Pente 500

08.08.2019 admin 0 Pente,

At the end of World War II, approx. in 1944 János Pentelényi started designing a small car. In 1945, while working on reviving the motorcycle industry in one of the workshops of the wrecked Weiss Manfréd Works, he did not forget his small car.

The Pente 500 is a small family car built in 1946. It had a two-stroke two-cylinder engine had a displacement of 500 cc, 15 horsepower. The microcar weighed 560 kg, carried 4 people and had a fuel consumption of 6 liters per 100 km.

To make at least some decent weight distribution and gain space for luggage, János Pentelényi placed the engine over the rear axle. Moreover, what is interesting: the engine was joined with a differential, as in front-wheel drive cars, but located in the rear. The microcar was completely ready for launch in a series by 1946. However, the first “Pente 500” was only released in February 1947. It was the first prototype with ‘PROBA 010’ license plate which had driven 100,000 kilometers without any problems.

János Pentelényi was born on June 12, 1911 in Sopron. In 1929, after graduation, János was a student at the József Nádor Technical University in Budapest, where he joined the Circle of Sports Aircraft of the Technical University. With an interest in motorsport, he enrolled in the Weimar Automobile and Aircraft School in 1930 and obtained an outstanding diploma there in 1933. After finishing his studies, he returned to Hungary and worked in Csepel at Weiss Manfréd Steel and Metal Works Ltd.