Pocket Classics
| Pocket Classics | |
|---|---|
 Ollie Marriage powersliding a miniature Jaguar XK120. | |
| Vehicle | Harrington Specialist Vehicles Generation 2 |
| Origin |
 Great Britain |
| Type | 4WD micro car |
| Engine | 0.1L Inline-1 |
| Displacement | 8 brake horsepower |
| Top Speed | 45 MPH (72 KPH) |
| Produced | 2013 - 2018 |
| Appeared in | Top Gear Magazine #266 (2015) |
The Pocket Classic was a microcar built by the Vietnamese-designed, British-based Harrington Specialist Vehicles[1], which was founded in 2003[2] by Vietnamese entrepreneur Ly Phan and her ex-partner, where the company fastly became the world's leading producer of reproduction classic car bumpers. Taking on the facsimile of various classic cars such as the AC Cobra and Jaguar XK120, each Pocket Classic is hand-built[3] and powered by a 110cc four-stroke single-cylinder engine, which is connected to each of the four wheels by dual chain drives capable of taking each Pocket Classic to a maximum velocity of 45 MPH. The first of these cars, referred to as "Generation 1", entered production in 2010[4] with pint-sized replicas of the Jaguar E-Type and Porsche 356[5], before being succeeded by the Generation 2 in 2013.
Appearance[edit | edit source]
The car made its sole appearance in the February 2015 issue of Top Gear Magazine. Car tester Ollie Marriage, along with his colleague Dan Read would test two instances of the Pocket Classic; one based on the AC Cobra, and the other based on the Jaguar XK120. At the time of publication, the Cobra cost £13,000, and the XK120 was slightly more expensive at £15,000. They would use the Top Gear Test Track to do this, as the cars weren't road legal. Due to this, it was decided the car would set a power lap, albeit not a very impressive one.
Power Lap[edit | edit source]
The Pocket Classic holds the distinction of being one of the slowest vehicles ever to officially lap the Top Gear Test Track. With Marriage at the wheel, the dinky microcar was only capable of a 3:07.0 lap time at an average speed of just 33 MPH. To put into perspective how slow this was, the magazine featured an infographic comparing the Pocket Classic against several other vehicles, including the Pagani Huayra, the fastest car to have lapped the circuit at that particular point in time, and the Ferdinand GT3 RS, the slowest. Marriage would also ride a racing bicycle around the circuit, resulting in a latter lap time of 4:57.0, almost two minutes slower than the Pocket Classic. However, due to the non-road legality of these cars, if tested on the programme, then the lap time would have been disqualified.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
The two Pocket Classics at Dunsfold.
The Cobra crosses the finish line.
A comparison of lap times.
References[edit | edit source]
- Vehicle pages
- Vehicles produced by Harrington Specialist Vehicles
- Harrington Specialist Vehicles Generation 2
- British vehicles
- Cars
- 4WD cars
- 4WD micro cars
- Micro cars
- British cars
- Harrington Specialist Vehicles cars
- Harrington Specialist Vehicles micro cars
- Cars with an engine displacement of 0 - 0.9 litres
- Cars with an exact engine displacement of 0.1 litres
- Cars with Inline-1 engines
- Cars with 1 cylinder engines
- Vehicles with a power output of 8 BHP
- Vehicles with a top speed of 45 MPH/72 KPH
- Vehicles which entered production in 2013
- Vehicles which ceased production in 2018
- Vehicles which set a lap time of 2:00 or slower on the Top Gear Test Track
