The Pembleton T24 Is A Featherweight Four-Wheeler With Morgan Vibes
As a person approaching 40, I remember a time when a lightweight car was something under 2,500 pounds. I mean, the Lotus Emira – from a company famed for making featherweight sports cars – tips the scales at around 3,000 pounds. Just about the lightest thing you can buy anymore with four wheels is the Mazda Miata, and not a lot else comes close.
Why am I harping on heavy cars? Because unless you’re land speed racing, weight makes nearly every aspect of a vehicle worse. A light car doesn’t need stiff springs and a brutal ride; it doesn’t need gobs of power or giant tires. The less it weighs, the more alive it feels.
That’s why the Pembleton T24 is completely blowing my mind right now. I had never heard of it until Jonny Smith from the Late Brake Show released a video on it. Now I am having trouble thinking of anything but the T24. So, tl;dr, what is it?
The Pembleton T24 Exclusive Review – The LIGHTEST New car you’ve never heard of
It’s a handmade four-wheel sort-of-car that bears a very strong resemblance to the Morgan Three-Wheeler. Like the Morgan, it has a nose-mounted air-cooled V-twin engine (though from Moto Guzzi instead of S&S, and 850cc instead of nearly two liters), super skinny tires, no roof and two seats. Unlike the Morgan, it has four wheels. It also has a Citroen gearbox. In short, it’s like a Three-Wheeler that can actually dodge a pothole and that weighs just shy of 800 lbs – that’s around 350 lbs less than the Morgan, for those of you playing at home.
Pembleton has been around for 24 years, and its first car was essentially a home-built Morgan Three-Wheeler clone well before Morgan brought them back into production. It had a hand-welded frame, hand-beaten body panels, and not a lot else. That car is still on the road as the founder’s daily driver, which is pretty damned impressive on a bunch of different levels.
The Pembleton T24 is available to order now with a starting price of 32,995 GBP plus around 20 percent for VAT. It’s not clear if this car can be imported to the US – I’d be absolutely shocked if it can – but I can still daydream about it, and now you probably will too.
