MICROCAR NEWS Online

Elvis Presley had a habit of buying cars and then giving them away.

A lot of this was documented in the film: 200 Cadillacs (available on DVD) but he apparently bought and gave away more than just Cadillacs.

At some point he had purchased (or was given) a Messerschmitt KR200.

The Film 200 Cadillacs has a short interview with Bernard Lansky who apparently got Elvis to trade him the car in exchange for some shopping at his Memphis Clothing store.

An Australian Elvis Fan site has more images including a small clip from the DVD program, and some audio of Elvis talking about how he swapped the car for some clothes.

So where is this car today? Still in the Lansky family?
And where is the BMW Isetta that he gave to Col Tom Parker?
(it has apparently surfaced, more on that later!)

For many years there has been quiet talk and rumors of a Microcar Collector in Thailand.
It seems the rumors were true!
Jesada Dejkulrit is the collector who has a large Private Collection of all sorts of vehicles under the name “Jesada Technik Museum”. He appears to have a special interest in Microcars and Bubblecars of all sorts.

His first Microcar was a Messerschmitt, purchased in 1997 at an auction, since then the collection has grown quite a bit. Rumor has it that a number of the cars sold at the recent BubbleCar Museum Auction in the UK will be going to this collection in Thailand.

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EMMA Peel that is. From the old AVENGERS TV show.
Specifically the episode “The Girl from Auntie” originally broadcast in 1966.
The Avengers was distributed in over 120 countries aside from the UK and was dubbed into several languages. What language are they speaking in this clip?

The 2008 Hilton Head Island Concours D’elegance featured a MICROCARS specific class this year
In attendance were examples of Messerschmitt Tg500, Messerschmitt KR200, Mochet Velocar, IOTA, Peel P50, Zündapp Janus, FIAT Jolly, Vespa 400, BMW Isetta 250, Berkeley and Scootacar MK2.

There were also a pair of Crosleys in another catagory: Outstanding Orphans.
(This was primarily because the “Microcars” class was featuring European Microcars and the Orphans class was featuring American Orphans, otherwise they would have been in the Microcars class)

David Anspach's Crosey HotShot won an award in another catagory.

Palmetto Awards went to Janice & Larry Newberry’s FIAT Jolly and to Kerry and Linda Erendson’s Scootacar MK 2. Best of Class went to Jim Garbo’s Messerschmitt KR200.

Although NORMALLY exhibitors are required to stay until 4pm for the benefit of those who paid to get in to see the cars, the weather turned to light rain in mid-afternoon and anyone who wanted to leave the grounds around 2pm did not get any resistance from officials. Otherwise it was a gorgeous event.
Because the turnout was so good, it is possible that the Microcars Class will become a regular class at this Concours D’elegance.

More info on this and other Concours events around the country in a future issue of MICROCAR NEWS magazine.

[UPDATE] Hilton Head Island Concours has posted a GALLERY of the winners this year.
Click the MICROCARS section to view the 3 winners, also click the ORPHANS section to see the winning Crosley.

Looking for the 2009 Hilton Head Island Concours winners for Microcars Class? Click Here

Jim Garbo organized a great Microcar Event in downtown Racine Wisconsin for Saturday July 26.
Sponsored by The Downtown Racine Corporation, Microcars were on display for the general public from 10am-3pm. Over 20 Microcars attended the show.
The public was invited to VOTE for Best of Show and the winner was Richard Lombardi with his 1957 Messerschmitt KR201.  The previous owner of the car had WON it on the TV Show: “The Price Is Right”.

Photos are available in the Microcars Photo Gallery , click the event logo to go there.

photo by Jim Janecek

Gould’s 13th Annual Microcar Minicar Classic Event was held July 10,11,12 2008 in Newton MA.

A reporter for The Boston Globe filed a report on the meet (but mostly about Smart Cars) you can read it HERE

more photos of the meet at The Bubbledrome

Vintage Microcars have started becoming a “must have” at Concours d’Elegance events since 1996 when Pebble Beach made a separate catagory for them and invited a number of owners to show their cars that year.

Amelia Island Concours also had a Microcar catagory in 2006 and smaller Concours events around the country appear to have taken a cue from this and decided that “it’s OK” to have Microcars at Concours events. The Milwaukee “MASTERPIECE” has had at least one Microcar in their show for the past few years and will continue to do so in 2008, Hilton Head Concours also featured Microcars in 2007.

This year the Forest Grove Concours in Portland OR had two Microcars; an Isetta owned by Phil Richardson and a Messerschmitt KR200 owned by Mark Hatten. Read more coverage of the event at the NEWS TIMES

more coverage of Mark’s Messerschmitt at the Concours is HERE