38 small-engined classic cars | Classic & Sports Car (2024)

Small is mighty!

With rare exceptions, most cars on sale today have engines with capacities of between 1.0 and 8.0 litres. In the past, the range was much wider.

Before the First World War, American manufacturers Peerless and Pierce-Arrow both produced cars with engines measuring 13.5 litres. Other classic cars have been powered by motors which make the 875cc TwinAir unit in current Fiat models look simply enormous.

In this feature we’re considering cars in the latter group. All of them were designed before the 21st century and had engines of less than 650cc, and we’re presenting them in descending order of capacity.

1. Fiat 600: 633cc

Also produced by other manufacturers including Seat (as pictured above), the 600 was Fiat’s first small car to go on sale after the Second World War.

Like many larger cars, it had a four-cylinder water-cooled engine, but this one, known as the 100 Series, was very much a miniature example of its type. The smallest version fitted to the 600 measured just 633cc.

The 600 was produced from 1955 to 1969, but the 100 Series engine, available in sizes of up to 1050cc, was still being used as late as 2000.

2. Renault 3: 603cc

The short-lived Renault 3 was a cheaper and simpler version of the already cheap and simple Renault 4.

At the time of their launch in 1961, both models were fitted with the Billancourt engine which had made its debut in their predecessor, the Renault 4CV (also known as the Renault 750).

In the 4, it retained its previous size of 747cc, but for the 3 it was given a narrower bore which reduced its capacity to 603cc.

3. Citroën Ami 6: 602cc

The Ami was mechanically very similar to the Citroën 2CV, but since it was also larger and heavier it was given an expanded 602cc version of the 2CV’s air-cooled flat-twin engine.

Other small Citroëns of the period would also be given this engine. These eventually included the 2CV itself, though that model soldiered on with the 435cc version until several years after the Ami’s debut in 1961.

4. Citroën LN: 602cc

When launched in 1976, the LN was essentially a three-door Peugeot 104 hatchback fitted with Citroën’s 602cc twin-cylinder engine.

This wasn’t Citroën’s best idea, and the LN was discontinued after just two years.

It was replaced in 1978 by the LNA, which was available with a more modern 652cc unit used in that year’s Citroën Visa, or two versions of a four-cylinder engine measuring 954cc and 1124cc.

5. Citroën Méhari: 602cc

Although it didn’t look like it, the Méhari open-topped utility vehicle was related to Citroën’s 2CV, Ami and Dyane saloons.

It was introduced in 1968, by which time Citroën had abandoned the smaller versions of the 2CV engine. The 602cc unit was therefore the only one offered in the Méhari.

6. smart: 599cc

Later known as the fortwo, the original smart city car was offered with a variety of three-cylinder turbocharged petrol and diesel engines.

The first of these measured 599cc, and was available with three power outputs of up to 61bhp – by far the highest of any engine included in this list.

The related smart roadster and roadster-coupé were fitted only with a later 698cc unit (or, in the case of a prototype developed by Brabus, two joined together to form a bi-turbo V6). They do not therefore qualify for inclusion here, though we thought they merited a brief mention.

7. Fiat 126: 594cc

Fiat’s replacement for the Nuova 500, which we’ll come to shortly, was only ever fitted with an inline two-cylinder engine. Its size varied during the lifetime of the car, though, reaching 704cc in later years.

The original unit, however, was notably smaller, at just 594cc. This engine was used for the first five years of production, until the end of 1977.

8. DKW F1: 584cc

DKW, the forerunner of today’s Audi, was the world’s leading producer of motorcycles – and of two-stroke engines – by the time it ventured into car manufacture in the late 1920s.

Its first four-wheeled model, the Typ P (Type P in English), had a 584cc inline two-cylinder engine which, of course, operated on the two-stroke cycle.

The same engine was used for several later DKW cars including the F1 of 1931-’32. Right up until the name change to Audi in the 1960s, the company was still building two-strokes, though by that time they had three cylinders and capacities exceeding one litre.

9. BMW 600: 582cc

The 600 was a larger, four-wheeled development of the Isetta bubble car which BMW began building in 1955.

The extra weight and drag compared with the little Isetta prompted BMW to fit a much larger and more powerful engine.

Although the three-wheeled Isetta could make do with a single cylinder, the 600 required two. Its capacity was well over double that of the unit used in the smaller car at 582cc.

