Mulhouse Local Customs

The body of this great car was made totally of alminium and had a total weight of just 650 kg (b.t.w. a VW-beetle had around 900kg).
The engine had just 745 ccm and needed just a small amount of fuel.

Because of its funny design this car was also nick-named "Louis XV" by the french people - take a look: somehow this car seems to have a face with a smile !

The car that is shown in the museum is the one of Mrs. Panhard.

----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

some more technical details about this special car :
the engine had just 2 cylindres and 745 ccm
it had 35HP and a top-speed of 110 km/h

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

This quite strange car was built in Great Britain mainly for the army to transport canons.

But a small series was also built for private use, and 5 cars of that strange cabriolet have survived.

You might get the feeling, that one of the wheels is missing, but in fact this is the way it was constructed.

---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------

Some technical details about this strange car :
The engine had 2 cylindres and 573ccm
12HP and a top-speed of 80km/h

---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

This car is another excemple of the design by the famous painter Arzens.
When you click on my picture, you may also get an idea of the total length of the other car designed by Arzens, the "Arzens "La Baleine" 1938" - it was over 7 meters, although it had just 2 seats.

It must have been quite impressive to drive such a long and unique car - as long as you find a big parking-lot!

------------ --------- ----------- ---------- ---------- --------

The small "egg" had just 1 cylindre / 5,5HP
and an engine of 125ccm and a top-speed of 80 km/h !!

--- ---- ---- ----- ------ ------ ----- ----- ----- ----- -----

This is another big achievement in car-history and it became the dream of generations of people living in the DDR ( German Democratic Republic / former east Germany).
Everybody had the dream to posess such a car, as western cars were out of reach anyway, and a Trabbi was rather cheap, once that you had it, BUT most people had to wait for it for several years, after ordering the car.
Standing on the right political side could speed up the waiting-time a lot, beeing on the wrong side might have doubbled the waiting-time...

And people knew a lot of nice words to express their feeling for this great car :

"Rennpappe" (speed-carton)
"Überdachte Zündkerze" (sparking plug with a top)

----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----

There are some technical things about this car, that made it special in many ways:
The hull was made of "Duroplast" - made of cotton and phenol-resin - not able to rost.
The engine had 2 cylindres and 595ccm
26HP and a top-speed of 100km/h
--- ---- --- ---- --- ----- ------ ------ ------ ------ ----- --

This type of car has a special meaning to me, as THIS type of car was the very first car my father was able to buy, after he had made his job as a doctor with a motorbike only for several years.
And it was the first car I ever made a big tour with. From Austria to Hamburg in 1960 maybe, in the backrow of this car togeather with 3 of my brothers, partly on the autobahn / highway, partly on side-streets.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --

And the technical side of such a small car :
4 cylindres and 748ccm
21HP and a top-speed of 100km/h

Don't you see also a nice smile on the "face" of this car ???
=== === === === === === === === === ===

This lovely small car looks a bit de-placed umong all of these great sportscars and precious vintage-cars.
BUT in fact it one of the mile-stones of the history of cars, a car beeing all of a sudden affordable for everyone, and not only for priviledged people.
And it was one of the smallest cars ever produced in a big series.
It was really cheap, had 4 seats and mostly more than 4 people inside the car .
It was built first in Italy and later also under a licence in Steyr - called "STEYR-Fiat".
--------------------------------------------------------------
Ask any italian - these small cars became even some sort of an "extra livingroom" in Italy, where small appartments had to be big enough for families with many children, all living in 1 or 2 rooms.
Such a car was used even as a seperate sleeping-room sometimes, with newspapers beeing used as curtains on the windows...
...but that is another story.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Even behind such a car there is some technical side :
2 cylindres and 499ccm
18HP and a top-speed of 100km/h
---------- ------------ ------------- ------------ ----------

This is a quite unique car, as it needs only 3,5 litres fuel for 100km.
Just imagine to have invented such a car already in the year 1948 - even though it looks a bit funny - and still it seems impossible to have such an engine and perfect aerodynamique today...

When you click on my picture, you will see that it has only one headlight in the middle of the car.

================================
For those, who are interested in the technical details :
The engine had just 2 cylindres and 605 ccm.
It gave the car 28HP and the top-speed was 130km/h
===================================

This car of french production is unique in style and size ( about 7 meters long)
Paul Arzens (1903-1990) was a painter and designer and built this car for himself on the basis of a Buick Standart of 1928.
About 1/3 of the total length was used as a place to store the canvases and painting materials of the artist.

The car has the nickname "The Whale " and I made a combination of different pics - one of them is much smaller, but it shows the great front-part of the car with the hidden lights.