May 29, 2018 • Uncategorized •

Wow, this thing is small. As in being over a foot shorter than a Subaru 360 sort of small. That’s small. This is a 1953 Mochet CM-125 Grand Luxe and it’s listed on eBay as a classified ad in Brentwood, United Kingdom. The seller is asking a not-small price of ­£4,750 ($6,321) for this unusual micro car.

Charles Mochet owned a company in France making adult pedal cars, as odd as that sounds to most of us or at least those of us in the US. These pedal cars were made from the mid-1920s until sometime during WWII. They also made engine-assisted pedal cars. The pedals finally went away after WWII and their cars were powered solely by engines under the direction of his son, George.

If they kept the engines below 125cc the drivers didn’t need an operator’s license so these were “sans permis” cars, hence the 125 part of the name. Of course, the CM is for Charles Mochet. Could you imagine a few hundred of these buzzing around your neighborhood?

As you can tell this example needs a lot of help but at around 8-feet in length it shouldn’t take up too much room in your garage as you restore it. They don’t come up for sale too often but they have sold for $20,000+ in the past in restored condition. You can see the bicycle-like wheels and within a couple of years they would have disc wheels.

Unfortunately for owners of these small cars, and for the Mochet company, in 1958 the French government changed the rules to only allow 50cc vehicles to be driven sans permis. Business dropped dramatically and Mochet decided to end production. These are cars that really only appeal to those of us who like and appreciate unusual vehicles and are interested in learning about anything and everything related to vehicles of all types. Which is to say that this car most likely won’t be too popular other than in a pretty tight group of micro car enthusiasts. Have any of you heard of a Mochet?