The Peel P50: “Almost Cheaper Than Walking”
By Calvin Lewis
Small cars are making a comeback — Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Chevy, VW, Mini, and Smart all cater to this fast-growing market. But England’s Manx Peel Engineering Company beat them all to the punch with the Peel P50, a three-wheeler with a 49cc 4-1/2 BHP moped engine.
In the 60s, when US automakers were battling for horsepower in the muscle cars, Peel set out to produce a car with a simple purpose: to transport one driver and a shopping bag or a small amount of groceries. The three-speed manual transmission only included forward gears; you pulled a handle on the back of the car for “reverse.”
With no turn signals, the driver used his or her hands to signal turns. Only 54 inches long, 40 inches wide, and weighing in at 132 lbs, the P50 scooted along at up to 40 mph, if the driver wasn’t too heavy. And on one gallon of gas, it carried you about 100 miles!
Peel’s slogan, “Almost cheaper than walking”, didn’t attract many customers — fewer than fifty P50s sold between 1963 to 1964, at a price less than 180 English pounds. But loyal Brits still sport around in their P50s and its sister the Peel Trident. If you fancy one and don’t want to pay $25,000 for an original, Peel Microcars will hook you up with parts, kits, and even fully built Peel P50s, as well as other microcars sold worldwide.
Peel Microcars [English Site]
July 4th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Credit for the above photo is Chris Littler. See more photos at www.peel-cars-p50.co.uk