New choices in consumer goods

Popular cars, bubble cars and scooters
The years following the Second World War saw a tremendous increase in popular motoring. The major industrialised countries each supported their own independent motor industries and, in this period before globalisation, there were distinct national styles in design.
This diversity was also reflected in the range of mechanical solutions that were used. Suspension systems, the position of the engine and whether to drive the front or back wheels were all still matters of debate.
Many three- and four-wheel 'bubble' cars emerged. These were intended to offer popular, low-cost motoring in conditions of economic austerity. Motorcycle manufacturers also tried to make motorcycling more widely accepted by enclosing the mechanical parts and trying to 'civilise' the riding experience.
These vehicles represent a range of different aesthetic and engineering solutions to the problem of creating a functional family car or popular motorcycle at reasonable cost. Conceived when there was still 'the luxury of national identity in design', each vehicle-type shown here has generated extraordinary loyalty and affection among owners.
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The 1947 Paris Motor Show showing the tremendous public interest in the post-war renewal of car manufacturing.
Explore the vehicles
Saab 92 - 93
The Saab car was born when the Saab aircraft company began looking for new post-war products. Saab had not made a car before, so the company did not suffer from the temptation to utilise dated pre-war designs or components.
They were able to jump in one go to a highly modern vehicle with front-wheel drive, hydraulic brakes, independent suspension and excellent road behaviour. Visionary Swedish artist and designer Sixten Sason gave the new Saab a streamlined 'aeroplane quality' that was a deliberate reminder of the company's origins in aircraft manufacture.
The quality of this engineering translated into excellent road handling, which became apparent when Saab began to enter competitive rallies. In 1962 and again in 1963 Erik Carlsson won the Monte Carlo Rally for Saab.
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An early concept sketch for the new Saab, schemed by Sixten Sason in 1945. Sason was a visionary artist and designer who had also been in the Swedish air force. The shape was intended to stress the origins of the company in aeroplane manufacture.
See-through drawing of the Saab 96 showing the suspension arrangement. The 96 was a direct development of the original 93.
The Saab company could not afford to design and build a four-stroke engine and so developed a simple two-cylinder two-stroke based on the pre-war German DKW light car. This was subsequently expanded to a 3-cylinder unit, first of 750 cc and then expanded to 850 cc.
The Saab 93 assembly line at Trëllhattan, Sweden, in the mid-1950s.
A late model Saab 96 in Sweden, rallying in the mid-1960s. Front-wheel drive and excellent suspension enabled the Saabs often to beat more powerful cars.
The Morris Minor
Alec Issigonis was a young designer at Morris Motors in Cowley when, in 1942, he started sketching the new Morris Minor. Although the company was heavily engaged in war work, a sheet-metal model was built to Issigonis's sketches. It was unlike anything the conservative Morris firm had previously built, with smooth lines derived from American cars.
The Morris Minor first appeared at the London Motor Show in 1948 and it was to become one of Britain's best-loved small cars. It was particularly popular with families and the newly emerging group of independent female car-owners.
Available with either two or four doors, and as either a saloon or a convertible, the car cost around £350 in 1950 (about £6,800 at today's prices). Over 1.5 million Morris Minors were produced, with the last leaving the Cowley production line (Oxford) in 1970.
Issigonis was one of the last 'design individualists' working for a major manufacturer. He was able to claim 'I designed the whole car myself, even the little knob that opens the glove box and the door handles'.
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The new Minor had much more flowing lines than pre-war Morris cars. Issigonis recalled that Lord Nuffield, head of the firm was furious when he saw 'the poached egg'.
'Nuffield hated the Minor as soon as he saw it, and so did all the sales people. It was humble pie when we made a million of them.'
A model of the car made while the Second World War was still going on, to evaluate the shape. Unusually, it was made in brass sheet instead of clay - the only time anyone could remember this being done.
The new Minor was announced in October 1948 and was the star of the Earls Court Motor Show. This is an early example on test.
Citroën 2CV
The 2CV (Deux Chevaux) was conceived as a car for French rural communities, which meant that ease of maintenance, practicality and frugality were more important considerations than anything else. Described as 'four wheels under an umbrella', it was designed to provide maximum mobility at minimum cost.
