Nine three-wheelers you should know about | Axon’s Automotive Anorak

Introducing its first passenger car model in 1909 – a V-Twin engined three-wheeler – Morgan remained faithful to its two wheels at the front and one at the rear tripod configuration right up until 1952 when it (temporarily) built its last 3 Wheeler. Production of a more conventional four-wheeler Morgan model (the 4/4) didn’t take place until as late as 1936, despite the 1922 introduction of the infamous and affordable Austin Seven taking its toll on the Malvern marque’s 3 Wheeler demand between the two world wars.

During the first 42 years of its 3 Wheeler production, Morgan’s emphasis gradually moved away from its initial economy-minded models to more niche, sporting products such as the 1933-46 Supersports and F models; one of these being the very first car owned by Goodwood’s Duke of Richmond – he still bares the scares! 

Fast forward almost 60 years and in an inspired move, in 2010 Morgan took the world by surprise and storm when its unveiled an all-new 3 Wheeler model at the Geneva Salon, stealing the show from the considerably larger mainstream manufacturers working on vastly beefier budgets. This new Morgan was derived from the charming Liberty Motors ACE, a Morgan-inspired three-wheeler previously created and built by Seattle-based Pete Larsen, with ACE being an abbreviation of American Cycle-car Endeavor, using an exposed front-mounted Harley-Davidson V-Twin motor cycle engine. Morgan acquired the rights to the ACE from Larsen and got building, successfully reigniting interest (and sales) not only in Morgan, but also in three-wheeled cars in general.

As a follow-up to this popular tripod, last week Morgan announced another all-new three-wheeler – the Morgan Super 3 – to supersede this previous model, as exclusively revealed here last week on GRR.

Although hardly classifiable as a ‘mainstream’ vehicle maker, Morgan remains unique in being the World’s sole manufacturer to offer a three-wheeled production model. Other three-wheelers still remain available on the planet, but these are only offered by very small, niche and largely-unknown players, such as Triking in Norfolk and Campagna in Canada.

More familiar household name ‘mainstream’ passenger car manufacturers have always steered clear of a three-wheeled vehicle format for volume sales, despite many of the early pioneering-era motor carriages having just three wheels. These include the 1895 Benz, with one wheel to the fore and two trailing. Even the French Cugnot steam wagon of 1770 – the world’s first self-powered vehicle – employed a three-wheeled chassis layout.

Since the early three-wheelers were usurped by the more secure and practical four-wheeled format during the late Victorian-era, only more specialist niche sportscar and economy car makers, such as Reliant with its infamous Regal and Robin ‘plastic pig’ three-wheelers, plus youthful fun cars like the tangerine-coloured Bond Bug of 1970, have waved the tripod flag, with interest and demand for these diminishing after an immediate post-war peak when unusual and austere microcars were briefly quite acceptable and commonplace. 

I hope to return to some of the world’s more esoteric three-wheelers in a future Anorak, but for the moment, prompted by the introduction of Morgan’s new Super 3, here are nine (i.e. 3x3) three-wheelers either built or conceived by a variety of more familiar everyday car makers.

Allard Clipper

Whilst the Putney-based fearsome V8 sportscar maker Allard might not be as well-known today as it was during its competition-winning height in the 1950s, like its English contemporaries AC, Bond, Reliant and others, between 1953-55 Allard tried its hand (and got its fingers burnt) in the expanding cheap microcar market with its odd Clipper. 

Powered by a tiny Villers 8PS (6kW) 346cc engine, through just one of the rear wheels, the awkward-looking Clipper 3 Wheeler boldly claimed to offer economy family motoring for four (with a pair of small adults or children sitting uncomfortably exposed to the elements in a rear dickey seat!). In reality, though, the car was left wanting, with wobbly handling, a weak driveshaft, cooling problems and major reliability headaches. With just 20 Clippers sold, the model proved the old adage that you should stick to what you know, which in Allard’s case was hairy-chested sportscars powered by big American-sourced V8 engines. 

BMW Isetta

Arguably the most iconic and distinctive of all post-war three-wheeler microcars, the Isetta ‘bubble car’ began its long and complex career as the brainchild of the Italian white goods manufacturer, Renzo Rivolta, launched under his ISO brand name (which later went on to build expensive and desirable GTs such as the glorious ISO Grifo and Lele).

A tiny and ingenious egg-shaped device, with a front-hinged door carrying the pivoting steering wheel, plus a single bench seat, the production rights to the Isetta were soon sold by ISO to a then-struggling BMW, this strange bubble car ultimately helping to save the Bavarian company from bankruptcy and grow into the successful powerhouse that BMW has become today.

With a Morgan-style layout of two wheels at the front and one behind, later Isettas became available in certain markets – including the UK and USA – as four-wheelers too with a pair of very close-coupled wheels placed at the rear for taxation and stability reasons, with final examples actually built in the UK in Brighton! The arrival in 1959 of BMC’s innovative Mini lead to the death of the less versatile and safe bubble car format, with the ironic twist that decades later BMW acquired the rights to the Mini brand and production! 

BSA Ladybird

Before WWII Coventry-based BSA was not only one of Britain’s largest and most popular motorcycle makers, but it also built cars, rivalling Morgan with a range of family-orientating three-wheelers, plus a pioneering front-wheel-drive four-wheeled roadster. Post-war, BSA stuck to two-wheels, leaving its associated Daimler and Lanchester marques to concentrate on building luxury four-wheeled passenger cars. 