Public enthusiasm for the 600 was muted. It was discontinued in 1959, when the Isetta still had three years of production life ahead of it.

10. Fiat 500 Topolino: 569cc

The first Fiat 500 was nicknamed ‘Topolino’, which means ‘little mouse’ in English and is also what Italians call Mickey Mouse.

It was manufactured from 1936 to 1955, with a radical redesign (as demonstrated in the picture above) in 1949.

Despite the visual change, every Topolino had the same engine, which measured 569cc. Compared with most others on this list, it had a notably ‘grown-up’ design, with four cylinders and water cooling.

11. Suzuki SC100: 539cc

Known in Japan as the first-generation Cervo, the SC100 was fitted with a 970cc four-cylinder engine.

In its home market, it had a 539cc three-cylinder two-stroke so that it would qualify for the local kei car regulations, which at the time specified a maximum capacity of 550cc.

In the UK, the SC100 was known informally as the Whizzkid. This would almost certainly not have happened if it had been sold here with the two-stroke, which produced only 28bhp.

12. NSU Spider: 497cc

The Spider was the first production car fitted with a rotary engine to the design of the German engineer Felix Wankel.

The relative capacities of piston and rotary engines has been a controversial subject for many years, but NSU’s single-rotor unit is generally accepted as measuring 497cc.

NSU produced the car from 1964 to 1967. Its charming appearance contrasts heavily with the staggering noise the engine makes if fitted with a megaphone exhaust for competition purposes.

13. Steyr-Puch 500: 493cc

Visually almost identical to the Fiat Nuova 500, this Austrian derivative featured Steyr-Puch’s own engine. Its two cylinders were horizontally opposed, rather than being mounted vertically and alongside each other as in the Fiat unit.

A remarkably successful car in its class in motorsport events, the 500 was available with engine sizes of up to 660cc, but in its original form it measured 493cc.

14. Morgan Runabout: 482cc

Morgan’s first production car was a three-wheeler which was fitted with several different engines during its production life.

At its launch in 1911, the choice was between single- or twin-cylinder units, both supplied by JA Prestwich. The former measured 482cc – by no means an unusual size for a JAP, but the smallest in Morgan’s long history.

The Runabout was the only car ever displayed in the shop window of the Harrods department store in London, which was briefly a Morgan agent.

15. Fiat Nuova 500: 479cc

The Nuova (‘new’) Fiat 500 was the almost immediate successor of the Topolino, launched two years after the earlier model was discontinued.

Its engine was much simpler, being air-cooled and having just two cylinders. It was also considerably smaller, at 479cc.

It wasn't until 1971, 16 years after production began and four before it ended, that the 500 finally received an engine larger than the Topolino’s, at 594cc. This was the same unit initially used for the Fiat 126, which came along in 1972.

16. Citroën Dyane: 425cc

The Dyane was an upmarket version of the 2CV and was fitted at one time or another with all but the earliest of the air-cooled flat-twin engines used in the older model.

These included the 435cc and 602cc units which powered nearly every Dyane ever built. However, for a few months after its launch in 1967 it was built with the 425cc engine which had been part of the 2CV range since the mid 1950s.

17. Vespa 400: 393cc

We enter the curious world of the sub-400cc car with the Vespa 400. This microcar was designed by Italian company Piaggio, manufacturer of the Vespa scooters.

However, it was built in France by ACMA, which also produced Vespa scooters under licence. The rear-mounted, two-cylinder, two-stroke engine measured 393cc – absurdly large for a scooter, but definitely on the small side for a European car launched in 1957.

Successful in its first year, the 400 quickly went into a decline; it was discontinued in 1961.

18. Citroën 2CV: 375cc

As previously mentioned, the 2CV was available at various times with air-cooled flat twins of 425cc, 435cc and 602cc.

None of these featured when the car made its war-delayed debut in 1948. The engine used then measured just 375cc, and produced a mere 9bhp.

Despite its lack of power, very basic specification and a design Citroën had started work on 12 years previously, the 2CV was, and remained, a big hit.

The 375cc engine was still being used in 1960, and the car itself remained in production for 30 years after that, latterly fitted only with the 602cc motor.

19. Suzulight: 359cc

Although it wasn’t badged as a Suzuki, the Suzulight was the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer’s first serious attempt to enter the car market.

It was available as a saloon, a van or a pick-up. All versions were front-wheel drive, with a 359cc air-cooled two-stroke engine mounted transversely under the bonnet.

