The Big Book of Tiny Cars: A Century of Diminutive Automotive Oddities | Book Review

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In a sea of Cadillacs and 7000-pound behemoths, be the Isetta. Or the Crosley. Or maybe the Whizzkid, Suzuki’s kei car offering for select overseas markets in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

“The Big Book of Tiny Cars” walks throughthe history of these pint-sized people-movers, from the Oldsmobile Runabout and Cyclecar of the early 1900s through the bubble cars of the ’50s–familiar models from BMW, Messerschmitt and Fiat as well as less common ones like Spain’s Biscúter. (For that last one, picture a Jeep-like vehicle made using just basic sheet metal tools.)

The story continues through today’s electrical startups like the Microlino. This one looks like a modern take on the Isetta, and the company’s website stresses that there’s room for two adults and three beer crates. Yes, entry is gained through a single front door.

Each featured model gets a page or two–some with period ads–with subcompacts and mini cars also brought into the fold. The result is a walk through an automotive scene that, while often born of necessity, tends to deliver smiles these days. It can also serve as a playbook for the machines found at the Lane Motor Museum, one of the country’s biggest stashes of small-bore hardware.

“The Big Book of Tiny Cars: A Century of Diminutive Automotive Oddities” by Russell Hayes
Published by Motorbooks
176 pages
$40

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