Bubble Cars

No I'm not talking aeroplanes but bubblecars. I have already sought information from Dave Aston whose relatives ran Light Cars in Gosford Street in the fifties and sixties, when they were main dealers for several three wheeler types, including Messerschmitts. I am one of three current owners of Messerschmitt bubblecars still living in the city. I recall several of these vehicles being seen regularly on Coventry's streets during the sixties and seventies. There was a purple cabriolet often seen outside Aubrey Allen's butchers shop on the Walsgrave Road. A chap called Len Roberts who worked at Walsgrave Hospital had a silver and black 1958 model which was his regular transport. Len used to live in the Willenhall Woods area. I also know of a chap called Bert Walker who worked at Morris Engines, who also had a Messerschmitt as his main form of transport, as he regularly carried a neighbour of mine to work there. A woman called Doris Hickton (a one time Bletchley Park worker) bought her Messerschmitt brand new in 1960 and was regularly to be seen driving around the Belgrave Rd area. My best friend, Arnold Chave, also informs me that one of the women teachers at Ravensdale School in the late fifties was also to be seen arriving at school in one of these iconic vehicles. My car, HEC619, came to me via a chap who lived in the Styvechale area, who had restored it in 1970. I am interested in any information people may have regarding these cars, and in particular relating to Bert Walker who was a well known figure within the Messerschmitt Owners' Club. Britain was a big market for these cars, with it is believed circa 40,000 vehicles having been sold.

I spotted this Trojan bubble car last August in the car park at Cannon Park. I spoke to the owner who mentioned he had a Messerschmitt in his garage being kept for someone else. The previous August I spotted a Messerschmitt filling up at the Cannon Park petrol station. It was a light blue KR200 which I subsequently found was owned by Adam Quellin.

My uncle had one of these in the fifties. He had taken me out for a ride in it - I must only have been 4 or 5 - and had just dropped me off home in Foster Road then he was on his way to my grandparents' house in Treherne Road when he turned it over in Beake Avenue. The car was written off but my uncle just stepped out of the wreckage with no injuries. My parents had a Bond Mini which someone crashed into.

Hi Elaine, He was very unlucky as they are only liable to turning over if the back tyre bursts or the rear wheel locks. Have you any pictures at all?

I remember seeing these in the 50's and 60's. Bubble cars were amusing and our family always commented on them. My dad used to say that they were prone to turning over, but you've explained how that could happen!

I've an acquaintance who has a Sinclair C5 hanging up in his garage. He reckons that if he keeps it in pristine condition and for long enough it will be a good investment. Might well be right.

There's an urban legend about bubble car drivers. Because several of them had no reverse gear and you could only get out by opening the front of the car there was a story that a driver had driven right up to the end wall in his garage so been unable to get out the car and starved to death before anybody found him.

Little ditty. Someone I knew well had one of these little bubble cars with two handles on the front (bumpers). On Tile Hill Lane by the shops near Eastcotes, he hit the kerb, by sheer luck it tipped up onto the front end and jammed onto its door on the kerb. He had to wait for some nice people to kindly lift it back onto the wheels so he could get out. True.

Maybe it's not a legend then scrutiny A schoolfriend of mine had a Bond Minicar. It must have been the only car with a kickstart which was "conveniently" placed inside the bonnet. We had one or two interesting times when it he stalled it in traffic with people looking amazed and baffled as one of us stepped into the bonnet to restart it

Hope you love this from Top Gear 1992 - 'The Bubble Car'

If you watched the Top Gear excerpt and want a Messerschmitt Tiger now, one sold recently at auction in the USA for £220,000, a world record price for a microcar. If you have one tucked away in your garage let me know! Still looking for any information of Coventry's Messerschmitts or pictures.

I had a Meadowsport Frisky in the 60's. 2 wheels at the front, 1 at the back and an Excelsior 350cc 2-stroke twin engine

Did you know that the Meadows Frisky manufacturers were related to the Flowers brewery family in Stratford on Avon? Saw several at the National Microcar Show last year at Malvern including prototypes and the Meadows Frisky Sport model.

I have recently discovered that a firm called Birmingham Motor Sales, Foleshill Road, Coventry was supplying Messerschmitt bubblecars in 1958. Does anyone have any information about this motor dealership? Also, in connection with Messerschmitts, I am trying to trace a man by the name of Roger Garnett who was heavily involved in a Messerschmitt group in Coventry during the 1960s. He used to work at the Daimler and I believe he has since moved out to Spain.

Hi Helen, I know what you mean about the size of the wheels from my years of riding motorbikes. Passing a large lorry in the rain was my image of hell. But, the Mini replaced the 1950s bubble cars where you sat even lower. The only saving grace was they hardly went fast enough to pass a bus or a lorry Post copied from topic Coventry - a world in miniature hobbies on 4th May 2018 1:33 pm