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Ten years prior to the launch of Renault’s Espace people carrier, microcar company Marden debuted their Espace in 1975. Powered by either an electric motor or a Sachs 47cc engine, Marden’s Espace was marketed as a “luxurious” sans permis (no license needed) microcar. Advertisements of the day touted its plush seating, full carpeting, independent suspension, […]

The fuel crisis of the 1970’s hit Europe as hard as it did the USA. French legislators adopted a novel plan – encouraging small, regional manufacturers to produce small, efficient urban cars to meet a new set of regulations. This was the beginning of the sans permis cars – cars that held two people, had

SEAB (Societe d’Exploitation et d’Application des Brevet) was perhaps best-known as the manufacturer of the plastic bodies used on Citroën’s Mehari, but they later became a manufacturer of vehicules sans permis, or “unlicensed” microcars – cars small enough to not require the legalities of full-sized autos. Located in the southern Paris suburb of Villejuif, it

The Super Comtesse is an updated version of the Mini-Comtesse, which was famous for its instability. The Super Comtesse was produced eliminating the 3-wheel design and used a conventional (and more stable) 4-wheel layout. Hydraulic brakes were also added, and the vehicle size was increased, although this is still a one-passenger vehicle. The motor and

The Mitsubishi Minica is a Japanese domestic market (JDM) Kei Car. It began production in 1962, and remained in production until 2011, making the Minica Mitsubishi’s longest running model.In 1989 Mitsubishi introduced the 6th generation Minica seen here. Along with that model came an improved performance version called the Dangan ZZ. This is a significant

René Panhard and Emilé Levassor built their first car in 1890, amid-engined, back-to-back horseless carriage. The following year, they built what many consider to be the first modern car, in terms of architecture: front mounted engine, clutch mounted between the engine and gearbox, and a driven rear axle. Almost all automobiles would follow this layout for

The car seen here is one-of-one; it was designed, built, and raced by Frazier Sibbald, George Olsen, and Howard Bliss, all of California. Sibbald was the racer, Olsen the designer (he went on to build groundbreaking racing sailboats and founded a surfboard company) and it is believed that Bliss was the engineer and fabricator. Being

  The little-known and rarely seen BMW 700 Coupé is arguably one of the most important models in BMW’s post-war history. The first of the series and highest-selling variant in the 700 family (Coupé, Luxus LS, Limosin, Cabrio), the 700 Coupé was the brainchild of Austrian BMW importer and racer Wolfgang Denzel. Denzel convinced the