project and sold the factory to Bosch. A total of 6,902 Zündapp Janus cars were made.

While in racing and sports cars the mid-engine configuration leads to optimal car handling, acceleration and braking, the engine was much lighter than the rear passengers, leading to a variable centre of gravity.

In popular culture

In the animated feature film Cars 2, the secondary antagonist, Professor Zündapp is based on a Zündapp Janus.


Source: Internet

Bubble Cars

 

A BMW Isetta 300

A Messerschmitt Kabinenroller KR 200

A Peel Trident

 

Bubble car is a subjective term used for some small, economical microcars, usually produced in the 1950's and 1960's.

Varieties

The Messerschmitt KR175 and KR200, and the FMR Tg500, had aircraft-style bubble canopies, giving rise to the term bubble car to refer to all these post-war microcars. Isettas and others also had a bubble-like appearance.

Bubble cars became popular in Europe at that time as a demand for cheap personal motorised transport emerged and fuel prices were high due in part to the 1956 Suez Crisis. Most of them were three-wheelers, which in many places qualified them for inexpensive taxes and licensing as motorcycles.

Most bubble cars were manufactered in Germany, including by the former German military aircraft manufacturers, Messerschmitt and Heinkel. Automobile and motorcycle manufacturer BMW manufactured the Italian Iso Rivolta Isetta under licence, using an engine from one of their own motorcycles. France also produced large numbers of similar tiny vehicles called voiturettes, but unlike the German makes, these were rarely sold abroad.

The United Kingdom had licence-built right-hand drive versions of the Heinkel Kabine and the Isetta.

The British version of the Isetta was built with only one rear wheel instead of the narrow-tracked pair of wheels in the normal Isetta design in order to take advantage of the three-wheel vehicle laws in the United Kingdom. There were also indigenous British three-wheeled microcars, including the Trident from the Peel Engineering Company on the Isle of Man.

The introduction of the Austin Mini in 1959 is often credited with bringing about the demise of the bubble car. The Mini provided four adult seats and more practical long distance transport often at a lower cost.

Examples

• Citroën Prototype C
• FMR Tg500
• Fuldamobil
• Heinkel Kabine
• Isetta
• Messerschmitt KR175
• Messerschmitt KR200
• Peel P50
• Peel Trident
• Trojan 200

 Microcar

• List of microcars by country of origin

External Links:
The Bubble Car Museum (a bubble car museum in England)
The Micro Maniacs (the UK's largest multi-make bubblecar and microcar club)The Australian Microcar and Scooter Club

Source: Internet