MICROCARS in the CAPE by Derek Stuart-Findlay
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12 OCTOBER 2019 The Crankhandle Chronicle OUR 1950s MOTORING SCENE MICROCARS IN THE CAPE By Derek Stuart-Findlay ilitary requirements during World War II Mbrought the pro- duction of cars in Europe to a standstill, but the stresses of war generated vast improvements in technology. Smaller and more efficient engines were developed together with advanced hydraulic systems, fuels and lubricants. Both petrol rationing during the mammoth task of post-war reconstruction and fuel price rises following the 1956 Suez Crisis left little ready cash in the pockets of a European public desperate for cheap means of transport. To meet this pent-up demand, engineers came up with the concept of the microcar, a compact and fuel- efficient vehicle, and German military aircraft manufacturers like Messerschmitt and Heinkel seized this opportunity to rebuild their manufacturing capacity. Com- panies like these had to ‘export or die’, and South Africa became the Messerschmitt KR 200 recipient of a bewildering array of these intriguing little vehicles. With the Messerschmitt KR200, at £299. 3.2 litres/100km. A variant on the Isetta by M. Gobini. Its novel their bulbous shapes and aircraft- Immediately recognizable from its KR200 design, the advanced FMR round shape with side-by-side style transparent canopies they tandem seating arrangement, with TG500 ‘Tiger’ sports, with four seating had been launched at the soon acquired the nick-name two wheels in the front and one at wheels, a 494cc engine, superb 1953 Turin Auto Show and ‘bubble cars’. the back, its steering was very direct cornering ability and a top speed of licensed to BMW in Germany, who Garages in Cape Town offered a and the selection of reverse gear 130km/h, had been launched in installed a 249cc single-cylinder variety of these tiny vehicles. In required restarting the motor Europe to rave reviews. four-stroke engine from their R-25 1957 Timony Motors in Orange backwards. Its 191cc motor pro- Next in price, at £328, was the motorcycle. Top speed was 84km/h Street sold the cheapest of them all, duced a top speed of 105 km/h at BMW Isetta, developed from the and entry was from the front, the original Italian design for the Iso instrument panel and a hinged BMW Isetta The Crankhandle Chronicle 13 Goggomobil T-250 Heinkel Kabine steering column pivoted when the sedan sold for £350 by Stolly’s door was opened. With a top speed Motors in Roeland Street. In 1951 of 84km/h, the egg-shaped Isetta the German agricultural machine attracted cult status, it was sold in and motor manufacturer Hans Glas Cape Town by Ron Stringer started production of the Goggo Motors, close to Robb Motors in scooter, and four years later Strand Street. A larger version, the announced the rear-engine, 85km/h 582cc BMW 600, had a stretched four seater sedan. The cars proved body offering four seats, a bench to be popular and almost 175 000 seat at the back accessed by a side were sold between 1955 and 1966. door, a full-width axle at the rear, In 1958 the front-engine Glas Isar Goggomobil T600 and a top speed of 100km/h. T600 was launched with several The Heinkel Kabine, another transatlantic styling features such A 500 Bianchina coupe was an the Fiat 500 platform; it featured a development from the Iso Isetta, as a wraparound rear window, attractive option at £505, it had fixed B-pillar and partial roof, offered a 2+2 seat configuration small tailfins and a two-tone paint been developed by Autobianchi on with the rest of the opening and a 198cc motor, it sold at a finish, 25 000 of both these cars and similar price to the BMW but was a 700cc version were sold. In less popular and was withdrawn South Africa the T600/700s from the market after two years. were marketed under the name Another variant, the Maico 500 Goggomobil. built by a German motorcycle Serious opposition to the bubble company, was a four-seater cars appeared in 1957 with the utilizing a 452cc Heinkel engine, launch of the 85km/h four-seater but it had questionable handling Fiat Nuova 500. Designed by Dante and manufacturing ceased in early Giacosa, it measured just over nine 