The KR175 had four forward gears and literally no reverse — to back up, the driver just ran the two-stroke engine backwards.
Lead trim: KR175 173 cc Fichtel & Sachs single
Messerschmitt KR175KR175 · 1953–1955
- 0spots by members
- Unclaimednobody has spotted one yet
- 0sets it belongs to
Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Messerschmitt KR175 yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactThe KR175 had four forward gears and literally no reverse — to back up, the driver just ran the two-stroke engine backwards.
The Messerschmitt KR175, the first vehicle Messerschmitt built under its 1952 agreement with aircraft engineer Fritz Fend, developed his Fend Flitzer invalid carriage into a rear-mid-engined, rear-wheel-drive tandem-seat microcar with a canopy hatch and all-steel tubular space-frame construction; a separate company, Regensburger Stahl- und Metallbau GmbH, was set up to build and market it under the Messerschmitt name. About 15,000 were built (70 design changes were needed between February and June 1953 alone) before the KR200 replaced it in 1955; it was also license-built in Italy as the Mivalino. A 173 cc air-cooled Fichtel & Sachs single-cylinder two-stroke, centrally mounted just behind the passenger seat, drove a four-speed sequential, unsynchronised gearbox with no reverse; pull-rope start was standard, with an electric starter optional (standard from 1954). Wheelbase 2.029 m (6 ft 7.9 in), length 2.820 m (9 ft 3.0 in), width 1.220 m (4 ft 0 in), height 1.200 m (3 ft 11.2 in), curb weight 220 kg (485 lb); the page gives these in feet-and-inches rather than decimal inches, and the registry's 50 in width floor and 800 lb weight floor reject the 48 in / 485 lb figures anyway, so none of curb weight/wheelbase/length/height/width is entered.
Collectors Spotted in the Messerschmitt KR175 Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Messerschmitt KR175 yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
One published trim in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KR175 173 cc Fichtel & Sachs single | 1953–1955 | 0.2 L Single-cylinder | — | — | — | RWD | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
The Celica XX, Japan's name for the A60 Supra, introduced the world's first in-car navigation computer.
The CTR Anniversary looks like a 911 but Ruf built its carbon monocoque from scratch, no Porsche body underneath.
The 228's coupe styling hides a sedan underneath: Maserati stretched it onto the longer four-door Biturbo chassis to make room for its biggest V6, which is literally where the name comes from — 2-door, 2.8 litre.
Switching to fuel injection let this V8 finally shed its trademark bonnet bulge — and only 405 of these flat-hooded Series 5 cars were built before the whole model retired in 1989.
Japanese buyers got a secret weapon in their MX-6 — the JDM-only KL-ZE V6 made about 40 more horsepower than the engine sold in the exact same car in North America.
An American tuner, Callaway Cars, built twin-turbo conversions of the GTV6 that boosted its V6 by fifty percent to 230 hp — turning Alfa's grand tourer into something far quicker than the factory ever intended.
Audi TTS Coupe · TTS Coupe (2016–2023) · 2016–2023.
A product of the DaimlerChrysler merger, the Crossfire shares 80% of its parts with the Mercedes-Benz SLK — German bones under American badges.