Happy Friday — we’re back with more Hot Bones and another little newsletter spruce up.

If you’ve been in the HB community for a while, you’re probably used to these updates by now. Would you be surprised to learn I was the high schooler who had a flash drive full of docs titled things like essay.v5.finaledits.the.real.one.Iswear?

This time around, I was smart enough to enlist the help of badass local artist Able Six for the rebrand. If you like this vibe, I highly recommend his other work, including paintings of local landmarks like Monticello and Bodo’s.

Do one long thumb scroll for more Cville-specific updates like local events, cool houses, and pets to adopt.

🐶 Speaking of: Bigfoot! Adventure buddy and a snuggler with the perfect wet dog nose (6 months old, male, lab x hound mix).

Last week, before the Thanksgiving preparations really geared up, my father in law and I went to a museum in Nashville, TN. It’s called the Lane Motor Museum, and it’s full of some of the weirdest cars, bikes, and motorcycles you’ll ever see. It also added some helpful grist to my working theory that there are two types of people in the world: museum racers and museum dwellers.

There are people like me, who run through entire exhibits in 30 seconds flat, and then come back to the few things that really piqued our interest. Or perhaps more likely, we’ll forget the exhibit and just order a coffee and overpriced muffin in the gift shop until everyone else is done looking.

And then there are people like Kevin, my father in law, who read and retain every single word. On every single placard. Throughout the entire building.

We did start together, for what it’s worth.

“Okay, so do you want to go to the French Citroen exhibit first, and then work our way counterclockwise?” Kevin asked me.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

First up, a 1962 Citroen 2CV Sahara 4x4.

Nice, cool. What’s next.

The 1961 Citroen 2CV cutaway. Oooo pretty. What’s next.

Same for the next three. Que belle.

Not hearing any reactions from Kevin, I turned around. He was not beside me. He was standing beside that first 1962 Citroen 4x4, peering in every window, inspecting the gear shift, noting things like pistons and I dunno axles and carburetors and the specific threads of the upholstery stitching.

Then I looked out at the cathedral-like building we were in (it used to house one of the largest bakeries in the area), with high ceilings and clerestory windows. The floor was packed with cars of all shapes and sizes (amphibian cars, cars with propellers, cars with skis as wheels, motorcycles with a single wheel, a truck so large you can only view it out the observation window).

There’s no way we’re going to make it through all this, I thought.

“What time does the museum close, Kevin?” I yelled across the Citroens.

“Mmmm 4:30. We should be good.”

It was 2 pm.

And so it began.

Knowing virtually nothing about car mechanics, I kept strolling through the aisles, happy to be off work, happy to be hanging out with Kevin on a casual, nonpressurized afternoon. I’d skim the exhibit placards for key points like “this car retailed for one thousand dollars,” and “at the time it was considered an impractical novelty,” and “only three models were made and the inventor died driving one of them,” while of course Kevin was still reading up on the Citroens.

But eventually he caught up with me, because I’d stopped at the exhibit that was the whole reason for our visit: microcars.

Microcars are exactly what they sound like. Very small cars that were popularized in the 1950s and 60s in Europe because:

Like, come on.

You might also know microcars as “bubble cars,” made famous by BMW’s Isetta model where the front windshield is also the only access door. I want one so bad.

Alas, the microcar bubble burst in the late 60s, as an appetite for bigger cars increased and automakers were able to offer them at lower prices. It’s only been in the past decade or so that microcars have become something more than a collector item — especially as demand grows for just the last-mile transportation and as uber efficient, all-electric models crop up. Plus, a lot of people are tired of a $50k price tag for a gray minivan.

(From a sustainability standpoint, microcars are also excellent ways to reduce pollution, given that currently cars and trucks account for nearly one-fifth of all US emissions, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.)

Europe and Asia are way ahead of us on this, with plenty of microcar models available (like the Microlino, an electrified homage to the quintessential bubble car), as well as more lenient transportation laws around “low-speed vehicles” and what exactly “street legal” means.

In the U.S. we had the Smart car in the early aughts (flop), the Fiat 500 (still decently cool), and the tease of new models like the Telo mini-truck that’s the same size as a Mini with the flatbed space of a Tacoma. But it’s too soon to say how that one will land ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Which is why I was so eager to ogle over the vast microcar collection on display at the Lane Motor Museum, so much so that Kevin was actually the first one to start moving on to the next exhibit. Nice to marvel over the OGs.

“Which one would you drive off the lot?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Good question. Impossible question maybe. They’re all so cute.”

“You know, most of these have antique Tennessee license plates on them already.”

“So what you’re saying is we really could drive one off the lot.”

“But which one?”

And now it’s the time of the newsletter where we turn into the NY Times real estate game.

There were a handful of microcars on display, but Kevin and Charlotte were keen on finding the perfect one to drive straight out the entrance doors of the museum, veering onto I-64, under the wheels of one million Ford F-150s rolling coal, and eventually all the way home to Charlottesville, VA.

These are whimsical cars, so why not be dreamy for a moment?

Among their options:

The 1958 Vespa 400

Vespa made one microcar model before it fully settled into its scooter phase, although it never produced them in Italy for fear of cannibalizing its two-wheeled audience.

This cutie is a 3-speed manual convertible, with a max speed of 55 mph.

Original price: $1,080

The 1962 Mazda R360

One of the most iconic Japanese kei cars (microcars), the R360 was Mazda’s first passenger car and it was an instant hit. This is one of only a few hundred produced with left-hand drive.

The small, lightweight car is a 4-speed manual (with reverse!). Top speed: 55 mph.

Original price: $830

The 1964 Peel P50

The smallest vehicle at the Lane Motor Museum (you could probably fit it into a bathroom stall), this microcar is listed in the Guinness World Record Book as the “smallest street-legal car.”

Built by the Peel Engineering Company on the Isle of Man in the 60s, it topped out at 25 mph. It’s 3-speed with no reverse, but that’s because it’s so light you can just pick up the back end and shift it into your ideal parking spot.

Original price: $500

Find out what happened next by answering these two questions:

Thanks for playing the HB Hunt. I highly recommend visiting the Lane Motor Museum the next time you’re in Nashville — it may even turn you into a museum dweller. And many thanks to Kevin for inspiring the trip and teaching me about car engines on the drive home, even if we couldn’t manage to “borrow” the tiny red Vespa this time around.

Long nose snow dog this morning

🎁 So much holiday stuff the Grinch would explode:

🏠 Farmhouse of the week: This newly renovated 1920’s stucco house looks pretty turnkey, including original heart pine floors, some big ole closets, and a fenced yard (2 bed, 3 bath, $575k in Belmont). Don’t look at what it was purchased for in 1999.

🏡 Cool rental of the week: Bungalow in Belmont with solar panels, a renovated kitchen, and a huge yard (2 beds, 1 bath, $2,150/mo).

📚 Read of the week: The Moms Lit Society returns next Tuesday to discuss Johanna Porter Is Not Sorry by Sarah Read (Starr Hill Brewery in the Dairy Market, 6:30 pm). These quarterly book clubs are designed to help moms relax, recharge, and connect with other thoughtful women in the community.

🙌 Meal of the week: Indivisible is launching a monthly Dine to Donate series, and this Monday, Dec 8 you can eat at Beer Run and they’ll donate 20% of all food proceeds to Food Sharing Is Caring (a grassroots program that ensures people in Cville have access to free, nutritious meals).

💼 Job of the week: Strategic Partnerships Manager at Protect Our Winters (remote, $75k - $85k).

Have an event or rec you’d like to share? Hiring? Interested in advertising?

Share any and all info here.