Production chronology1903
Sourced production or model lifecycle range used by the main catalog timeline.
curated ↗1 year
← Crypto
Crypto / Model record
Crypto3½ HP Tri-car
Production1903
Recorded originUnited Kingdom
ClassVeteran passenger tricar or light automobile
Power3.5 hp
Purpose-built Crypto Works road vehicle for two riders, not merely a detachable passenger chair on a solo motorcycle. Its large-diameter tubular frame, differential steering, 2½-inch rear tyres and expanding metal-to-metal band brakes on the two front wheels distinguished it from Crypto's motor bicycles. One show car had a coachbuilt bucket body and two-speed Crypto gear; the other used a basket or upholstered-cane passenger body. Contemporary reports place the pair in motorcycle-show coverage, but their dedicated three-wheel passenger chassis qualifies for the automobile catalog. A secondary chronology says Crypto began making Peugeot- and MMC-engined forecars in 1902, yet no exact 1902 type, rating or independently catalogued identity is recovered, so that statement remains history rather than a speculative extra row.
Chronology ledger
Dates with their meaning intact
Record depth — Documented
How this is measured → This record contains useful sourced evidence, but it does not yet meet the reference-ready standard. Still needed: attributed imagery. Fields we cannot source stay empty rather than guessed.
Research notes
Two differently bodied examples were announced for the 1903 Stanley Show, but no factory output total, serial ledger or survivor census is known.