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| The '''Microdot''' was a concept design by ] for a small, economical town car. The car was first shown at the 1976 ] and was an evolution of his 1972 ] car. The Microdot was a ] with a small 400cc petrol engine powering a 3.5 kW generator<ref></ref> and, designed to carry three people side-by-side on short city journeys, with the driver sitting in the central position.<ref></ref> | The '''Microdot''' was a concept design by ] for a small, economical town car. The car was first shown at the 1976 ]<ref>{{cite journal |title=Micro what? |journal=Motor |date=30 October 1976 |volume=149 |issue=3864 |page=36}}</ref> and was an evolution of his 1972 ] car. The Microdot was a ] with a small 400cc petrol engine powering a 3.5 kW generator<ref></ref> and, designed to carry three people side-by-side on short city journeys, with the driver sitting in the central position.<ref></ref> | ||
| ==Mallalieu Engineering== | ==Mallalieu Engineering== | ||
Revision as of 16:09, 7 September 2023
For other uses, see Microdot (disambiguation). | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Microdot" car – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Motor vehicle
| Microdot | |
|---|---|
 1976 Microdot | |
| Overview | |
| Type | Concept car |
| Production | 1976 1 built |
| Designer | William Towns |
| Body and chassis | |
| Related | Austin Mini |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | Minissima |
The Microdot was a concept design by William Towns for a small, economical town car. The car was first shown at the 1976 British International Motor Show and was an evolution of his 1972 Minissima car. The Microdot was a petrol/electric hybrid vehicle with a small 400cc petrol engine powering a 3.5 kW generator and, designed to carry three people side-by-side on short city journeys, with the driver sitting in the central position.
Mallalieu Engineering
In 1979 William Towns collaborated with prototype vehicle builders at Mallalieu Engineering, Wootton, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, with a view to limited production. The Microdot prototype, built by William Towns on a cut-down Austin Mini chassis, was given opening doors and a 6-inch (150 mm) longer nose, to accommodate the aluminium Reliant car engine, one of the smallest and lightest UK car engines then available, instead of the original hybrid proposal. Mallalieu Engineering was best known for making Bentley Specials, the Barchetta and Oxford, based on the Mark 6 Bentley.
The engineers had a target of 100 miles per Imperial gallon. Under the prototype label of "Matrix" a business plan, it was proposed by Mallalieu's managing director Noel Hodson, to sell several hundred "Chelsea" Microdots a year to POSSFUND, the venture-capital arm of the Post Office pension fund, then one of the largest funds in the world, managed by Ralph Quartano.
The recession of the early 1980s, and the growth in small economical cars such as the Austin Metro and Ford Fiesta, stopped the hybrid-drive project. Mallalieu Microdot (company number 01504509) was dissolved on 23 June 1987 and Mallalieu Engineering (company number 01215691) was dissolved in 1989, and the project disappeared.
Design
Designers from film special-effects studios in London, who had created the original Star Wars spaceship interiors, created "alive" interior cockpit designs and motor industry experts from Lucas and Ever Ready advised on batteries, power-trains and instruments. Relying on 8-track stereo tape recordings by celebrities, it was planned that a Microdot would "talk" to its owner.
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Together with the Minissima
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Interior
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Dashboard
_by_William_Towns.jpg)
References
- "Micro what?". Motor. 149 (3864): 36. 30 October 1976.
- Popular Science (page 90) February 1977
- ARonline Microdot
- "WebCHeck - Select and Access Company Information". Wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
External links
Media related to Microdot vehicles at Wikimedia Commons
