microcarfan
  • Licence-free car
  • Italy
  • Three wheels
  • Steel body

Casalini Sulky

Also known as Willam Sulky

A steel car in a class of plastic ones, its single front wheel steered through a chain and sprockets, and in production for 25 years, longer than most of its rivals.

Small turquoise single-seat microcar with an upright windscreen, a white bumper and one central lamp, among other small cars on gravel.
A 1979 Willam Sulky, the French-market Casalini Sulky, at the Musée Automobile Reims Champagne in 2010.Photo: AlfvanBeem, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

The spec plate

Casalini Sulky

Sulky IIF · Piacenza

Built
1969–⁠1994Shown at Milan in 1969; the last left the line in 1994
Country
ItalyPiacenza; sold in France as a Willam
Maker
Casalini, PiacenzaFounded in 1939 by Giovanni Casalini
Engine
49.5 cc Minarelli two-stroke singleMounted behind the rear axle; later BCB and Sachs engines, 125 cc units and a diesel
Power
2.2 hpAbout 1.6 kW
Length
1,850 mm1,150 mm wide
Seats
1Two in the enlarged body
Wheels
3One at the front, steered by chain; the engine behind the rear axle. Four wheels from 1980
Production
about 20,000Over 25 years, by the old site’s count
Top speed
45km/h45 km/h28 mph, by the Weiner museum’s card

Not yet recordedweight.

How big is it?

True proportion

1.85 m

It is 1,120 mm shorter than a Fiat 500, about 1.1 adults laid end to end.

  • 1.15 m wide
  • One seat at first, two in the enlarged body
Drawn at true proportion. The track is 3.6 metres long; the adult stands at the same scale. The Peel P50 is the smallest production car, on every page for comparison.

The story

History

Giovanni Casalini founded his company at Piacenza in 1939.12 For its first decades it made things to do with transport but not cars: in the 1950s a moped, the David, and then, because customers asked for them, motor tricycles.12 The Sulky was presented at the Milan Cycle and Motorcycle Show in 1969.1 The German Wikipedia says production began in 1971; both can be true if the show car came first.3

It was an Italian microcar sold in France as a voiturette sans permis, a licence-free car, and almost everything else in that class was glass fibre; the Sulky had a self-supporting body of sheet steel.12 The first one seated one person, with a generous boot, on 12-inch wheels. A 50 cc or 60 cc Minarelli two-stroke hung out behind the rear axle and drove both rear wheels through a three-speed gearbox, started with a pull cord. The driver turned a steering wheel, and a chain and sprockets turned the single front wheel. The brakes were hydraulic.1 The English Wikipedia gives the first engine as a 49.6 cc Vespa TL3 instead, but two sources say Minarelli.24

A Willam in France

Most Sulkys were sold in France, Austria, the Netherlands and Portugal.1 In France it is a familiar car because Willam, the Lambretta importer who also sold the Willam City, put its own name on it.14 The English Wikipedia says a four-wheeled “Willam Lambretta” was built for export only; the Weiner museum says that four-wheeler, from 1980, was called the Bretta or the David in France, and came as a Break as well.24

With sales of 1000 per year, Casalini long outlived the other Italian makes.

The Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum, about 2002, describing the Willam Sulky of 1977 in its collection.4

Growing a second seat

The first and biggest change, the old site says, was to make the Sulky bigger without changing its name and hardly its profile. It gained a real second seat, and the steering wheel moved to a more usual position.1 The bigger body made room for a fourth wheel. The three-wheeler stayed in the catalogue with the new body, but the four-wheeler took most of the sales.1 Engines came from BCB, Minarelli and Sachs at 50 cc, with 125 cc units too, manual or automatic, and finally a 325 cc Lombardini diesel. The late cars had plastic bumpers and a dummy grille, separate seats, outsize rear lamps and the door handles of a Fiat Ritmo.1

The collector behind the original microcarfan.com put its long life down to good timing, sound construction, classic shapes and keeping up with fashion.1

25 ans de carrière et 20000 véhicules vendus !

The author of the original microcarfan.com, on its Casalini page, 2007. In English: “A 25-year career and 20,000 vehicles sold!”1

After the Sulky

The last Sulky left the line in 1994. Its replacement, the Kore 500, was built to suit Europe’s ever stricter rules.12 Italy adopted the European quadricycle directive that year, and Casalini went on to the Sulkydea (1996), the Ydea (2000), a new car called Sulky (2008), the M10 (2010) and the Kerry utility.2 The German Wikipedia lists a later M20 range, including an M20 Speciale of 2021 limited to 11 cars.3 Casalini still trades, and calls itself one of the oldest microcar makers in the world.2

Blue boxy microcar with a grey front grille panel and chrome side strips, parked on grass in front of a block of flats.
A blue two-seat Casalini Sulky on a lawn in Finland in 2013.Photo: Tommi Nummelin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Green boxy microcar with four wheels and a black side stripe, parked on wet paving with a supermarket billboard behind.
A green four-wheeled Casalini Sulky in a wet car park in Salerno in 2019.Photo: GinaCostanza76, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pictures

More photographs, old and new

The car 5

  • White boxy microcar with a black waist stripe parked on fallen leaves under young trees, a silver estate car behind. Opens a larger view

    1 A cream Casalini Sulky with a black side stripe, parked under trees in Italy in 2011.

  • Weathered maroon boxy two-door microcar on a brick pavement, bicycles to its left and a bollard beside its door. Opens a larger view

