1950s Rapida – Homemade Microcar or Pedal Car?

This is being touted as a one-off microcar, but it’s not clear to use it isn’t a pedal car.  Given the wheels, it might be considered the first cyclekart??

The seller seems to know little about the car, and there is no mention of mechanical bits.  The interior shot below might even reveal it’s a pedal car.  If you’re near the seller, we suggest a visit before making an offer!  In any case, this isn’t a fly in/drive home vehicle.

Click for eBay ad
Faro Algarve, Portugal
$2,400 BIN price with offers considered

One must hope this was homemade!

Profile reveals tiny, spoke wheels (cyclekart!) and more of the homemade shape.  Note fender skirts at rear!

The rear is short on style, but the fenders do add a bit of flair.

There are wood steering wheels and there are wood steering wheels.  This probably isn’t what you picture first.  We see a chain drive, but it this a complex pedal car??  Also, why is there much newer wood at the “firewall”?

Yep, that’s a soccer player.

Lightning bolt and Rapida name…cool.

Ad text:

VERY RARE MUSEUM QUALITY
PROTOPTYPE MICROCAR

1 9 5 0    R A P I D A    M I C R O C A R

SOLD ON A BILL OF SALE.  THIS CAR DOES NOT HAVE A TITLE

THIS CAR IS LOCATED IN FARO ALGARVE, PORTUGAL

I am very excited to offer a car that I acquired just over a month ago.  This is the very first automobile that I have ever owned that I cannot find absolutely any information on.  It has a manufacturers badge that reads “RAPIDA”.  The car has been sitting under this tarp for over 50 years and may or may not be restorable, but will make an excellent, original antique automobile display as everything on the automobile is original right down to the soccer player hood ornament.

As mentioned at the heading of this listing, this car is located in the coastal town of Faro Algarve, Portugal NOT KANSAS so shipping by port will be logistically straightforward.  Ebay does not give me an option to list an international zip code even though I am the legal and full owner of this veritably unique, museum quality automobile.   This car could easily be worth $10,000 possibly much more as prototype automobiles can be astronomically expensive.  

S H I P P I N G   M U S T   B E   T H E   R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y   O F   T H E   B U Y E R


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One response to “1950s Rapida – Homemade Microcar or Pedal Car?”

  1. T.R. Avatar

    Interesting little car. Based on the ebay ad this guy purchased the car from a month ago, it's a 50cc gas and pedal car with an aluminum body.