Britain’s forgotten 1950s microcars

Britain taxed a three-wheeler of under 8 cwt more lightly than a car, and through the 1950s that drew small makers into the market. The Powerdrive, says English Wikipedia, was devised expressly to exploit that lower tax rate.source 1 About half of the cars here used one of two families of motorcycle engine: British Anzani’s 322 cc two-stroke twin, in the Powerdrive, the Astra and the Gill, or an Excelsior twin, in the Bonallack, the E.E.C. and the Coronet.source 1source 2source 3source 4source 5source 6 One designer links three of them. David Gottlieb conceived the Allard Clipper, then designed the Powerdrive, and is credited with the Coronet.source 1source 7source 6 Two were electric, from a battery maker and a firm that converted cars to batteries (more in electric microcars).source 8source 9

Almost everything known about these makers comes from a few reference books, Georgano’s encyclopaedias and Linz and Schrader’s among them, as Wikipedia reports them, and from enthusiast sites and museums. No road test of any of them has been found, and most have no production figure at all. In order of their start: the Larmar Lorret, if the earlier date is right; the Eaglet of 1948; the Hazelcar from 1950; the Bonallack Minnow, 1951; the E.E.C. of 1952; the Astra and its forebear from 1954; the Powerdrive, 1955; the Tourette, 1956; the Coronet, 1957; the BSA Ladybird and the Gill, 1958; and the Colliday, 1961. The four without a section of their own come first.

Eaglet, 1948

Silent Transport Ltd of Woking, in Surrey, built an electric car called the Eaglet in 1948. The firm also converted Opel Kadetts and Fiat Topolinos to electric power. That is all that has been found: no specification, figure or survivor.source 8

Bonallack Minnow, 1951–⁠52

Bonallack & Sons of London built bodies for commercial vehicles.source 4source 10 Its Minnow was an open aluminium two-seater on three wheels, one at the back, with independent front suspension, a single headlamp, a vertical screen and 6-inch wheels. The engine sat behind the seats, ahead of the rear wheel: a 200 cc Villiers at first, which proved too weak, then an Excelsior twin two-stroke of 10 PS, by German Wikipedia’s account, or a 250 cc Excelsior Talisman, by 3wheelers.com’s.source 4source 10 It cost £300 before tax by one reckoning or £468 with tax by another. Only a few were made; two, registered EAN 363 and DJD 555, appear in photographs, and one survives.source 4

E.E.C. “Workers’ Playtime”, 1952–⁠54

The Electrical Engineering Construction Co Ltd of Totnes, in Devon, led by James Elliott, built a three-wheeler with a steel body that was higher than it was wide and was entered through a door in the front: a British front-door microcar that came before the Isetta. A 250 cc Excelsior twin at the back drove the single rear wheel. It weighed 267 kg (589 lb) and cost £280 before tax. Two were built and sold.source 5 A list of microcars gives it the name “Workers’ Playtime”, citing a source called “weird motors”.source 8

Colliday Chariot and Commuter, 1961–⁠69

The last of them came after the boom. Robert Collier Engineering of Sutton Coldfield made the Chariot 50 and the Commuter 350, three-wheeled bubble cars with BSA engines of 49 cc or 348 cc at the back and automatic gearboxes, seats for two adults and children, a top speed of 45 km/h (28 mph) and a turning circle of 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in). The driver had a starter key, a steering wheel and two pedals, marked GO and STOP.source 8 All of this rests on one list article; no figure or survivor has been found.

Larmar Engineering, of Margaretting in Essex, began as a garage that A. W. B. Larcombe opened on the London Road in 1919; the name joins Larcombe and Margaretting.source 11 It is known for its narrow single-seat Larmar car for disabled drivers, built from 1946 to 1951. The Lorret was its commercial model: a small open truck, with an engine of 490 cc.source 12source 13

When the Lorret was made is disputed. The two Wikipedia articles, both drawn from the same reference books, imply a date within the firm’s car-building years of 1946 to 1951, though neither dates the Lorret itself. A fuller company history, by Vintage & Classic Spares, dates its launch to 1937, before the car and before the war: a 10 cwt open truck with a JAP engine of 490 cc at the front, a Burman four-speed gearbox and chain drive to one rear wheel, a kick-starter, no suspension and no lights as standard, for £85. It was used on estates, in hospital grounds and factories and at railway stations.source 11source 12source 13 The date remains uncertain. No Lorret is known to survive (more small vans in micro vans).source 11source 12

The Hazelcar began as a petrol car. Eric Hazeldine, with his wife Ruth and his brother Roy, built two prototypes in Sussex, at Telscombe Cliffs and Rottingdean: FNJ 81, with an under-powered Indian motorcycle engine, and JUF 976. From 1950 another car, KUF 959, ran in trials with a 933 cc Ford four mounted ahead of the rear axle, among them the Daily Express 1000 Mile Reliability Rally of November 1950, from London to Scotland and Torquay. There was a van as well, the Hazelvan. The Hazeldines emigrated to Canada in 1952.source 14

By then the Battery Manufacturing Association of Hove had taken the design up as an electric car.source 9source 14source 15 The BMA Hazelcar was an aluminium roadster with a motor of 1.5 hp (or 2 hp, by another account) fed by nine 6-volt batteries, a four-speed gearbox, double-reduction chain drive and reverse by a switch. It ran at 32 km/h (20 mph) for up to 97 km (60 miles), and it cost £535.source 9source 15 How many were made is uncertain: six cars, the last with a Ford Eight petrol engine, says the Weiner museum, which owned one; about 25, some of them electric vans, says English Wikipedia; at least eight and probably about 25, petrol and electric together, says German Wikipedia.source 15source 9source 14

