MEASURING in at just 100cm tall - and 99cm wide - the Peel P50 is reported 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 The three-wheeled microcar was originally made from 1962 to 1965 by the Peel Engineering Company and was listed in the 2010 Guinness World Records as the smallest production car ever made, with a weight of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 Future Studios Cars: “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 over $176,000.
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MotorTranscript
00:00Every time anyone sees this car, they have a huge smile on their face.
00:06It's smaller than I remember.
00:08I've loved weird cars my whole life.
00:11It's kind of a ludicrous idea.
00:12The world's smallest car.
00:20Sometimes it doesn't start very quickly, sometimes it does.
00:25This was my worst fear.
00:31It's red, it's rare, it's really tiny.
00:36The smallest production car ever built.
00:39This mini-marvel from the swinging 60s is the Peel P50.
00:53The P50 came out of the Isle of Man, which is a small island between New York and New York.
00:58The Isle of Man, which is a small island between Ireland and England.
01:02Basically the concept was a little car that you could use in the city.
01:06I've loved weird cars my whole life.
01:09It's kind of a ludicrous idea in the fact that they only made 49 of them.
01:15There was a gentleman in Vancouver, British Columbia, that wanted to import them.
01:19He brought in, I've heard, numbers 3 to 6, which is a huge number of the overall production.
01:24This is one of those cars because it had some special features for the Canadian market,
01:28which makes it really special I think.
01:36At just one metre high and less than a metre wide, this really is a truly minute machine.
01:43The P50 is powered by a DKW 49cc engine and has a top speed of 37mph and 4.2 horsepower.
01:54It's a one-seater, one headlight.
01:57I 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.
02:04It's got this cool suicide door.
02:07And you have to be kind of smart to get in.
02:10You have to bend like this.
02:13There you go. Easy as that.
02:16Here's the gear shifter, this orange little contraption.
02:18It's three speeds, there's no reverse because you have to get out of the car and go around to the reversing handle,
02:24pick up the car and turn it around and then get back in.
02:30This may be a small car, but it has a big history.
02:34There was a Russian freighter that came into the port of Vancouver.
02:37They used it to drive around their huge freighter on the deck.
02:40But then the refrigerator broke, so when they came back they traded this car in on a refrigerator.
02:45It was in this ship supply store sitting there for $100.
02:49This gentleman named Wendy bought it and brought it home for his son Don 50 years ago,
02:54and that's who I bought it from, that family.
02:56While it was bought for a song half a century ago,
02:59if you're lucky enough to find one up for grabs now, expect to pay big bucks.
03:04A P50 was sold at auction in 2016 for $176,000.
03:11Peel actually made two models, this was their first one,
03:15and then they built another one that looks like a little flying saucer,
03:18and that's called a Trident, and that's what I was actually after.
03:21I was just playing online, looking around, and as I was searching I found this one.
03:26It was in Kelowna, British Columbia, five, six hours away.
03:29When it came to restoring this vehicle, Greg had his work cut out.
03:33It was very complete, but I needed a number of things.
03:35The hardest part of restoring the car was just finding the parts
03:39and waiting months and months and months to get them from England.
03:42Once in its life it had been chopped into a convertible.
03:46Luckily the roof had been kept and put back on,
03:48but there was lots of little pieces that had gone missing over that time.
03:51We got a new door and had that fitted.
03:53I've never really restored a car from the ground up,
03:56so this was a great opportunity for me to do that.
03:59And now, having not seen the car since its restoration,
04:03the previous owners have come to check out Greg's handiwork.
04:13Where did you get the mirror?
04:16It makes me want to cry.
04:18It's so adorable.
04:20It's smaller than I remember.
04:23Same seat.
04:25You just reupholstered it?
04:27Yeah, reupholstered, yeah.
04:29Because they used to tell us our seat was wrong.
04:32I found another BC car, and it has that seat.
04:35Really?
04:37Yep, I was like, yes.
04:39Where did you find another BC car?
04:42Eastern Washington.
04:44I'm a sleuth.
04:46I love it. I'm a car detective.
04:48I learned to drive on this.
04:49At six and a half.
04:51At six and a half, way before my license came out.
04:55My husband was on his way home from work one day,
04:58and he had to pass this second-hand store,
05:00and it was sitting on a shelf in the window.
05:03And he screeched to a halt and ran in and said, I want that!
05:07It was payday that day.
05:09So no groceries, but came home with a car.
05:11Yes, no groceries but a car.
05:13I don't think you were that happy that day.
05:15No, I was going to kick him right from here to eternity.
05:18The chrome on the inside of the engine where it breathes.
05:21I know, you can't see it.
05:23It was cut like this.
05:25He kept flipping it all the time.
05:27He couldn't get out.
05:29So he took the top off.
05:31Every time it landed, it landed on the door.
05:34Oh, that's the windshield washer.
05:36That is the windshield washer.
05:38And you've got it in the ashtray.
05:40That is the holder for it.
05:42It wasn't the ashtray?
05:44It wasn't the ashtray.
05:45I thought it was the ashtray too.
05:47Oh, you squeeze the bottle and it fits.
05:50No way!
05:55I did drive it to school one time.
05:57Yes, you drove it to school?
05:59Yeah, it was grade four.
06:01And at recess, I got in the car and drove out into the soccer field.
06:06I remember having 11 children on the car.
06:10Hanging on the outside, on the front.
06:12Maybe that's what happened to the rear view mirror.
06:15The teachers got wind of what was going on.
06:18I finally did get slowed down, and then I got a couple of days off school for free.
06:22And I think Dad had to come and get me.
06:25It looks better than it ever has in its life, I'm sure.
06:28Oh, it's wonderful.
06:30It gives you such a good feeling.
06:32You know when you look back as a child, things always have a rosy look?
06:35I'm looking at this thinking, damn, that was a pretty good childhood.
06:41Every time anyone sees this car, they have a huge smile on their face.
06:45And that's really fun to be around.