Peel P50: One Seat, One Door, One Headlight, Zero Reverse Gear

Most car companies look at a three-speed gearbox and think, "We should probably add reverse." The Peel Engineering Company of Peel, on the Isle of Man, looked at that idea and decided you could just as easily get out and do it yourself.

That's the Peel P50: a single-seat, three-wheeled glass-fibre bubble that Guinness lists as the smallest production car ever made. It made its debut at the 1962 Earls Court Motorcycle Show in London, and it remains the Isle of Man's most famous automotive export, on three wheels.

A moped with a roof (and ambition)

Peel Engineering was founded by Cyril Cannell, and it made its living moulding glass-fibre parts for boats and motorcycles. Their idea of a city car was suitably minimalist. Behind the driver sat a 49cc Zweirad Union two-stroke single. Zweirad Union was the two-wheeler group that included DKW, which is why you'll often see it called a DKW engine. It made somewhere around 4.2 to 4.5 horsepower, depending on who you ask.

The rest of the parts list is a masterclass in counting to one. One seat. One door, on the left. One headlight. One wiper. Two wheels at the front, one at the back. The whole thing weighed about 59 kg (130 lb). That's lighter than plenty of adults, and it's the reason the reverse-gear situation works at all.

The handle

Instead of reverse, the P50 has a chrome handle on its tail. Nose into a dead end, climb out, lift the back and swing the car round like a wheelbarrow. In a three-point turn, the third point is you.

Since it was a three-wheeler this small and light, British rules counted the P50 as a motorcycle, and Peel didn't fit a speedometer. That hardly mattered, because the top speed was about 38 mph. Peel claimed around 100 miles per gallon, which is the sort of number you get when your engine is smaller than a lawnmower's.

Glorious failure, enduring fame

It cost £199 new, and it didn't sell. Production is usually put at about 47 to 50 cars between 1962 and 1965, and only around 27 originals are thought to survive. These days that rarity makes them serious auction stars.

Its second life came from television. In 2007, Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson, who is about 6 ft 5 in, folded himself into a P50 and drove it through the BBC's offices, lift ride included. Generations of people who'd never heard of the Isle of Man suddenly wanted one.

Why we love it

The P50 is a car designed by people who asked "what's the least car we could possibly build?" and then actually built it. It's absurd and charming, and somehow it makes perfect sense. Every modern city car with a parking camera owes a small debt to the moment someone in Peel decided your arms were reverse gear enough.

Want to know what one actually costs? The Peel P50 Quirk Database entry logs real auction sold prices, each linked to its result.