Micro Cars | World's Smallest Cars!

[Music] I'm eight feet tall [Music] hi I'm Dennis gage and welcome to my classic car this week we're down in Orlando at the Ace Cafe for micro South this is a fun show we tiny little cars but was a big following this is gonna be a blast check these babies out [Music] really great to see you my friend always great to see you Dennis man huh I think was ten years ago when I was down here the first time for microcar south and it's just such a cool show and and the show's grown but the cars have not and we have broaden the spectrum we do allow a little bit bigger cars in but they're all still very very tired a very small kiss I mean Nash metropolitan is not really a micro car but it's a tiny little car it is not tiny like some of these though right so this is the craziest category I think in the automotive hobby these were serious cars these were jokes no not at all and that's the interesting thing to think about when you're standing next to some of these this that's hilarious especially the really bizarre ones is that this used to be somebody's car they bought this for the intended purpose of transportation to get them from A to B which is crazy it's pretty crazy but you think about the era you know like again 50s and early 60s I mean these were not good economic times in Europe and and in England this had to beat being on a scooter this was the next evolutionary step it got you out of the elements off the scooter and into an enclosed space and provided transportation for a couple more people maybe but this is yours this will 360 this silver if you pick up you got a van you've got a goggle 'mobile you got a we've got yeah it's a disease well you know everybody people came from a long way away to bring these crazy cars down here and the Ace Cafe is a perfect venue for you this is a really big little show okay let's go look at some of these okay fantastic all right do it thank you [Music] well Karl we meet again yep actually when we shot the microcar show ten years ago yes you had the appeal that little appeal tried him yeah I think I closed the showing that that thing was so cool but you brought something that's equally weird maybe even weirder weirder for sure this is a fend flit sir 101 101 what's the history of the FEM flit sir well it started off as a handicap vehicle and it was actually the steering bar was a pump mechanism to to control the rear wheel to give it propulsion so it wasn't a powered car it didn't start I was like yes like a railroad car right 49 they put a 38 cc engine in and it couldn't get out of its own way so in 50 they put a hundred cc engine but it was an upright without fan control for the air in 51 this is the third generation of the car they found an engine from an IME motorcycle which I have the matching motorcycle right and they installed a forced air fan on the engine what an air cover is it aluminum notice is all metal so it's a steel it came with one headlight one headlight one marker light and only one taillight but in the back I installed two front marker lights as a brake light in a tail light it kind of looks like this is a little bit measure Schmidt well the man who made this produced the measurement after this I would explain it that yeah he was the designer of this car and he went to Messerschmitt he worked for Messerschmitt during the war he designed a landing gear on one of the airplanes for them tiny little wheels yes eight inch wheels and this car only had one break in the back but I installed brakes in the front for safety reasons and I love your spinners yes and they're there they're secret spinners opening how do you get into this now I'll show you right now and it's held by a strap that measures you must do that too right they they look to the right but they're held by ruffle also whit a strap same type of thing and this has a tilting steering column oh wow the new stuff in 51 it's a motorcycle engine is it a sequential transmission yes and here at the shifter right here is see I couldn't find decals 1 2 3 so I just painted 1 2 and then 3 there is no neutral in the transmission so you always have to hold the clutch lever in when it's idling so I mean it's sequential it really isn't even sequential no is after 2 up to 3 yes you have to go through first to get the third this is the actual starting lever from inside the car but you have to have one leg out to do it so it's only me a step it's a pull start yes after you wiggle your way in here you have to leave one leg out York and you're kidding and then you pull on this that's real that's real convenient these were sold as handicap cars I think you became handicapped after you bought the car you were fine when you bought it but then okay so how do you get to the engine the engine lifts forward the canopy and you have to have the steering bar forward yes and here is the massive engine it's a football shape 100cc Riddell engine from 1951 my goodness forced-air fan around the front no single brake in the back huh and on this side you can see the small carburetor and the and the muffler system and a chain guard and basically