{"id":467813,"date":"2026-02-11T10:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T10:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/467813\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T10:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T10:22:12","slug":"tiny-cars-look-for-big-reaction-at-the-canadian-international-auto-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/467813\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny cars look for big reaction at the Canadian International Auto Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kenn and Donna Poore’s 1957 Messerschmitt KR200 and 1958 Vespa 400.Supplied<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t just the biggest or fastest cars that are worth checking out this year when the Canadian International Auto Show opens on Friday.<\/p>\n

There\u2019ll be huge SUVs and blindingly fast performance cars, but Kenn and Donna Poore are making sure at least eight of the vehicles on display are very small indeed. Some aren\u2019t much more than two metres long and have engines that produce just a few horsepower.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re \u201cmicrocars\u201d \u2013 tiny vehicles that gained popularity in Europe throughout the 1950s when regular cars were expensive and gasoline was rationed. Most seat only two people and they\u2019re powered by small engines more common to motorcycles. Those with just three wheels were often classified as motorcycles, too. They were popular until the mid-1960s, when the ending of rationing and the introduction of the more practical Mini made the genre redundant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Europe, people don\u2019t have big garages and the roads are narrow and there isn\u2019t a lot of public parking, so there was a real demand for very small, fuel-efficient cars,\u201d says Kenn Poore. \u201cThere were companies all over Europe that just started producing these in their backyard or their garage, or in their factory that they had to retool for various reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those companies was Messerschmitt, famous for building the warplanes of the German air force and forbidden after the Second World War to produce aircraft. It switched its factory to building sewing machines and then cars that people could afford to buy and maintain. One of those vehicles was the two-seater Messerschmitt KR200 that will be on display with the rest of the Poore\u2019s collection, in the basement of the north building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. <\/p>\n

The three-wheeled KR200 (for \u201cKabinen-Roller,\u201d or cabin-scooter) seats two people, one in front of the other, and is powered by a 191 cubic-centimetre two-stroke engine that produces 7.5 horsepower. The company built about 40,000 of them between 1955 and 1964. Poore believes his 1957 model is worth about $45,000, though a mint-condition restored car could fetch $75,000 at auction. That\u2019s a big increase from the original sale price of 2,500 deutsch marks, or $600, when the average car in Canada sold for about $2,000.<\/p>\n

There are fewer than a dozen Messerschmitts now registered in Canada. One of them was owned until recently by Ralph and Wendy Hough, who had driven one when they lived as a young couple in the U.K. and then sought out another after they moved to Canada in 1970. <\/p>\n

\u201cA week before we got married, in 1962, we upgraded from a Lambretta scooter to a Messerschmitt,\u201d says Ralph Hough. \u201cIt was covered over from the weather and it was the only sort of car we could afford.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt cost 300 pounds (about $900 then), and we thought, \u2018wow!\u2019\u201d adds Wendy, \u201cbecause we\u2019d been on a scooter for miles, getting the cold and the rain, and now we\u2019ve got a car, and we thought it was marvellous.\u201d<\/p>\n

They upgraded after the birth of their son to a (slightly) larger Fiat 850 but always felt sentimental toward the Messerschmitt. When Wendy later saw one with a Michigan plate in the parking lot of the Orillia Holiday Inn, she called Ralph who hurried over to leave his business card on the tiny car\u2019s windshield. His note asked the driver to contact him before leaving town.<\/p>\n

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Ralph Hough with his Messerschmitt KR175 in 2011.Supplied<\/p>\n

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Ralph and Wendy Hough with their BMW Isetta in 2022.Supplied<\/p>\n

At the time, Ralph Hough was a staff sergeant with the City of Orillia police. \u201cA few hours later, I heard this familiar putt-putt-putt coming into the parking lot,\u201d he remembers. \u201cWhen I said to the driver, \u201cI want to talk to you about your Messerschmitt,\u201d he said, \u2018Oh, thank God for that. I knew I hadn\u2019t done anything wrong.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The American driver restored Messerschmitts as a hobby and eventually sold one to the Houghs. They then invited other owners of microcars to gather for the day at their hobby farm near Coldwater, and so began the almost 30-year tradition of the annual Micro North meet for enthusiasts. <\/p>\n

\u201cI never intended being a collector, but I did finish up with about six or seven Messerschmitts,\u201d says Ralph, who sold most of his collection four years ago, when he and Wendy recognized they weren\u2019t getting any younger. Now, they just own one microcar, a BMW Isetta, known as a bubble car and recognizable by its front-mounted door. <\/p>\n

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Kenn and Donna Poore’s 1958 BMW IsettaSupplied<\/p>\n

The Poores also own an Isetta and it, unlike the Houghs Isetta, will be among the cars on display at the auto show. They caught the collecting bug from the Houghs when they visited Micro North with their 1932 Austin Bantam, and they now own nine microcars, down from a peak of 16, that they keep in a garage near their Sarnia home. Kenn is a retired commercial realtor and Donna a retired Grade 1 schoolteacher and, in good weather, they both enjoy driving all their cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re such fun, and they get lots of smiles and thumbs up,\u201d says Kenn. \u201cIt\u2019s usually the getting in or out that\u2019s the problem. I\u2019m six feet (tall) and 200 pounds, but once I\u2019m in, the seating is usually pretty generous.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original Austin is now in parts and waiting for restoration, but all the Poores\u2019 other microcars will be at the Canadian International Auto Show. As well as the 1957 Messerschmitt KR200 and 1958 BMW Isetta, there will be a 1958 Vespa 400 (Donna Poore\u2019s favourite), a 1962 NSU Sport Prinz, a 1960 Berkeley B105, a 1962 Goggomobil TS300 Coupe, a 1969 Subaru 360 \u201cSambar\u201d van and a 1956 New Map Solyto Break Camping.<\/p>\n

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Kenn and Donna Poore’s 1960 Berkeley B105Supplied<\/p>\n

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Kenn and Donna Poore’s 1956 New Map Solyto BreakSupplied<\/p>\n

The French-made New Map was designed for weekend camping, with removeable front seats that double as camping chairs, and enough room inside for two sleeping bags. It\u2019s powered by a pull-start (from within the car) single-cylinder, two-stroke engine that produces just 4.5 horsepower. Have the Poores ever taken theirs\u2019 on a road trip?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had it at Hilton Head (South Carolina) and people noticed the Ontario plates and asked if we\u2019d driven it there,\u201d says Kenn. \u201c I said no. I mean, top speed on that thing is probably only about 20 miles per hour and it feels dangerous at 10 miles per hour. So \u2013 no.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show runs Feb. 13 – 22. <\/p>\n

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Kenn and Donna Poore’s 1958 Vespa 400 and 1969 Subaru 360 Van.Supplied<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Kenn and Donna Poore’s 1957 Messerschmitt KR200 and 1958 Vespa 400.Supplied It isn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,2922,30296,61],"class_list":["post-467813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-noastack","tag-ordid10000","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}