by "Jonee" (Jonee)
Published 02/11/2014 at 14:02
by "Jonee" (Jonee)
Published 02/11/2014 at 14:02
Tags: Microcars
; Germany
STARS: 12
In 2002 I traveled to the tiny hamlet of Störy, Germany for what turned out to be the last great European microcar gathering. The Automuseum Störy was the first, and greatest, car museum dedicated to microcars. Throughout the 80's and 90's, it hosted a bi-annual meet that attracted cars and enthusiasts from all over the world. At that time, microcars hadn't yet entered mainstream car collecting and Störy was the only place all the weirdos who love these things could get together and celebrate cars that had always been ignored and ridiculed.
I've been enamored with microcars ever since I saw my first Mini on trip to England as a teenager. In America, we love our cars big, and I had no idea they could be so small. When I returned home, I found myself a Subaru 360 and have never looked back. When I heard about a museum just for microcars, I knew heaven was real and existed in a quaint town in the German countryside.
The meet itself was literally the time of my life. Everyone camped out in a field with their car, so each of the 4 days, I awoke with a grin at the sight of it.
Unfortunately, by the 21st century, collectors were beginning to notice microcars and the meet was starting to become a market with rich buyers looking for rare finds. So, Otto Künnecke, the man who ran the museum and the meet, decided this was going to be last one. It had always been meant for little car lovers, not dealers and buyers. It was sad, but at least the event remained pure and I'll never forget my 4 days in microcar paradise.
Here's a bunch of pictures staring with the type of dude you'd expect to see at one of these things:
That's a Goggo scooter made by the same company that produced these:
That's a Zundapp Janus with a non-micro Ford Taunus in the background.
A lovely pair of Bond Bugs:
At one time, it was not all that unusual to see a guy repairing his Kleinschnittger on the side of the road. The 125cc motor is pretty simple, so I'm sure he was on his way quickly after using a gum wrapper, or something, to repair the carburetor.
My favorite car there, a Fuldamobil S-7. I own one of these that's a long time restoration project. One day it'll look this good.
Some pictures of the museum itself. This is an ultra rare Brütsch Mopetta with a not creepy at all mannequin.
And a Fend Flitzer, the proto-Messerschmitt. These were designed for injured WWII veterans and later revised into the 'Schmitt Kabinroller we all know and love.
Here is a Messerschmitt Tiger, the last and coolest iteration of this car. They wanted to build a conventional car, but didn't have the cash, so they just added a 4th wheel and put in a 500cc engine. They're actually a little screamer since they don't weigh anything.
For more photos, visit my Flickr page .
Sadly, the Automuseum Störy no longer exists. Otto, the owner, had trouble with the local zoning board and couldn't afford to keep the place open. So, like the Microcar Museum in Georgia, it's contents were sold. Some cars went to another museum in Germany and there's rumors that other parts of the collection are coming to Las Vegas of all places. Sin City is as far away from Störy, Germany as possible and it's nice, I guess, that these tiny cars have finally garnered the respect they deserve, (they did help keep Europe going after the war), but I miss when it was just us weirdos.
"Stef Schrader" (stefschrader)
02/11/2014 at 15:14, STARS: 1
SO MANY ISETTAS!
Seriously.
<3333333
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 00:17, STARS: 0
Multipla! There can only be one.
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 00:17, STARS: 0
Isetta
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 00:18, STARS: 0
Isetta
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 00:18, STARS: 0
I see you, Isetta!
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 00:19, STARS: 2
Nerf bars! Export model Isetta!
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 00:20, STARS: 0
Goggomobil?
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 00:25, STARS: 0
Glas Isard?
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 00:26, STARS: 0
Another Multipla! Still a proper Multipla, though.
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 00:39, STARS: 1
Fuldamobil?
"Jonee" (Jonee)
02/13/2014 at 01:12, STARS: 1
It's a Nobel 200 which was a Fuldamobil built in Britain. So, yes and no.
"Jonee" (Jonee)
02/13/2014 at 01:13, STARS: 0
Which? There's a grey Goggo in this picture. The dark red one's a Kleinschnittger.
"Jonee" (Jonee)
02/13/2014 at 01:15, STARS: 0
That is a Glas Isard back there. It's not as fun as guessing, but the pictures on my Flickr page are labeled.