that was the entire car that was it now is that kind of a swing arm it does have a swing arm there's a shock a coil inside the spring casing in here the front end is stationary there's no springs in the front it's completely insane and it's a transformer yeah well it totally is I'm not sure what it transformed to but so it's a 1951 Fender Flitz ER 101 101 and one of like five left on the planet you had to cool this stuff thanks Carl thanks Dennis so cool [Music] Jeff it's great to see you again man good to see you again well you know I did well I saw you ten years ago here but of course then we came to visit your museum d'Alene Motor Museum and National Tennessee and you've got the bag and a selection of cars I think you had about 200 when I was there absolutely and so you brought a number of cars down here but yeah this is only when you have at the show right well you have a flipper back flipper which was a French micro car that the wheels flip all the way around and make it go backwards we just turn the wheel the wheels work and there's right on the motor in the whole unit turns around and comes backwards and then you had something some little red thing the peel p50 that is a peel that's a peel p50 world's smallest car yeah yeah well wait what was the thing beside it so that's a small mini that somebody made it's a micro mini half right half scale Minnie Minnie Minnie Minnie yeah but today we've got this is a this is a zunda yes Jonas Jonas Johnnie oh this is you know you look at this thing and you get kind of a nice at a field initially yeah double eyes that up double I said oh so this was built what your assist this 1956 and it's obviously built in Germany somewhere right but it's really a well done car because again they were a high-end motorcycle scooter maker and they were highly engineered because it kind of like an Isetta when you open it very much like an Isaiah so the front door opens up of course the Isaiah column is hooked in and rotates so this column is fixed is fixed like an ankle which was like an Isetta typical three pedals is I see is it an H pattern it's actually a sequential or it is faster faster and back but you're clutching over here right yes clutch brake and then what are your knobs down there so what is the choke yeah and the other is the heater let's go to the back because this is the weirdest thing and there's plenty of weird things right this is the weirdest thing about this car so Jonas is a word for the two-headed Greek god and that's where they got that's why they named it Jonas okay but they really did it because it's the same stamping so that doors you could interchange doors so they save money the seats are absolutely the same the engine is in the middle right between the seats which gives you perfect weight distribution well here's a low center of gravity but you've also got an engine in your in your passenger compartment so it makes it very warm shows in Germany a must never get more because the other thing they did there's no roll down Windows there's a lot of just to push out push outs in the front and back but no roll downs and they probably want to make a keeper plus they were trying to make it light so the side windows are all plastic and again the windshields were the same again right there so they save money on that it's just a brilliant design the other thing that I didn't know about this car is that you know similar to a Nash where the front seat folded on the whole thing is a mattress you do that here too in the 50s and 60s especially in Europe but even sometimes in the u.s. there weren't that many hotels right around and you know people that were traveling on a budget they couldn't afford to stay in a hotel so they actually would you know they'd sleep in their car so really you just you pull this up yeah like that and then back to their back to their there so just like that that that's a you know I'm 510 and I can you know I can lay in there and stretch out and you know what if if you got cold you just fire up the engine and then you've got a heated mattress absolutely cuz the motors in the middle so you got the heater and the heat coming off the engine is gonna yeah now you move you probably fumigate yourself that is a problem but I would worry about that just driving this thing so how does it actually drive it drives really really well for 250 people are always surprised how fast it is and the wheels are way out in the corners the suspension is good you know yeah so it's really super stable this is so cool but again this is one of 500 really weird things that you have at the lane Motor Museum they are yes it's just one just got for 99 more to go all right let's go okay this is great a 1956 56 Suns on top John Jonas Wow I love this car I'm coming to the museum again well Bruce I saw this last night at the gathering and I have never seen one you know certainly I've seen I said it's I mean we're not a dime a dozen but they're around you know this was like whoa this is a I said it with a thyroid condition it's it's like an overgrown the family version yeah in Europe and in Germany you know they called it