    2 A maroon Casalini Sulky, its side strip reading “casalini Piacenza-Italy”, parked among bicycles in The Hague in 2012.

  • Side view of a boxy maroon two-seat microcar with large windows and small wheels beside a green iron railing. Opens a larger view

    3 Maroon four-wheeled Casalini Sulky microcar parked by a canal railing in Amsterdam in August 2008.

  • Side view of a small orange-red three-wheeled microcar with a sloping nose parked against a pale green wall. Opens a larger view

    4 Red three-wheeled Casalini Sulky parked against a wall in an Italian street in May 2005.

  • Front view of a narrow turquoise microcar with a flat nose, a white bumper and a large upright windscreen. Opens a larger view

    5 A 1979 Willam Sulky head-on in 2010, showing how narrow the first body is.

Variants and relatives 3

  • Small blue modern pick-up with alloy wheels, a roll bar and an aluminium drop-side load bed, in a yard. Opens a larger view

    6 A blue Casalini Sulky pick-up, the modern model that revived the name from 2008, photographed in 2009.

  • Rusting white boxy microcar with writing chalked on its windows, its bumper and a wheel lying on the paving beside it. Opens a larger view

    7 A derelict four-wheeled Casalini Sulky outside Platform21 in Amsterdam in 2009.

  • Red boxy microcar with a grey grille panel and bumper, square headlamps and white-wall tyres, parked on block paving. Opens a larger view

    8 A red later-series Casalini Sulky in 2019.

Picture credits (8)
  1. 1 Massimilianogalardi, CC BY-SA 3.0
  2. 2 FaceMePLS from The Hague, The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0
  3. 3 Ahzaryamed, CC BY-SA 3.0
  4. 4 Christian Späth, Public domain
  5. 5 AlfvanBeem, CC0
  6. 6 Annemarie386, Public domain
  7. 7 Arne Hendriks from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0
  8. 8 Kirchenfan, CC0

Variants

One name for 25 years

The Sulky family
VariantYearsWhat differsHow many
Sulky, first generation1969–c.1980One seat, a steel body, 12 in wheels, chain steeringOver 10,000, says the English Wikipedia
Sulky IIFc.1977The Weiner museum’s car: three speeds and reverse, electric startNot known
Enlarged Sulky, three wheels1970s–1994A bigger body, a real second seat, the wheel in a more usual placeNot known
Four-wheel Sulky (Willam Lambretta, Bretta or David)1980–⁠1994A fourth wheel; a Break (estate) body available; later a dieselMost of the later sales

Specification

The Sulky IIF, from the Weiner museum’s card unless noted

Engine and drive

EngineMinarelli two-stroke single, 49.5 cc, 2.2 hp50 or 60 cc Minarelli on the first cars (old site); a 49.6 cc Vespa TL3 (English Wikipedia)
GearboxThree speeds and reverseThree speeds on the first generation
StarterElectricA pull cord on the first generation
DriveBoth rear wheels, from behind the axle1

Body and chassis

BodySteelA steel monocoque in the old site and the English Wikipedia; steel on a tube frame in the Weiner card
SuspensionCoil springs front and rear
SteeringA wheel, turning the front wheel by chain and sprockets1The Weiner card says rack and pinion
BrakesHydraulic14
Wheels3.00 × 12 in14

Dimensions

Length1,850 mm
Width1,150 mm
Weight350 kgHigh for a 50 cc single-seater; perhaps a gross weight

Performance and running

Top speed45 km/h (28 mph)
Electrics12 V
Price newNot found

How many were built?

Every figure, with its source

About 20,000 in 25 yearsThe old site’s 20,000 is the figure we give, because the Weiner museum’s 1,000 a year fits it. Neither has a second source.

  1. about 20,000all Sulkys, 1969–⁠1994One source

    The original microcarfan.com1

  2. over 10,000the first SulkyOne source

    English Wikipedia2

  3. about 1,000 a yearsalesOne source

    Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum4

  • Two sources agreetwo good sources give the figure
  • One sourcea good source, alone
  • Unconfirmeda lead only, not yet checked

Famous for

Three points

  1. Twenty-five years

    From the Milan show of 1969 to 1994, longer than most of its rivals lasted.

  2. Steel, not plastic

    A sheet-steel body in a class almost entirely of glass fibre.

  3. Steering by chain

    On the first cars the wheel turned the single front wheel through a chain and sprockets.

Survivors and collecting

Today

A 1977 Willam Sulky, the IIF described in the specification, was in the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum.4 No survivor count, club or serious auction result has been found. The firm itself carries on, its present-day quadricycles the Sulky’s successors.23

Blue modern two-door microcar with slim headlamps and a white CASALINI plate on its nose, parked under trees.
A blue Casalini M20, the Sulky’s present-day descendant, in Cannes in 2025.Photo: Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Numbered as in the text

Most of the Sulky’s model history rests on one collector’s account, the old microcarfan.com; no period road test, price list or yearly figures were found. Sources are given as plain text; the links are on the Credits page.

  1. The original microcarfan.com (2006–⁠2016), marque page “CASALINI” (2007), one collector’s account, read in full from the archived copy. Its dimension tables were images and did not survive.
  2. English Wikipedia, Casalini, citing Mobil & Motor, 23 November 1981.
  3. German Wikipedia, Casalini.
  4. Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum, “1977 Willam Sulky”, tour page, read via the Internet Archive.