Bamby
Hull-based Alan Evans was a microcar enthusiast who loved his Peel P50 so much that he made a modern equivalent: the Bamby. He founded the company on 18 March 1982, in Leeds in the county of Yorkshire and started production of Bamby in 1983. Like the Peel, it was a single-seater glassfibre-bodied three-wheeler with a 49cc engine. It had front hydraulic discs brakes and three-speed automatic transmission, weighed a mere 107 kg and was claimed to do 100 mpg (2,35 l/100 km).
Design changes through its lifetime included a switch from a single gullwing door to a conventionally hinged door, twin headlamps in place of the original single ‘cyclops’ lamp and a conventional steering wheel instead of the initial handlebar. The engine was progressively upgraded from a 49cc Minarelli to Yamaha, then Suzuki moped units.
Targeted at 16-year olds and housewives, the Bamby was too expensive (at £1,597) to make much impact. An initial production rate of 20 units per month proved over-optimistic and the Bamby died after only a year or so. In total, about 50 vehicles were produced. However, in 2011 Alan Evans reformed Bamby Cars and started producing an updated replica of the Peel P50 called the Bamby P50.
Bamby 3-wheelers are the collectible pieces now. One good condition copy was sold for £4,032 in 2016.
Specifications:
- Engine: 49cc Minarelli, Yamaha or Suzuki
- Fuel consumption: 100 mpg (2,35 l/100 km)
- Weight: 107 kg
