Because I like Top Gear and because I have a lingering fondness for drastically odd cars, I find myself browsing around in some of the more British sections of the motoring Interweb and today came across one of the most fascinating reviews of obscure, British three-wheeled cars.
Now of course, even we Yanks know about the ungainly Reliant Robin, which looked like the unholy alliance of a Yugo 45 (Zastava Koral) and a wheelbarrow.
They were the bane of Mr. Bean’s life:
And we’ve seen all three of the Top Gear blokes do inadvisable things to them:
But there are other and probably better 3-wheelers out there, and to the point, much, much more fanciful.
The 3-wheelers discussed in the Telegraph article above are mostly kit cars, mostly based on motorcycle components. Starting anywhere from around £2,000 and ranging to over £30,000 for the Morgan, they’re a mixed bag of home-made hellcats and high-brown engineering. What they definitely are is interesting, which is something the motoring world needs to see more often.
If you’d like a high-res slide-show to go along with the original story, here it is.
And now, because it is just so insane that I think everyone should get a chance to see it, here Richard Hammond of Top Gear test-drives the outlandish Dutch Vandenbrink Carver which seems like something out of a very humorous science-fiction action movie.
You cannot tell me you wouldn’t like to have a go in this thing, just once, just to see how insane and unsettling it has got to be in action? It’s like a roadgoing carnival ride.
The Reliant link also goes to the Yugo link.
Interesting tidbit: a few British bicycle (not motorcycle) companies dipped their toes into the three wheeler market, from time to time. I know that Raleigh made a few.
Thanks for the editing notes. I’ll sort that out. Also, will have to look into the Raleigh 3-wheelers. Sounds fun and fascinating.
I know BSA started as a gunsmith, but also manufactured bicycles and motorcycles. I think they had some sort of small car at one point, too.