The Peel Engineering Company had previous experience with boat building and started producing their tiny fiberglass car in 1962. Featuring 3 tiny wheels, 1 door, 1 headlight and room for only one person and a shopping bag, the car was marketed as a town car with a top speed of around 60klm from its 50cc moterbike style engine. A three speed gear box was fitted to the car that contained no reverse, if you wanted to go backwards you had to pick it up via a handle on the rear and move it around. Fortunately the car weighed only 59kg and was 134 cm long.

In 1964 a slightly larger (187cm long and 107cm wide) car known as the Peel Trident entered production. This time two people could squeeze into the car via a large bubble dome that tilted forward rather than the single side door of the previous P50. The Trident featured the same 50cc engine although it did boast improved performance.

The last Peel microcar left the factory in 1967, it seems the public were not ready to embrace the fad of tiny cars with many of the tiny microcar manufacturers shutting down around this time.

Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear reviewed the Peel p50 on the show in 2007, check out the video below from youtube to get a great look at life with a Peel P50.

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Hilman Imp

The Imp featured an 875cc all aluminum engine mounted over the rear wheels. luggage space and the spare wheel were located in the front bonnet and the short rear boot space was reserved for the mechanicals and engine. A unique feature was the rear opening window that perhaps made the Imp into the first hatchback despite there being no room in the back for parcel space.

Around half a millon Imps were sold during it production time, it is suggested that Hillman had anticipated more sales and the Imp saw the down fall of the Rootes Group leading to the sale of the group to Chrysler in 1967.

The Imps were often credited with poor build quality leading to poor sales. The factory was built in Linwood just outside of Glasgow, The UK Goverment gave incentives to large company to build plants in areas of high unemployment. The problems with the Linwood plant was that much of its workforce were unskilled and there were frequent strikes and industrial disputes causing more financal problems for Rootes.

After the 1967 buyout of Rootes by Chrysler many of the Hillman and Sunbeam brands were gradually rebadged as Chryslers except the Imp that continued on untill the end in 1976 as a Hillman. By 1979 Chrysler europe were in so much financial trouble they sold out their entire operations to Peugeot, who in turn closed the former Imp factory in 1981 and renamed all the products as the Talbot brand.

The Moke

While the design of the Moke did meet all these requirements there was a problem that made it unsuitable for the army, and that was its low ground clearance and lack of 4WD. The army was expecting the performance of a Jeep and was not happy with the Moke so they pulled out of the deal.

Undeterred BMC went ahead with the production of the Moke as it was cheap to produce and sell and being based on mini mechanicals the only new part of the Moke was its roughly built body.

Production started on the Moke in 1964 at BMC’s Longbridge plant in England after 5 years of development work. In 1966 Australia started producing the moke too as its cheap price and open body work made it perfect for the Australian environment. In 1968 BMC stopped English production and started importing the Australian version. Australian production stopped in1982 as the Australian public had become board with the Moke and sales had started to dwindle.

In 1983 Portugal resumed production of the Moke, using the tooling imported from Australia. The Portugal’s Moke production lines did stop on two occasions, once when parent company British Leyland ran into financial difficulties in 1984 and again in 1989 when Rover (formally British Leyland) announced the end of Moke production. Fortunately, an Italian company know as Cagiva bought the rights to produce the Moke from Rover and continued production until late 1993.    

Trabant P601

Its styling was very simple and to conserve expensive metal its body was made from a plastic similar to fibreglass called duraplast the styling of the car remained unchanged over the years and retained the small 60′s inspired mini fins on the rear until 1991. there were a few minor grill changes and a few mechanical improvements including improved brakes and electrical systems during its life.

The Trabant’s two stroke engine was one of the noisiest and most polluting engines ever to be put under the bonnet of a car, it also featured very bad performance with quoted top speed of 100klm its only good feature is that it was very simple with only 5 moving parts and could be removed and lifted out of the car by one person

The last upgrade came in 1990, as the west started to see the Trabant emerge from East Germany, the engine was replaced with a four stroke 1.1 VW polo unit. Despite the much needed performance increase the Trabant’s days were numbered. It was no longer being exported to eastern block country’s and now the East Germans had access to many more modern cars.

