Hungarian microcars 1920s-1950s

Hungarian microcars from the 1920s through the 1950s

Last modified: 30 June, 2010

Home-made microcars are one of my favourite topics. Over the years I have collected information on these and published several articles. The latest summary, which appeared on Jalopnik featured a nice selection of Hungarian microcars. Here are some more.

Méray microcar

Lóránd and Endre Méray-Horváth set up their workshop in 1923 to manufacture motorcycles in Budapest. The first Méray motorcycles featured Villiers and Blackburne engines, while later on JAP engines were used. In 1925 the Méray workshop was absorbed into Magyar Acélárugyár (Hungarian Factory of Steel Goods). From 1926 Méray motorcycles were made in bigger series, followed by three-wheeled motorcycle-powered minitrucks. One of these tricycles was the basis of a closed passenger car version, which was built in 1929. Though brochures were printed and larger-scale production planned, it never happened. Méray went on to become Adler dealers in the 2nd half of the 1930s.

Zsolt Károly's Pille

Károly ZSOLT, an engineer at the Méray factory built a few one-off specials in the 1930s. Pictured is his second Pille (Mole) which was built in 1931. It was powered by a 200 cc DKW motorcycle engine.

János Schadek

János SCHADEK and his brother, Zolt'n built his first touring car in the 1920s in Debrecen. Then in 1930 they created a motorcycle-powered three-wheeler, which was used by the family until the early 1940s. Schadek later on built the Úttörő, which was featured in Jalopnik and in 1956 an interesting closed motorcycle.

Ernő SIMON

Ernő SIMON built a JAP-powered three-wheeler in the 1930s in Keszthely. Then in 1962 he created another home-built special, which resurfaced in the 1990s, though in heavily modified form.

József Vellák

József VELLÁK was living and working in Nagykanizsa. Between 1949 and 1951 he built an NSU-powered microcar. He amassed over 30,000 kilometers with his four-wheeler. A chance meeting with developers of the Tünde scooter in the late 1950s put his car relatively in the spotlight. In 1997 an article on Hungarian microcars was publised in the short-living AutoClassic magazine. It featured an uknown-microcar, which was found in a yard. This led to the rediscovery of József Vellák's effort. Today the Vellák microcar is part of a Hungarian collection, awaiting its restoration.

István Karika

István KARIKA built a three-wheeler in 1957, which was powered by a 125 cc Csepel motorcycle engine. It was named Gitta after his wife and was shown at local fairs, but its production chances were zero.

Unknown home-built microcars

As you can see, sheer luck and a bit of research unearthed information on a few home-built specials. But there were a lot more out there. The first three and last picture were collected by Emil Bayer and featured in an article in Autó-Motor magazine. The car on the last B&W picture was built by Imre Vogl in Szombathely. Background of all the others, including those which resurfacedin the 1990s and 2000s are a mystery.

Messerschmitt Kabinroller

And last but not least, in the early 1950s ATUKI, a Hungarian research institute tested the best microcars of the time: Messerschmitt Kabinroller, Glas Goggomobil and Iso Isetta...

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