As we all know gas prices do one thing and one thing well, they rise. If the price of gas is not a big enough problem we have many more problems to worry about. With the decline of the dollar our money will buy us even less gas then before. If these monetary problems were not bad enough there are still many other problems as well such as global warming. These seem like major problems that will require new solutions but this might not be the case. In fact we might have already come up with answers to these problems long ago.
After WWI and WWII the economies of Europe and Japan were terrible. Gas was also at a shortage. How did they handle these same economic problems that we face now? They made smaller cars. Smaller lighter cars make more fuel-efficient cars. These cars are known as micro cars. Micro cars could be the answer for us at this time.
Many car companies in Europe and Japan made these micro cars. If you want to see photos and specifications of the cars you can go to their site. The site is the home site to the real life micro car museum so if you really are interested you can actually go and see these cars in real life.
Some of the car manufactures that made these micro cars include famous companies and less famous companies. Some popular companies include BMW, Messerschmitt, Fiat, Mazda, Subaru, and while not known as a car company the Fuji film company made cars and motorcycles as well. Most European countries had at least one car manufacture of these many and less well known companies there was Mochet, Velocar, and Brutsch. The wealthier nations such as Germany, France, Italy, and the UK had the most companies.
One of the most famous micro cars is the Isetta bubble car that was also made in conjunction with BMW at times. In the movie Adams Family Cousin It had a bubble car. There is a small niche market for the bubble car. The messerschmitt is another popular micro car brand. Elvis is known to have owned and raced Messerschimtts while in Germany.
If a car made over 50 even 80 years ago that can get 50 miles to the gallon or more and reach freeway speeds then car manufactures now should have no problem making cars that can at least reach these speeds and these mileages. There is little reason that they could not even improve the mileages and the speeds in fact GM has already made a 200 mile per gallon two seater vehicle, and a four person car that got 65 miles to the gallon but that story is for another article.
