Few manufacturers before or since have believed in their product as much as Roy Evans did.

The creator of the American Austin refused to give up after the tiny little car failed in 1934, and by 1937, a revised and modernized version, the American Bantam, was rolling out of the factory in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The car’s basic 50 cubic-inch four-cylinder engine was pepped up somewhat, with the able assistance of famed racing engineer Harry Miller, while Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky skillfully updated the Bantam line with a streamlined design very much of the moment, earning the princely sum of $300 for his services.

The Bantam, like the Austin before it, was a car ahead of its time.

It was small, incredibly economical, and, for lack of a better word, adorable.

Those qualities, which work so well for sales of today’s small cars, did not impress buyers of the late 1930s.

Fewer than 7,000 were produced before production ended for good in 1941.

Sadly, this was shortly before many Banta...