A unique Austrian-made Felber Autoroller T 400 of the 1950s

Unique ONES When the world was still recovering shortly after the end of the war that was so painful and engulfed almost around the globe. That's when the development and presence of small, cheap and fuel-efficient vehicles to be a kind of excellent helping angels to the impoverished the postwar Europeans and attracted those who could not afford to buy "real" cars. Over time, their popularity spiked after the Suez Crisis of 1956, when the price of oil rose steeply.

An early model of the Felber Autoroller T 400 produced in the 1953 featured with cycle-type mudguards that swivelled with the front wheels. (Picture from: Wikipedia)

It looks like the idea of the cheap and fuel-efficient microcar seems to have come to the peak of its line, just as motorcycles in the 1950s. Like the plague, the development of the microcar quickly spread to all corners of Europe. At that time there were so many brands and models appearing, let's say that in Germany there was the Messerschmitt KR 175, BMW Isetta, Heinkel Cabin and Zündapp Janus. Meanwhile, the Italian giant Piaggio launched the Vespa 400. Then in England there is the Scootacar, Peel P50, Bond Bug, and many others. 

The 2nd model of the Felber Autoroller T 400 produced in the 1953 featured with fixed wheel fenders in the front. (Picture from: Wikipedia)

Like the most countries in the Europe, Austria also experienced a severe economic setback as a result of the destruction of many industrial facilities and infrastructure during the war. And turn out from the Austrian automotive industry business players back in the 1950s also had time to bring up microcar model called the Felber Autoroller T 400.

The Felber Autoroller T 400 (in pictured is the 2nd model) had an unusual seating arrangement, with a small child-sized seat behind the driver on the left and a conventional passenger seat diagonally behind and to the right. (Picture from: Flickr)

We first seen the such vehicle on the Quirky Rides status on Twitter, which then invites our interest to find out more about it. The mentioned microcar produced by Felber & Co is a well-known manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars based in Vienna, Austria ranging from 1952 to 1953, and about 400 units were built in two versions, all of which were painted in light green color using a standard paint for machinery because considered more cheaper than regular car paint.

The Felber Autoroller T 400 (in pictured is the 2nd model) is powered by a rear-mounted 398 cc Rotax two cylinder two stroke opposed twin engine capable spew power of 15 horsepower. (Picture from: Fahrzeugbilder.de)

The Autoroller was designed by Ernst Marold, in which the early models had cycle-type mudguards that swivelled with the front wheels, later models had fixed wings. The Austrian-made three-wheeled microcar powered by a rear-mounted 398 cc Rotax two cylinder two stroke opposed twin engine capable spew power of 15 horsepower (11 kW).

The Felber Autoroller T 400 (in pictured is the 1st model of 1953) is produced ranging from 1952 to 1953, and all of which were painted in light green color using a standard paint for machinery. (Picture from: VroomVroom)

Uniquely, the microcar had an unusual seating arrangement, with a small child-sized seat behind the driver on the left and a conventional passenger seat diagonally behind and to the right. As quoted of Wikipedia, once upon the time there're remarkable Felber Autoroller T400 troupe caused a stir when accompanying the wedding limousine of Ernst Marold in front of the Karlskirche in the Viennese City centre in 1954.

Unfortunately, this car manufacturing proved to be uncompetitive, after the liberalization of car imports to Austria came into effect in 1954. So that the company then switched to producing industrial washing machines, in addition to being the soles and distributor of cars from Heinkel, Trojan, Spatz and Reliant.

The Felber Möve 101 is built by specialist coachbuilding company Hofmann & Moldrich in Vienna who build upon them the egg-shaped body out of 0.8 mm aluminum plate as many as twelve units back in 1954. (Picture from: Wikipedia)

Besides the Autoroller T400 model, it turns out that about twelve rolling chassis were sent to the specialist coachbuilding company Hofmann & Moldrich in Vienna who build upon them the egg-shaped body out of 0.8 mm aluminum plate called the Felber Möve 101, and the only-one car existed today is sat on display at the car museum in Aspang in Lower-Austria.

Reportedly, there are 4 units of Autoroller T400s survived today, consisting two units are seen on display at the RRR scooter and microcar museum in Eggenburg, Austria. A third one is under restoration in Serbia near to the Hungarian border (maybe it's been restored now) and another one in Bavaria.

The Fusion Flea, a single-seater futuristic fictional microcar that appears in the Fallout 4 game (in 1:18 scaled model). (Picture from: Quirky Rides)

Out of context, our curiosity has not dried yet, the temptation appears again, when from another Quirky Rides's status we also found a unique vehicle that at first glance resembles the Fellber Autoroller T400 known as the Fusion Flea, a single-seater futuristic fictional microcar that appears in the Fallout 4 game (in 1:18 scaled model). Thankfully it's not a real microcar, so it's possible for us to be one of the lucky owner. If You wanna have one, plz come  here to see it. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | WIKIPEDIA | QUIRKY RIDES | BOOK.GOOGLE  | THEWANDCOMPANY ]

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