The Fairthorpe Micro, a 1950s British microcar, featured a rear axle mounted on a pivot pin that allowed the entire rear end to be manually rotated by hand for tight-space maneuvering, yet the feature was so rarely used in practice that owners often forgot it existed—making one of the most innovative packaging solutions in automotive history functionally useless because drivers simply preferred to drive forward and backward repeatedly rather than physically rotate their car by hand.
Car Fact #92 — September 16, 2026
