Sinclair C5 (modified) - Trials of Off-Road

[@milnei]

I was the driver in this video. My father, Peter Milner was the Engineering Director and I was the unofficial test driver for all sorts of modifications, including this one.

[@paullangton-rogers2390]

Wonderful thanks for sharing Ian!

[@michaelwhitestonephotograp7849]

Hello Ian, I have the other one that was made. No pedals. The one you tested is now in America I believe. Thanks for uploading the video. Michael.

[@isaacsummers5046]

Do you know where I could find a free non running c5 to do up?

[@Boemel]

Thanks for the video, i LOVE the 'joystick' idea, and the fact the rear axle is mounted 'upside down'' for ground clearance.

[@alberttatlock5237]

I like the way you kept it in the back of an old 80s designed estate car

[@AcornElectron]

Brilliant! Sinclair was so far in front he couldn't get the support. Damned petrochemical industry!

[@paullangton-rogers2390]

It wasn't that Gareth, the reason the C5 failed was very simple. A total lack of any proper market research and extremely bad marketing. The design was not fit for purpose and he had marketed it as something it clearly wasn't, at the wrong target market. It's an expensive toy and had he marketed it as such, it probably would have sold fine. In fact, as I recall, when Sinclair's liquidated stock was purchased (for around £70 each!) the purchaser did successfully market them as expensive toy cars for kids and managed to export the lot overseas to the US and rich Arab Gulf States for MORE than Sinclair's original £399 selling price..making a £2 million profit, on only a fraction of the stock. That really serves to underline that the Sinclair C5 was a marketing disaster by Sinclair. Although a clever innovator and inventor, he was not a business man and git overly confident of himself on the back of the Sinclair ZX81 and Spectrum sales which was more by luck (due to the gaming industry taking off) than his marketing or planning.

[@JORDAN8ISH]

Hi there I like the video that much that I have started to build one .You can see how far I have gone on the C5owners website .. Is there any chance you still have the C5 ...also have you any more photos of it as I would like to get more info on it ...bye Chas (JORDAN8ISH my C5 videos on KZbin .bye

[@Saltor66]

Many thanks for sharing!

[@charlessnarski5586]

Hi there looks great do you still have it. Bye Chas (Jordan8ISH ). On KZbin

[@sadrhogollsodia9505]

What camera did you use to film this?

[@MikeG-fo1lb]

Catchy music

[@paullangton-rogers2390]

It's bizarre and crazy to think Sinclair would attempt to market these as golf buggies/cars in the United States, more bizarre than his original marketing plan of marketing them as electric cars/replacements for cars in the UK! I have a background in marketing and I would never imagine in a million years a product like this would not only manage to secure funding, but even make it into production on those kind of target markets. I now own one, and can see how wholly inadequate they are for both target markets. It's merely an expensive toy, not even usable as a replacement for a bicycle if you have face even modest hills. Some say the C5 was just "ahead of its time"... I think that is true to some degree but more so it was "rushed" to market too soon and not properly market researched (an expensive lesson for other would-be inventors!). I also think the design was just poor and not suitable for the intended purpose and target markets. Interestingly, Sinclair Vehicles did do some "follow-on" designs which were much more car-like, bigger with enclosed roofs and bigger motors. Heaven knows why he didn't wait a year or two and launch that instead! That design (or one very similar) has since been copied by a well known car manufacturer (Nissan I think) and marketed reasonably successfully as a budget priced electric car for warmer climates as the sides are open.

[@zenbudhism]

He funded it from his own pocket, and ran out of money

[@paullangton-rogers2390]

Looking at this prototype it does seem to have something approaching suspension! There's a bit of bounce to the back of it I see, when it's off-road, that would be very welcomed as riding a C5 would not be comfortable I imagine over any kind of bumps! It's not particularly comfortable on the flat (without the seat booster), let alone rough ground lol. Not wanting to appear to knock the C5 too much here (I know there's many fans of them still), like so many of Sinclair's designs, it's a brilliant concept, but just badly designed on a shoe-string cost point budget. I mean, if you're going to build something to replace a car which someone is expected to sit in for like half an hour, at least put a decent seat on it with suspension springs and proper suspension on the rear axle! Next the entire body is just wrong. An open car for the UK that gets more rain than not! It would not be a major leap to re-design the shell with a simple integrated removable roof and plastic stick on "windows". These would not be major cost increases but would make the thing a lot more functional and user-friendly for its target market.

[@milnei]

Unfortunately, one of the popular misconceptions (spread as a result of lazy journalism and wanting to 'bash' Sinclair) at the time is that it was never intended to replace a car. It should be seen as an alternative to a standard bicycle. When seen in that light it compares extremely favorably in all aspects you highlight. It's more comfortable than a bike, offers more weather protection, safer, more visible, has carrying capacity and takes less effort to ride than a bike. The Off-Roader version didn't have suspension, it was purely the balloon tyres that not only gave the softer ride, more traction, but also less ground pressure so it wouldn't sink into soft ground.

[@alberttatlock5237]

That would have just added to the cost, it's launch price was 400 notes but you could pick them up for 179 notes 6 months later. Designed by lotus, shell made by Hoover. Being low speed and not self propelled, it avoided the need for tax, insurance licensing and other thing's. It was actually an electric bike

[@alberttatlock5237]

Ahead of its time, fuel was still quite cheap and roads were less congested than today. If it came out today it would sell a lot better, but that markets already corned ' still a small market' with electric bikes that are still quite expensive