World's Smallest Car Peel P50

Take a look at the car in the picture above. This is a Peel P50, the world's smallest car. The Peel P50 debuted on Monday at Ripley's Believe it or Not museum in Times Square, New York. The Peel P50 is a three-wheeled microcar manufactured in 1962 and 1965 by the Manx Peel Engineering Company. It retailed for £199 when new, and is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest road legal car ever produced.

Designed as a city car, Peel P50 was advertised 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 only one headlight. Standard colours were Daytona White, Dragon Red and Dark Blue.

Peel P50 is 54 in (1,372 mm) long and 41 in (1,041 mm) wide and weighs just 59 kg (130 lb). Approximately 50 Peel P50s were sold at £199 each. About twenty of the original survive, with selling prices said to be "up to £25,000". The P50 used a 49 cc (3.0 cu in) DKW engine which gave it a top speed of approximately 61 kilometres per hour (38 mph), and was equipped with a three-speed manual transmission that had no reverse gear. Consequently, turning in a confined area could only be achieved by pushing, or lifting the car using the handle on the rear and physically pulling it round. The makers and users claim fuel consumption of 100 mpg-imp (2.8 L/100 km; 83 mpg-US).