World Microcar Meet Amazes/Amuses McHenry County

Crystal Lake was the location of the Micro/Mini Car World Meet Saturday featuring, among other things, more Nash Metroplitans than were probably sold in McHenry County during the car's nine-year production run in the 1950's.

There were likewise an unlikely number of Citroen deux chevaux's (Kurt's car in "American Graffiti"), not to mention some Isetta's (the "bubblecar" with one door--in the front),  Messerschmitt's (a two-seater, one behind the other) and Velorex's (essentially a motorycle with a vinyl body).  There was some weird stuff, too.

Aside from a glimpse at a rivulet off the automotive mainstream what Saturday's show demonstrated is how easy it is to break an addiction to imported oil.  Blow 90 percent of your industrial base to flinders in a war and then slap a 400 percent tax on gasoline and you'll get cars that return amazing mileage, albeit with a few quirks.

In the pic:  Tim Carlson was down from Sauk Rapids, MN, with his 1959 Gogomobil. (Really; they made them in Dingolfing.)  Half the weight of a Harley Dresser motorcycle with an engine one third the size.