1936 Delimal Le Carabe

Little is known about French inventor Hippolyte Delimal. But in 1936, he attempted to create the world's smallest car, which reached a speed of 24 mph and touted fuel economy of 118 mpg. He affectionately named it Le Carabe, or the 'Ground Beetle.'

His vision and enthusiasm could be seen in a completely intact, hand-written, hand-drawn, 63-page manuscript he left behind. The found booklet details his trials and tribulations of building the car. Most remarkably, it contains detailed instructions, complete with dimensional schematics that rival anything out of Popular Mechanics from years past. This is fitting because, according to this arduous account, Delimal stated what he wanted most was for the everyday person to build and drive his Le Carabe. In neat penmanship, he wrote the vehicle was, '....designed specifically for amateur construction. No special tools or machines.'

In materials alone, Le Carabe could be built for around 450 Francs (about 4% the cost of a new car at the time). He repurposed a Motobecane 175cc single-cylinder two-stroke engine of the time and coupled it with a light wooden body. 'Plywood is the sheetmetal of the carpenter. The body should be light and very strong.' For steering, he fitted old bicycle handlebars and a telescopic fork. He also reused bicycle sprockets and rear hubs, motorcycle drum brakes, and he even suggests filling the empty space of the body sides with cotton to keep the feet warm during the cold winter.