and there's more because as the country
becomes more and more crowded and the
environmentalists become more and more
noisy it makes more and more sense than
ever to have a small car
there are lots to choose from i've got a
selection here volkswagen polo suzuki
swift quite nice actually and the
citroen c1 the trouble is none of these
cars are really small they are in fact
massive
40 years ago car makers could sell you
something much smaller
the original mini for example or the
bubble car
but even these aren't small not really
not compared
to this
the peel p50
that
is 54 inches long and 41 inches wide it
is listed in the guinness book of
records as the smallest production car
ever
and what i'm sure you're expecting me to
do now is introduce richard hammond
but what i'm actually going to do
is drive it to work
all um
six foot five of me
no that's not gonna work i'll have to
hang on
leg yes leg first and then yes
built on the isle of man in the early
60s the p50 was said to be almost
cheaper than walking
cost 198 pounds and did a hundred miles
to the gallon
it sounds perfect then for the roads of
today
of course there are one or two drawbacks
can't imagine for instance that it's
terribly safe not when your knees are
the crumple zones
and nor is it very
fast
what i've got down here by my right knee
in the cabin
making an awful lot of noise and
generating quite a bit of heat
is the 49 cc engine from a moped
top speed rather depends on how big you
are
and um
actually how much you had for breakfast
and realistically even the skinniest
shortest chat with the whitest of teeth
will struggle to get past 35
there's something else i've just thought
of as well
i have to pay congestion charge in this
in this part of london
but the camera crew in the lexus 4x4
don't because it's a hybrid how far is
that
it's not like i'm creating any pollution
at all
the peel then is not only a handy way of
getting to work
but it's also pretty practical when you
get there
normally the bbc makes you um
more up in an underground car park where
the bays are only big enough for ethnic
peace bicycles and fair trade g whizzers
but because this is smaller than an
ethnic piece bicycle
i don't have to worry about parking
at
all the great thing about a car this
small is that it's very light
which means that when you get to work
you just pick it up and carry it inside
morning in the top gear office the team
were keen to know more about the p50 i
give you the future young men and women
peel p 50. i think it's four and a half
horsepower you know those little tights
cars
that all kids have got that's exactly
the same one door
i've never seen the top gear team so
enthusiastic about any car
well lads i put a kernig's egg down in
the car park oh right there got a new
ferrari down there not interested this
even john humphreys dropped by for a
look
hammond no
well can't you just clean them
really four thousand to whiten them four
thousand quid
you white
no well i'll stick with the yellow ones
okay take care
bye
who's got the car
who's stolen the car
got the power under this bonnet
please don't just steal our things
do you mind thanks very much indeed
jolly nice of you
soon i was summoned to an important bbc
meeting most of the people going would
be walking but i was running late and
decided to use the car
door's closing
could you give me a push a push out
please because it's got no reverse gear
so
thank you all right you'll be right now
no this is fine thanks
she has got quite a nice bottom
i said that out loud didn't i
after a short drive i arrived at bbc
television center
unfortunately though this is the most
complicated building in the world
i mean i've worked at the bbc for 20
years and i still don't know where i'm
going
tomorrow's world was cancelled not
because the program wasn't interesting
anymore right it was simply because
judith hahn was lost in here you
remember john knox peter perch and blue
peter they're in here somewhere lost
hello can anyone help
thanks
which department's this
i'm really
lost have held talks with government
ministers about how to handle the number
of claims that have resulted from last
month's floods the total bill is
estimated at about one and a half
billion pounds mark simpson
sorry sorry everyone sorry eventually
though i made it to the top level bbc
seminar
i believe we've already made significant
inroads into the implementation of an
open and inclusive policy for the
ethnocentrically homogeneous objectives
of this department but i'd like to say
that climate change is the biggest
threat ever to face the peoples of this
world and minimizing our carbon
footprint through the functional usage
is a key responsibility of anyone who
uses a photocopier i hope that in this
session we can discuss and address sadly
the meeting went on for so long that
there was no time left in the day for
any program making policy for the
ethnocentrically
so i headed home
i really do think that today i have seen
the future and it comes from 1963
this plp 50 really is absolutely
brilliant if it had a reverse gear
i would describe it as the absolute
ultimate really of um personal mobility
can't
that's dermot moynihan all right
it is
oh
thanks
thanks for that sorry
you