UK auto enthusiast Perry Watkins drives a Jaguar by day, but a car-centric creative streak has led him down a different and more diminutive path to the creation of what he claims is the world’s smallest street-legal car.
Using the fiberglass body from a coin-operated “Postman Pat” mail truck children’s ride, a mini-quad bike and some body work know-how, Watkins created the tiny, clown-car-like vehicle he calls the Wind-Up, The Sun newspaper reported. The car’s frame is 39 inches high and 26 inches wide, but miraculously, the 6-foot-tall Perry can squeeze behind the Wind-Up’s wheel.
The car gets its name from the giant wind-up key Perry attached to its rear, but it took much more to transform the former “Postman Pat” truck from kiddie toy to a road-worthy ride. Perry reinforced the truck’s body with a steel frame and mounted it on the mini-quad bike, which has a 150cc, single-cylinder engine and allows the car to reach 40 mph while getting about 70 mpg. To make the Wind-Up fully street-legal, he also added turn signals, windshield wipers, mirrors, lights and license plate mounts.
To give the kid-friendly car a more grown-up demeanor, Perry outfitted it with faux racing exhaust pipes and a flame-accented paint job.
Perry says he also holds the world record for the world’s lowest car, the Flatmobile.
Click HERE to see photos of the Wind-Up from The Sun.