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. Roughly145,000 Meharis were produced from 1968-87. The Mehari is based on the standard 2CV chassis and drivetrain. Specifications: […]
Citroen Mehari 4×4 prototype-1974 Read More »
The Citroën Ami Super was launched in January 1973 and, while it looks like the Ami 8, it has a larger, more powerful horizontally-opposed flat 4-cylinder air cooled engine of 1015cc and 55 hp, almost doubling the 8’s power. The Ami Super was the top-of-the-line Ami and was positioned between the Citroën GS (launched in
Citroën Ami Super Break-1973 Read More »
French industrial planner Jacques Riboud, of Vitrex Industrie, promoted and designed microcars as a solution to increased urbanization in 1970’s Paris. He believed full-size cars to be too big and too expensive for the old city’s infrastructure. In his publication, Three Wheels and a Brake Pedal he states “For each role … it is conceived,
Poland did not produce any cars until after WWI. Right after WWI the defense ministry formed the CWS (Central Automobile Works). In 1927 production of cars was started by CWS – the car was called the T1, and was a large and sturdy car. Since Poland had a nonexistent service network at that time, the
FSO Syrena 100-1958 Read More »
It may seem hard to believe, but the manufacturer of the Scootacar also produced railroad locomotives. The Scootacar was developed in 1957 by the Hunslet Engine Works of Leeds, Yorkshire, UK, by Henry Brown, using a Villiers two stroke engine. The basic design was arrived at by having Mr. Brown sit astride the engine while
Scootacar MK I-1959 Read More »
In 1953, Genichi Kawakami, Yamaha motorcycles’ first president, was looking for a way to make use of idle machining equipment that had previously been used by the company to make aircraft propellers. Market and competitive factors led him to focus on the motorcycle market. By 1954, Yamaha had produced its first motorcycle, and four years
Almost as a hobby, in 1977 Guy Duport built a prototype, first-of-its-kind diesel-powered microcar. It was a small car with a plastic body and 2 doors, equipped with a 510cc (about 31 cu. in.) Lombardini diesel engine. According to Duport, that 10HP engine assured 3,500 hours of operation, allowing it to travel potentially more than
The Pionier is a 3-wheeled economy vehicle that was designed for the German market. It’s robust, yet light, because of its wood frame body covered by a synthetic fabric. Carl Borgward designed this car to evade the annual German tax that was put on 4-wheeled vehicles. Three-wheel vehicles escaped this tax until 1933, and this
Goliath Pionier-1933 Read More »
The Vignale-designed Tatra 613 was introduced in 1975, and was too primitive to attract Western buyers after the fall of Communism across Europe in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Tatra was evaluating two approaches to the new proposed Project T-625 – a front-engined, water cooled sedan, and also a more traditional rear air-cooled option. Unfortunately, Czechoslovakia’s