The Peel P50 is one of the all time classic cars to come out of micro car fad of the 1960s. Built by the Peel Engineering Company at Peel on the Isle of Man in the UK, the car is in the Guiness book of records as the smallest production car ever built. 

The Peel Engineering Company had previous experience with boat building and started producing their tiny fiberglass car in 1962. Featuring 3 tiny wheels, 1 door, 1 headlight and room for only one person and a shopping bag, the car was marketed as a town car with a top speed of around 60klm from its 50cc moterbike style engine. A three speed gear box was fitted to the car that contained no reverse, if you wanted to go backwards you had to pick it up via a handle on the rear and move it around. Fortunately the car weighed only 59kg and was 134 cm long.

In 1964 a slightly larger (187cm long and 107cm wide) car known as the Peel Trident entered production. This time two people could squeeze into the car via a large bubble dome that tilted forward rather than the single side door of the previous P50. The Trident featured the same 50cc engine although it did boast improved performance.

The last Peel microcar left the factory in 1967, it seems the public were not ready to embrace the fad of tiny cars with many of the tiny microcar manufacturers shutting down around this time.

Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear reviewed the Peel p50 on the show in 2007, check out the video below from youtube to get a great look at life with a Peel P50.

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