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By the late 1960s, Citroën, General Motors, AMC and others viewed NSU’s new rotary, or Wankel, engine, as the wave of the automotive future. Compact but powerful, it allowed automakers much more flexibility in packaging elements of their new designs. Citroën believed strongly enough in rotaries to partner with NSU, creating the Comotor engine manufacturing […]

The peoples’ car of France, originally developed before WWII, the 2CV did not go into production until 1950 because of the war.  The press laughed at the car, claiming it would not sell but by the time production started there was a 6-year waiting list.  Well-designed and cheap, it filled the needs of post-war rural

The Citroën “Traction Avant” (translated as “front drive”) was introduced in 1934 as the 7A; this 15-Six model was introduced in 1938, and was a radically different concept from the cars Citroën had been producing.  Most cars were still built with a wooden structure covered with metal parts and fixed to a chassis, with the

Hans Berger was a gifted engineer who built small helicopters and various mechanical devices.  In 1948 he built the rocket-powered car you see here.  Hans Berger also built the rocket motor that powered the car.  His young daughter, Heidi, drove the car in local races.  (She was the first woman in Switzerland to become licensed

The Biscuter, or ‘Zapatilla’ (little shoe) as it was known in Spain, was actually built to the design of the French engineer Gabriel Voisin. ‘Biscooter’, the French name, was in itself a playful name for a car the size of two scooters.   In the early 1950s, Voisin designed a “minimal but capable everyman’s car”

In the mid 1960s, Austin decided to produce the Mini in South America. Knowing the production volumes would not be large, they could not afford to make another set of stamping dies for another factory. Austin contracted with Peel Engineering, who made the famous microcars, to make a prototype Mini out of fiberglass. Peel built

The Audi Coupe GT was produced as an executive compact car; a tamer, front-wheel drive, version of the famed Audi Quattro.  Sold in the US market from 1980-1987, it was updated to the Audi 90.  The Audi 4000 has the distinction of being the first production car with an inline 5-cylinder engine. In 1996, Audi

Ardex started producing a Morgan-like 3-wheeled car in 1934.  Production was small and only lasted until 1937.  Then in 1952 Ardex turned to the manufacture of Microcars.  Times were tough – some cars were made out of wood, some aluminum, depending on what material was available.  50cc or 100cc engines were available. The car was

Aixam is France’s largest Microcar manufacturer with about 40% of the French market.  This particular Aixam is unique because it was made in India by the Indian scooter maker Kinetic.  Speculation is that this must have been a joint venture where Kinetic used the basic design of the Aixam A550 and modified it to make