In 1959, however, the BSA badge briefly returned to a motor car, on a friendly three-wheeled prototype called Ladybird, featuring front-wheel-drive. With full plans in place to produce the Ladybird, BSA’s timing were thwarted when the BMC giant introduced the Mini at the 1959 London Earls Court Motor Show, killing off the three-wheeled Ladybird’s potential at a stroke. 

Daihatsu Bee

Vaguely familiar today as a maker of pleasing little economy cars and vans, in its formative years during the 1950s, Japan’s Daihatsu cut its teeth building small three-wheeled light commercial vehicles. Its ill-proportioned Bee of 1951-52 was Daihatsu’s very first passenger car, based around an existing commercial chassis, with one wheel at the front and two at the rear.

Using an air-cooled 800cc rear-mounted two-cylinder motor, the two-door/four-seater Bee proved popular as a taxi in car-starved post-war Japan, as three-wheelers attracted lower taxes than a more conventional four-wheeled car. Few were made though.

Ford Ghia Cockpit

Since the 1950s Ford has presented a number of unusual and adventurous three-wheeled passenger car prototypes and concepts, although as yet the American motoring giant has not been brave or foolhardy enough to actually introduce a tripod for production. 

Some of Ford’s zanier three-wheeled concepts have originated in its American divisions, such as the space age Maxima of 1954 and wild Volante of 1961. Through its more sober Ghia styling division that Ford took over in Italy in the early 1970s, a handful of Ford-badged tripod concepts were presented in public, the most notable of these being the Cockpit of 1981; an economy one-off prototype, inspired by the amusing Messerschmitt KR200 tandem-seater microcar of the 1950s.

Ghia’s Ford Cockpit shared its two front wheels, one rear wheel, in-line tandem seating and fully glazed, side-hinged opening ‘cockpit’ aircraft-style top with the celebrated Messerschmitt, power coming from a tiny rear-engined 200cc, 11PS (8kW) single-cylinder engine, sourced from a Piaggio scooter. Series production was never considered by Ford.

General Motors Lean Machine

Like its Ford rival, General Motors (GM) has also dabbled with a few unusual three-wheeler concepts over the years. The first of these was the handy Runabout of 1964, a sporting fastback coupe hatch, with a pair of removable shopping trolleys incorporated into the rear of the car's bodywork. 

Five years later GM returned to the three-wheeled dream with its XP511, a sporty trike with an enormous wrap-around windscreen set in a forward-opening canopy, a la the Bond Bug that was launched one year later.

Arguably the most interesting and advanced of GM’s three-wheeled concepts though has to be the ingenious Lean Machine of 1983. As its name suggests, the rotund Lean Machine was a rear-engined prototype that tilted into bends, in the same way that motorcycles lean into corners. This prototype used a small Honda bike engine, capable of propelling the machine up to 80mph, with 0-60mph in just 6.8 seconds and the potential for 120mpg.

Predating vehicles such as the Dutch Vanderbrink Carver, the Lean Machine was something of a folly for GM, albeit an interesting and far-sighted vision of the future on three-wheels.

Honda XXX and 3R-C

With the company’s roots firmly established with motorcycles, it is not surprising to learn that Honda has experimented with three-wheeled ‘cars’ for many years, although it has yet to make one available to the car-buying public. 

At the 1983 Tokyo Motor Show, for example, Honda displayed its curious XXX concept, an ugly single-seater with a side-tilting canopy for access, with a small motor driving the front pair of wheels. 

In 2010 it followed with the Honda 3R-C, another strange single-occupant prototype with electric power, with motorcycle handlebars and the driver’s head pocking out of the top of an odd white plastic canopy resembling a Star Wars storm troopers uniform. 

Mercedes-Benz F300 Life Jet

Usually conservative Mercedes-Benz had a mad moment in 1997 when it revealed its decidedly odd F300 Life Jet three-wheeled concept as its centrepiece at that year’s IAA Frankfurt Motor Show.

Introducing a computer-controlled hydraulic corner leaning system tagged as ATC (Active Tilt Control), this out-of-character 800kg Mercedes concept could attack a bend with a cornering angle of up to 30 degrees.

Using a 1.6-litre petrol engine borrowed from the production Mercedes-Benz A160, the F300 topped 130mph, squeezing two people into its aircraft cockpit-type tandem open canopy, wrapped in an advanced double-skinned alloy space frame shell. The car remained a one-off prototype.

Peugeot 20Cup

With a long and proud history building two- and four-wheeled vehicles, be they push bikes, motorcycles, cars or vans, Peugeot has some previous form in making three-wheeled vehicles as well, the most ubiquitous of which was the basic Triporter delivery tricycle it built during WWII.

In 2005, Peugeot revisited its three-wheeled past, plus cunningly previewed its important up-and-coming 207 hatchback model, with an exciting tripod sporting twin-seat roadster; the 20Cup. 

Using a cutting-edge single-piece carbon chassis, this appealing 500kg concept featured a front-mounted turbocharged 167PS (123kW) petrol engine powering the front driving wheels through a six-speed sequential transmission. Two 20Cups were presented at the 2005 IAA Frankfurt Show; one on white, the other in black, with no intention to actually produce replicas of these concepts.