In 1991 after over 3,096,000 Trabant’s produced the Trabant production stopped, the factory were the Trabant’s were produced in Zwickau is now a car museum.

Today to own a Trabant is to own the ultimate souvenir from communist East Germany many people are buying up the unwanted Trabants from Germany and exporting them all around the world, a process that would cost much more than it would to buy the car when it was new.

It can be fair to say the humble trabant will be around for quite a while if not in museums or peoples private collections but also in junk yards across Germany. The Trabant’s plastic body has become a bit of an environmental disaster to try and dispose of, where other cars can be melted down or simply rust away the trabant’s plastic like body will stay with us forever making a non running travant just as bad for the environment as a running one.

Reliant Regal

The most popular Reliant model was the Robin, it was first manufactured in 1973 and  production continued until 1981. In 1989 a new more powerfull Robin with more modern stlying was released with production continuing until Feburary 2001. The Robin made a brief comeback in 2002 when another company that licenced the designs from reliant started to produce the car again but due to verious problems the project only lasted a few months. 

A few reliants were made famous around the world in British TV shows, an earlier Reliant the Regal was used on TV shows like George and Mildred, Only fools and horses, and Mr Bean. Production of the Regal started around the mid 1950s and finished when the Robin was introduced in 1973.

The cars were made from fiberglass and started life with a 660cc motor later upgraded to 850cc. 3 wheelers were popular despite their odd looks and tendency to roll over when cornering as you only need a motorbike license to drive one making the car very cheap to own. 3 wheelers are frequently the butt of many automotive jokes, and the Reliant was no exception, it was often refered to as the plastic pig. 

The origional Daihatsu Midget

Later models were released that saw the introduction of handy features such as a steering wheel and doors. The last midget was still a 3 wheel design and was sold in 1972. 
 

In 1996 Daihatsu released a Midget II which was a single seat tray ute with retro styling and front mounted spare tire. It had four wheels and was powered by a 660 cc engine to come under with Japanese micro car tax law.  The Midget II was based on a concept car, Daihatsu have also shown a midget III and IV concept car but these later concept cars never made it to production. 

The Modern Daihatsu Midget

A rare 1958 Midget that was in storage since 1958 with 125ks recently sold in the US on Ebay for 7000 US, while a 1996 midget II in Sydney was passed in at 6990 on Ebay.

Honda S600

Honda had plans to become as big in cars as they were in motorbikes so it is no surprise that the first Hondas featured a lot of technology borrowed from their motorbike division. Both the S500 and the S600 featured chain drive to the rear wheels. The S500 featured a 531 cc DOHC, in-line 4 cylinder engine with four carburetors that was increased to 606cc for the S600.

The S600 that was first released in 1964 was an improvement over the S500 that also saw the introduction of a Convertible. The S600 was also the first Honda car to be exported from Japan.  

The first exported Honda’s were not really well known for their quality and their quirky chain drive won few friends outside Japan, When the S600 was replaced by the S800 in 1966 the chain drive system was abandoned in favor for a traditional live rear axle. 

Iran Khodro Paykan

A deal was struck with the British Rootes group, who owned Hillman, to send CKD kits of the Hunter to Iran for local assembly. In 1978 Chrysler who now owned Hillman was in financial difficulties and sold out their European operations to Peugeot. In 1979 Peugeot Shut down the Hunter production lines and sold the tooling for the bodies along with the rights to the design to Iran Khodro allowing the car to be fully built locally in Iran.

With the engine getting outdated, Peugeot agreed to export their 504 engine for use in the Paykan, from the early 90s the 504 engines were being made in Iran bring the total of locally made parts up to around 98%.The Paykan is still being sold as a ute in Iran with the sedan version phased out early in 2005 after 38 years, very little changed with the Paykan over the years, despite this it is the most popular car in Iran with 40% of the population owning one perhaps due to its $7700AU price tag.

