Strongest woman or lightest car ever?

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This fun photo shows Karen Birch with two suitcases, actually one of which is known by many as the world’s smallest car, the Peel P50 three-wheeled microcar. The smallest car (1,372mm long and 991mm wide) since it was listed in the 2010 Guinness Book of Records… would it still be? Perhaps also the lightest car weighing a mere 59kg (132lb)! This car, or motorised shopping bag which is how it was advertised, is originally a creation by the Peel Engineering Company from Man in the period 1962-1965. In the 2000s reintroduced with a choice of combustion and electric engine by a slightly different name Peel Engineering.

Next to the more recent replicas, we are talking here about a rare little thing of which only 50 were produced and only 27 of those are known to have survived. So, if you have one languishing in the closet in your barn then you might have a hidden jackpot. The original price tag of the cute little Peel P50 was £199, whilst now they are a true collectible and people are fighting for them at auctions. An Isle of Man rooted P50 creature is priced at £80,000!

A small car needs a small engine and DKW took on this challenge, making for the Peel a 49cc engine. The result, a mind-blowing top speed of 60 km/h. Not bad at all for the smallest car on earth! The P50 has a three-speed manual transmission BUT, there is one glitch… It has no reverse gear, so the question is how to reverse? Let’s say it is an updated version of the Flintstone car, for it has a handle at the rear that allows you to physically manoeuvre your P50… isn’t that brilliant? No gym or weight lifting needed when you own a Peel P50. With some physical effort its fuel consumption might also set a record, 2.8 L/100 km. As you can see a very special microcar cum shopping bag which beats many a record. The car is well known from a Top Gear city test. And for proof that it also exists outside history books and TV screens. Last weekend a Peel P50 popped up at the New Years meeting of the err... Vintage Sports Car Club.

(Text by Rosemarijn Atalante Veenenbos, photo courtesy of Peel Engineering Company)

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