MICROCARS CELEBRATED
They’re small, but are they perfectly formed? We’ve an exclusive drive of the Great British Car Journey’s first set of microcars
Microcars are of niche interest and so don’t often feature in CCW but they have real historical importance when it comes to Britain’s post-war car industry. Richard Usher, founder of Derbyshire-based museum The Great British Car Journey, certainly agrees. When the opportunity arose to include a Larmar Monocar, a Meadows Frisky Family Three and a replica of a Peel P50, he was keen to make them his museum’s latest (and most diminutive) attractions as soon as possible.
The three will be on show once the museum resumes its full-time opening hours at the beginning of next month but we were invited to drive them ahead of their public debut and explore their wider significance in period.
BEATING THE SYSTEM
Three-wheelers have been built in Britain since the dawn of motoring. They catered for individuals who’d happily compromise on practicality for something that could be run on the cheap. This was thanks to a British law allowing road users to drive three-wheelers on a motorcycle licence and low taxation, so long as the vehicle weighed less than 8cwt (approximately 500kg).
Three-wheelers, and indeed the microcars that followed, became even more attractive during World War Two. Petrol for private motorists was limited to 200 miles per month then withdrawn altogether in 1942. Fuel continued to be rationed during peacetime – motorists were restricted to 150 miles per month in 1948 until rationing was finally lifted in 1950.
On top of this, it was almost impossible to buy a new car without facing a long wait. The government’s strategy to re-build the country’s bruised economy meant that half of all cars made had to be exported, a figure that reached three-quarters of all cars made by 1947. What’s more, a domestic purchase tax rate of 33 per cent that lasted until 1950 served to dissuade even well-heeled would-be motorists.
With the likes of Ford, Vauxhall and Austin concentrating on overseas sales there was an opportunity for a group of smaller manufacturers to satisfy pent-up demand for inexpensive transport. Sharp’s Commercials in Preston was the first to take advantage. Designed by Lawrence Bond as a shopping car for his wife Pauline, the Bond Minicar that made its debut at the 1949 Earls Court Motorcycle Show was an ins
