Author Topic: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary  (Read 4461 times)

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Offline pnegyesi

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Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« on: July 01, 2010, 01:13:01 AM »


Jalopnik published my article on Hungarian microcars last week.  This prompted me to do a follow-up on old Hungarian microcars on my auto history website

Here are a few examples:

Pille (Mole), 1931


Vellák, 1949-1951


Unknown, 1950s


Another unknown from the 1950s. This one was powered by a DKW motorcycle engine and its fuel tank was created out of a bucket.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2010, 01:15:15 AM by pnegyesi »
https://rareandunique.media - Rare&Unique Vehicles magazine
http://magyarjarmu.hu - detailed Hungarian motoring history (Hungarian language)
http://automuseums.info - motoring museums' guide

Offline barrett

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2010, 02:58:31 AM »
Fantastic, the original article is great, and this follow-up is nice too. I love the deco bumpers on the Alba Regia!

Offline Paul Jaray

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #2 on: July 01, 2010, 04:17:17 AM »
Your 1st article is one of the first gems I discovered on the net... keep them coming!

Offline MG

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #3 on: July 01, 2010, 08:30:35 AM »
Well done, sir!     :thumbsup: :applause:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the number of moments that take your breath away!

Offline Arthur Dent

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2010, 01:02:51 PM »
Fantastic. The original one (published before) is one of my all time favorite articles. Thanks for sharing even more.

Offline pnegyesi

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2010, 01:16:40 PM »
Thank you :)

A friend from Jalopnik told me that they are re-publishing some interesting articles which were published long ago online. And he'd also plug automuseums.info
So I refreshed the original article and it became one of the most popular articles on Jalopnik this year.

BTW originally this was a 3-part article which was published in British Classic Car Mart back in 1995-1996.

Anyhow, this new version of the article got me thinking and I published some additional info on my own page.

And as I love AutoPuzzles and would like you to know more about these thingies, I put a small article here.

And then came a new twist: Economist called me, that these Hungarian microcars are cool and would I help compiling an article for the Christmas edition? I said yes and we will see what's going to happen :)
« Last Edit: November 07, 2010, 11:29:33 PM by pnegyesi »
https://rareandunique.media - Rare&Unique Vehicles magazine
http://magyarjarmu.hu - detailed Hungarian motoring history (Hungarian language)
http://automuseums.info - motoring museums' guide

Offline pnegyesi

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https://rareandunique.media - Rare&Unique Vehicles magazine
http://magyarjarmu.hu - detailed Hungarian motoring history (Hungarian language)
http://automuseums.info - motoring museums' guide

Offline woodinsight

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2010, 01:02:59 PM »
Excellent article.
Congratulations Pal! :applause:

Offline pnegyesi

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2010, 01:20:13 PM »
I was an advisor, the article was put together by Adam LeBor, the Budapest correspondent of The Economist. And I provided all the illustrations. It was enormous fun, they gave a new spin to this story
https://rareandunique.media - Rare&Unique Vehicles magazine
http://magyarjarmu.hu - detailed Hungarian motoring history (Hungarian language)
http://automuseums.info - motoring museums' guide

Offline woodinsight

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2010, 02:29:12 PM »
I realise that Pal, i have had the same situation with articles in newspapers & journals before (in a different field).
Without your input and advice the article just wouldn't have happened.

Offline pnegyesi

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2010, 02:51:40 PM »
Yes, but it was a lot of fun and I learnt a lot. So all in all, the story of Hungarian microcars reaches more and more people :)
https://rareandunique.media - Rare&Unique Vehicles magazine
http://magyarjarmu.hu - detailed Hungarian motoring history (Hungarian language)
http://automuseums.info - motoring museums' guide

Offline Ultra

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #11 on: December 19, 2010, 10:22:12 AM »
Nice story.  Nice contribution to the site and to the web, Pal.

;D
“Honi soit qui mal y pense”


Click the pic....... Name the car

Offline pnegyesi

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #12 on: July 27, 2011, 03:51:59 PM »
It is in Hungarian but you can see a bunch of Hungarian-made microcars and home-made cars and someone who may be familiar :)

http://www.rtlklub.hu/musorok/fokusz/videok/136061

BTW does any of our English/American puzzlers got some free time on his/her hand? I have a text which I'd like someone to proof-read. Thanks!
https://rareandunique.media - Rare&Unique Vehicles magazine
http://magyarjarmu.hu - detailed Hungarian motoring history (Hungarian language)
http://automuseums.info - motoring museums' guide

Offline Arunas

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #13 on: July 27, 2011, 04:01:15 PM »
It is in Hungarian but you can see a bunch of Hungarian-made microcars and home-made cars and someone who may be familiar :)

http://www.rtlklub.hu/musorok/fokusz/videok/136061

BTW does any of our English/American puzzlers got some free time on his/her hand? I have a text which I'd like someone to proof-read. Thanks!

Nice! Thanks for sharing!

Offline pnegyesi

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #14 on: September 08, 2011, 04:17:35 PM »
It seems a lot of people are interested in post-1945 Hungarian microcars and home made cars so I've created a little booklet in English which covers those. Woodinsight was kind enough to help me with proof-reading.

Cars Made in Hungary is now available as an e-book at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005LOVR02

If you'd rather like to see a PDF version please send EUR 1 or USD 1.4 via PayPal to npaul@hu.inter.net and I'll send you the download link.
https://rareandunique.media - Rare&Unique Vehicles magazine
http://magyarjarmu.hu - detailed Hungarian motoring history (Hungarian language)
http://automuseums.info - motoring museums' guide

Offline pnegyesi

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Re: Weirdly Awesome Microcars of Hungary
« Reply #15 on: September 21, 2011, 02:52:54 PM »
This has been rescued yesterday. It was probably built in Hatvan, a city 60 km from Budapest. It featured a BMW Isetta engine and transmission.
We're trying to track down its story
https://rareandunique.media - Rare&Unique Vehicles magazine
http://magyarjarmu.hu - detailed Hungarian motoring history (Hungarian language)
http://automuseums.info - motoring museums' guide