Lew: In order to go into reverse in the old Messerschmitt, the driver had to stop the car, turn off the engine, shift into reverse, and then restart the car, repeating the process for going forward. This must have been a hellish experience for those trying to parallel park. I have been told that, after World War II, the Messerschmitt Company – which manufactured German fighter planes during the war – had a lot of plane fuselages lying around that got converted into these fuselage-shaped cars. Whether that story was true or not, it does raise some interesting questions about the transformations in automotive design that the god-king might have in store for converting unsold GM and Chrysler cars into . . . what?
If anyone wants to see an old Messerschmitt car – I did see one on the Hollywood freeway a number of years ago – the Peterson car museum in Los Angeles has one, as well as a Tucker (I much prefer the Tucker, of course).
