They are called Peel, Frisky, Isetta, Tessy, Megu or Colibri: bizarre post-war wonders of vehicle history and genuine rarities that will be auctioned off as the RRR collection at Dorotheum. And with no limit! On July 10, 2020, around 130 scooters and scooter mobiles will roll to new owners at the Fahrzeug & Technik Zentrum in Vienna Vösendorf. This is a collection built up with great passion by two Austrian childhood friends who, from the 1970s onwards, dedicated themselves to the search for vehicles from their early years. From 2003 to 2019, the RRR collection was on public display in Eggenburg, Lower Austria.
Cost of a motorcycle, weather protection of a car
These mini-cars of the 1950s and 1960s perfectly combined the frugality of a motorcycle with the (weather protection) comfort of a car. They are the absolute opposite of today's SUVs: modest, effective, charming - and small. And wonderfully quirky to boot. Necessity is the mother of invention. The English in particular outdid themselves with special features.
The two vehicles named after the harbor town of Peel on the Isle of Man are more UFO than car. The P 50 tricycle was considered to be the smallest car in the world, fitting just one person and only 47 were produced.
The large Peel Trident, designed for two people and fitted with a Plexiglas dome, was produced in a total of 86 units. Such rarities are called for 10,000 euros each at the Dorotheum auction.
Mini and mobile
The 1954 Messerschmitt KR 175 appears to be more of an airplane than a car, or more precisely a "cabin scooter". Asking price for this rarity, which was extensively restored in the 1990s: 5000 euros. The successor KR 200, built in 1958, was once used by pop star Peter Alexander, as a Polaroid photo from the collection attests.
The New Map Rolux VB 60, built in 1949, was one of the highlights of the RRR collection (€ 4000).
Of course, there are also a number of Puch 500s on offer, such as the reed-green 1958 Steyr-Puch 500, priced at €4000.
A "record-breaking Isetta" according to the catalog, a blue BMW Isetta Export 300, built in 1958, completed 35,000 kilometers in 20 months, in Vienna in 1958/59 (€ 3000).
Many scooters too
Of course, the RRR collection also includes scooter models from throughout history. The mighty Maico Maicomobil 175/200, designed in 1953, stands out here.
The German product with the spare wheel decoratively installed at the rear is rightly considered the "king of scooters" (asking price € 2,000). Vespas are certainly not to be missed, including the 1952 Douglas Vespa 125 2L2 (€ 1,500). In beautiful original condition is a 1957 Lohner Rapid 200 with "driving school dinghy" (€ 900). Triumph Tessy Luxus was the name given to a 1956 lightweight with a flowing design, which went down in motoring history as the Dolphin line (€ 500).
You can find out more on the Dorotheum website.