The Suzulight made its debut in 1955 and remained in production until 1969, four years after the launch of the Suzuki Fronte.

20. Honda T360: 356cc

Honda’s first four-wheeled vehicle was the T360 pick-up truck, which was manufactured from 1963 to 1967.

Its power unit is believed to be the smallest four-cylinder engine ever put into production, at just 356cc. Other engines have been this size or smaller, but all of them had fewer cylinders.

Honda planned to use the 356cc unit in the very pretty S360 sports car, but the project was abandoned.

21. Mazda R360: 356cc

The R360 was the first Mazda passenger car. Launched in 1960, it was a two-seat coupé with a 356cc air-cooled V-twin engine mounted in the rear.

The related B360 pick-up truck used the same engine, but in this case it was mounted up front and drove the front wheels.

The Mazda P360 Carol four-seater was essentially a saloon version of the R360, but it had a very slightly larger water-cooled four-cylinder engine measuring 358cc.

22. Subaru 360: 356cc

It seems that 356cc was a popular engine size for Japanese manufacturers making their debut in car production.

Among several others mentioned here, it applied to the Subaru 360, whose engine was an air-cooled two-stroke inline twin mounted transversely in the rear.

Built from 1958 to 1971, the 360 was available with saloon, estate and convertible body styles. The Suzuki Sambar truck, introduced in 1961, used the same engine and platform.

23. Suzuki Fronte: 356cc

Unlike the earlier Suzulight, the Fronte of 1967 was the first vehicle to be sold as a Suzuki.

The name implied that the new car was front-engined and front-wheel drive, though in these respects it was no different from the Suzulight.

The engine was new, though. At 356cc, it was the smallest three-cylinder everput into production.

Unusually (but not uniquely) for cars in this list, the Fronte was driven by Stirling Moss, who was persuaded to take the wheel for a drive from Milan to Rome for publicity purposes.

24. Honda N360: 354cc

The N360 was the first of several Honda N cars with similar designs and various engine capacities produced from 1967.

The most powerful of these, known as the N600, was the first Honda officially imported to the US.

All versions had an inline two-cylinder engine with the increasingly unfashionable feature of air cooling. The unit in the N360 was the smallest of them, at just 354cc.

25. Lloyd 350: 347cc

Two completely different companies sharing the name Lloyd built cars which easily meet the sub-650cc requirement for inclusion here.

From 1936 until the outbreak of the Second World War, the Lloyd company of Grimsby produced a model called the 350.

It was powered by a rear-mounted 347cc Villiers engine which drove just one of the back wheels, by means of a chain.

A decade later, Lloyd introduced the much more powerful 600, but this can be mentioned only in passing because its engine measured 654cc.

26. Berkeley Sports: 322cc

Berkeley’s first car was produced very briefly in late 1956 and early 1957 with a 322cc air-cooled two-stroke twin supplied by British Anzani.

Like the Suzuki Fronte, the Berkeley Sports was publicised by Stirling Moss, who drove one round the Goodwood circuit on its first public showing.

The British Anzani engine was soon abandoned in favour of 328cc and later 492cc units built by Excelsior.

27. Lloyd 300: 293cc

The German Lloyd company was part of the Borgward Group, and had nothing to do with the Grimsby-based firm mentioned previously.

In 1950, this Lloyd introduced its first post-war model. The 300 was powered (to the extent of 10bhp) by a 293cc air-cooled twin which drove the front wheels.

The 300 was sold as a saloon, a coupé and an estate, before being replaced by the Lloyd 400 in 1953.

28. Renault Voiturette: 273cc

The single most important event in Renault’s history occurred on Christmas Eve 1898, when Louis Renault demonstrated that his prototype Voiturette could be driven up the steep Rue Lepic in Paris without stopping.

That car, and the production versions built to meet the demand created by the extraordinary climb, were all fitted with a 273cc De Dion-Bouton engine.

The public perception of acceptable engine sizes changed dramatically in the early 20th century. The engine in the Renault that won the 1906 French Grand Prix had a capacity of 13litres (approximately 12.7 litres more than the little De Dion-Bouton unit) and was not considered particularly large.

29. Lloyd 250: 250cc

As mentioned before, the GermanLloyd 350 was replaced by the Lloyd 400 in 1952.

The 400 (pictured) had a 386cc two-stroke twin-cylinder engine, and would therefore have appeared earlier in this list if it hadn't been for an even smaller-engined derivative which arrived in 1956.

