MEASURING in at just 100cm tall - and 99cm wide - the Peel P50 is the world’s smallest car to ever go into production. The three-wheeled microcar was originally made from 1962 to 1965 by the Peel Engineering Company and was listed in the 2010 Guinness World Records as the smallest production car ever made, with a weight of just 59 kilograms. Of the 50 P50s ever produced, only 27 are still known to exist today. Canadian, Greg, is one of the owners of these rare cars, and he told Barcroft TV: “The P50 came out of the Isle of Man, basically the concept was a little car that you can use in the city”. With its DKW 49cc engine, the P50 has a top speed of 37mph and 4.2 horsepower. “It’s a one-seater with one headlight - I also love how it has three wheels, the back wheel is the one that is driving it with a chain from a little moped engine,” Greg said. With its uniquely small size, the P50 is not the most practical car to use. “There’s no reverse because you have to get out of the car and go around to the reversing handle, pick up the car and turn it around then get back in,” explained Greg. Although this is undoubtedly a small car, it has a big history. Greg said: “There was a Russian freighter that came into the port of Vancouver, they used it to drive around their huge freighter on the deck but then the refrigerator broke so when they came back, they traded this car in on a refrigerator”. Today, these cars are incredibly difficult to come by and are incredibly expensive - in 2016, a P50 was sold at auction for $176,000.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 Every time anyone sees this car, they have a huge smile on their face.
00:05 It's smaller than I remember.
00:08 I've loved weird cars my whole life.
00:10 It's kind of a ludicrous idea.
00:12 The world's smallest car.
00:14 Sometimes it doesn't start very quickly, sometimes it does.
00:23 This was my worst fear.
00:27 It's red, it's rare, it's really tiny.
00:30 The smallest production car ever built.
00:33 This mini marvel from the swinging 60s is the Peel P50.
00:38 The P50 came out of the blue.
00:50 It was a very, very small car.
00:53 The P50 came out of the Isle of Man, which is a small island between Ireland and England.
01:01 Basically the concept was a little car that you could use in the city.
01:05 I've loved weird cars my whole life.
01:08 It's kind of a ludicrous idea in the fact that they only made 49 of them.
01:12 There was a gentleman in Vancouver, British Columbia, that wanted to import them.
01:18 He brought in, I've heard, numbers three to six, which is a huge number of the overall production.
01:23 This is one of those cars because it had some special features for the Canadian market,
01:28 which makes it really special, I think.
01:30 At just one metre high and less than a metre wide, this really is a truly minute machine.
01:42 The P50 is powered by a DKW 49cc engine and has a top speed of 37mph and 4.2 horsepower.
01:52 It's a one-seater, one headlight.
01:56 I also love how it's three wheels, so the back wheel is the one that is driving it with a chain from a little moped engine.
02:03 It's got this cool suicide door.
02:06 And you have to be kind of smart to get in.
02:10 You have to bend like this.
02:12 There you go. Easy as that.
02:15 Here's the gear shifter, this orange little contraption.
02:18 It's three speeds, there's no reverse because you have to get out of the car and go around to the reversing handle,
02:24 pick up the car and turn it around and then get back in.
02:26 This may be a small car, but it has a big history.
02:34 There was a Russian freighter that came into the port of Vancouver.
02:37 They used it to drive around their huge freighter on the deck.
02:40 But then the refrigerator broke, so when they came back they traded this car in on a refrigerator.
02:45 It was in this ship supply store sitting there for $100.
02:49 This gentleman named Wendy bought it and brought it home for his son Don 50 years ago.
02:54 And that's who I bought it from, that family.
02:56 While it was bought for a song half a century ago, if you're lucky enough to find one up for grabs now, expect to pay big bucks.
03:04 A P50 was sold at auction in 2016 for $176,000.
03:11 Peel actually made two models, this was their first one.
03:15 And then they built another one that looks like a little flying saucer and that's called a Trident.
03:19 And that's what I was actually after.
03:21 I was just playing online, looking around and as I was searching I found this one.
03:25 It was in Kelowna, British Columbia, five, six hours away.
03:28 When it came to restoring this vehicle, Greg had his work cut out.
03:32 It was very complete but I needed a number of things.
03:35 The hardest part of restoring the car was just finding the parts and waiting months and months and months to get them from England.
03:41 Once in its life it had been chopped into a convertible.
03:45 Luckily the roof had been kept and put back on but there was lots of little pieces that had gone missing over that time.
03:50 We got a new door and had that fitted.
03:53 I've never really restored a car from the ground up, so this was a great opportunity for me to do that.
03:59 And now, having not seen the car since its restoration, the previous owners have come to check out Greg's handiwork.
04:06 Where did you get the mirror?
04:15 It makes me want to cry.
04:17 It's so adorable.
04:19 It was smaller than I remember.
04:26 Same seat.
04:29 You just reupholstered it?
04:31 Yeah, reupholstered.
04:33 Because they used to tell us our seat was wrong.
04:35 I found another BC car and it has that seat.
04:38 Really?
04:40 Yes.
04:41 So we did have the real one?
04:42 Yes.
04:43 Where did you find another BC car?
04:45 Eastern Washington.
04:46 I'm a sleuth.
04:47 I love it. I'm a car detective.
04:50 I learned to drive on this.
04:52 At six and a half.
04:53 Way before my license came out.
04:56 My husband was on his way home from work one day and he had to pass this second hand store.
05:02 And it was sitting on a shelf in the window.
05:05 And he screeched to a halt and ran in and said, "I want that!"
05:09 It was payday that day.
05:10 So no groceries but came home with a car.
05:12 Yes, no groceries but a car.
05:14 I don't think he was that happy that day.
05:16 I was going to kick him right from here to eternity.
05:20 The chrome on the inside of the engine where it breathes.
05:23 I know and you can't see it.
05:25 It was cut like this.
05:27 He kept flipping it all the time.
05:28 Couldn't get out?
05:29 Couldn't get out so he took the top off.
05:31 Every time it landed, it landed on the door.
05:34 Oh, that's the windshield washer.
05:37 That is the windshield washer.
05:38 And you've got it in the ashtray.
05:40 That is the holder for it.
05:42 It wasn't the ashtray?
05:43 It wasn't the ashtray.
05:44 I thought it was the ashtray too.
05:46 Oh, you squeeze the bottle and it fits.
05:49 Oh, no way!
05:51 I did drive it to school one time.
05:56 Yes.
05:57 You drove it to school?
05:59 Yeah, it was grade four.
06:01 And at recess, I got in the car and drove out into the soccer field.
06:05 I remember having 11 children on the car.
06:09 Hanging on the outside, on the front.
06:11 Maybe that's what happened to the rear view mirror.
06:14 The teachers got wind of what was going on.
06:17 I finally did get slowed down and then I got a couple of days off school for free.
06:22 And I think Dad had to come and get me.
06:25 Looks better than it ever has in its life, I'm sure.
06:28 Oh, it's wonderful.
06:29 It gives you such a good feeling.
06:31 You know when you look back as a child, things always have a rosy look?
06:35 I'm looking at this thinking, "Damn, that was a pretty good childhood."
06:41 Every time anyone sees this car, they have a huge smile on their face.
06:44 And that's really fun to be around.
06:46 (upbeat music)