Harper Runabout
1921-26 Three-wheel car made by A. V. Roe and Co designed and produced under the supervision of R. O. Harper (see advert)
1923 Harper Runabout motorised tricycle. 260 cc. 500 made. Exhibit at Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry
'The Harper Runabout was designed by Robert Owen Harper of Stretford, Manchester, in 1921. Harper had previously worked for Newton Bennett as a car designer. The Runabout was intended to be a cheap vehicle that cost little to run. It was powered by a 197-cc Villiers motorcycle engine, which allowed the Runabout to cover 90 miles on one gallon of fuel. The Harper was priced at £100. Between 1922 and 1926 about 500 Runabouts were built in the Avro aircraft factory at Newton Heath, Manchester. One of the customers for the Runabout seems to have been the Manchester Police, with at least one of the three-wheelers being used to aid crowd control at a flying event at Hough End Fields in the 1920s.'[1]