Drew Supercharges A Sinclair C5! | Salvage Hunters: The Restorers

Drew comes across a battered Sinclair C5 and wants to restore it with 21st century technology to deliver the dream Sir Clive Sinclair had in mind with his infamous 1985 flop.
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[@innovativeinnovation6629]

Sir Clive made this to make a point, he knew exactly what he was doing. RIP

[@travellingunderpants]

RIP Sir Clive 🙏 You were really ahead of your time!! #SinclairC5

[@robsouthern9218]

That’s the original motor it was always designed to run on 24v it was detuned to meet uk regulations. Clive knew what he was doing.

[@vodamarc6199]

mistake, it's 12v originaly

[@Grandpa_Grinch]

@Tomas Asher you're a good friend then, bet your friend really appreciated that...

[@srowell3]

Got one right next to me. Its 12v stamped on it but yes same motor for multiple applications. From the top of my head it may have been a 24v truck fan motor?

[@ginskimpivot753]

Great man, but for its time the C5 should have been marketed as a toy for pre-teens. I think it would have stormed in with the right 30-second TV ad.

[@mwhitcombe]

Great C5 Update! Can you provide a list of the updated parts & their sourcing please?

[@graemecook2548]

The shape of the C5 is quite beautiful but too small to be practical on the road. If they had made it 50% bigger it might have been successful. I remember the open day at Ally Pally and had a go in one. It was scary! 😱

[@patrickmooney5035]

Sorry for late reply. It was built to new electric vehicle regulations in 1985. So size was limited by the widely mocked fraction of a horse power it had, which was the legal limit. It needed a garage or a large shed to stick it in. So that makes it a bit niche. And the final nail in the coffin, it needed a cycle friendly infrastructure to ride it on. Which still doesn't exist. Surprised he sold as many as he did tbh.

[@Boemel]

24v mod is done a lot with a modern controller, u need a fan on the motor to keep it from overheating, but actually can be done in an afternoon if u have the parts and some experience with electrics. only problem is the plastic gearbox ! iv done a 48v hub motor in the front it even pulls hills now and no stress on the old plastic gears and no belt slipping.

[@roystonhughes3278]

Sweet memories major improvement must have retro 80s

[@edwardfletcher7790]

That new motor is HUGE !!!

[@rrshowtime3900]

Clive Sinclair High Point : ZX Spectrum Clive Sinclair Low Point : C5

[@travellingunderpants]

Pretty harsh to say the c5 was his lowest point.... His vision for cleaner, electric vehicles to reduce pollution were nothing but visionary.... Even prophetic given the state of global climate change!

[@srowell3]

Disagree. C5 design is genius but failure of marketing at the time.

[@markcollins2617]

Chassis had usual surface rust. It's 36year old toy sat out side or in a shed! it's done better than most cars!!! in lasting this long. Motor was always able to take 24v anyway. Bend forks back... loads got bent.. all of that was saveable not knackered! Having got 4 I am not I want to do 35mph to be honest LOL.. I have a Cityel for that the bigger version!! even Drew doesn't have one of them! ;-)

[@srowell3]

Agree. its a weekends work if you know what youre doing

[@chrisliddiard725]

i wonder why sir clive settled on those size wheels? The simplest thing would have been to increase the size of the wheels to lift it further off the ground. standard 26" rwheels would have given it much better clearance.

[@donovandelaney3171]

Anyone could create a modern Sinclair C5 with a 3D printer. The hall would be one piece.

[@donovandelaney3171]

Hoover built 15,000 Sinclairs. 9,000 to 14,000 were sold. Japan built a solar one. That’s 16,000.

[@kellyglen7909]

I worked in a junk shop in Greenwich.I sold one secondhand for £175.25 years ago

[@paulanthony5274]

Wonder how much one would go for today?

[@Rhopunzel]

How did Cid from Final Fantasy XVI end up narrating this?! I knew I'd heard that voice before

[@s4dreamland671]

England ; slide it! Tokyo ; drift it!

[@srowell3]

Unfortunately it did break after filming due to Drew "drifting" it!

[@ianshaunbissell4507]

I would buy the one you have made

[@judithwalker3600]

What fun!

[@g7usl]

I want one?

[@jonwatson9765]

Time for Dyson to take up where Sinclair left off? Maybe it's time has come. PS didn't ICI or some such company have C5s for its workers to get around the site?

[@louispulice9360]

I want my Sinclair

[@martinlintzgy1361]

New lead acid battery?

[@Grandpa_Grinch]

Should of give it a nice paint job or wrap it, something cool & sporty to match its new power, bling it up a bit

[@mattsprayberry0]

ColinFurze 20,000watt drift trike brought me here.

[@srowell3]

@4:00 thats my fan kit! :D If anyone is after one just drop me a message

[@JD-kg3mx]

These “restomods” are incredibly ingenious!

[@patmustardlive]

It’s bullshit mate. Don’t fall for shite programmes like this.

[@TheGreatest1974]

Who did he rob that from?

[@cameronwallis7024]

They really harped on about putting two motors in it, then proceed to put just 1 motor in without any explanation???

[@srowell3]

people always think putting a bigger motor or a second one is the answer... but its not, you can run the original on 24v and its good enough and requires few other alterations

[@justcallmeavi3255]

The Sinclair C5 was *not* a electric vehicle, it was a electric assist recumbent tricycle, it had a top speed of 15MPH because UK law dictated that was the maximum speed of a electric assist bicycle for safety on the roads and a limit of 4MPH when on public pathways, changing the motor and increasing the speed of the C5 makes it illegal in every way and spoils the fun of the vehicle, if you want to go 35MPH on a race track get a electric go-kart, don't ruin a perfectly fine piece of kit because you don't like the output speed!

[@Bumbaclot213]

Shutup

[@badapple65]

We’re these going to be, or were these street legal back in the day? It seems that at 12 mph they could not be street legal unless classified as a bicycle.

[@malcstag]

Street legal up to 15mph

[@CarlBramhall]

They were classed as a bicycle, an electrically assistant pedal tricycle really and as such could only have a 250W motor and be limited to 15.5mph

[@srowell3]

Its a bicycle. They were built to the law at the time. max weight 60kg. 30kg for the c5 and a battery or two at 15kg each. Max speed 15mpg. No licence or insurance. No helmet required. Rider must be 14 or older.

[@arthuritchybollix5064]

You could go much faster if the handlebars were in a better place it'd be far easier to control

[@srowell3]

You need to give it a go first. Theyre in the perfect position!

[@spinnetti]

Those two batteries were what, 1k? very skimpy on the details of this

[@srowell3]

the batteries are premade ones but you can get two AGM ones which are light enough for under £350

[@pontenta5818]

3rd!

[@michaelcorbidge7914]

Did clive actually do much ordinary bycycling in his lifetime before designing the vehicle .? Sadly he lacked street-smart when he demonstrated the device . And is it fair to say the design shows a lack of roadsense for survival on the roads ? He lacked street-smart because he didn't know in the corporate world you gotta fake it till you make it . He should've used a 500 watt motor for demo to impress journalists and included somehow some extra battery power secretly. Anyway the inherent dangerous aspect sort of was a big hurdle to overcome . Folk couldn't talk sense into him huh .

[@raychambers3646]

Still like the c5 still don't like D P.

[@patmustardlive]

It’s a bullshite program. And mostly fake. Like pawn stars was.