When I first laid eyes on Greg Klein he was zipping through his neighborhood in his 1958 Victoria 250 micro car with a huge smile on his face. Except for the tall windshield, his tiny car is not much taller than the average person's waist, and he looked oversize sitting behind the wheel.  

 Klein, of Gladstone, Mo., said his Victoria is one of 10 original 250s known to exist in the U.S. and one of two that have been restored. It has a 250cc single-cylinder motorcycle engine with 14 horsepower. The electronic five-speed transmission is controlled by three buttons on the dash — one for reverse, one for neutral and one for first  —  while the rest of the gears are shifted by a tiny lever on the dash. Top speed is 60 mph.

 Klein bought his Victoria from his dad for $65 when he was only 12 years old. He and his friends loved riding in it, and by age 17 he sold it to a friend who played with it for a while and then took it apart. In 1989 his friend sold it back to him.

 The prototype vehicle, originally known as the Spatz (German for Sparrow) and designed by Egon von Brutsch, was shown at the Paris auto show in 1954. The Victoria Motorcycle Works of Nuremburg, Germany, took over the design and began production of the Victoria 250 in 1957. The last of 729 cars was built in February of 1958.

 Klein's restoration involved hours and hours of painstaking labor. After he dismantled every nut and bolt on the car he estimates that he spent 800 hours alone sanding the fiberglass body, reapplying the gel coat and spraying on paint in the original color, Mercedes-Benz Fire Engine Red. Of course he rebuilt the engine, repainted the wheels and reupholstered the seat. The tiny 12-inch tires are original but they have new tubes.

 On the road, Klein's Victoria felt surprisingly lively as long as the road was fairly flat. As we approached a hill with two aboard, however, it took two or three downshifts to get over the top. Fourteen horsepower can only do so much, so it's better to evaluate the Victoria in smiles per hour. Those are countless.

 Thoroughbred Ford of Kansas City sells Mustangs modified by Roush Performance, the Michigan company owned by Jack Roush. When Roger found out that Roush had a 1963 Galaxie convertible, they made a friendly wager as to who would get their car restored first. They finished within days of each other. Roush saw the car when last fall when his race team was here for the NASCAR race at Kansas Speedway, and he autographed the trunk lid and dash.

 Porter plans to show the car during the next year, and he hopes to pair up with Roush and his ’63 convertible at the Woodward Dream Cruise in August in Detroit.

 Porter’s Galaxie probably thinks it’s Cinderella except the clock won’t ever strike midnight.