Tha Paykan has been replaced by an all new Rover designed car called the Samand that features some Peugeot 405 mechanicals. They also produce the Peugeot 405 locally in both front and rear wheel drive as well as a model with an updated 406 style front and rear.  Iran Khodro is signing up export deals and setting up factorys in China, Africa and former Soviet states with plans to sell 1 million cars a year by 2011.

Fiat 126

Launched in 1972 at the Turin Motorshow it was hoped that the 126 would become the 500′s more successful replacement. The 126 was based on the chassis of the 500 with a few mechanical refinements and an increased engine size of 594cc. Fiat knew that people still loved the style of the aging 500 so the 126 and the 500 were sold along side each other until 1975. The final series of the 500 known as a 500 R benefited from the 126′s 594cc engine and larger wheels, making the 500 mechanically identical to the 126. In 1975 production stopped on the Fiat 500 with 3.6 million cars sold during it life.

Manufacture of the Fiat in Poland from Italian parts began in 1973 under license by Polish firm Fabryka Samochodow Malolitrazowych who were fortunately commonly known as FSM. The Polish 126 was known as the 126p and when the production of the Italian 500 and 126 stopped in 1975 Poland became the source of every Fiat 126. FSM even exported the 126 as a FSM Niki 650 to Australia between 1989 an 1992.

Between 1974 and 1979 the 126 was also manufactured under license in Spain by Seat, known as a Seat 133 it had a differently styled body although it was similar to the 126.

In 1976 the first of many major upgrades are released with the ’126 Personal’ that modernized many of its trim components including adding plastic bumpers, plastic rubbing strips, different mirrors, wheels and other trim details.

In 1977 the 126 had its engine size increased to 652cc with the 594cc series 126 production finishing in 1978. In 1984 a major change in construction of the body simplified construction but left its style relatively unchanged.

In 1987 a new water cooled engine was fitted that had a 704cc capacity and was fitted horizontally, this gave the fiat a small lift up hatchback giving the user a bit extra luggage space and making it slightly a bit more useful.

By the start of the 1990s, Fiat realized the end was near and work began on designing a small replacement Fiat that would be all new and have a conventional front wheel drive layout. The Fiat Cinquecento was launched in 1993 and despite being a more refined car it never received the same popularity as the 126. Although the Fiat 126 was killed off in 1993 the FSM version lived on until 2000 where it was sold across many eastern European countries. 1994 saw one of the last major improvements to the car with many minor trim and body parts being shared with Cinquecento to reduce costs. A limited number of yellow FSM 126 were sold up to the end of production, these were known as the “Happy End” series. Around 3.3 million 126p were produced by FSM in Poland whilst another 1.3 million were produced in Italy by Fiat.

Many people criticize the 126 for many reasons, for example it was poorly built, had terrible performance and handling to match, it was rather uncomfortable and also either broke down or rusted prematurely. Despite all its faults many of the 4 million people who were drawn to it by its cheap price tag managed to fall in love with its idiosyncrasies. In March 2004 Fiat released a concept car that mimics the Fiat 500 Nuevo styling in the same way the new VW Beetle is styled after the old. The new car called the Fiat Trepiuno is a high tech front wheel drive design, a new Fiat 500 based on this concept was launched in 2007, it will share the same platform as the 2nd Generation Ford Ka.

Citroen 2CV

Pierre Boulanger’s early 1930s design brief – said by some to be astonishingly radical for the time – was for a low-priced, rugged ‘umbrella on four wheels’ that would enable two peasants to drive 100 kg of farm goods to market at 60 km/h, in clogs and across muddy unpaved roads if necessary. It would use no more than 3 litres of gasoline to travel 100 km. Most famously, it would be able to drive across a ploughed field without breaking the eggs it was carrying. Boulanger later also had the roof raised to allow him to drive while wearing a hat. By 1939 the TPV (Toute Petite Voiture – “Very Small Car”) was deemed ready and several prototypes had been built.During the German occupation of France during World War II, Michelin and Citroen managers decided to hide the TPV project to Germany fearing some military application. Several TPVs where buried at secret locations, one was disguised as a pickup, the others were destroyed, and Boulanger had the next six years to think about more improvements. Until 1994, when three TPVs where discovered in a barn, it was believed that only two prototypes had survived. As of 2003, five TPVs are known.