JARC Motors of Isleworth designed this small four-wheeler and first built it in 1955 as the Little Horse, with a 250 cc Excelsior engine.source 8 JARC lacked the money to go on, and the rights were sold to a subsidiary of the engine maker British Anzani at Hampton Hill, Middlesex. Anzani fitted its own 322 cc air-cooled two-stroke twin, of 15 bhp, under the rear floor, with a three-speed motorcycle gearbox, and sold the car as the Astra Utility to tradesmen, travellers and service engineers.source 2source 3 It had swing-axle independent suspension all round, hydraulic brakes, a steel channel chassis and an aluminium body that took 37 cu ft or 3½ cwt of load; 89 km/h (55 mph) and 60 mpg were claimed. It was 2,896 mm (114 in) long and 1,346 mm (53 in) wide.source 2source 3 On the road, with purchase tax, it cost £347 16s, and English Wikipedia says it was claimed as the smallest and cheapest four-wheeler on the British market. Late in its life it was sold as a kit.source 2source 3

Another Anzani subsidiary, Gill Cars of George Street, Paddington, then took over production. Its Getabout of 1958 kept the Astra’s chassis and front end and gave it a two-seat coupé rear in aluminium over a wooden frame; a saloon followed, and a four-seat taxi was proposed. At £500, or £523 for the de luxe, it cost more than a Ford Popular at £444. Production stopped in 1959, and sales went on into 1960.source 3source 16 The design then went to Australia: Harold Lightburn of Adelaide bought the rights and sold a glass-fibre estate version as the Lightburn Zeta from 1963 to 1966.source 2 No production figure has been found for the Little Horse, the Astra or the Gill.

David Gottlieb’s own company, Powerdrive Ltd of Wood Green, London, launched its three-wheeler at the Dorchester Hotel in July 1955, to much praise in the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express.source 1source 3 It was bigger than its rivals: 3,658 mm (12 ft) long and 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) wide, an open aluminium body seating three abreast, with luggage space at both ends, 13-inch wheels and a single wheel at the back.source 1source 7source 3source 17 A British Anzani 322 cc two-stroke twin at the back drove that wheel by chain, through three speeds and reverse; it gave 16.5 PS by one account and 15 PS by another.source 1source 7 The price was £330 plus purchase tax by the Anzani archive, or £412 by the Beaulieu Encyclopedia.source 3source 7 English Wikipedia gives model years from November 1955 to February 1957; other reference books say 1954–⁠57 or 1955–⁠58.source 1source 7 No production figure has been found. The design then passed to Coronet.source 7source 17

Carr Brothers of Purley, in Surrey, began building the Tourette in 1956; in 1957 production passed to a motorcycle maker in the same town, the Progress Supreme Co of Brighton Road.source 18source 19 It was an open three-wheeler with a glass-fibre body, or aluminium on an ash frame at extra cost, a bench seat for two adults and a child, and a hardtop that flipped up and came off. Its 197 cc Villiers of 6 PS sat ahead of the single rear wheel, which ran in a pivoting fork and was driven by chain through a four-speed gearbox; a Dynastart reverse was an option.source 18source 19source 20 It was 2,590 mm (102 in) long and weighed 195 kg (430 lb), or about 500 lb fully equipped; 88 km/h (55 mph) was claimed. In 1958 it cost £386 10s 5d with purchase tax.source 18source 19source 20 German Wikipedia finds it like the German Brütsch designs.source 19 By English Wikipedia’s sources, 26 are believed to have been made; German Wikipedia and 3wheelers.com say 35.source 18source 19source 20

Coronet Cars, of Denham in Buckinghamshire (or West Drayton, Middlesex, by English Wikipedia), put the Powerdrive’s design into a smaller glass-fibre body.source 6source 17source 21source 7 The Lane Motor Museum credits David Gottlieb with the design, and says the coachbuilders James Whitson & Co made the body and most of the car, with suspension and steering parts from the Standard Eight.source 6 An Excelsior 328 cc two-stroke twin of 18 PS sat at the back, ahead of the single rear wheel, and drove it by chain through three speeds and reverse; the car was a two- or three-seat convertible and gave about 60 mpg.source 6source 17source 21 Its advertising in 1957 called it the world’s best three-wheeler.source 6 English Wikipedia, citing Motor Cyclist Illustrated of March 1958, dates production from June 1957 to October 1958; 3wheelers.com and German Wikipedia give 1957 to 1960. The list article’s 1947–⁠51 is wrong.source 21source 17source 22source 8 No production figure has been found.

BSA, the motorcycle maker of Small Heath, Birmingham, built two prototypes of a small three-wheeler. The first had a hand-made steel body, a 250 cc BSA engine at the back, no spare wheel, indicators or wiper, and half-moon steering like a pair of handlebars; the second, of 1960, had a wiper and a part-circle steering wheel. BSA abandoned it in 1960 because demand for microcars was falling.source 8source 23

A few of these cars survive. The petrol Hazelcar LCD 778 is at the Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum in Sussex, and a BMA Hazelcar was in the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum in Georgia.source 9source 14source 15 A 1958 Coronet belongs to the Lane Motor Museum, Nashville, and another was shown at the PS.Speicher in Einbeck from June 2018.source 6source 22 A Tourette was in the Hammond Collection in Kent, and another has been photographed under restoration.source 18source 19 One Bonallack Minnow survives.source 4 No Larmar Lorret is known. The Register of Unusual Microcars covers rare British makes such as these.