Heinkel Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, with the pioneering examples of a successful liquid-fueled rocket and a turbojet-powered aircraft in aviation history, with both Heinkel designs' first flights occurring shortly before the outbreak of World War II in Europe.
Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than 700 cc (43 cu in). Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, quadricycles and voiturettes, and the Japanese equivalent is the kei car.
The Isetta is an Italian-designed microcar built under license in a number of different countries, including Argentina, Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Because of its egg shape and bubble-like windows, it became known as a bubble car, a name also given to other similar vehicles.
Trojan was an automobile manufacturer and a Formula One constructor, in conjunction with Australian Ron Tauranac, from the United Kingdom.
The Fiat 600 is a rear-engine, water-cooled city car, manufactured and marketed by Fiat from 1955 to 1969 — offered in two-door fastback sedan and four-door Multipla mini MPV body styles.
The Messerschmitt KR200, or Kabinenroller, is a three-wheeled bubble car designed by the aircraft engineer Fritz Fend and produced in the factory of the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt from 1955 to 1964.
The Peel P50 is a three-wheeled microcar originally made from 1962 to 1965 by the Peel Engineering Company on the Isle of Man. It was listed in the 2010 Guinness World Records as the smallest production car ever made. It had no reverse gear, but a handle at the rear allows the very lightweight car to be manoeuvred physically when required.
The Messerschmitt Kabinenroller was a series of microcars made by Messerschmitt from 1953 to 1956 and by Fahrzeug- und Maschinenbau GmbH, Regensburg (FMR) from 1956 to 1964. All the Messerschmitt and FMR production cars used the Kabinenroller's monocoque structure, featuring tandem seating and usually a bubble canopy.
The Felber Autoroller T 400 was a three-wheeled microcar with a rear-mounted 398 cc Rotax two cylinder opposed twin, two stroke 15 metric horsepower (11 kW) engine. The cars had an unusual seating arrangement, with a small child-sized seat behind the driver on the left and a conventional passenger seat diagonally behind and to the right.
Goggomobil was a series of microcars produced by Hans Glas GmbH in the Bavarian town Dingolfing between 1955 and 1969.
The Messerschmitt KR175 microcar (1953–1955) was the first vehicle built by Messerschmitt under its 1952 agreement with Fritz Fend. In concept, although not in actual design, it was an extended version of the Fend Flitzer invalid carriage. Approximately 15,000 were built before it was replaced by the Messerschmitt KR200 in 1956.
S E Opperman was a tractor manufacturer in England. After he saw the Bond Minicar he decided to build his own four-wheel microcar at a factory in Elstree, Hertfordshire.
Fritz Fend was an aeronautical engineer. He was noted for designing Messerschmitt's Kabinenroller (cabinscooter) KR175 and KR200 microcars, for co-founding FMR, the company that took over production of the Kabinenrollers in 1956, and for designing the FMR Tg500, a sports microcar based on the Kabinenroller. Fend continued his career as an inventor and designer after the KR200 ended production. Fend was working on another lightweight vehicle project shortly before his death.
Egon Brütsch Fahrzeugbau, usually shortened to Brütsch, was a German automotive design and automaker based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg.
Fuldamobil is the name of a series of small cars produced by Elektromaschinenbau Fulda GmbH of Fulda, Germany, and Nordwestdeutscher Fahrzeugbau (NWF) of Wilhelmshaven between 1950 and 1969. Various designated versions of the car were produced, although the vehicles produced under each designation were not always identical and the designations were sometimes misapplied. Though overall numbers produced were relatively small, the cars attracted sufficient attention to see licensed construction on four continents including Europe. In its ultimate configuration it is said to have inspired the term "bubble car". It is acknowledged as the first car in the world to feature a negative scrub radius, now recognised as a major advance in driving safety.
Hoffmann was a bicycle manufacturer in Ratingen-Lintorf, Germany. Between 1948 and 1954 the company also manufactured motorcycles. It made a range of models using engines from 125cc to 250cc made by ILO, and the Gouverneur, which had a transversely-mounted 248 cc flat twin four-stroke engine designed by Richard Küchen, and shaft drive. The Gouverneur was developed into the MP 250-2 and finally, in 1953, the S 300 model.
The Heinkel Tourist is a motor scooter made by Heinkel Flugzeugwerke from 1953 to 1965. More than 100,000 were manufactured and sold.
A scooter or motor scooter is a type of motorcycle with a step-through frame and a platform for the rider's feet. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and scooters have been made since at least 1914. Scooter development continued in Europe and the United States between the World Wars.
