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The Journey Of The Sinclair C5

With the death of the visionary British Inventor Sir Clive Sinclair. We wanted to show our appreciation for his work and how it influenced our youths.

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Written By Dave Calvert

May 2023 / Reading Length: 5 minutes

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With the death of the visionary British Inventor Sir Clive Sinclair. We wanted to show our appreciation for his work and how it influenced our youths by stepping back in time to one of his most misunderstood creations, the C5.

 

The C5 was undoubtedly way ahead of its time, Sir Clive’s vision of an electric powered personal vehicle wasn’t without the usual Sinclair flaws but with the modern age of electric cars and electric scooters it’s easy to see the lineage back to the C5. To celebrate his work and specifically the C5 we now have one of our own, please follow us on our journey from dusty unloved barn find to a working example of this silly, fun and ground breaking vehicle.

 

After an inauspicious start to the C5 project where I managed to set fire to the control board, I now have the new board which needs to be fitted.

 

Briefly returning to the minor fire I created, it was during a test of the existing electronics and a brand new car battery. After many years with the vehicle sat in a farmers barn for storage, it had clearly taken its toll on the electrical components, and running a full powered battery through them caused the control board to overheat and burnout.

 

Now the replacement part has arrived I can begin to strip out the old one and try again. This time I might just double check the connection with a multimeter, C5 control boards are hard to come by!

The restoration of the C5 is moving on

For this part of the project the vehicle has been despatched to a C5 specialist for a full strip down and clean. We want the C5 to look close to its original factory condition so the first phase is to find out what is still working and what needs replacing.


On initial inspection it looks like the vehicle is mostly original but has had amateur repairs made during its life, all of these are going to be fixed, some with original parts with some 3D printed components added where appropriate.

 

At the end of this phase we should have a de rusted, repainted chassis with the main electrical components refitted.

 

Then it’s on to phase two, putting it all back together.

The project rolls forward.

 

All the metal parts have been de-rusted and resprayed back to the original Sinclair colour specifications. Plastic parts have been cleaned and look as good as new. The C5 is now being carefully reassembled, oiled and greased as the parts go back onto the chassis.

 

With new disk brakes which will be far more effective than the original drum and calliper brakes. The next phase is to add the pedal and chain mechanics before the body is dropped on over the top.

 

The office is now getting fevered with the possibility of getting our C5 back within a matter of weeks. Let hope the sun holds out so we can produce some videos of its homecoming!

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