Believed to be the missing prototype.

SPECIFICATIONS

Manufacturer: Motobécane S.A.

Origin: Paris, France

Production: 1

Motor: Motobécane 1-cyl, 2-stroke

Displacement: 125 cc

Power: 6 hp

Length: 9 ft. 4 in.

Identification No. N/A

The well-known Parisian firm of Motobécane was France’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and one of the major bicycle manufacturers. Their famous moped, the Mobylette, was introduced in 1949, and 14 million were built until 1985. They also supplied motors in large quantities to the many French microcar builders during the seventies.

The growth of automobile use and the advent of cheaper motorcycles from Japan diminished the motorcycle industry in the late-fifties and sixties. Motobécane became interested in producing a small car in 1958. The Motobécane KM 2 of 1962 was an open two-seater rather like a smaller Citroën Méhari, with cutaway doors and a folding windshield. It used the company’s 125-cubic centimeter single-cylinder, four-stroke motor that delivered nine horsepower. One of the two prototypes was sent to South America for endurance testing. The wheels were of the narrow, spoked motorcycle-type, indicating that the car was really more of a quadricycle. The following year, another prototype car, one resembling the NSU Prinz IV, appeared.

In 1962, alongside the KM 2, a prototype small utility truck was built called the KM 2U. Research has failed to turn up a period photo of that microtruck, but this 1962 enclosed-cab full-box truck prototype may very well be the missing example. It is wonderfully unrestored and retains its original desert-like color of Sand Beige with a minimalist interior and burgundy seat upholstery.