Peel P50 - The world's smallest car!

[Music] foreign [Music] classic and in today's video we're talking about the peel p50 and this is in any plp50 this is one of The Originals we've borrowed it from the Isle of Man motor museum because if you're going to be visiting the Isle of Man what would you be driving apart from appeal and in particular a PLP 50. now in this video today I'm going to show you this car it's one of only 20 something remaining I think there's 26 or 27 left out of the 50 that were ever made so it's a massive piece of Motoring history to have with us here today to be testing on the channel and it's very nerve-wracking but before we have a quick look around let's have a message from our Channel sponsor life is too short to drive something boring so if you're looking for your first classic or your next classic why not check out bidding Classics auctions whether it's something pre-war mid-century or maybe something newer like a retro hot hatchback check out their website there's a link in the description box below or you can Google bidding Classics auctions there's new stuff going on the website every single week so why not check them out now let's go back to the video certified by the Guinness Book of World Records the PLP 50 is the world's smallest production car ever made it's 52.8 inches 134 centimeters long 39 inches 99 centimeters wide 39.4 inches 100 centimeters tall it's absolutely teeny tiny and definitely not one for somebody who is maybe a wee bit claustrophobic but who and why were these made well first of all if you're wondering it was isn't a one-off special vanity project or some sort of Kit Car although the door hinges are of a Morris Minor if you have a look they're actually the boot hinges it was actually a micro car and it was designed by Cyril Cannell and Henry kizak and although it was technically a car it was actually launched at the Earls Court motorcycle show in 1962. it's a 49 cc powered car and it was made from 62 when it launched until 66. although I think they only ever made about a hundred and it was capable of doing a rather frightening 37 miles per hour and in fact peel sold these along with the peel Trident which by the way is coming up on test with the strap line cheaper than walking it was either cheaper than walking or almost cheaper than walking I've seen it written both ways because they were reported to give you 100 miles per gallon I wish my car did that now peel engineering company the makers of these little cars were based in peel on the Isle of Man and they chose usually use their business for making fiberglass boats and fairing spikes now a lot of people think that they were really small company but actually in their Heyday they employed around 40 people and if you're wondering how it was priced up it was priced at 199 pounds from you and you'll note when we look inside we've only got the three forward gears now the lack of reverse gear on these is deliberate because it means that punters in the UK at least can drive them on a motorbike license and as well as that you also Dodge the car sales tax which means that it comes in a lot cheaper so this is why you see a big explosion of micro cars and then they will quickly disappear a lot of that is down to the changing of Licensing and also the changing of Taxation class as well now if you're wondering how this sits against bike prices at the time because a lot of people bought these instead of a bikes it's almost a little bit more dignified I suppose 250 pounds would have bought you a fairly good motorbike and also if you are wondering how on Earth you get this car to turn around there's actually at the back a little handle and you lift it up and turn it around yourself but of course we're not going to be testing that today because as time is worn on it's become quite fragile and we're not putting it through its paces and it'll probably horrify some of you at home to know this was a completely road legal vehicle and still is actually now those you'll see on test today um the slightest touch for steering wheel gives a very dramatic response so it won't surprise you to know either that they are very prone to tipping with it being the world's smallest car I wasn't expecting lots and lots of Technology but it might surprise you to know that even when these were made that they didn't have indicators so the original 50 don't this is an aftermarket fitment but goodness me why wouldn't you have indicators if you were out in something this small made of fiberglass in front of that you've got three forward gears now we're just going to be running through first and second today because we're going on a very short test drive and then as you can see up here you have got your wiper motor set up now I've noticed it's not quite attached here so I'm being very very gentle because remember this is a car worth an awful lot of money it's got a huge historical value need to be very very careful coming down in front of us here we've got this little control panel and show you what we've got so this is the cutoff button so when we're driving and we want to stop the car because it doesn't have a key we use this button this is the side lights you've got your horn listen to this sounds like I feel today have a listen that poor little horn and then you've got your headlights just here coming over from this you have got this interior light um I'm not entirely sure what it's going to light up but this is original to the car coming over to this side here with your Smith's Speedo and it looks like this car's done over 2 000 miles from you and also the speedo goes up to 60 but we're not going to be getting that we are only going to be getting I think the top speed is 38 miles per hour remember it's at 49 cc dkw engine in this it gives us 4.2 horsepower and yeah I know already that it's going to probably be a little bit hairy because I've actually tested the car that came after it which is going to be coming up I tested the peel Trident this morning and apparently this is slightly harder to drive and it's slightly more chaotic Less Car experience the one thing I will say is is um and I've kind of skipped over this a little bit in the tried and start video but to start this we've got a control handle down here and you put your foot on the accelerator so you want to get some juices flowing through and you pull this handle up to a biting Point essentially and then when you feel that biting point you go like that and you get those revs nice and high because you need it to be nice and high and you need to feel it all started to come together and then you go into first gear and you basically keep those revs as high as you can now look full disclosure when I first drove the Trident I did not get it right I wasn't getting those revs high enough so that's really important so if you watch this today and you think there's an awful lot of revving going on that is standard and that is how you're supposed to drive this but that's it so let's get her started up [Music] I try to be as honest as I can with you all at home which is why I'm going to be completely honest here and tell you that when I first got into this I was really really scared in a way that I didn't quite expect it was I think it was a combination of the wind the fact that I knew that it was going to be a completely new Driving Experience that I'd never tried before and I was a little bit nervous because I'd taken up with Trident in the morning and I'd really enjoyed that and you'll see that next Sunday by the way but with this I kind of got forewarned a few times oh it's going to be really difficult it's going to be something you've not tried before now coming inside let me tell you what it's really like so first of all the driving experience is so different to anything that you've ever experienced before in your life because the handling is almost wildly over responsive I only had to turn the steering wheel an inch and then suddenly I was across the car park so very quickly had to wise up and get it right because if you turn it too much you'll flip it and it's all just a little bit scary so outside it was so windy and all the way all the wind was coming out of the sea and it was very windy and I was moving around a lot trying to control the vehicle trying to keep my revs up and for the first kind of I would say three or four minutes it wasn't very enjoyable it was something I had to adapt to quite quickly but the museum were very generous and said keep going until you feel quite comfortable and another five minutes in and I think I would have driven the length of the island I loved it so much it was so different to anything that I've ever driven so I can't even give you a comparison but it was a lot comfy than I expected I didn't feel as unsafe as I expected to being in this tiny essentially fiberglass box and I loved every minute of it it was funny loads of people were smiling and waving and it was just an absolute hoot not entirely sure how feasible it would be as practical everyday transport but for taking out on a little maybe having a having a loss on occasions and if you're only going short distances why the heck not what a brilliant little invention and you know what it's through ingenious ideas like this that we get the things that become more commonplace so I hope you've really enjoyed looking at this it's been wild to show you and such a privilege thank you all of our motor and Museum team you are brilliant all the details for the museum in the description box below and until next Sunday when we're looking at appeal Trident take care and drive safely

Channel: idriveaclassic

Views: 215,167

Keywords: peel p50, peel microcar, peel car, worlds smallest car, smallest car ever made, microcar review, peel p50 driving, peel p50 road test, peel p50 racing, microcar driving, driving a peel p50, the smallest car in the world, HubNut, furious driving, HubNut invacar, peel motor car, 60s microcar, rare car review, rare car road test, rarest car in the world, famous cars, famous car, classic car, classic cars, I drive a classic, micro car, tiny car motorbike

Id: -nCMCbCAxTA

Length: 10min 9sec (609 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 16 2023