Heinkel Kabine

1956

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Interactive articles about design and creative thinking.

For its role in support of the Nazi regime, the firm of Heinkel Flugzeugwerkerke was also banned from building military aircraft after the war. Seeking to repeat the success of Messerschmitt, it produced its own “scooter with a cabin” in 1956, a cross between a Messerschmitt KR and an Isetta. The cars were produced until 1960 in Germany and until 1966 in the United Kingdom as the Trojan 200.

Max Speed

Weight

90

243

km/h

 

kg

1/3

Darin Schnabel © 2013 Courtesy of RM Auctions

Darin Schnabel © 2013 Courtesy of RM Auctions

Spatz Victoria

1956—1958

© Darin Schnabel

Courtesy of RM Auctions

Spatz Victoria

1956—1958

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Interactive articles about design and creative thinking.

Stuttgart engineer Egon Brütsch, a longtime developer of microcars, failed in his one attempt to mass produce one of his designs. Industrialist Harald Friedrich, who had bought the rights to manufacture the Brütsch 200, a pretty three-wheeled plastic microcar, arranged with Hans Ledwinka, the great engineer-designer, to bring the project up to speed. As it turned out, Ledwinka remodelled everything, and Friedrich then refused to pay Brütsch, claiming that the car was now distinctly different from the Brütsch design. They went to court over the matter, and the court sided with Friedrich. The car, very similar to the Messerschmitt, was produced during the years 1956–1958, a chic sporty convertible.

Max Speed

Weight

97

425

km/h

 

kg

© Corbis / East News

1/2

Darin Schnabel © 2013 Courtesy of RM Auctions

Darin Schnabel © 2013 Courtesy of RM Auctions

Darin Schnabel © 2013 Courtesy of RM Auctions

Vespa 400

1957—1961

© Darin Schnabel

Courtesy of RM Auctions

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