Cyclecar

Cyclecars were small, inexpensive automobiles that filled a gap in the market between the motorcycle and the car, offering the promise of relatively cheap personal mobility for the masses.^[1] They were designed to combine the sociability and protection of a car, while being as inexpensive and simple as a motorcycle,^[2] and were essentially road-going cars using motorcycle technology.^[3]

The first cyclecar was produced by Robert Bourbeau of Paris, who in 1910 created the Bédélia, which had two seats arranged in tandem and was powered by an 8 bhp (6 kw) twin-cylinder motorcycle engine.^[4] By 1914 there were more than a hundred British manufacturers of cyclecars, offering vehicles at prices ranging from £60 to £200.^[5][a]£60 in 1914 is equivalent to about £8,000 as at 2024, calculated using the retail price index.^[6]

The peak of the cyclecar’s popularity in Europe was from 1912 to 1923, but almost all the manufacturers were relatively short-lived. One notable exception is Morgan, whose three-wheeled cyclecar was produced from 1910 until 1946, becoming the world’s most successful cyclecar.^[7] The development of light cars such as the Morris Oxford, priced at £175, proved to be the death knell for the cyclecar, although the concept was resurrected in some sense in the development of the microcar following the First World War.^[8]

Cyclecar development does live on though, as seen with the Piaggio Ape, a three-wheeled light commercial vehicle using the transmission and engine of a Vespa scooter, in production since 1948.^[9]