The rants and raves of Top Gear's most famous son...
In pictures: Microcars collection to fetch £7million at auction
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The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum is the largest collection of small cars in the world. But now, after spending 15 years chasing down the rarest and most collectable microcars ever made, the man himself is putting them up for auction. We take a look at some of the highlights.
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7Comments
03/02/2013 12:50
... to me,a very interesting article.In the UK they are/were mostly known as 3-wheelers or `bubble-cars`.I still see a few of these,here and there,mostly standing idle on driveways.
... the famous `Trotters` 3 wheeler was a good example of these.
... used to go spotting these with an `eye-spy` book to try and get a badge when all the vehicles in the whole book were ticked as having been seen !
... always seems a bit strange that a full market for these types of vehicle was never established,whereas in France mopeds and similar really took off and in Italy small size Fiats got a stronghold in their markets.
... seems a great shame to split such a wonderful collection up.
03/02/2013 16:02
03/02/2013 15:26
Lovely trip down memory lane. All comprehensively killed-off by the Mini. The Bond Bug was about the "zenith" of 3-wheelers/micro cars, but was too late as the Mini had a stranglehold on the market by then and there was a thriving custom market as well to add individuality. I think there were some safety issues with some of the little cars, and the move away from 2-stroke power sounded the death knell for many of them too. My fav's were the 4-wheel Messerschmit and 4-wheel four stroke powered Berkeley (like a miniature E-Type). Now that the Mini has grown-up and gotten bigger, it's nice to see the new Fiat 500's about which (so far at least) have kept close to the original look & size.
03/02/2013 18:10
I laughed until I cried watching Clarkson's "P45" microcar just as I did for his Peel P50 and the Reliant Robin. The "Dragons" kicked him out of the den. One day later we see Microcars up for auction, I'll bet they get some crazy prices. Wonder how much the "P45" would be worth? Bet dragons didn't think about that! Funny. JC is a comic genius. I'm 70 now and remember well some student mates owning Messerschmidt and Heinkel bubble cars. They had enough room for a girl friend and nothing else.
03/02/2013 23:15
08/02/2013 16:25
The last time a collection like this came up for grabs (late 90s) it bombed. Who in their right mind would spend thousands to drive a joke car around the streets. You would be the laughing stock. I will be VERY surprised if prices guides reach 50 per cent of those claimed. It's just auction hype.
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