Invacar

File:Emblem Invacar.JPG

File:Invacar model 70 glasgow.JPG, Glasgow, 2019]]

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.{{cite web |last=Payne |first=Elvis |title=Invacar |url=http://www.3wheelers.com/invacar.html |publisher=3-wheelers.com |accessdate=29 June 2013 |mode=cs2 |archive-date=26 December 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011226134937/http://www.3wheelers.com/invacar.html |url-status=dead }}{{efn|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.{{r|Invacar}}}} The British Ministry of Pensions distributed Invacars free to disabled people from 1948 until the 1970s.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3cswsgb|title=Witness - Britain's Little Blue Disability Car - BBC Sounds|website=www.bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-12-28}}

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 {{convert|82|mph|abbr=on}}.{{r|Invacar}} During the 1960s and 70s the Invacar, with its modern fibreglass shell and ice-blue colouring, nicknamed Ministry Blue after the Ministry of Health,

{{citation |last=Van Hampton |first=Tudor |title=Britain's 3-Wheel Solution to Mobility for the Disabled |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/automobiles/collectibles/06INVACAR.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=3 December 2009 |accessdate=29 June 2013}}

was produced in the tens of thousands. Developments, including an extended wheelbase, widened track and use of Austin Mini wheels, saw the Invacars through to the end of the final DHSS contract in 1977.{{cite web |last=Payne |first=Elvis |title=Now Banned from British Roads |url=http://www.3wheelers.com/endinva.html |publisher=3-wheelers.com |date=April 2003 |accessdate=29 June 2013 |mode=cs2 |archive-date=25 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425091823/http://www.3wheelers.com/endinva.html |url-status=dead }} More than 50 variants were produced. Half of the Invacars were made by AC Cars in Ditton, with the rest made by Invacar Ltd in Thundersley, Essex.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/29/ac-invacar-model-70-review-invalid-carriage-festival-of-the-unexceptional|title=AC Invacar Model 70: 'Terrifying but exhilarating'|newspaper=The Guardian|date=29 April 2018}}

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.{{r|BBC}}{{cite web |title=How Many Left: Invacar (missing model name) |url=https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/invacar_missing |website=How Many Left? |access-date=31 January 2023}}

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 scheme in the late 1970s, offering disabled drivers a conventional car with modified options.

{{cite web |title=Gone for a decade: The invalid carriage |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-23061676 |publisher=BBC News |date=29 June 2013 |accessdate=29 June 2013 |mode=cs2}}

In 2018, it featured in BBC 4 programme The NHS: A People's History with Alex Brooker.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tees.ac.uk/sections/news/pressreleases_story.cfm?story_id=6869|title = Simon to feature in BBC Four series | Media centre | Teesside University}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jul/02/mondays-best-tv-the-nhs-a-peoples-history-24-hours-in-police-custody|title = Monday's best TV: The NHS: A People's History; 24 Hours in Police Custody|website = TheGuardian.com|date = 2 July 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b98x61|title = BBC Four - the NHS: A People's History, Series 1, Episode 1}}

• Bath chair
• Greeves Motorcycles
• Invalid carriage
• SMZ cyclecar (a similar vehicles in the USSR)
• List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom

{{notelist|notes=}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{commons category|Invacar vehicles}}

• [http://www.virtualgaz.com/invacarpage.htm The Thundersley/AC INVACAR]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100710202615/http://invalidcarriageregister.wordpress.com/10-invacar-ltd/ Invacar Ltd from The Invalid Carriage Register]
• [http://autos-lunette-arriere-inversee.blogspot.fr/2014/12/invacar-update-mise-jour-importante.html More about Invacars and other cars with a backward slanted rear window]
• [https://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}}

Category:Cars introduced in 1948

Category:Companies based in Essex

Category:Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of England

Category:Microcars

Category:Vehicle manufacturers operating in Essex