A Brit was left feeling over the moon after he chanced upon a Peel P50 – dubbed the ‘smallest car ever produced’ in the 2010 Guinness World Records – casually parked on a bustling high street.
The diminutive three-wheeler, crafted on the Isle of Man between 1962 to 1965, saw less than 50 units roll off the production line.
Now, it’s believed that fewer than 30 have survived, catapulting them to the status of ultra-rare collectibles and some of the most elusive car models globally.
The man couldn’t resist boasting about his find on Reddit, where he posted about encountering the dragon red P50 nestled in a roadside bay. “Spotted a Peel P50 in the wild, the smallest production car ever made,” he posted with palpable excitement.
“It has no reverse gear but it does have a handle at the back in case you need to physically drag it somewhere.”
Back in the swinging sixties, these tiny motors, measuring just 137cm by 99cm, were touted as having room for “one person and a shopping bag” and could be snapped up for the modest sum of £199 in 1963. The car is so dinky it only comes with one headlight, one windscreen wiper and 38mph of power.
“That’s so cool!” exclaimed an equally enthused Reddit user. “I’d love to take one for a spin. I often have dreams in which I’m driving absurdly tiny cars that are missing major features, for some reason. Usually unregistered, uninsured, and falling apart. Then I park the car somewhere and it gets towed away.”
Another chimed in: “Honestly, smaller cars (maybe not quite that size) are a must for cities in the future.” And a third person enthused: “Wow, something like that would be fantastic in Portsmouth. Parking around here is always an adventure.”
Elsewhere in the comments, a classic car enthusiast explained that a Car and Classic online auction in 2022 saw a 1963 P50 fetch a jaw-dropping £111,000 following a frenzy of 99 bids.
While some eagle-eyed Reddit users speculated that this P50 might be a modern remake since production kicked off again in 2010, a vehicle registration check confirmed that this car is indeed an authentic 1963 original.
The record price for a Peel P50 was set at an RM Sotheby’s auction in Florida in March 2016, when one sold for $176,000 (around £120,000 using the exchange rate at the time).
Most people will remember the P50 from a Top Gear episode which saw Jeremy Clarkson driving around the BBC office in it.
