Antiques

MIGHTY MICROCARS

Richard Bromell ASFAV, Charterhouse Auctioneers

1960 Messerschmitt KR200 from the Museum of Microcars

Last month I wrote an article about a big old barn-stored Bentley, and for this edition, I am going to talk about cars at the other end of the scale – that is, little cars from a loving home.

A few months ago when it was particularly hot, I was asked to look at a collection of cars in a private museum over in Kent. However, the appointment was then postponed due to the very high temperatures with the risk of life. As the client mentioned to me, the museum has no air-conditioning and with little roof insulation resulted in it being more like an oven when hot than a museum!

As usual, getting our diaries together took a few more weeks and eventually I spent a lovely day with the family and their unusual museum of microcars.

Whereas last month’s vintage Bentley was fitted with a 3,500cc engine, a microcar is one which generally has an engine of less than 700cc with three or four wheels, and is a fraction of the size.

The museum is the accumulation of nearly 50 years of collecting microcars. When the family bought their first microcar in 1975, a 197cc three-wheeler Heinkel, it was quite a brave choice of motor to buy as they were seriously uncool.

Moving forward a few decades and microcars are now the king of cool. In 2013 a rare 1958 Messerschmitt FMR Tiger sold for a whopping $322,000 – very cool.

Although there is a Messerschmitt in the museum, it is not a Tiger but a KR200 – still worth a tidy fivefigure sum.

Elsewhere in the museum of over 40 cars, along with a vast array of spare engines and other automobilia, there are the weird and the wonderful. There are mainstream microcars from Fiat, BMW, Reliant, Trabant and AC (yes, of Cobra fame but very far removed from one of these!). But there are also some called Flipper, Bamby, Velorex, Scootacar, Fristly, Sulky and Eccles which are names you might come across only once or twice in your life.

Sadly, with the owner of the museum having now moved into residential care, the family have instructed Charterhouse to auction the contents of the museum. Located near Staplehurst in Kent we will leave the microcars and automobilia on site in the museum. There will be a viewing day on Wednesday 26th with the auction being held online at our Sherborne salerooms on Thursday 27th October.

There has been plenty of interest in this large auction of microcars, from Switzerland to America and yes, I am sure these little cars will bring some big bids!