Attica 200

Georgios Dimitriadis ran Bioplastic, a maker of glass-fibre panels and boats, in Moschato, Athens, or in neighbouring Piraeus, by other accounts.source 1source 2source 3 In 1958 he had designed a small four-wheeled car of his own, the Dimitriadis 505. It got no help from the state, and he judged that it could not pay against three-wheelers, which Greek law did not put in the same tax and other categories as four-wheeled cars: they were classed as motorcycles.source 1source 3source 4 Instead he took a licence for the Fuldamobil, a German bubble-shaped three-wheeler (see bubble cars), with a pair of wheels in front and a single one behind. English Wikipedia notes that a design already approved abroad was much easier to get certified for production in Greece.source 1source 2

When production began is disputed. English Wikipedia, citing the Greek reference books, and the dealer who sold a 1967 car give 1962; German Wikipedia, citing the German encyclopaedias, and the Small Cars Club date the licence to 1964.source 1source 5source 2source 3 The car was built with few changes from the German one.source 1source 3 Most sources give it Heinkel’s 198 cc four-stroke single, with four speeds and reverse; English Wikipedia adds Sachs engines and Attica’s own, all of about 200 cc.source 1source 2source 5source 3 The Attica 200 was very popular in Greece and is still remembered there, yet Georgano’s encyclopaedia and the Small Cars Club put the closed cars at only about 100.source 1source 2source 3 It belongs to the Fuldamobil’s wide licence family, with the Nobel 200 in Britain, the Fram King Fulda in Sweden, the Bambino 200 in the Netherlands and the Bambi in Argentina (more cars built under licence).source 6

A beach car, a truck and an Israeli four-wheeler

In 1966 came the Cabrioletta, an open beach car with no doors, a frameless windscreen, a sun canopy and wicker seats for four; the Small Cars Club counts five built. English Wikipedia says Attica developed two different open versions, and there was also a convertible prototype.source 3source 1 In 1968 the design became a light truck, the Delta: the rear half of the 200 served as the truck’s front end, now on a single front wheel, and it sold modestly.source 1source 2 Attica also built a four-wheeler, the Carmel 12 of 1965, under licence from Autocars of Israel, whose own cars were based on Reliants; it was assembled mostly from imported parts, and about 100 were made.source 1source 2

The 200 ended in 1971, or 1972 by the Small Cars Club’s account.source 1source 5source 3 German Wikipedia says Bioplastic ran into money trouble in 1968 and sold its licence to Alta, which built a three-wheeler of its own, the Alta A200; no other source read says so.source 2

Before the Attica, Georgios Dimitriadis tried four wheels. His 505 of 1958 was a light car of his own design, shown at Greek exhibitions; a photograph shows it at a trade fair with the minister of industry, Nikolaos Martis. It won no support from the state, and Dimitriadis decided it could not make money against three-wheelers taxed as motorcycles.source 4source 1 Its engine, size and fate are not recorded in the sources read.

Alta of Athens, founded in 1962, built motorcycles and three-wheeled trucks. In 1968 it brought out a car of its own, also based on the Fuldamobil and with a Heinkel 200 cc engine, but with Alta’s own body. Production later moved to Elefsina, and Alta carried on until 1978.source 7 How many A200s were built is not recorded.

The same tax rule that made the Attica bred a whole industry of three-wheeled trucks. Styl Kar built its first by 1959, moved to Athens in 1965 and opened a larger factory in 1967, where it made its most successful model, the Volkswagen-engined 1300; “thousands” were built.source 8 Under the military government of 1967–⁠74 the rules for type approval were relaxed and three-wheelers kept their favourable tax treatment.source 8 MotorCar built tipper trucks with Volkswagen or German Ford engines from 1967 to 1971; they were classed to carry 350 kg and in practice carried up to two tonnes.source 9 Alta made three-wheeled trucks from 1962, and Attica’s own Delta of 1968 was built from the 200’s body.source 7source 1

BET stood for Biotechnia Ellinikon Trikyklon, “Greek three-wheeler manufacturer”, a firm founded in Athens by Petros Konstantinou. It began by turning BMW and other motorcycles into light three-wheeled carriers, a Greek trade that went back to the early 1940s.source 10source 11 In 1965 it built a five-seat passenger three-wheeler with a 125 cc BMW motorcycle engine; it was approved, but only one was made, because the parts for production could not be had.source 10source 11 Three-wheeled trucks followed.source 10source 11

The Model 500 of 1973 had a metal body, seats for up to five and the twin-cylinder engine of the Fiat 500: 500 cc by the two Wikipedias, 594 cc by English Wikipedia’s list of microcars by country.source 10source 11source 12 English Wikipedia, drawing on the Greek reference books, says it handled very well and was rather advanced for its time. It was approved for production, and 15 were built before BET stopped in 1975; talks with a South African company about exports, or about moving production there, came to nothing.source 10source 11 Some survive, by English Wikipedia’s account; German Wikipedia says one.source 10source 11 No picture, size or wheel layout of the 500 has been confirmed.

Dimitriadis had one more car to show. In 1977 he turned Bioplastic into DIM Motor and showed a car, the DIM, at the Geneva show; only a few were made.source 1 Little else about it is recorded in the sources read.

About ten Attica 200s are thought to survive, by a dealer’s estimate.source 5 One of them, a 1967 second-series car, chassis 3-3179, came from its first owner around 1999 or 2000 with under 8,500 km on it, was restored in 2000–⁠02, and has covered about 200 km since; it has been on the cover of a Greek magazine and won at concours.source 5 Nobody seems to keep a register of the cars, and no club has been found.