"Jonee" (Jonee)
02/13/2014 at 01:16, STARS: 0
Well spotted. Euro spec headlights, though.
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 01:56, STARS: 0
Yep, didn't notice that. Weird combination. So was it for export or not? I'm guessing it was made in Germany, and obviously it was in Germany for that photo, but was it originally sold outside of Germany?
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 02:03, STARS: 0
Very cool. That Singer Goggo van is sweet. And the Dart behind it. Do you know if that's early/original or restoration? I think the Bruce Weiner painted his Goggo vans and trucks with period ads in restoration but either didn't know what they were before or they were blank.
"Kipling Inscore" (kinscore)
02/13/2014 at 02:07, STARS: 0
The light grey car behind the two people with umbrellas. I noticed after posting a bunch of annotations that the position isn't very accurate, despite the cross hair cursor to select an annotation location. And I was trying to figure out what that dark red one was, too. It looks a little like a few other cars; I don't think I've heard of Kleinschnittger, though.
"Jonee" (Jonee)
02/13/2014 at 02:32, STARS: 0
I'm not really sure. Maybe you could get the nerf bars there. It would be strange to import an Isetta from the U.S. to Germany and then put the small headlight pods on it. Could be the guy liked the way nerf bars looked and bought a pair.
"Jonee" (Jonee)
02/13/2014 at 02:39, STARS: 0
Bruce was being creative with his and I think the guy painted the Singer van inspired by Bruce's vans, if I remember correctly. And, it was the same guy who owned the Dart who had that van. He's friends with Uwe Stauffenberg who owns the Goggomobil name now and is the guy to get parts from. The two of them imported a pair of Darts from Australia.
"Jonee" (Jonee)
02/13/2014 at 02:41, STARS: 0
Kleinschnittgers were amazing. Teeny tiny with a 125cc motor and rubber band suspension. Bruce Weiner had a couple one of which appeared in this commercial:
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"kanadanmajava1" (kanadanmajava1)
02/14/2014 at 16:53, STARS: 1
My friend has also a Fuldamobil project. I'm not sure how bad yours is but my friend's car could be called quite challenging project.
"Jonee" (Jonee)
02/14/2014 at 17:28, STARS: 0
That's interesting. Mine is probably not much better, but I'm making progress slowly. Where is your friend? If he doesn't know, there is a Fuldamobil newsletter that comes out once a year and the fellow who puts it together also has a registry of vehicles.
"kanadanmajava1" (kanadanmajava1)
02/15/2014 at 04:12, STARS: 0
Like myself, my friend is from Finland. I think he is waiting to find some parts and the project isn't currently progressing very fast.
"Johnson" (Johnson-burner)
02/16/2014 at 17:40, STARS: 0
The nerf bars on the green Isetta belong to a British built car that was driven to the meet in Germany from England.
"Johnson" (Johnson-burner)
02/16/2014 at 17:45, STARS: 1
The Las Vegas rumor was prior to the Museum becoming part of the P.S.Speicher Museum in Einbeck. There is no part of the collection that is going to Las Vegas. Otto turned down the buyer after he had made a substantial offer because he wanted the collection to stay in Germany.
"Jonee" (Jonee)
02/16/2014 at 18:07, STARS: 0
Yeah, someone else informed me of that. It's good to hear. I also heard some of the cars were on permanent loan to Otto, so I don't know what became of them or which those were.
"RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
12/06/2017 at 21:17, STARS: 1
Very cool! I have a thing for microcars as well, and this is a very cool story. Never knew such an event ever existed!
I prefer slightly bigger microcars though, like the FIAT 500 :P
"Jonee" (Jonee)
12/06/2017 at 23:05, STARS: 3
It’s weird someone randomly reposted this almost 4 years later.
They’re actually doing a reunion microcar event in Germany next year where the cars from the museum were moved to.
I like slightly bigger minicars, too, but the smaller the better, really.
"SpeedSix" (speedsix)
12/07/2017 at 10:27, STARS: 1
Oh, haha. I reposted because there was nothing new up in more than an hour, and instead of shitposting, I’d rather repost some of my favourite Oppo stories from years past.
"Jonee" (Jonee)
12/07/2017 at 12:01, STARS: 0
Good idea. I like it.