A whole lot of little



   Fans of microcars often drop by this blog to check out the photos and video of a BMW Isetta and Messerschmitt KR201 in daily use in Cuba.
   If you count yourself among that number, you may want to also stop by the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum in Madison, Georgia, on Feb. 15 and 16. That weekend, the museum's entire collection will be sold by RM Auctions, a Canadian firm that specializes in exotic vehicles.
   If you're lucky, you'll get to bring home an Isetta, a Messerschmitt or even a Goggomobil Transporter. There's also literature, signs, models and other microcar collectibles.
   And if you aren't a successful bidder, you'll at least get to see what is undoubtedly the world's largest and best microcar collection – with some 200 vehicles, many of them rare and all of them cuter than a bug's ear – before it is broken up.
   Speaking of which, Weiner himself doesn't seem too broken up about bidding farewell to his marvellous miniatures.
   "To me, it’s all about the thrill of the chase,” says the former Dubble Bubble executive in an RM Auctions press release. "My collection has brought me incredible joy over the years, but simply finding and restoring these cars is not enough for me. In order to fully appreciate them, I need to share them."
   In other words, if you love something, sell it at auction? Works for Weiner, and works for the car hobby.
   "As I see it," he concludes, "we’re enlarging the microcar community by letting these go and helping keep history alive.”










Learn more about the auction and the Microcar Museum here:

 www.microcarmuseum.com/events.html

 See also:

 Two seats, three wheels, four gear ratios (even in reverse)

 Did I say BMW Isetta 250? I meant BMW Isetta 300 Cabriolet Tropical

 An Isetta in Cuba: Ready for another 50 years

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Discovered in Cuba, a rare Mercedes bird

Image
(December 2012 note: See update link, below.)     GUESS I'LL have to set aside my search for the younger Batista’s 1956 Corvette. An even tastier trophy has emerged – a Mercedes-Benz 300SL, better known as the Gullwing.    Even on the Island of Surprises, I’d be astounded to come across one of these rare beauties. But in a brief section on Cuba in Automobiles Lost & Found (Haynes Publishing, 2008), I see a photo of a battered 300SL observed by author Michael E. Ware outside a private garage near Havana.    The Gullwing, unmistakable lift-up doors in place, is dented and rusting and missing its engine, yet still would be prized by collectors the world over . . . if only they could extract it from Cuba. Restored, the Silver Metallic example with Lipstick Red interior might be worth more than $700,000 U.S.    Reached in England, Mr. Ware tells me he was holidaying in Cuba when an acquaintance brought him to an unnamed communit...
Read more

The Cuba Gullwing chronology

Image
How the 300SL would have looked new. Wikipedia photo.     IN SIX YEARS , no topic here has drawn more attention than the story of Cuba's rotting Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe. Visitors from around the world seem endlessly appalled and fascinated by the sad fate of such a rare and beautiful car.      The same analytics program that tells me the home nations of these visitors tells me where on this blog they land – and it's apparent that many are missing the full story (or as full as anyone has been able to make it). The world's largest Internet indexer – you know who I'm talking about – insists on routing the curious to a five-year post and refuses to make note of subsequent entries.    Why? Who knows?     To provide a more complete picture, here's a list of CARISTAS entries on the Gullwing, which, to be clear, was first brought to the world's attention by British auto historian Michael E. Ware in Automobiles Lost & Foun...
Read more