In fact the project was so well hidden that the all the prototypes were considered as lost after the War. It took 3 years for Citroën to rework the TPV and the car was nicknamed “Toujours Pas Vue” (still not seen) by the press.

Citroen finally unveiled the car at the Paris Salon in 1948. It was laughed at by the journalists, probably because Citroen had launched the car without any press advertising. Boris Vian qualified the car as an “aberration roulante” (rolling aberration). Some think that history has confirmed that the car was not only charming, but a revolution in consumer transportation.

The body was constructed of a dual H-frame chassis, an airplane-style tube framework, and a very thin steel shell. It was powered by a flat-twin air-cooled engine designed by Walter Becchia, with a nod to the classic ‘boxer’ BMW motorcycle engine. (The flat-2 engine and thin steel body make a peculiar noise that can’t be compared to anything, except maybe a Piper J-3 at start up.) Front-wheel drive made the car easy and safe to drive. Large inboard hydraulic brakes ensured that brake failure on one side left steering and braking largely unaffected. The swinging arm, fore-aft linked suspension system was lighter and more responsive than existing spring or leaf designs, enabling the 2CV to indeed be driven at speed over a ploughed field. The canvas roof could be rolled completely open. The seats were hammocks suspended from the roof by wires. The car had one rear light, one stop lamp and was available only in grey. Within months of it going on sale there was a three-year waiting list.

The engine was a 375cc developing only 9bhp on the earliest model, which was notoriously underpowered. A 425cc engine was introduced in 1955. A 602cc giving 28bhp at 7000rpm was introduced in 1968. With the 602cc engine the tax classification of the car changed it became in fact a 3CV, but the commercial name remained unchanged. Production of the 425cc 2CV was continued under the name 2CV 4 while the 602cc took the name 2CV 6. The 602cc engine evolved to 33bhp in 1970; this was the most powerful engine fitted to the 2CV. A new 602cc giving only 29bhp at a slower 5750rpm was introduced in 1979. Despite being less powerful, this engine was more efficient, allowing lower fuel consumption and better top speed.

With the evolution of the engine the last 2CV’s had a a good power-to-weight ratio giving rather good acceleration for such an economical car but top-speed remained limited due to obsolete aerodynamics. Despite its evolution, the 2CV never lost its reputation of being a “rolling snail”, as the car’s reliability and ease of repair meant that a lot of underpowered very old models were still running in the 1970′s.

A 425cc 2CV driven by Jacques Seguela and Jean-Claude Baudot was the first French car to make a round-the-world voyage in 1958.

The 2CV made several appearance in Louis de Funes’ movies. In “Le Corniaud” opening scene a 2CV driven by Bourvil is totally destroyed in a collision with a Rolls-Royce driven by Louis de Funes.

In 1981, a 2CV fitted with the engine from a Citroen GS starred in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only. Citroen issued a special series of “2CV James Bond” models fitted with the standard flat-2 engine, painted in yellow with 007 on the front doors and fake bullet holes.

The 2CV makes also a short appearance in Apocalypse Now. During the famous scene of the attack by the Air Cavalry to the strains of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries a 2CV is rocketed while crossing a bridge.

Popular French nicknames were “Deuche” and “Dedeuche”. The Dutch were the first to call it “de lelijke eend”, the ugly duck. In Germany it is called “die lahme Ente”, the lame duck. An English nickname is the Tin Snail.

The 2CV was produced for 42 years, the model finally succumbing to customer demands for speed, comfort and safety, all areas (apart from ride comfort) in which it had fallen significantly behind more modern cars. Style alone no longer justified its retention in the Citroen range. The 2CV has earned a unique place in motoring history: considered by some to be the most radical production car design ever.