About
Welcome to Peel Engineering the official home of the Peel P50, Guinness Book of Records World’s smallest Production Car since 1962.
The Peel P50 is a three-wheeled microcar originally made in 1962 on the Isle of Man. It was listed in the Guinness World Records as the smallest production car ever made. Originally with no reverse gear, Peel P50’s have a handle at the rear allows the very lightweight car to be manoeuvred physically when required.
Designed as a city car, it was advertised in the 1960s as capable of seating "one adult and a shopping bag". The vehicle's only door was on its left side and equipment included a single windscreen wiper and one headlight. Standard colours were Daytona White, Dragon Red, and Dark Blue. The company produced 50 P50s and only 27 are known to still exist, one of which was sold for a record US$176,000 at a Sotheby's auction in March 2016.
Previously in February 2013 at the Bruce Weiner RM Auction a genuine 1964 Peel P50 achieved in excess of US$120,000 (£80,000).
Peel Engineering is proud to be the official owners of the Original Peel p50 Prototype plus a number of the Original Peel P50’s and Peel Trident microcars, plus legal owners of the Worldwide automobile trademarks.
Peel P50 Statistics
At 54 in (1,372 mm) long and 39 in (991 mm) wide and with a natural weight of 59 kilograms (130 lb), the P50 holds the record as the smallest car ever to go into production.
The Peel P50's diminutive size and width means that it can quite easily fit through doorways and enter buildings, as demonstrated by Jeremy Clarkson during a sequence on the now World Famous Top Gear episode, where a blue Peel P50 was driven through the BBC's Television Centre. This episode is in the top 5 most watched Episodes in Top Gear History with a combined total of over 100 Million views!
In 2010 Peel Co-Owners, Gary Hillman and Faizal Khan, went to the Dragons' Den asking for £80,000. They got the investment and started to put their revised models into production. Three replica models were available initially: Gas, Eco and Fun. The line was later reduced to two: the Petrol and Electric models. These are hand-built to order in the UK Specialists for the domestic and export markets.
Legal Status
The Peel P50 was and is still road-legal in the UK, being in the "three-wheeler" category and less than 8 long cwt (900 lb; 410 kg), it is now also street-legal in the US. Cars were exported to other countries, sometimes being classified as a moped (e.g. the P50 that went to Finland). Equally, in the Netherlands, the Peel is not a car — the vehicle's 50cc engine and its 45 km/h top speed place it in the EU's quadricycle legal bracket.