Photo Gallery Collector Shows Off His Vintage Dwarf Cars
Car museums tend to focus on large, luxurious or fast cars. But St. Ingbert in southwestern Germany boasts a collection of microcars from the postwar period.
It's a private collection acquired by engineer Stefan Voit, 68, seen here proudly displaying an NSU Prinz model in which he went on his first vacation.
The small cars produced in the 1950s and 1960s were technically excellent pieces of work made by individualists who passionately pursued their dreams, says Voit.
There's a key advantage to setting up a museum for small cars -- "they take up much less space than big cars," says Voit. He has shelves of cars waiting to be restored or polished before being exhibited in the adjoining museum.
The dark blue Fuldamobil has a gloomy charm.
The museum is a cemetery of car brands like Goggo, Meyra, Kleinschnittger, Gutbrod, Maico, Lloyd or Fuldamobile, have long since ceased to exist.
The collection includes this BMW Isetta with a tiny camping trailer, for exceedingly small families.
This one, a Spatz, has a plastic chassis.
Here's the world's first car with an engine in the center of the vehicle. Built in the 1950s, the Zündapp Janus looks identical from the front and the back, and its 14-horsepower single-cylinder engine is located precisely in the center of the car between the arm rests of the front and rear seats, which are placed back to back.
The colorful vehicles arranged in Voit's private museum look almost like candy.
A Heinkel (L) and a BMW Isetta (R). The idea of the microcar is currently enjoying a renaissance. The International Motor Show in Frankfurt last September displayed a range of vehicles that continue the tradition: VW Nils, Opel RAK-e or Audi Urban Concept -- but so far, they're all are just studies.
Two cabin scooters, one from Messerschmitt (L) and a Maicomobil. The latter was a two-wheeler standard scooter, but with a broad chassis to give it the appearance of a car.
