Well, you're not. But Norbert Stevenson and Carl Schmitt were, and after producing — slowly — their first car, the Fuldamobil "Type N", they started to realize that their first design wasn't perfect.
Sure, it was small and slow — 9.5 horsepower will do that — but even so, there were a few other problems. Seemingly built to ape a mobile camping trailer, the Type N was constructed with a heavy tube frame. Then a glider company added the solid wood bodywork. Covered in vinyl. (Later versions had an aluminum, not vinyl skin.)
In the early days of microcars, the solution was simple: design a body with large, simple curves and your supplier (in this case, VDM) would be able to take thin, warm sheets of aluminum and bend them around cast aluminum formers. The separately-made panels were then welded together and fitted to the tube frame chassis.
With styling designed to hint at a baby Porsche, the Fuldamobil "S" series introduced in 1954 quickly won fans for being stylish, well-built, and finally not so painfully slow. Tucked away in the little slug was a Fichtel & Sachs 1-cyl, 2-stroke engine that belted out 10 horsepower.
Top speed? 80 km/h (50 mph).
This post is for subscribers only
Sign up now to read the post and get access to the full library of posts for subscribers only.
