The C5 was launched with great fanfare in January in London - and the project went downhill from there. Sinclair proposed the C5 as a compromise between a car and a bicycle, but the concept proved to be unappealing to both sets of users. Reviewers and safety organisations slated the low-slung EV as dangerous, and it was lampooned for a series of perceived failings, including the fact that a lack of reverse gear meant you had to get out and lift the nose around if you wanted to get out of a tight spot.
While Sinclair optimistically planned for a series of EVs including larger spin-off versions of the C5 capable of up to 80mph, the writing was on the wall. Sinclair Vehicles went bust the same year.
Looking at getting your own cheap electric transport? It could also be operated by anyone over 14 years old in the UK, without a license or helmet. Famed racing driver Stirling Moss expressed his concerns too. Media reviews were also harsh about the range — the battery did not live up to expectations — and there was too much exposure to the elements. In retrospect a January launch in London may not have been the most enticing demonstration to carry out.
The poor reception meant orders were minimal, and production ceased around eight months later. The trouble is, that turned out to be far too often. Despite almost universal derision, the C5 still has a cult following. Parts are available on online auction sites and there are owners clubs swapping advice.
In the decades since, battery technology has improved, as have electronic control systems for safety and stability. The appetite for alternatives to petrol-engined cars is growing, with some electric vehicles such as the Tesla Model S , and the Nissan Leaf becoming sales success stories. And cycling is also increasingly popular in cities, some of which have plans to ban cars all together.
HyperDrive Design. Was the Sinclair C5 30 years too early? Share using Email. Starting with six members of staff in a sealed room, the project was sworn to secrecy, such that the only scoop prior to launch was six months later in November , when the Mail on Sunday published a story.
In fact, all parties involved in the project treated it with the kind of security normally reserved for a new car launch. Hoover staff trial assembled C5s prior to full production, pulling them apart before reassembling.
Potentially 50 C5s could be produced per line per hour — with a capability of a massive C5s a week…. A healthy contract on , projected vehicles. While Sinclair had an engineering aptitude, it was from the electronic rather than production background. However, an opportunity presented itself in the form of a casualty from the DeLorean debacle — Barrie Wills. Wills had a sound background in automobile lost causes — apprenticed at Jaguar, part of the team behind the Leyland National, Managing Director of Reliant before joining the board of DeLorean — all in the space of 20 years.
Wills had a good relationship with Lotus in Hethel so much so he would eventually father the front-wheel-drive Elan and became the bridge between Lotus and Sinclair.
Sinclair, aided by Tony Wood Rogers, had a spent a year with Ogle honing the prototype, but the design was faltering and getting heavier — kg, then kg. So, when Wills arrived in March , Ogle and Sinclair curtailed their association and transferred development to Hethel — home of Lotus. At Lotus, brothers Brian and Colin Spooner examined what they had inherited: a design study with a set of regulations. Although the design was reworked by Lotus dropping its drag co-efficient of friction from 0.
The design had many parallels with the humble ski — great torsional strength made by two pieces of pressed steel joined in a sandwich, whilst giving enough flex to create a suspension effect. The C5 was subjected to every surface and test condition bar the famous banked oval.
It is neither a toy or a plaything. The C5 also aided other automotive technology — its electronic display unit was created by AB Automotive Electronics. A bold claim and backed up by the UK industry big-hitters. The practice involved injection moulding the upper part of the shell complete, and moulding the lower part complete.
The total time taken for this process was just 70 seconds. A year earlier, in , one of the first uses for this type of assembly was seen in the Austin Maestro — both its front and rear Bokan bumpers were moulded this way…. While the moulded bodyshell waited, the assembly of the chassis began — wheels, tyres, bearing and steering were fitted. With the electric DC motor installed, further electrics lights are fitted to the complete shell before it clothes the rolling chassis.
Just like a new car, the virgin C5s were rolling road tested on a special jig — which replicated a 12 stone body weight — before being rolled into cardboard packaging for transport direct from the line to waiting trucks.
As owners regularly found out, battery technology had kind of stalled. In reality, until the mobile cellular telephone became common place ten years later, battery technology was not massively removed from the turn of the century.
Undaunted, Sinclair made the most of what was commercially available — his personal belief being that once electric vehicles became popular, battery manufacturers would up the ante and pay for the development themselves.
Because the C5 weighed 30kg and the battery a 12V 36ah item 15kg, it meant a spare could be carried and still not exceed the 60kg maximum of the new regulations. Meanwhile, Wood Rogers had found his first suitable electric motor — originally envisaged for a truck cooling fan.
However, the Bosch item was replaced by an Italian item, unfortunately from a company that also manufactured washing machine motors — something the press quickly picked up on…. Quite simply you accelerated, eased off the electric throttle, coasted then accelerated again. The following day, the C5 made the front page of most national newspapers, followed by the invitation for the public to try the C5 over that weekend. Over Electricity Board showrooms had a C5 on display to tantalise consumers.
Sinclair and Wills were upbeat during the press conference in which six C5s burst out of packaging on stage and circled the arena. A development film then showed the C5 being tested and, amongst the more sensible sales patter, rather bizarrely Wills informed the journalists present that the seating position was based upon that of the Ford Capri! It was anticipated that over , vehicles could be produced in , creating jobs, and that as of That needs no licence, no road tax, and you can drive it whether your 14 or The Sinclair C5 is a new power in personal transport.
The Sinclair C5. Want to buy one? Or simply want to read all about it? Just dial and ask for free phone C5 — NOW. Persuasive stuff indeed. Final thanks were given to all the companies who had supported the project, then the floor was open to questions before the obligatory test drives.
The overall response was all rather favourable — so, what went wrong? Despite claimed orders approaching a units for the first week, and sales for the first month after launch, in reality approximately C5s were sold by Sinclair Vehicles — an impressive figure were it not for the additional unsold C5s. On 13 August, Hoover announced it was to cease production of the C5 due to the stock pile of unsold units.
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