Mini-cars

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Microlino mini-car channeling BMW Isetta debuts in Europe in 2019

More than 50 years before tiny houses, Smart cars and other mini things on wheels became recent crazes, the BMW Isetta was a trendsetter. It was known as a “bubble car.” It was stylish, got great gas mileage and zipped perfectly around narrow European streets. Now, its modern-day equivalent, the electronic vehicle (EV) Microlino, has been approved as street legal by the European Union. Designed by Wim Ouboter, production of the Microlino has started and its debut is expected in early 2019. The company already has several thousand pre-orders. The Microlino is ideally named. It’s 7 feet, 10 inches long and weighs 990 pounds. Depending on what battery is installed, the Microlino has a 50 or 134-mile range. It can

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Small cars still mean big things for collectors, museums

After World War II, the troubled global economy prompted innovation in the auto industry. As a result, microcars — the original green cars — became all the rage. They were city cars, relied on for local commuting and for errands. They were cheap and used little fuel. As a description at the current display of microcars at the California Automobile Museum in Sacramento details, “Microcars were easy to park, simple to drive and mechanically similar to scooters in that they were seemingly in every city of the world.” Most of the original microcar manufacturers are gone now, but the idea has returned in recent years with the introduction of new cars and new models of old microcars like the smart

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Smallest production car ever made? It’s the real deal Peel

Forget the Smart ForTwo, Fiat 500 and Scion iQ. They’re only small cars. And the Mini? It’s really only small via its name. If you want a small car, how about the smallest car ever made — the Peel? Located on the Isle of Man, Peel primarily made fibreglass boats as well as fairings for motorcycles. But it was also the manufacturer of the Peel Manxcar, Peel P50 and Peel Trident microcars. The original Peel 50, for example, was 54 inches long (less than half the length of the new Scion iQ), 41 inches wide and weighed 130 pounds. And it was legal to drive on roads in Great Britain. The company halted manufacturing in1969, but the three-wheeled Peel P50 is

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