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The Invacar (abbreviated from "invalid carriage") is a small single-seater
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. The British Ministry of Pensions distributed Invacars free to disabled people from 1948 until the 1970s.
Most early vehicles were powered by an air-cooled Villiers 197 cc engine with Dynastart, but when production of that engine ceased in the early 1970s it was replaced by a more powerful 4-stroke 500 cc or 600 cc Steyr-Puch engine, giving a reported top speed of . During the 1960s and 70s the Invacar, with its modern
The Thundersley/AC INVACAR
Invacar Ltd from The Invalid Carriage Register
* ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-45907925/the-disability-vehicle-so-tiny-it-couldn-t-take-passengers 'My car was so small my date sat on the floor' - BBC News* {{cite web , title=A brief history of the wheelchair mobility car , website=Friars Motor Company , date=25 October 2018 , url=https://www.friarsmotorcompany.co.uk/brief-history-wheelchair-mobility-car/ , ref={{sfnref , Friars Motor Company , 2018 , access-date=2 November 2023 Cars introduced in 1948 Companies based in Essex Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Microcars Vehicle manufacturers operating in Essex
microcar
Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are ofte ...
vehicle designed for use by disabled drivers, and was 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. The British Ministry of Pensions distributed Invacars free to disabled people from 1948 until the 1970s.
Most early vehicles were powered by an air-cooled Villiers 197 cc engine with Dynastart, but when production of that engine ceased in the early 1970s it was replaced by a more powerful 4-stroke 500 cc or 600 cc Steyr-Puch engine, giving a reported top speed of . During the 1960s and 70s the Invacar, with its modern fibreglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...
shell and ice-blue colouring, nicknamed Ministry Blue after the Ministry of Health,
was produced in the tens of thousands. Developments, including an extended wheelbase, widened track and use of Austin
Austin refers to:
Common meanings
* Austin, Texas, United States, a city
* Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters
* Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
Mini
The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...
wheels, saw the Invacars through to the end of the final DHSS
The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a ministry of the British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Social Services.
History
In 1 ...
contract in 1977. More than 50 variants were produced. Half of the Invacars were made by AC Cars
AC Cars, originally incorporated as Auto Carriers Ltd., is a British specialist automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest independent car makers founded in Britain. As a result of bad financial conditions over the years, the company was re ...
in Ditton, with the rest made by Invacar Ltd in Thundersley
Thundersley is a town in the Castle Point borough of southeast Essex, England. It sits on a clay ridge shared with Basildon and Hadleigh, east of Charing Cross, London. In 2011 it had a population of 24,800.
The ecclesiastical parish of Thu ...
, Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
.
On 31 March 2003, almost all of the remaining Invacars owned by the government were recalled and scrapped because of safety concerns.These included failing crash tests at Mira in 1974, a high accident rate and poor handling test results.
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 Motability
Motability is a scheme in the United Kingdom intended to enable disabled people, their families and their carers to lease a new car, scooter or powered wheelchair. It is open to recipients of certain disability benefit, who exchange their w ...
scheme in the late 1970s, offering disabled drivers a conventional car with modified options.
In 2018, it featured in BBC 4 programme ''The NHS: A People's History'' with Alex Brooker
Alexander James Brooker (born 15 May 1984) is an English journalist and presenter best known for his television work with Channel 4.
Since 2012, Brooker has co-hosted ''The Last Leg'', a Channel 4 panel show with Adam Hills and Josh Widdicombe ...
.
In 2014 Tony Heaton featured a gold painted invacar in a work titled Gold Lamé at DaDaFest.
See also
*Bath chair
A bath chair—or Bath chair—was a rolling chaise or light carriage for one person with a folding hood, which could be open or closed. Used especially by disabled persons, it was mounted on three or four wheels and drawn or pushed by hand. ...
* Greeves Motorcycles
* Invalid carriage
Invalid carriages were usually single seater road vehicles, buggies, or self-propelled vehicles for disabled people. They pre-dated modern electric mobility scooters and, from the 1920s, were generally powered by small gasoline/petrol engines, alt ...
* SMZ cyclecar (a similar vehicles in the USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
)
* List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom
:''This list is incomplete. You can help by adding correctly sourced information about other manufacturers.'' Major current marques
Current manufacturers
;A
*AC Cars, AC (1908–present)
*Action Automotive (2004–present)
*Aeon Spo ...
Notes
References
External links
The Thundersley/AC INVACAR
Invacar Ltd from The Invalid Carriage Register
* ttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-45907925/the-disability-vehicle-so-tiny-it-couldn-t-take-passengers 'My car was so small my date sat on the floor' - BBC News* {{cite web , title=A brief history of the wheelchair mobility car , website=Friars Motor Company , date=25 October 2018 , url=https://www.friarsmotorcompany.co.uk/brief-history-wheelchair-mobility-car/ , ref={{sfnref , Friars Motor Company , 2018 , access-date=2 November 2023 Cars introduced in 1948 Companies based in Essex Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England Microcars Vehicle manufacturers operating in Essex