the BMW 600 they actually hung on to the eyes and a name on this model in the u.s. colon at the eyes at a 600 so that this is in fact an Isetta correct but it's the 600 this stretched version and often you hear people call it the Isetta limo because limo in German being you know sedan it's got the you know the Isetta front end open the whole front end comes up and steering wheel and all and it's magnificently restored here is this this is a 1959 they made them for two years and this is from the last month of production Wow so now your little controls over there the three levers start warm and reserved so they feel petcock knows no fuel gauge you know it's like an old Volkswagen or a motorcycle you know you got main reserve and off and the top one is your choke and the middle one is heat is this what they would look like coming up cause this looks fancier than I'm no no no no this this is this is pretty much original I mean I restored it you know from top to bottom but didn't over restore even that that kind of that carpeting new one okay oh you got me that's that is actually the original map from 1915 seriously the other thing about the Isetta was that as I recall they were all convertible because they had to be that was the only way to get out in an accident there was no other door right that is correct that is correct this has got a hardtop you know they tried to build it as cheap as possible so that's why it only has one side door on the passenger side the saving of funds for the well you certainly convenience wise that's better than climbing around but it's also you can actually get out of it if you had to exactly there is a little bit of extra protection on this vehicle yes the spare tire is here what's behind your spirit are so their airbag sorta sorta and being a u.s. model it had these nerf bars to that's correct yours didn't have that correct these are like twelve it looks like you're running big littles or something yeah that's true you got a keen eye there yeah six hundred came from the factory with ten inch bias ply tires but the 10 inch radials is the rolling circumference is a lot smaller than a ten inch bias ply so to maintain you know like the same overall gear ratio I went with the 12-inch radial on the back which has the same rolling circumference as a ten inch bias ply so okay no access panel no single cylinder this is this is two cylinder that's right the big mighty twin twice the horsepower stop somebody stop me it basically looks like BMW motorcycle engine that is it'd be the same thing that you'd find in a slice to be mark bar sixty this this was actually a derivative of the are 67 you know roller bearing crank what does a boutique oh yeah these are my Cooney's and I tell you nothing gets past you yeah would the sport engine it came with two dual carbs on it and to fit that in to this engine configuration or engine compartment you have to go with you know like a side draft car versus the downdraft that is 700 ed yeah now so gearbox isn't it is it a like an H pattern H pattern four-speed fully synchronized yeah yeah 12 volts yeah this is first I mean this is just this is so cool it's a 1958 59 58 59 I said a 600 stretch right that's it wow what a what a car thank you [Music] well Steve that's a lot of cool stuff here today but I really love this Dan hilarious this is Subaru right Subaru 360 yeah in 1969 through 360 it looks to me like you've done all sorts of mods on this shortened it lowered it all that you really haven't done anything of them blacking out the windows this is how they came right they came just like this we put panels over the glass so it would be a panel van and that's it so you kind of hotrod we put a 500cc motor in it whoa what did they come with actually bacon 360 see see that's the hence the designation the 360 was a 360 see it was kind of optimistically at 25 horsepower but it didn't really do 25 they imported these back in for only a few years back in the late 60s through Canada through I believe they were direct imported Malcolm Bricklin imported them and that was he start of Subaru America really yeah really but you've really done a lot to this inside too because they didn't come with this this interior these are really cool seats really from this seats are from a Dodge minivan we'd have to cut him down no they're the regular size but we had them recover I can't believe you've got him stuffed in there you know that's a lot of room in there it is you can stretch out in it a regular guy can stretch out I love the Hurst shifter too and of course you got the you know the little eyebrows on the headlights got your hot rod sign here got the hot rod one of the wheels the wheels are factory wheels the rear wheels have been altered there are two wheels put together Wow so and you pinned it all out how did you do that we just well the panels that really glass is just gone the glass is gone Wow I mean is this thing like I hit wherever you take it you know a lot of people seem to like it I can see why I mean it's hilarious it's different so originally a 360 CC 2 cylinder you did one of the more interesting mods