Invacar
The Invacar (abbreviated from "invalid carriage") is a small single-seater microcar vehicle designed for use by disabled drivers, and distributed for free in the UK.
History
In 1948, Bert Greeves adapted a motorbike for exclusively manual control with the help of his paralysed cousin, Derry Preston-Cobb, as transport for Preston-Cobb. In the number of former servicemen disabled in the Second World War they spotted a commercial opportunity and approached the UK government for support, leading to the creation of Invacar Ltd.[1][a] The British Ministry of Pensions distributed Invacars free to disabled people from 1948 until the 1970s.[2]
Most early vehicles were powered by an air-cooled
On 31 March 2003, almost all of the remaining Invacars owned by the government were recalled and scrapped because of safety concerns.[6][7]
All Invacars were owned by the government and leased to disabled drivers as part of their disability benefit. Their use had been in decline since the introduction of the
See also
- Bath chair
- Greeves Motorcycles
- Invalid carriage
- USSR)
- List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom
Notes
- ^ Invacar was not the only company to be contracted by the Ministry of Health to produce three-wheeled vehicles for disabled drivers. Others included Harding, Dingwall & Son, AC Cars, Barrett, Tippen & Son, Thundersley and Coventry Climax.[1]
References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ^ a b c Payne, Elvis, "Invacar", 3-wheelers.com, archived from the original on 26 December 2001, retrieved 29 June 2013
- ^ "Witness - Britain's Little Blue Disability Car - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
- ^ Van Hampton, Tudor (3 December 2009), "Britain's 3-Wheel Solution to Mobility for the Disabled", The New York Times, retrieved 29 June 2013
- ^ Payne, Elvis (April 2003), "Now Banned from British Roads", 3-wheelers.com, archived from the original on 25 April 2009, retrieved 29 June 2013
- ^ "AC Invacar Model 70: 'Terrifying but exhilarating'". The Guardian. 29 April 2018.
- ^ a b "Gone for a decade: The invalid carriage", BBC News, 29 June 2013, retrieved 29 June 2013
- ^ "How Many Left: Invacar (missing model name)". How Many Left?. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
- ^ "Simon to feature in BBC Four series | Media centre | Teesside University".
- TheGuardian.com. 2 July 2018.
- ^ "BBC Four - the NHS: A People's History, Series 1, Episode 1".
External links
- The Thundersley/AC INVACAR
- Invacar Ltd from The Invalid Carriage Register
- More about Invacars and other cars with a backward slanted rear window
- 'My car was so small my date sat on the floor' - BBC News
- "A brief history of the wheelchair mobility car". Friars Motor Company. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2023.