Citroën engineer André Lefebvre and manager Pierre Boulanger led a team of designers and engineers from 1937. They had a set of pre-production cars ready for launch at the 1939 Paris Salon Motor Show, but the show was cancelled due to the onset of the Second World War. It was not until 1948 that the 2CV was finally launched in Paris.
A softly sprung, interconnected suspension system made reasonable speeds possible on the then-poor French roads, while the 350 cc front-mounted, air-cooled, flat-twin engine, driving the front wheels, offered simplicity and economy. With its rounded, corrugated form and a folding roof made of cloth, the car offered ingenious technical and stylistic solutions to the problems of affordable motoring. Production of the car ended in 1990.
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The 2CV prototype was ready in 1939, but not produced, due to the war, until 1946. At first, a single headlamp was thought to be enough for a utility car.
The new 2CV created a sensation at the 1948 post-war Paris Motor Show for its minimalist approach to mobility. A twin-cylinder engine of just 375 cc was thought adequate by many for country journeys and commuting in those days.
Pierre Boulanger showing the newly launched car to French President Vincent Auriol at the 1948 Paris Motor Show.
Citroen 2CV advertisement, c.1960
Hino Contessa 1300 Sedan
The Hino Motor Corporation was already producing trucks and public transport vehicles when it received a licence to build the rear-engined Renault 4CV in 1952. The car was one of a number of licence-built European popular car designs produced in Japan. These helped to kick-start production there in the post-war period and introduced the Japanese motor industry to European standards of design in the small car market.
In 1960 the Contessa was developed by Hino from the original Renault model, retaining the rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout of the Renault, but with a new larger, water-cooled four-cylinder engine. The new body engineering and suspension was also homegrown and suggests increasing confidence in the post-war Japanese car industry.
The body styling was done in Turin by Giovanni Michelotti. This was the first international commission for an Italian car designer in the post-war period and the collaboration between France, Japan and Italy hints at the emerging global nature of the car industry.
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Pierre Lefaucheux, the head of Renault, visiting Hino in 1953, shortly after manufacture of the licence-built Renault 4CV had started there.
The Renault 4CV was released at the 1947 Paris Motor Show, signalling new energy in small car design.
Although conceived as an economy car the Renault 4CV was also rallied. This one is on the 1949 Monte Carlo rally.
In 1959, Hino remodelled the 4CV to produce the Contessa 900 - a step towards developing their own distinctive vehicle from the original Renault 4CV.
The 1964 Hino Contessa had a new Hino-engineered body and Hino-designed 1300 cc engine. The styling was done in Italy by Torino-based Giovanni Michelotti. This international fusion of industrial and design effort between Japan, France and Italy was a foretaste of things to come in the car industry.
Fiat 600
The Fiat 600 was the new 'baby car', designed in the post-war years to replace the popular pre-war 500 cc Topolino. Dante Giacosa, Fiat's leading design engineer from 1946 to 1970, achieved a marvel of design integration, enabling four adults to be seated in a vehicle only 3.28 metres in length and 1.39 metres wide. To allow this, Giacosa's team integrated the four-cylinder 633 cc engine with gearbox and final drive into a tiny volume of space at the rear, even using the radiator fan to blow warm air forward for heating.
The Fiat 600 was launched in 1955 and proved to be exactly what Italy needed in the years of post-war recovery. It combined extraordinary economy with the ability to fit into tiny Italian urban spaces. Some 2.5 million were built and production continued until the 1970s.
The basic shape and design solution for the 600 subsequently became the inspiration for the still smaller 500 cc Nuove Cinquecento.
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Dante Giacosa was the brilliant design engineer who developed the Fiat range throughout the post-war era. His first task was to create the 600 as a cheap practical car for the austere post-war period, but the car was to last far beyond this.
The new 600 was to replace the Topolino pre-war design and its Belvedere station wagon variant. Giacosa chose a rear engine, allowing the integration of engine, gearbox and final drive. The result was a miracle of 'package efficiency' which carried four adults in a smaller, nippier car.