1958. The British company, Trojan, feet long and was driven by a 479cc took up the Kabine licence and built two-cylinder, air-cooled engine the 198cc 2+2 seater Trojan 200 for mounted in the rear. It was sold at six years before moving on to the £375 by the Fiat agents, V.L. Brink fibre-glass bodied Elva sports car. in Strand Street. A year later the A step-up from the Messer- Nuova 500 Sport was announced schmitt, Isetta and Heinkel designs with engine capacity increased to was the 247cc Goggomobil T-250 499cc and a top speed of 105km/h. Autobianchi Bianchina coupe Fiat Nuovo 500 Lloyd Alexander 14 OCTOBER 2019 The Crankhandle Chronicle NSU Prinz Panhard Dyna covered by a retractable fabric standard products from GM, Ford, appointed. Africars in Main Road, origins of its design. Perhaps the hood. The Nuova 500 models Chrysler and BMC was impressive. Salt River had the Czechoslovakian most glamorous of all was the proved popular internationally and Welsch Motors in Strand Street saloon, the Skoda 440, on offer in Michelotti-designed Moretti 750cc 181 000 were sold in three years. sold Triumph sports cars, while 1957 at £688; the same sales outlet two-seater coupe from Italy on Next up in price was the Lloyd, Fredman Motors in Roeland Street had sold the small American car, the offer in 1959 at Doug Jackson part of the Borgward group, in 1957 were the agents for Lancia. The Crosley, prior to its demise in 1952. Motors in Port Road at £750. At the Lloyd Alexander was on offer at three-cylinder, fwd Wartburg from The aluminium-bodied Panhard least one of these participated £473 from Wolman Motors in Eisenach in Germany was adver- Dyna saloon from France was successfully in local race meetings, Riebeeck Square. With a two- tised at £788, while two products sold by Diep River Motors at £685. and as very few were imported, cylinder 600cc engine, large from Russia, the Moskvitch and the This highly unusual car produced a survivor would be a serious wheels, room for four, a rear boot Volga, were on offer at £578 and an extraordinary performance; barn find. lid and 100km/h it also proved £878 respectively. However it is equipped with a two-cylinder Acknowledgements to popular and 176 000 were sold likely that these three exotics had engine, its light weight and Motor Parade Aug 1961, Car internationally over four years. been dumped in South Africa; no aerodynamic design could carry six magazine July, Aug, Sept, Dec The Vespa 400 was a latecomer to agents appear to have been people comfortably at 130km/h at 7 1957, Jan, April, Aug, Sept, Nov South Africa, although this stylish appointed, spare parts were non- litres/100km. In the early 1960s 1958, Feb 1959, Nov 1960, John Italian 2+2 design was launched in existent, and there is little evidence Keith’s Motors in Long Street had Rabe in Classic Car Africa Aug, 1957, it took three years before it of sales actually taking place. This the Swedish make SAAB in its Sept, Oct 2018, Paul de Groot, was on offer at £390 at Grosvenor was not the case for other unusual show-rooms at £738, adverts for the Nigel Payne, Dennis Smith and Motors in Bree Street. Likewise the marques where agencies had been marque emphasized the aircraft Andre du Toit. rear-engine NSU Prinz, announced in 1957 but launched in South Africa two years later when the Volvo PV 544 agent, W.G.Thomp- son Motors in Buitengracht Street had the car on offer at £485. The NSU Prinz was a competent han- dler, its 583cc twin-cylinder motor produced a lively performance and a top speed of 120km/h. Unfortunately the era of the microcars was to be short-lived as larger more comfortable cars came on to the market at prices not much higher than the microcars. In 1959 Motors Western Province in Strand Street had the Volkswagen Beetle on offer at £595, and a year later the Morris Mini-Minor and its equivalent the Austin 850 were on show at Norton Motors and Robb Motors in Strand Street at the extremely competitive price of £523. Apart from this variety of small cars in Cape Town, the range of car marques more diverse than the Moretti 750 “With the rise of self-driving vehicles, it’s only a matter of time before we get a country song where a guy’s truck leaves him too.”.