The Lloyd 250 was almost identical to the 400, but its engine measured only 250cc and produced a particularly modest 11bhp.

Both the 250 and the 400 were discontinued in 1957.

30. Goggomobil: 245cc

Before being bought by BMW, Glas produced several models, latterly with engines of up to 3.0 litres.

It entered the motor industry far more modestly with the Goggomobil, which was introduced in 1955.

Goggomobils were offered with a wide variety of body styles, and with rear-mounted two-stroke engines of various sizes. The smallest of these measured just 245cc.

31. Isetta: 236cc

One of the most recognisable bubble cars of the 1950s, the Isetta was manufactured by several companies, including BMW.

It was originally developed by Iso, the Italian company which would go on to build exceptionally powerful sports cars.

For the Isetta (which means ‘little Iso’), the company created a 236cc two-stroke engine which drove the single rear wheel.

When BMW took over production, it abandoned the original engine and used its own 247cc unit instead. This was later expanded to 298cc for use in the Isetta 300.

32. Fuldamobil: 191cc

Based in the German city of the same name, Fulda manufactured several small cars under the name Fuldamobil throughout the 1950s and ’60s.

All of them had engines of under 360cc. The smallest was a 191cc air-cooled single-cylinder two-stroke produced by Fichtel & Sachs.

It was fitted to Fuldamobil Type S models sold from 1955 to 1965. Fulda switched to a 198cc Heinkel unit when Fichtel & Sachs discontinued its own engine.

33. Heinkel Kabine: 174cc

The Kabine three-wheeler, also known as the Cabin Cruiser, was built first in Warnemünde, Germany, then in Dundalk, Ireland and finally (as the Trojan 200) in Croydon, Greater London.

For the purposes of this article, the most interesting versions were the Model 150s built in Warnemünde in 1956 and 1957.

These had the smallest engines ever used by Heinkel/Trojan, measuring just 174cc. Similar single-cylinder four-stroke engines were fitted to other models, but they had capacities of around 200cc.

34. Messerschmitt KR175: 173cc

The KR175 was the first bubble car built in the Messerschmitt factory to a design by Fritz Fend.

It entered production in 1953 with a 173cc single-cylinder two-stroke produced by Fichtel & Sachs.

In 1955, the engine was replaced by the similar 191cc Fichtel & Sachs unit also used by Fulda, and the model name was changed to KR200.

35. Invacar: 147cc

As unlikely as it seems now for various reasons, the Invacar was a tiny, single-person vehicle distributed at no cost to disabled people in the UK.

The original engine was a 191cc single-cylinder air-cooled two-stroke supplied by Villiers, but this was replaced when Villiers stopped building it by a much larger Steyr-Puch unit.

All government-owned Invacars were eventually scrapped due to safety concerns, but some examples bought privately are still running.

36. Bond Minicar: 122cc

The Bond Minicar was produced in seven generations from 1949 to 1966.

The first version, retrospectively known as the Mark A, was originally fitted with a 122cc Villiers single-cylinder two-stroke engine when production began in January 1949.

A 197cc Villiers unit was added to the range in December of the same year. The 122cc motor had been discontinued by the time the Mark B came along in 1951.

37. Peel P50: 49cc

Peel was famously the only car manufacturer based on the Isle of Man, and its P50 model has been described as the smallest-engined production car ever built.

For its entire production life in the early to mid 1960s, the P50 was fitted with a single-cylinder 49cc engine normally used in DKW motorcycles. The smallest unit DKW ever used for its own cars (including the F1 mentioned previously) was nearly 12 times larger at 584cc.

Continuation versions of the P50 have been built since 2010. They are powered either by an electric motor or another 49cc engine, this time supplied by Honda.

38. Brütsch Mopetta: 48cc

Largely because of its appearance, the Mopetta is the best-known of a great many short-lived microcars designed in the 1950s by Egon Brütsch.

The size of its single-cylinder engine, designed by ILO to motorise pedal bikes, is often referred to as 50cc and more rarely as 49cc, but even these figures are exaggerations.

The official figure is 48cc. We’ll go with that, while quietly observing that the bore and stroke of 37mm and 44mm actually imply a capacity of 47cc.

This could mean that the Mopetta, rather than the Peel P50, is the world’s smallest-engined production car, but it depends on how you define ‘production car’. Only 14 Mopettas were ever built.