The World’s Smallest Hybrid Microcar

World’s Tiniest Car Is Terrifying, Fantastic & Makes You Look Like a LEGO Astronaut

You could also put it this way, if a car and a robot had a baby, this is what it might look like. Please DO NOT attempt any of shenanigans you’re about to watch and read about.

In Honor of the Peel Car

Several years ago, Jeremy Clarkson, host of the BBC show Top Gear, tested the Peel P50 on the show–the world’s smallest ever road-legal production car. In honor of the Peel, his contraption is named the P45, as it’s slightly smaller.

Ripley’s Believe it or Not! owns several Peel cars and they can be found in many of our Odditoriums around the world. It is likely that you will bump into a Peel car as someone from Ripley’s takes it out for a spin around the area.

So, What’s a P45 Microcar?

A takeoff on the Peel P50, the P45 has the drivetrain of a four-wheel all-terrain vehicle, but all the turn signals, lights, and license plates needed to make it street-legal in the United Kingdom.

With a helmet for a roof, a visor for a windshield, and no side doors, the contraption calls to mind a Cozy Coupe crossed with a LEGO spaceman, and turns out to be only slightly more roadworthy.

“I promise it’s a real car,” Clarkson says, before making the ill-advised decision to attempt to prove it by taking the thing onto a public highway. The trip starts out auspiciously enough, save for some bone-jostling potholes. And the host ably demonstrates some of the benefits to an automobile that makes a Smart car look like a fortress by comparison.

You can fill it up with gas without getting out.  But by the end, when Clarkson steers onto the A3, the trip devolves into… well, just watch the video at the top of the post. Unbelievable? Believe it!

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