You can buy yourself a sports car, supercar, or a juiced-up truck with a loud exhaust to easily get attention on the road; it has been a staple for decades with great success. But it has been done over and over; how many times can we be impressed by the same custom jobs or expensive builds?
If you are looking for a truly unique car, this little round green machine is what you want.
The Pea Car: A One-Off, Body Panel-Shelling Green Commercial Car
The round, self-destructing, and strange Green Pea Car is a true one-off, and it is bound to get you some looks on the road. Only one was ever made, and it served only one purpose, but we think it is a fantastic-looking creation with Kei car/Isetta hallmarks all over it. For true uniqueness, the Pea Car is about as strange as it gets.
You may be wondering why you have never seen a Pea Car out on the road; the reason is that it was made for a Birds Eye food commercial back in 2005. The Pea Car was built as a marketing gimmick. In the commercial, we see the Pea Car driving through the English countryside in all its shining green glory.
All seems normal at first, but body parts and body panels start falling off of it as it is driven. By the time it reaches the front of a house at the end of the commercial, it is nothing but the frame and engine. The idea was to convey that Birds Eye frozen peas last longer and lose less of their nutrients from the store to home.
No, It’s Not A Kei Car
Though the Pea Car may look like it was built by a Japanese automaker as one of the many cool Kei Cars we can now get, or even a run-off from something like the Messerschmitt KR200 or BMW Isetta, as unique commercial cars go, the Pea Car stands alone. Its small footprint, cutesy look, and almost toy-like proportions may look Kei–car-esque, but it has absolutely nothing to do with these regulations.
It was, in fact, designed and built in London by a company called Asylum. The Pea Car was never intended to meet any road safety regulations, size limits, or any road-going classification; its small pea-shaped design is purely for aesthetics and to look eye-catching for the camera. We’d say they nailed it. While it may look like a good small economical car to drive around a city in, it actually has no credentials of these sorts at all; it would be fun (to an extent), but it can’t be done.
Based On An Off-Road Go-Kart With Beetle Parts
Under that glossy green shell, the Pea Car is a lot more DIY than it looks. Instead of utilizing a car platform, the designers opted for a basic off-road go-kart chassis with a lightweight tubular frame that was easy to modify. The go-kart’s independent front suspension, steering column, steering rig, and disc brakes were largely kept intact. Thanks to the easy-to-mod hardy backbone, the Pea Car was tough enough to survive numerous takes and is useful (once it was modified) to hang the pea body design off of.
There are a couple of real auto parts used for the exterior; the most recognizable are the headlights, which have been taken from a classic Volkswagen Beetle. The indicators were pinched from a Lancia, but exterior-wise, that’s about where it ends. As is probably an understatement, most of the build is custom; the wing mirrors were made by a specialist accessory shop, and the bright fiberglass green body panels were made in-house by Asylum. Asylum also handled ensuring that panels, aside from looking like a pea, fell off when they should have without damaging the chassis or the driver.
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It’s Not Road-Legal, But Only If It Was
It may go without saying, but the Pea Car is one of the fun-looking cars that are not road-legal. There are next-to-no safety features; aside from the chassis (possibly), we are not sure how it would fare in a crash, and, well, the body panels are meant to fall off. There is no crumple zone, airbags, or standard lighting; the Pea Car was, unfortunately, only ever created as a prop for the Birds Eye commercial.
When the Birds Eye commercial was being filmed, roads had to be closed, and a stunt driver was used for the takes. You can get a bit of speed up in this awesome little pea, and it looks fun to blast around, but without being a very skillful driver, we are going to presume it would be very dangerous and nerve-wracking. Perfect for the screen, not for the road.
The Engine Under The… Pod: What Makes The Pea Car Move
Despite being a prop, the Pea Car wasn’t just pushed around for camera shots; it boasts a real engine under its shell. Engineers fitted it with a Honda motorcycle engine mounted mid-chassis, chosen for its small size and because there are millions of them about, rather than any sort of performance guts. The Pea Car’s Honda engine is mated to a single-gear rig, meaning that there are no gears to shift; it relies on a simple drive to put power to the rear wheels.
Unfortunately, no exact engine displacement information is confirmed, but it is generally agreed that the engine was lifted from a small-capacity Honda motorbike, likely somewhere in the 250–400 cc range. While it is not the fastest small car on earth, using the Honda engine meant that Pea Car looked as realistic as possible as it flew about the countryside.
It Can Hit 60 MPH, But It’s Not Recommended
The Birds Eye Pea Car only tips the scales at 1,653 pounds with all body panels in place. That is roughly the weight of a small city car, but obviously, as the pea starts to shell, it gets lighter and lighter. Most things are designed to fall off the Pea Car, including 12 body panels, the exhaust, wing mirrors, the hubcaps, the roof, the rear bumper, and the doors, so while we have faith that Asylum did the job properly when they made it, it is literally built to fall apart.
The light body weight paired with the Honda engine and lightweight go-kart chassis means that the Pea Car can actually get up to 50–60 mph on a closed road. Nippy, but we can imagine it’s not very stable to handle. The light weight of the Pea Car also has a downside, though; it means that with a small steering input, the pea could roll. Plus, with the minimal suspension, tiny wheels, and slim chassis, there is little doubt that it would feel very twitchy and scary, especially when it starts to fall apart around you.
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Where Is The Strange One-Off Pea Car Now?
After its starring role in the Birds Eye commercial, the Pea Car didn’t just rot into obscurity; it rightly became something of a quirky auto artifact. It was always going to be a one-off model, not a production model, and it was never sold or put into regular use. It has been preserved as a display piece for fans of weird cars to go and see up close. Since 2005, the Pea Car has appeared around the UK at many exhibitions, but probably the most notable was its appearance at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.
Most recently, the Pea Car is said to be housed at the Unilever Ice Cream and Frozen Foods Co. building in Walton-on-Thames, not far from where Birds Eye’s HQ was in the 1960s. The Pea Car has also appeared at a few events, but because of its oddity, it is unlikely ever to leave the display world or be sold on. So, the only way to own a Pea Car is to make one yourself.
Other One-Of-A-Kind Commercial Cars
The Pea Car is by far not the only custom commercial car that is going to stop traffic; brands have been finding ways for decades to catch our attention. It is safe to say that models like the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, the Zippo Car, the Hormel Foods Nutmobile, and the L.L.Bean Bootmobile have all done that.
The Wienermobile is built on a Chevy or a GMC truck chassis and has been cruising the roads around the U.S. since 1936 to advertise hot dogs. The Zippo Car, often customized from classic sedans, though mostly retired, spreads the iconic lighter brand at events and trade shows. The Nutmobile, based on a small delivery truck, tours the U.S., handing out nuts and cracking a few smiles, while the Bootmobile, which is typically built on a GMC Sierra chassis, replicates the Bean Boot design for selected roadshow promotions.
While all of these commercial cars are famous and turn heads, the Pea Car is totally unique and rare. There has only been one made; you won’t likely see it anywhere except for on display, and it shows real creativity from a brand.
Sources: Classic.com, Asylum Models And Effects Ltd., and Cool Ideas’ YouTube Channel.