Last weekend, people flocked to the Micro Mini Car Day at the Larz Anderson Museum of Transportation in Brookline, Mass. Over 60 of these cars included the Messerschmitt (yes, as in the airplane) three-wheeled bubble car built after World War II.


The company was no longer allowed to build aircraft so they began building this car until 1964. The car actually resembles an airplane with its wings clipped. Also shown was the Kleinschnittger F125 Roadster. Weighing at 360 pounds, it ended up starring in a Mentos commercial.

Even smaller with less weight is the Peel Trident which was made on the Isle of Man around the same time the soon-famous Isle of Man natives, The Bee Gees, were called The Most Significant New Talent Of 1967. This car was 198 pounds with a gas mileage of 83 MPG. This was important since fuel prices went up due in part to the 1956 Suez Crisis.

Many of these cars had two-stroke engines, not unlike a lawnmower. The four-stroke engine has less visible pollution. Cars like the Austin Mini, which had more room and better motor. The rest is bigger car history.
unlike other car events, this one actually allowed you to driven in the cars by their owners.

Classic Hot Rods
There was a time before MTV's Cribs when Hollywood stars would make eccentric auto purchases. They didn't fuddle with rims. They fuddled with the outlandish like Redd Foxx's "Li'l Red Wrecker".

Not until Pimp My Ride were hot rodders forcing this kind of crazy car on people with sh**ty alternatives. Coming this September, RM Auctions is auctioning amazing bad ass hot rods including some built by the great Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

Also up for auction is a 1951 Ford Tom Beatty Belly-Tank Lakester. Belly tanks were auxiliary fuel tanks used by aircraft for long-range flights. After World War II there was a surplus of these belly tanks. Lakesters were hot rods with belly tanks that were raced on the dry lakes of California. This Lakester still holds the record for the fastest belly tank Lakester of all time at 243.438 mph, back in 1962.

The coolest of these is the 1850 "Boothill Express" which was built by Ray Fahrner who based the design on an 1850's funeral coach that carried James Gang member, Bob Younger, to his final resting place. This car would look good on Crispin Glover, Marilyn Manson or Alice Cooper. Yet, anyone who drives this car with confidence is going to look cool. Other cars that are too expensive do the opposite.