TEI #016 - solved. Pashley 3-wheeler, 1953

[Tom_I]

You can never have too many three-wheelers, can you?

What is the make and year of this one for a point?

[magnette]

Pashley - no idea if it was a particular model, but it had a 197cc engine and was only made for a few months in 1953 - I think it might be the prototype..

[Tom_I]

That's the one - another point for you.

This is indeed the prototype. As far as I know it's the only one that was ever made.

[barrett]

Interesting, I'd never heard of this one before. I take it it was made by the Pashley motorcycle company?

[Tom_I]

Yes, it was the only model you could really describe as a passenger car made by W R Pashley Ltd, then of Birmingham. They started out making bicycles, but after WW2 diversified into rickshaw type motorised tricycles and lightweight delivery vehicles.

The company still exists today, making hand-made cycles, and now based in Stratford-upon-Avon.

[barrett]

I may be wrong (I usually am) but I think that the three wheeled rickshaw-style vehicle they built called the Pelican was Britian's first plastic-bodied (not sure if it was GRP or what) production 'car'....

[Tom_I]

I don't know if it was the first, but the Pashley Pelican was certainly a very early example of GRP mouldings being used for vehicle bodywork.