MICROCAR NEWS Online

click for larger image

The New York Daily News decided that Vintage Microcars warranted an “above the fold” teaser on the Saturday Edition. A full “story” appeared inside on Page 7.

After this issue hit the newstands people came in through the front door of the Javits Center and went RIGHT to the Peel P50,
usually with kids towing their parents and pointing “There it is! There it is! The World’s Smallest Car!”

click to see larger version

Well, we’re here.

The Largest Auto Show in the United States and we are right inside the main entrance.
We have a 1962 Messerschmitt Kr200 from Gary Sonnenschein, a 1965 Peel P50 from The Lane Motor Musuem, a 1956 BMW Isetta from Jim Janecek and a 1958 Vespa 400 from Larry Newberry.
The above photo was taken before people started coming in, later it looks like this, only more crowded:

The exhibit is just mobbed with people constantly.
This time the 2 most annoying questions are:
“Are these street Legal” and
“How much is that?” (referring to the Peel)
Earlier in the day we were asked to participate in the Opening Day Ceremonies which involved a PR stunt.
The NY Auto Show opens with a PR stunt of some sort so that the local news shows up to cover it. This year they had a “Strongman Competition” where they were pulling a “train” of 10 KIA Soul cars.

As a gag, they brought out a Microcar at the last minute and had it compete against a couple other Auto Show staff who actually tried to pull just one car. How many Union Carpenters and Decorators do you think it takes to push a Peel P50 into place and then hide it under some black fabric?

The Peel P50 was surprisingly easy to pull for some reason. 

Here is a behind the scenes video of the prep involved for Opening Day Ceremonies (2 minutes)