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Originally Posted by sub006
Wow, thanks for your input!
The seller of the red car had Messerschmidt on the windshield sign, but could be wrong. Or as you say it could be a prototype.
Of course microcars came from many countries. An elderly acquaintance of mine bought a Berkeley new in 1959 and drives it today. I don't believe they were intended primarily as inexpensive transport but as lightweight sports cars in the mold of Lotus, and were introduced in 1958 or '59, as Britain was emerging from postwar rationing and trade restrictions into brighter days.
I wouldn't consider most Crosleys to be microcars. The first few, introduced at the 1939 New York Worlds Fair, were on the borderline, but the much better selling envelope-bodied postwar models were at least as big as a Mini and carried the same four passengers with ease. And a Crosley sports car (forget if it was a Hot Shot or a Super Sport) won the Index of Performance at Sebring around 1950.
The King and Peel were definitely micros! The King was essentially an enlarged go kart with a body, and one average-sized man could barely squeeze into a Peel coupe. Even then, he couldn't close the windows and drive, because to steer he had to stick his elbows out the windows!
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Good point. Today, we would not call a Crosley a microcar, but, back in the '50's, I'm sure some people did. But, as you suggest, the Crosley is a real car, not a micro.
The Berkely was built to be inexpensive to build and to buy, yet still get good performance due to its very light weight, so they ended up being very small. But the later ones could do an honest 90 mph, much faster than any micro.