This is a Sinclair C5 that remains in its original box, with the sealing straps still in place from the Merthyr Tydfil factory in the 1980s.
The Sinclair C5 was billed as the future of transportation when it was unveiled. It’s an electric three-wheeler with a futuristic design that many thought would come to dominate the market for around-town urban transportation.
Fast Facts – A Sinclair C5 In Its Original Box
- The Sinclair C5, an electric three-wheeler developed by Sir Clive Sinclair, was launched in the 1980s as a futuristic urban transportation solution but failed to achieve mass adoption due to its low speed, short range, and lack of weather protection.
- Sir Clive Sinclair, a British innovator known for his affordable home computers and the world’s first slimline pocket calculator, intended the C5 to be his entry into personal transportation. Despite early interest, only around 14,000 units were produced in total.
- Celebrity owners of the Sinclair C5 included Prince William, Prince Harry, Sir Elton John, Paul Daniels, and Sir Arthur C. Clarke. The C5 has since gained popularity with collectors due to its retro-futuristic styling and rarity.
- A factory-sealed Sinclair C5, still in its original box, is set to be auctioned on November 10th with a guide price of £3,000–£3,500 ($3,900–$4,500). The new owner will decide whether to preserve it as a collectible or attempt to get it running.
A History Speedrun: The Sinclair C5
The Sinclair C5 was developed under the direction of Sir Clive Sinclair, a man that’s been called Britain’s answer to Bill Gates. Sinclair made his name, and fortune, designing a number of innovative computer products starting with the world’s first slimline electronic pocket calculator, the Sinclair Executive, in 1972.
This is Sir Clive Sinclair driving one of his Sinclair C5s. With the modern explosion in popularity of electric bicycles and electric scooters, you have to wonder if he was just 30+ years ahead of his time. Image courtesy of Sinclair Vehicles.
He moved from calculators to home computers in the 1980s, focussing on computers that could be afforded by almost everyone. He became one of the richest men in Britain for a time and a household name around the country and across Europe.
The Sinclair C5 was planned as Sir Clive Sinclair’s first foray into the world of personal transportation. The C5 is a single-passenger vehicle with a tricycle wheel arrangement that has a battery and electric motor powering the rear wheels.
The driver sits front and center, and steers the vehicle with a motorcycle-style set of handlebars under their legs. The C5 has a steel frame and a fiberglass body, and it was styled to be futuristic by the standards of the 1980s, so it now has a retro-futuristic look which has seen it become popular with collectors.
The low top speed of 15 miles per hour (24 km/h), a relatively short range of just 20 miles (32 kms), limited cargo space, and the total lack of weather protection all meant that the Sinclair C5 was never likely to enjoy mass-adoption, particularly in the UK where it seems to rain more than it doesn’t.
There were a number of celebrity early adopters, Princes William and Harry of the British Royal Family had one each to get around the royal grounds, Sir Elton John had two of them, British magician Paul Daniels had one, and legendary writer and futurist Sir Arthur C. Clarke had two sent to his home in Sri Lanka.
The driver sits front and center, and steers the vehicle with a motorcycle-style set of handlebars under their legs. The C5 has a steel frame and a fiberglass body, and it was styled to be futuristic by the standards of the 1980s. Image courtesy of Sinclair Vehicles.
Ultimately the Sinclair C5 would be a failure, initial demand had been high with 5,000 sold in just the first four weeks, but this demand quickly tailed off and a total of only 14,000 or so would be made in total.
The surviving examples are now considered highly collectible, and some owners have upgraded their C5s with more powerful motors and lithium ion batteries that have both increased the speed and significantly increased the range.
Still In The Factory Box: An Original Sinclair C5
As noted in the introduction, this is an original Sinclair C5 that remains in its factory box, having never been opened or driven. It’s exceedingly rare that unopened C5s come up for sale, the most recent one popped up for sale a couple of years ago and we wrote about it here.
The Sinclair C5 was envisaged as the future of local urban transportation, as is evidenced by the images of it in use in the original 1980s brochures. Image courtesy of Sinclair Vehicles.
The boxed C5 you see pictured above and below in this article is now due to roll across the auction block on the 10th of November with a price guide of £3,000 – £3,500 or approximately $3,900 – $4,500 USD.
It will be up to the new owner if they preserve it as-is as a unique piece of history, or if they unbox it for the first time in 39 years, add a new battery and see if they can get it running. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Iconic Auctioneers
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
