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DEPARTURES BACK TO BASICS 42 More than Nostalgia The debut of Morgan’s retro-tinged Super 3 heralds a return of the classic three-wheeler. by Josh Sims THE VENERABLE British motorcar manufacturer Morgan’s latest vehicle comes with all the gently prewar period styling that the company’s dedicated fanbase loves. It has a Dragon inline engine, monocoque body and, of course, a five-speed manual gearbox. More surprisingly in 2022, when most manufacturers are tripping out on the futurism they feel chimes best with motoring’s electrification, it has only three wheels. The result, the Super 3, is something that looks akin to a stunt plane that has lost its wings. As Morgan’s executive chairman Steve Morris puts it, “We’re drawing motorcyclists who see the advantages of three-wheelers, and people who might consider a sports car but suspect it won’t give them quite the same fun. This is a vehicle that’s all about leisure and pleasure.” Nor is Morgan alone in this revival of three-wheelers. From Canada, there’s Campagna, whose T-Rex – with 200 horsepower and 498 kilograms somewhat lighter than its namesake. From the US, there’s Liberty Motors, or Vanderhall with its Venice and Carmel models, or Polaris, which relaunched in 2020 with its aptly named Slingshot. All of these vehicles – not quite cars, not quite motorcycles, maybe “cycle-cars” – are open-topped, low to the ground and light on their feet, with side-by-side configurations that mean you get to slightly terrify a passenger too. And that, says Polaris’ vice president Chris Sergeant, is very much the point. Sure, he says, threewheelers are so unusual that “you can’t fill up at the petrol station without having a conversation with someone about it, because clearly they’re a style statement”. But, more than that, these hybrids – immersive like a motorcycle but comfortable and more rooted to the ground like a car – “aim at offering an intentionally visceral experience,” he enthuses. “Most modern cars now offer more of a living room/cinema theatre experience,” he adds – that is, you barely know you’re driving. “[Threewheelers] make the journey the point again, not the destination. You’re going to be buffeted. You’re going to hear the wind and feel the road. And we recommend wearing a full-face helmet because a beetle in the eye isn’t a good experience.” That’s not to cover your face out of embarrassment, though that’s what an uneducated understanding of the three-wheeler might conclude. Certainly the 20th century – and in particular the 1950s and 1960s, with their optimistic spirit of progress – saw many manufacturers have a go at the idea with varying degrees of success and cool, both the wellknown, BMW, Bugatti and Peugeot, among them, and the more niche: Davis, AC, Peel, Bond. Perhaps most famously, and especially in the UK, there was the Reliant with its Robin.
NICK DIMBLEBY The Robin may be the three-wheeler longest in production, for 65 years, but it’s also a vehicle more likely to raise a smile rather than the hairs on the back of your neck. Perhaps that has been why it has taken some time for the threewheeler renaissance to come: in the public imagination it’s long been the stuff of novelty – not of, as Sergeant describes it, the accessible Formula 1 trainer. Given the domination of four wheels – allowing more passenger and storage space, bigger engines, standardised production and so on – three-wheelers can seem more an aberration than an alternative offering its own exciting advantages. “Three-wheelers can take some explaining, if only because we’re so used to seeing four-wheeled vehicles. Nobody wakes up and decides they need a three-wheeled vehicle,” concedes Morris. “But the easiest way to get people to understand that they’re not [just novelties] is to draw the line three-wheelers trace right back through automotive history. And that’s impressive. Three-wheelers embodied notions of motoring for the masses.” Indeed, the idea of a three-wheeled vehicle – not the four-wheeled one – once looked to be the norm. Take it right back and Leonardo da Vinci’s design for a clockwork self-powered automobile of 1478 had three wheels. Richard Trevithick’s “passenger car” of 1801 had three wheels. Karl Benz’s Opposite page and right: Morgan’s new Super 3 on a joyride in the Welsh countryside, morganmotor.com; below: the vehicle’s boot “We’re drawing people who might consider a sports car but suspect it won’t give them quite the same fun. This is a vehicle that’s all about leisure and pleasure” Motorwagen of 1885, arguably the first car, had three wheels too. But it was Morgan’s founder, Henry Morgan, who in 1905 flipped the Steve Morris of Morgan configuration, putting two wheels up front for steering and stability, a single drive wheel at the rear, and thus introducing a vehicle that was fun, rather than funny. Certainly, the idea of the threewheeled vehicle just keeps tempting auto designers with its possibilities for the future too. Much as the threewheeler originally presented itself as the rational design solution for urban driving – lightweight, stripped back, less mechanically complicated, more economical – so those values are relevant again in the face of today’s challenges. Consequently, other niche makers like Phiaro, Carver, Twike, Trigger and Electra Meccanica are experimenting with the three-wheeler to offer new forms of mobility. Given that so few three-wheeled vehicles are seen on the road, auto engineering’s fascination with the form lives on. 43 DEPARTURES
