THE SPARROW STORY
Micro-Car Concepts with Don Varner, 2000 to 2003
While Corbin Motors was building Sparrows, Mike Corbin also worked with automotive designer Don Varner on a series of micro-vehicle concepts between 2000 and 2003. One of them was an inner-city delivery van.
From the Sparrow archive. Product plans, events and availability described here belong to the original historical period.
Applying the small-footprint idea
The Sparrow proved that a vehicle could be sized to its actual task rather than to convention. These concepts extended that logic to other jobs, such as short-range urban delivery, where a small footprint eases parking and access.
Varner also co-designed the Merlin roadster in the same period. Some Corbin concepts reached prototype stage, some reached production, and some never left the drawing board. The micro-car studies fall mostly in the last two categories, but they document how far the team was willing to stretch the idea before the company closed in 2003.