Farewell to the Hammond Microcar Museum

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Thursday 27th October was a sad day for microcar enthusiasts when one of the world's most prominent collections was dispersed at auction. Enthusiasts, including other major microcar collectors, travelled from around Britain and even from Europe to attend the sale of the Hammond Microcar Museum.

The collection started in 1976, when Edwin and Jean Hammond of Sidcup, Kent, were worried by their 16-year-old son's threats to buy a motorcycle. Fancying he'd be better off with an extra wheel, Edwin bought him a 1958 Heinkel which they restored as a father-and-son project. We're not sure what the son made of it, but Edwin was quite smitten, and, after moving to a farm in the Kent countryside, the collection grew and grew. Jean continued collecting after Edwin's death until the collection totalled around 47 cars (depending on whether certain derelict vehicles could be considered complete cars or not). Sadly, Jean can no longer sustain the collection on her own, hence the sale.

Some of the world's rarest cars

Among the cars offered, many are extremely rare or else completely unique, while others appeal simply because they come with lots of history. Many were bought as restoration projects which still require finishing, but others would be best kept as they are, recommissioned, and enjoyed with an 'oily rag' patina.

The collection included no fewer than four of the handful of surviving Champions (two 400 cabriolets and two 500G Kombis), the only survivor of two Opperman Stirlings plus an Opperman Unicar, and one of three surviving Allard Clippers, a marked departure from Allard's usual Ford V8-powered sports-cars which scarcely got off the ground due to trouble with the fibreglass moulds.

Endless variety and fascinating histories

Of particular interest were a handful of sans permis - French and Italian cars which could be driven by 14-year-olds without a licence - and an Eccles Executive, an electric cart designed for transporting shooting parties around country estates which had been made road-legal by a lady wanting to use it for shopping. The 1992 Moby, a stillborn prototype from Christchurch, Dorset, was amusingly reminiscent of the 1920s SEAL three-wheeler. The historical social importance of Trabants is well-known, but we especially enjoyed the provenance of the collection's pink example, which was liberated from East Berlin by schoolboys after the fall of the Berlin Wall and presented to their teacher as a leaving present, but she was too embarrassed to ever drive it...

It's a shame to see such a wonderful collection broken up, but hopefully all the lots have found good homes with enthusiasts who will get them back on the road, and give them the promotion they fully deserve.

Words and photos: Zack Stiling
 

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