Body engineering drawing for the 600 showing how the compact arrangement of machinery at the rear frees up passenger space.
Fiat 600 poster, 1950s.
Volkswagen 1300
The Volkswagen was launched in the mid-1930s, with Hitler promising the German people a cheap-to-run, small automobile. The car was to cost about the same as a medium-sized motorcycle, and a special scheme was set up to help workers save up for it.
The design was developed from 1934 by Ferdinand Porsche, who established the familiar 'Beetle' shape and a rear-mounted, air-cooled, flat four-cylinder 'boxer' motor driving the rear wheels. The engine position has been criticised for making handling tricky in bad conditions, but the Beetle had superb build quality, ensuring long life and the certainty of cold morning starts at a time when many competitors suffered from poor electrical equipment and ignition systems.
Immediately after the Second World War the Wolfsburg Volkswagen factory was occupied by British forces and production was re-started as an aid to German reconstruction. The Beetle went on to become a huge success: in 1972 production passed 15 million, making it the best-selling car of all time.
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When photographer Peter Keetman spent a week at the Volkwagen factory in 1953 the car was already an industrial icon. He found there images of production that were both charming and poetic.
Adolf Hitler inspecting a model of the new ' peoples' car' during development with designer Ferdinand Porsche holding up the rear engine cover.
The 'car for everyone' went hand in hand with Hitler's road plans. About 3500 kilometres of new autobahn were built before the war and civil engineer Fritz Todt declared the roads would ' unleash the spirit of adventure of the Nordic race'.
The Volkswagen factory was revived under British army occupation and the car earned a reputation as one of the most durable and reliable economy cars in existence. Production continued in Germany until 1978. This model dates from 1965. Some 21 million were sold world-wide.
The Mini
In 1956 the suspension engineer Alex Moulton drove to meet his friend and colleague Alec Issigonis. It was during the aftermath of the failed British attempt to invade the Suez Canal zone, and petrol was rationed due to reprisals by Egypt's supporters. Moulton was driving a three-wheeled Heinkel bubble car 'simply as a device for getting 60 miles to the gallon'. Issigonis joked that he was also designing an economy car, but 'it won't have one cylinder and three wheels. It's going to have four wheels and four cylinders'.
The wish to create an economical vehicle that was also a 'proper' car led to a target length of no more than 10 feet (3.04 metres). This forced Issigonis to be extraordinarily creative, devising a compact combination of front-wheel drive and a transverse engine unified with the gearbox. Moulton's new rubber suspension also helped save space.
Introduced in 1959, the Mini proved that small size and outstanding economy could be combined with excellent handling and road behaviour. The Mini's architecture became the basis for almost all of today's small cars.
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Early Mini advertisement for the French market.
An early idea from Issigonis for the new Mini. 'The thing that impressed me' a colleague recalled, 'was that he was really fantastic at sketching. He would do a sketch in your presence and convey exactly what he wanted'.
The Mini prototype in 1958. In a remarkable parallel to the earlier Morris Minor development, Issigonis decided the car was too narrow, and made a late decision to widen it by 2 inches (5 centimetres).
A Mini, cut in half to demonstrate the ingenuity of its design, was one of the talking points of the 1959 London Motor Show.
The 998 cc BMC A series engine with gearbox and final drive, in one compact unit. It was the idea of Issigonis to make them use the same oil supply or 'share their bathwater' as he put it.
Messerschmitt KR200 De Luxe
Engineer Fritz Fend had produced small pedal-powered tricycles for injured Second World War veterans. He subsequently designed the motorised Fend Kabinenroller FK150. ' Roller' is German for scooter, and the vehicle was advertised with the slogan 'car comfort at scooter cost'.
In 1953 collaboration between Fend and his former employer, aircraft manufacturer Willy Messerschmitt, resulted in the Messerschmitt KR175, a Kabinenroller with a 175 cc two-stroke engine. In 1955 the KR200 model, with a 200 cc engine, was launched; production continued until 1962. The Messerschmitt KR200 is basically a tricycle with striking fuselage body and clear plastic 'bubble' canopy that recall a fighter aircraft. This example was capable of about 67 mph (107 km/h), but fierce competition between the BMW Isetta and the Messerschmitt resulted in the production of an ultra-sporting version of the Messerschmitt that was capable of 87 mph (139 km/h)!
