Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a bit of a sucker for strange vehicles. I started with muscle cars, but, as a teenager at the time, quickly ran out of money and space.
After I got over the heartbreak of my first love, a 1976 Chevrolet Nova SS named Blueberry, I moved onto more practical city vehicles, mopeds. A ridiculous moped collection ensued, containing everything from a 1960 Norman Nippy found in a basement in Toronto to two Garelli Gulp mopeds pulled out of a barn on an ostrich farm in Welland, ON.
From mopeds I moved onto motorcycles. I’m currently the proud owner of a 1964 Puch Twingle, as well as a more practical 2000 Suzuki GS500. The Suzuki has this magical button that starts the bike every time, something unheard of in mopeds and vintage bikes. It’s quite a novelty and gets me around the city nicely.
As you can tell, I’m a fan of two wheeled vehicles. However, a few months ago I was in England, reading one of their fabulous classic car magazines. I saw this fantastic little car called the BMW Isetta. It had a two cylinder BMW motorcycle engine in the truck of a tiny little body, and I absolutely loved it. About 100 hours on Google and a couple visits to the Vintage Microcar Club website and a new obsession was born.
Which leads me to the real story behind this post. I took a trip to the Barrie Automotive Flea Market this weekend. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, well, ok, maybe an old dirt bike project or neat Puch memorabilia, and I certainly didn’t think I’d see any microcars. Besides, done up microcars go for a LOT of money, and are well out of my reach.
Well, about ten minutes into the visit, what do I see but the oldest, cutest, tiniest car in the corner of a booth. I couldn’t believe it – it was a microcar! It really was! I was like a kid in a candy store, taking pictures, looking at the little engine mounted in the truck, adoring the tiny ten inch wheels.
Like any responsible adult would do, I walked away from the car. I wasn’t planning on any major purchases, not to mention that living downtown Toronto doesn’t make storing multiple vehicles easy. But the little car already had its clutches in me. I couldn’t look at anything else – I wasn’t even interested in the show cars. All I could think about was this adorable little German car that so badly needed a good home.
Finally I went back. Then I went back again. The third time I went back, someone was making an offer on the car. My heart sank and I almost cried. Luckily for me the sellers wife was manning their stall while he chatted with the prospective buyer. I took a leap of faith, made an offer to the wife, and after some negotiation the car was mine!
After the sale, I had to find a way to get it home to Toronto. That’s another story, I’ll just say that unloading a tiny car from a UHaul trailer in a rainy alleyway at 1am was not quite how I pictured my Saturday night!
It was all worth it, and I proudly present Fritz Prinz, my German made 1959 NSU Prinz. He’s got a long way to go and I’ve got a lot to learn about vintage car restoration, but it’s a journey I am so excited to begin!
