Sunday, January 04, 2009

Adaptation and innovation to avoid licensing fees, make a delivery vehicle with less than 200cc, and less than 4 wheels



Until the mid-1920s the transport of small quantities of goods with horse carts, bicycles, messengers or handcarts was the norm. (horse drawn cart far right of photo)





The new law in 1927/1928, under which vehicles with less than four wheels and an engine capacity below 200 cc would remain license-exempt began the development of three wheel cars. (Similar need for small transporters made the Piaggio Ape viable http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/12/1956-piaggio-ape-ahh-pay-resurected.html , and the Indian Bajaj / rickshaw http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/03/indian-rickshaws-celebrate-50-years-of.html )

Cheap, reliable, tremendous gas mileage, not requiring a motorcycle license and in some cases not requiring insurance either was exactly what post WW1 and WW2 Eurpoean cities needed for transporting fruits, vegetables, building materials, coal, etc etc from the train stations into the cities to the shops.

In 1928, Max Vidal and his son Oscar began production in Wandsbek, a suburb of Hamburg, Germany. http://www.reflektion.info/html/1000_091008_1_tempo.html

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