Friday Lady's funny toy: introducing the Ferbedo of Nuremberg

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This picture came from the Dutch National Archives and apparently found its way there through the collection of Het Leven (Life) magazine. Information is limited and tells us: “German automobile (‘Fervedo’), a two-seater microcar. Nuremberg, circa 1925. No further details known.”

That initially sent us in the wrong direction since we couldn’t find anything about a microcar or cyclecar named Fervedo whatsoever, but then we zoomed in on the picture and found that the name on that shiny bonnet looked more like Ferbedo instead. Well, that’s what it is—Ferbedo was a manufacturer of tin toys, scooters and pedal cars established by Ferdinand Bethäuser in Doos (hence FerBeDo), a district of Nuremberg. We also found that, styling-wise, the company’s pedal cars of the 1920s weren’t totally unlike this contrivance, either!

Ferbedo’s motoring venture didn’t last long though. The vehicle didn’t appear until after Bethäuser Sr. passed away in 1923 and his son Wilhelm had taken over. Wilhelm must have been the one who decided it might be a good idea to upgrade to 1:1 cars, if you can call that 1:1. The Ferbedo microcar was a three-seater which the driver straddled with up to two passengers behind them. It used a single-cylinder engine of 1.9hp supplied by a company named Breuer—if that is correct, we couldn’t find more about it. The Ferbedo car didn’t quite catch on as Wilhelm must have hoped, though, and production is believed to have stopped after 1926 with an unknown number of vehicles manufactured. We learnt that the project was taken over and marketed as the TOM later on, but again information is very limited.

After the three-seater, Ferbedo concentrated on its toys again, and with great success, too. By 1966 the manufacturer apparently exported its scooters and pedal cars to more than 80 countries. The company has been going through some rough times since, but the Ferbedo name still exists to this day.

Words Jeroen Booij; Picture: Dutch National Archives

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