How It's Made - The Peel P50, World's Smallest Car

Miniature cars or microcars cars are kept separate in the category of commuter vehicles. It has been long since they are not perceived as an exotic design. They spend fuel economically, quickly bypass traffic jams and are easy to park in the most inaccessible places and in crowded car parks. And lately, in Europe, these "babies" have become fashionable again. There is almost no microcar brand that has not instantly been included as a must-have of beauty-fashionistas and is especially crazy with the ladies.

So, to your attention, dear reader, stands the making of one such microcar:

The Peel P50

"Small and easy" is what best describes the P50. Reading its technical characteristics, a suspicion arises involuntarily in your mind: "Isn’t there a typo in these figures?". Judge for yourself: the mass is 59 kg (ram's weight, it would be unsustainable otherwise) and the dimensions are 1370x1040 mm (yes-yes mm, you read it right). In other words, English mechanical engineers have gone for the glory. The car can easily be moved where necessary. To carry out this procedure, there is even a handle on the back of the Peel P50.

"Baby" is made of fiberglass materials (this is why it is so light!). It has three wheels. Despite the toy size, it is equipped with all standard mechanisms, except one. The driver is as comfortable in it as they would be in a standard car. The P50 can feature both a gasoline engine and an electric motor with a rated power of 4 hp. Regarding the speed of the microcar, for safety reasons, the designers had to artificially lower the maximum of 80 km / h to 45 km/h. Almost twice! The missing piece is the reverse gear, but there is a handle at the rear which allows the very lightweight car to be maneuvered physically when required.

It is noteworthy that 40 P50 models were bought immediately after the announcement, that is before they were manufactured. And after the release of the first batch of "three-wheeled crumbs", a two-seat model was also developed – the Peel Trident.