[MOC] - Peel P50 - smallest production car in the world

[johncarpenter]

Having several larger builds stuck in various stages of building kind of pushed me towards smaller projects. This is one of those, the Peel P50.

The Peel P50 is a three-wheeled microcar originally made from 1962 to 1965. It was listed in the 2010 Guinness World Records as the smallest production car ever made.

The model has the following functions:

• Front and rear suspension
• Opening door with locking latch
• Steering
• Single cylinder engine, driven by rear wheel
• Handbrake

Here are some more pictures:

Finally, here is a video of the car in action:

I'm really happy with how this project turned out. At the beginning, I was quite doubtful whether I would be able to replicate the curved shapes reasonably well. The end result came out much much better than I expected. This build now has me thinking about more microcars.

Technical details:

• Length: 20 studs
• Width: 15 studs
• Height: 16 studs
• Weight: 333 grams

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by johncarpenter
edited title

[Mechbuilds]

That is amazing! I love how you did the mini piston engine! So much engineering went to that chassis.
 

[caiman0637]

Great (and cute) build!

[SaperPL]

Amazing little build - great work!

I love how you used those 1x2 rubber pieces for suspension - at the beginning of the video I was curious whether the wheels will hit the body when pressed down. Also the scenes where it goes through the whole view look like it's RC which is really cool :D

[Scoar Sonander]

Cute! Great compact suspension. 

[johncarpenter]

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

The front suspension was a bit of a coincidence, to be honest. Initially, I was not planning to have front suspension. However, I could not find a good way of attaching the front wheels with enough ground clearance. That's why I finally went to those small suspension arms. After that, having the rubber connectors as springs seemed pretty obvious. They are pretty stiff, with not a lot of travel, but still pretty cool. I'm happy that it evolved to such a nice solution.

I have to give credit where it is due: my better half had the idea to use the thin string to pull the car. I must say, it makes all the difference for the video.

[chlego]

Haha, what a fun idea! 

The best is that it is lifesize 

[2GodBDGlory]

Great job! The suspension is the highlight for me, but the whole thing is well designed and interesting!

[ukbajadave]

Great build! This has lots of nicely thought out building techniques and spot on shaping. For me the stand out is the simplicity of the door catch mechanism 

[Jerry LEGO Creations]

This looks so good, it really surprised me when I clicked on the topic!

[Jurss]

Best MOC of the year (so far)!

Fantastic solutinons everywhere,also looks good.

[johncarpenter]

Wow, thanks for the compliments, I was not expecting this :)

For the door latch, I was trying to use one of the smallest rubber bands to move the catch back, but I had a hard time attaching it anywhere on the door. When I was playing around with that, I noticed that the catch already moved back partly due to its own weight. Initially it was not quite moving back to vertical, so I added two more think red liftarms on the other side, to help it move back a bit more. This worked well, and it stays vertical now. The rubber band was not necessary after all. Sometimes, things just come together.

My favorite part is the handbrake, just for the fact that I could incorporate it, in this scale, in this tiny car. I did this at the very end, after I thought I was finished. There was not much space left in the car, but the possibility of having a handbrake was just too cool, and kept nagging me. I decided that I had to at least try to add it. I had to take pretty much the whole thing apart twice, but I was able to add the simple mechanism under the seat and it works reliably. The car came out pretty nice, and adding the handbrake at the very end was the cherry on top for me.

[Pattspatt]

Amazing little build! As others have said, many creative solutions for so small a space. I agree that the functional handbrake is one of the best parts - very impressive that you managed to add it at the end when the build was already so fully-featured.

[ord]

Fantastic! I love all of the features you have been able to fit in. Great presentation too, well done.

[SaperPL]

Congrats on getting featured on TLCB: https://thelegocarblog.com/2021/04/05/man-ic-monday/

[SNIPE]

This is unbelievably good

Well done.

[johncarpenter]

Thanks everyone for the great feedback!

As I wrote at the beginning, I kind of started this project because I was stuck on other, larger builds. I just wanted to build something manageable and call a project done. Somehow, it turned out way nicer than I could have hoped for when starting out.

Does anyone else do the same? Take a break from larger / longer builds to build something small?

[johncarpenter]

Hello everyone,

After a long, long while, I have gotten around to doing instructions of this model which I'm planning to share on rebrickable. However, as this is the first building instruction I have ever done, it would be helpful if anyone was willing to look it over before I put it out there. If anyone is interested, please get in touch via direct message. Many thanks!

[johncarpenter]

Thanks to Stign's kind help, I was able to finish the instructions.

If you would like to build this, the instructions are now available for free on Rebrickable.

[RichardGoring]

Looks great and really accurate! Not sure you needed to go to the trouble of making it 1:1 scale though! 

[Fluwoeb]

@johncarpenter,

Great MOC! I had the cool opportunity a year or so back to visit the BMW Zentrum Museum in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Here are some pictures of their small Isetta 300 which is similar to the car you built 

           

     

And as you might have noticed I was more concerned about how the actual vehicle worked in terms of drivetrain and steering than getting a nicer picture of the whole thing. 

[johncarpenter]

Nice pictures of the Isetta! Pictures of the whole thing you can find everywhere, these are much more interesting

As you probably guessed, this is on my list of projects to build. I haven't had time lately, but perhaps it is time start again