The term “midget car” covered a surprisingly wide range of tiny vehicles in the early twentieth century. Some were purpose-built racers. Others were cheap, practical machines for everyday roads. A few were little more than novelties. What they shared was their remarkably small size — and the public fascination that came with it.
By the early 1920s, small cars were already turning heads. The Custer, photographed in 1920, was billed as the smallest car in the United States. Around the same time in Britain, the MG Midget was making a name for itself on trial courses and in competition, driven by enthusiasts willing to push lightweight machinery to its limits.
Miniature cars weren’t confined to racetracks. On the streets of London, tiny vehicles shared the road with double-decker buses, creating a stark visual contrast that photographers frequently captured. In Germany, the Hanomag Kommissbrot — named for its resemblance to a loaf of army bread — offered an economical alternative to full-sized automobiles. Priced at around £100, it delivered strong fuel mileage thanks to its compact build.
The mid-1930s brought a wave of British-made miniature cars that captured public imagination. The Rytecraft Scootercar, designed by J.W. Shillam, was one of the most visible. Fully road-licensed and retailing at around £70, it reached speeds of 50 mph on just one horsepower. Eton College boys were photographed test-driving them in 1934, and Shillam himself was regularly seen demonstrating the little machine around London.
Not all small cars stayed on four wheels. The Whitwood monocar, tested in Ealing in 1934, ran on just two wheels and measured 7 feet 8 inches in length. Despite its unusual design, it reached 94 mph during trials — a genuinely impressive figure for any car of the era, let alone one that narrow.
Tiny cars found all sorts of practical uses. A London florist used a one-horsepower miniature to deliver flowers to customers in November 1934, drawing curious glances from pedestrians. Meanwhile, Rytecraft vehicles small enough to be loaded onto an aircraft were flown from Croydon Airport to Paris, demonstrating just how compact these machines really were.
The Whitwood monocar continued to attract press coverage through December 1934. Its two-wheeled layout and extreme speed set it apart from every other small vehicle on British roads at the time. At filling stations near Barnet, one-horsepower Shillam cars were a regular sight, their drivers stopping alongside RAC motorcyclists as if the juxtaposition were perfectly normal.
The miniature car craze even reached Hamleys on Regent Street, where a toy MG Midget attracted young admirers in November 1934. By 1935, the Hanomag Kommissbrot was still in production, photographed outside its manufacturer’s headquarters. In Cardiff, mechanics servicing one-horsepower midget cars skipped the car jack entirely — a couple of people could simply lift the front of the vehicle by hand.
One of the most remarkable stories from 1935 involved C.W. Cooper of Surbiton, who built a miniature racing car for his young son John. Fitted with a 1.25 horsepower two-stroke engine, it topped 52 mph. John Cooper would later go on to found the Cooper Car Company, which dominated Formula One racing in the late 1950s. His father’s homemade racer was where it all began.
Midget car racing had its own champions in Britain by 1935. Jean Reville held the title of Midget Car Speedway Champion of Great Britain, driving “Palmer’s Special” — a car just 5 feet long and 3 feet 6 inches wide, powered by a 9 horsepower engine. His car “the Gnat,” claimed to be the world’s smallest racing car, received a full overhaul ahead of a Jubilee meeting at White City, London.
The Rytecraft brand continued to evolve. By April 1936, the British Motor-Boat Manufacturing Company was demonstrating a new 2.5 horsepower Scoota Car capable of carrying two people at up to 45 mph. A year later, the Rytecraft van appeared on the streets of Manchester — Britain’s smallest van, running 80 miles to the gallon and carrying nearly 600 pounds of cargo at up to 50 mph.
Rytecraft cars reached well beyond working-class buyers. In June 1937, the Maharajah of Nawanagar — Sir K.S. Digvijaysinhji — purchased a Rytecraft Special for his daughter Princess Harshad Kunverba to use on his Surrey estate. By 1939, with wartime petrol rationing taking effect, miniature cars took on a new role. The pedal-powered Velocar appeared in Hyde Park as a practical response to fuel shortages, while Rytecraft midget cars were pressed into service by air raid wardens.
