You'd have no trouble finding two new friends to ride along in this gorgeous 1966 Ferrari. Slightly resembling an embiggened Dino, the 365P is Ferrari's first mid-engine V12 machine, powered by a triple-carbureted 4.4-liter twelve that sounds like a dozen sopranos getting pureed in an industrial blender. Stunning, ferocious, expensive, irreplaceable, room for two more., Gooding & Company King of the supercar hill after all these years, the BMW-engined McLaren F1 has a purity of speed missing from many modern machines, faster though they may be. Even Elon Musk, the Hank Scorpio of our times, couldn't resist plonking one down in his own personal garage. The center seating position is pure racer, and there's room for an audience of two as you clip the apex. As tested, the British-built, flat-four-powered Jowett Jupiter went from zero to 60 mph in about 18 seconds. Not exactly what you'd call Jovian thunder. Still, it did enjoy some racing success, and while the cads in Jags could accommodate but one bird, you could rest assured that your Jupiter could take two., Wikimedia Commons A sprightly little roadster that would eventually give rise to the legendary Z, Datsun's Fairlady borrowed much from the British ideal of open-topped motoring. Its sideways-mounted rear seat was a rare option, appearing only on the first 7,000 or so cars built. Now, there's a prime bit of trivia to bore people with…, Wikimedia Commons This one is so weird we don't know where to start. Named after the panther from Kipling's “The Jungle Book,” the Bagheera sits three abreast and has a U-8 engine. No, not a V8: two side-by-side in-line fours with crankshafts linked by a chain. Only the French could generate this level of insanity., Wikimedia Commons Like the Fairlady, select model years of the Conquest Mk II had a rear side-facing seat for the third passenger. Daimler was mostly known for large and imposing limousines, so the svelte Conquest came as something of a surprise on its release in the Fifties. Brit-style bugs in the teeth for the folks up front, a bee in the earhole for the rear-seat, side-saddle rider., Wikimedia Commons Fronted by a decidedly bosomy take on the Spirit of Ecstasy, the Geely Excellence takes imitation far beyond mere flattery. It's basically a Rolls-Royce Phantom built for the low, low price of around $45K, a cut-price royal coach for the Middle Kingdom’s middle managers. The rear seat is a single throne, perfect for those who've come to learn it's lonely at the top, the middle and just above the bottom. One of the great pities about F1 racing is that you'll never be able to experience the true visceral thrill without a budget of millions. The race belongs only to the racing drivers, and there's no room in the cockpit for a ride-along. That is, not unless you hop aboard the Arrows racing team's three-seater F1 car., Flickr.com The cheery little Citroën enjoyed several sobriquets during its brief lifespan. A popular car, it was called the little Lemon, the cinq cheveaux, the boat-deck Citroën and cul-de-poule, which means “hen's bottom.” The Trefle (“cloverleaf”) model had room for a single passenger in the back., Wikimedia Commons Your modern Land Rover is a thing of speed and style, as exemplified by the unlikely Nürburgring antics of the Range Rover Sport SVR. The clankety old aluminum-bodied wellies of the original cars were much more agricultural affairs, but when you needed space for a couple of extra herdsmen and ol' Shep the Border Collie, its three-abreast single row was perfect., Miles Willis/Getty Images for Land Rover Any number of vehicles have ferried various Pontiffs, with Pope Francis choosing the humble, homely Fiat 500L as transportation for his recent trip to the U.S. More familiar to most is the white converted ML used by John Paul II extensively, its rear cargo area and seating converted to a large bulletproof dome and a single holy seat., Franco Origlia/Getty Images
Three, as Jack Tripper would tell you, ain’t no crowd. It’s the perfect number: the trinity, the triangle, the ménage à trois. Two might be the loneliest number since the number one, but three—three’s company.
Where cars are concerned, though, manufacturers seem to think three is a bit of a third wheel. As a riposte to such narrow-mindedness, we present this list. For best results, read while listening to a waltz.