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The tandem-seated 'cabin scooter' from the former Messerschmitt aircraft company was an ingenious solution to problems of mobility in post-war Europe. It was probably the best of all the unconventional lightweight bubble cars.
Brochure for the Messerschmitt KR200 De Luxe from the London concessionaires.
BMW Isetta 300
The Isetta 'bubble car' was first produced in 1953 by the Isotherm refrigerator company in Milan. Its single front-opening door attracted attention from the outset and it is viewed as the vehicle that started off the fashion for 'bubble cars'. BMW made aeroplane engines during the Second World War after having earned a reputation in the 1930s for beautifully engineered sports cars.
However, the post-war economic conditions in Germany meant that the company needed a low-priced motor vehicle to sell, so BMW took out a licence for the Isetta and developed it into a practical vehicle. In 1960 an Isetta would have cost in excess of £300. It had an 297 cc BMW motorcycle engine with a maximum speed of 55 mph (88 km/h).
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The most striking feature of the car was the single front-opening door. The steering wheel swung forward on a special linkage as the door opened.
In post-war Europe, economy vehicles seemed an attractive business opportunity. The Isetta design was originally developed in Italy by the Isotherm refrigerator company. Building the vehicle under licence helped the recovery of BMW.
The makers of many of the new micro vehicles tried to suggest that they were also fashionable and 'chic'. However, only the Mini and the small Fiats really succeeded with this 'classless' appeal.
Velocette LE 200 Motorcycle
The LE Velocette was conceived during the Second World War as the 'ideal' modern small motorcycle for the post-war world. Velocette was one of the top makers of sporting and racing motorcycles in Britain, so the LE was a major break with tradition. The key features of the machine were enclosed mechanical parts, a vibration-free opposed twin-engine, water-cooling, a shaft drive instead of a chain, low noise levels and long intervals between services.
The machine was marketed as 'Silent, Smooth, Safe and Economical - the Motorcycle for all occasions' and hailed as in the press as 'the motorcycle of tomorrow'. However, the very high quality of the engineering made it expensive and LE sales failed to take off. Velocette was the last of the independent British motorcycle producers and the production of the LE a brave attempt that ultimately cost the company dearly. Velocette eventually went into liquidation in 1971.
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Velocette failed to imagine the future with their lightweight enclosed motorcycle. Buyers preferred to stay with conventional, more sporting machines or to choose the new scooters. The enclosed motorcycle remained a curiosity until the Honda 50 and Honda 90 later achieved success.
Velocette LE brochure, c.1952.
Vespa 125 Scooter
The post-war scooter boom was initiated by an ingenious design from Corradino d'Ascanio, a helicopter pioneer. The design was put into production by the former aircraft company, Piaggio, near Genoa. Called the Vespa (Italian for wasp), the scooter quickly captured a new and fashionable market. The main elements in its success were the packaging together of all the mechanical elements in the bulbous rear tail (hence the scooter's nickname) and the broad front panel that provided weather protection. For the first time, men and women could use a two-wheeled machine for short trips wearing their everyday clothes. The Italian press called the Vespa ' a little two-wheeled car'.
The Piaggio Vespa was quickly followed by the Lambretta, manufactured by the Innocenti company in Milan, and a host of imitators in other countries. By 1955 a million Vespas had been built, at that time a huge figure in terms of motorcycle production.
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The Vespa 1948 model. Post-war Italy had a huge demand for economical transport and the Vespa suited its weather and its cities.
Although superficially similar to the Vespa the Lambretta was more conventional and had an internal tubular frame structure.
Brighton, 1964. Both Lambrettas and Vespas were equally popular with 'Mods'. Although widely imitated in many countries the two Italian makes were really the only successful scooter designs until recent years when Japanese 'super scooters' appeared.