I've ever seen show me what you got in here so we did a this a 500cc motorcycle engine and we're using the differential out of the Subaru van but we're using the transmission from the Honda motorcycle so it's a six-speed trans I saw exposed chains and it's it's got this is the drive chain here this is just a double chain to connect my jack shadow huh so there's that it's got a radiator and an oil cooler so it's not a parallel twin it's this is actually a v4 it's a v4 since where the where the other two cylinders the other two cylinders are just in the front oh okay so oh my gosh must have a really interesting sound so that I mean that is a hive have an engine that thing's got a red line up around eleven thousand or so red 11500 sure you've never done that no I've been up to maybe eight thousand it revs good at that you know that little Honda motor right yeah it must be terrifying well I haven't been that well totally awesome a 1969 Subaru 360 van panel van with a 500 Conda in it it wow what a ride thank you figure it out [Music] patty I love this car you know when you first look at in specially for in front you go oh I said up right but honestly I think it's way cooler I mean I agree when they talk about bubble cars this is a bubble it's a total bubble is that help Plexiglas well the windshield is glass with all the other glass in the car in an attempt to lighten it uh Heinkel made it all Plexiglas so it is it's a Heinkel it's a hunk on what year 58 do you know how many years they made these they made them in Germany I believe for three to four years and they went briefly to Ireland really unsuccessfully surprise price and then on down to the UK where they made them in branded them as Trojans oh okay so you can see it still has this small European hub yes yeah so can we open it up sure and it opens very much like a nice setup except except the steering wheel is stationary it stays I know why is that cuz with I said of course that that comes up with the door the Isetta behind had a patent on that Oh so rather than infringe on that patent they came up with something came up with a stationary steering wheel and Colin what's the transmission it is it is it a sequential ER it's a sequential it's very much like a motor scooter okay and they made motor scooters uncle did called Taurus Bob and they have a similar transmission that's right over there this shifts right on the side kind of like a Messerschmitt does right the other thing I notice about this is almost like it's almost like got its own roll Cajon well that's the idea that was huncle's idea aircraft manufacturer so he's gonna take his design concept roll that steel like he did for an aircraft so it's rolled steel and it really turns into a sexualities it makes it provides a structural rigidity that is nice and right what a nice entry it's a two-seater er and a cushion which tree was marketed as a family car very small family yeah bear in mind they were trying to get minimal inexpensive transportation get people off their scooters right and in a bubble and in something I love the bubbles nature of it the you know the windows and everything how she just puffs out it looks it actually looks like it's like yeah exactly exactly and like an Isetta this is the escape hatch I was just gonna say that's your escape hatch you've got the front door and you had to have some way if you got penned in there this is the only other the other way if your front got crushed you're in there exactly so obviously the engines back here the engine is actually mid-engine it sits under the backseat oh really so what you have here is very much like a scooter running you a little swing arm and yeah what is the energy what sighs it's 195 C seats 195 single single cylinder that's just hilarious so no I mean you know a lot about these things you must be into micro cars I am way into mice so what are they gonna show the most fun you can have you know there's something about the micro car community misery loves company yeah we we love being here together and we it makes each of us smiling at one another's car here's how I play this with you come to a micro car show and the owners are as quirky as the cars what other course are you gonna go to and find baby goats that's true you know you know that's I have never seen that so so we got a 1958 henkle Hank oh hi wow I love this car thanks patty thank you so cool oh man microcar salt is a blast they will do this show very often but when it comes around again y'all to be here

Channel: MyClassicCarTV

Views: 388,681

Keywords: My Classic Car, Classic Car, Dennis Gage, ace cafe, orlando, microcars, micro cars, world's smallest cars, tiny car, small car, Zundapp, BMW Isetta, Subaru 360, 1958 Heinkel, car show, unique car, weird car, crazy car, rare car, Fend Flitzer, 1959 BMW, 1956 Zundapp, 1969 Subaru, Zundapp Janus, lane motor museum, oddball, mini car, minicar, weirdest cars, strange cars, motorcycle powered cars, cars, car history, automobile history, micro limo, bmw limo, bubble car

Id: rmEPz_i-edY

Length: 21min 54sec (1314 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 01 2019