The Mazda HR-X2 Hydrogen Concept

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Unveiled at the 1993 Tokyo Motor show and now is on display at the Mazda Museum in Hiroshima Japan, the HR-X2 concept car featured a Hydrogen rotary engine. This car adopted metal-hydride to carry hydrogen fuel safely. Although range was only 150 miles a tank full it was considered a breakthrough with the new hydrogen fuel. The range was affected by the level of safety equipment required to transport the explosive fuel. Performance was as good as a normal family sedan. The body was also an environmental wonder with all of it being recyclable.

The Toyota PM for Personal Mobility

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Toyota has recently made a few interesting personal travel vehicles as concept show cars and the PM is no exception. Toyota’s vision is to join vehicles together as a mobile community communicating wirelessly with one another in an effort to assist safety and ease congestion and work in a series using auto pilot. The car even has emotions with led technology changing colour when the vehicle is in a particular mood. The cabin is built for one person and at lower speeds and for exit and entry to the vehicle the cabin is more upright like the photo we took at Toyota’s massive MegaWeb in Tokyo. When the vehicle is traveling at higher speeds the carriage lies back more giving it a more racing feel. The vehicle features a electric engine and is steered using a joystick. To enter the vehicle the whole bonnet and windscreen lift open a bit like a cocoon. The turning circle is rather impressive being able to do a donut in 1.2 metres. It will be interesting to see how long it will be before we are all driving around in these weird vehicles.

A20/35 1st Series Toyota Celica GT

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The Celica has been one of Toyota’s best loved sports inspired cars spanning over 30 years and seven generations. The 1st generation has become a real classic with its Mustang styling cues. The car made its debut at the 1970 Tokyo Motorshow and went on to conquer the word. The GT was the sportiest of the Celica range with body striping, and mean hood vents. The pillar less windows on the coupe gave the car a fresh and timeless style and have become a sought after collectors car in recent years. This lovely yellow example of the GT coupe was photographed on display at the magnificent Toyota Automotive Museum in Nagoya, Japan.

A Concorde up a pole

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Transeum is more than just cars, its all things transport so we thought it was about time we featured a plane, and there is no better than the majestic Concorde. The Concorde was the first and only supersonic passenger jet, although the Russians nearly had one working, we will feature that in a few days time. There were only 16 production Concordes ever produced all being flown by either British Airways or Air France. Today most of the Concordes are on display at museums or airports around the world after their grounding a few years back. F-BVFB the 7th Concorde to be produced made her maiden flight in March 1976 and today stands proudly at the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum, South West Germany an hour or so’s drive from Stuttgart. The museum is an amazing transport center with all types of cars, boats, military machinery, planes and jets. The two biggest draw cards are the Concorde and the Russian Tupolev TU-144.

The Canta Microcar starting at 11,500 euros – wow!

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Well looking at our photo, you might think we have done some bad resizing, but no this is the actual shape of the Canta Microcar. We found this little red vehicle parked on a footpath in Amsterdam and thought it was too good to pass by without taking a photograph. There is really only enough room for a single occupant, and not a real big on either. The vehicle is produced by a company called Waaijenberg Company, and the vehicle is very popular with people who have a disability or an illness that affects their mobility. The Canta measures a tiny 1.10m wide, 2.30m long and 1.65m high. Conveniently this measurement also happens to be the maximum measurements for a disabled vehicle for which no driving license or parking permit is required. The car is usually only seen in the cities and strangely unusually red, the car has a 45kmh speed limit. Now you might think small, and slow, it’s going to be cheap, well you are wrong the starting price is around 11,500 euros, and with various ad ons the price can rise to 17,000 euros, but if you are disabled you can get some help from the city and they will subsidise some of the cost.

Aixam Mega Truck

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For Transeum’s first truck story we thought we would feature the Aixam Mega Truck because it is not only practical it is so cute! These trucks come from Lyon in France, we took this shot at the Paris Motor Show and really wanted to bring it home. The vehicle has been designed to be a low environmental impact utility vehicle which has been built for short hauls around cities. It has an aluminum chassis and most of its body parts are made up of polycarbonate panels and parts. There are two choices for power plant, either a diesel or a very environmentally friendly zero emission electric engine. The basic truck is just under three metres long, and one and a half metres wide and has a payload of 425 kg for the electric and 460 for the diesel. Being so light it is an ideal vehicle to use in cities and as the body is so safe it is very pedestrian friendly, a lot of councils, and even hospitals and resorts across Europe are switching to these vehicles for street sweeping and other city duties. And just as a final point to this vehicles environmental credentials- the truck is 100% recyclable once its life is over.

Sachsenring P 240 Repräsentant

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This ‘beautiful’ four door open top vehicle is the 1969 Sachsenring P240 Reprasentant it was built by the Sachsenring factory which was also responsible for the Trabant East Germany. The car was not sold to the public it was used primarily for military parades and to cart the Communist leaders around in style. The car was pretty much a normal P-240 which didn’t look half as impressive. It was powered by a Horch 6 cylinder engine which was a pre war design pumping out a throbbing 80 hp from the 2407 cc engine. Other favorites for the Communist leaders included the Czech Tatra, the Russian Zil and Gaz but none were anywhere as striking as this handsome vehicle which was seen at the Trabant museum in Zwickau, Germany.

Toyota’s smart little Crayon

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The tiny Toyota Crayon is a short range transport system which is being ran by Toyota in Toyota City which is just outside Nagoya in Japan. These cute little vehicles are electric and are used as share cars throughout the city. This ingenious trial uses a fleet of the Crayon cars which can be hired for short trips through Toyota City. There are stations all over the city where the vehicles can be left and charged for the next user. Toyota is also experimenting with high technology like self driving systems on these vehicles; people can take a ride on one of these IMTS (Intelligent Multi Mode Transit System) Crayon vehicles on a special test track at Toyota’s huge showroom, Toyota MegaWeb at Odaiba on Tokyo’s waterfront.