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If you are of a certain age, around mid life crisis age actually, then you are probably going to remember certain things like the Commodore 64, Haircut 100, Swatch Watches and maybe, just maybe, the Sinclair C5.

History has a long line of gregarious characters that have competed for the title of “Craziest Inventor Ever”, and during the late 1970s and early 1980s the UK had a major contender in the form of Sir Clive Sinclair. Quite why the Queen decided to issue him a knighthood has never been truly understood, but it could be the only clue to the fact The Queen of England does actually have a sense of humour.

Sir Clive was actually pretty smart for a while, most home computer enthusiasts of the day would glance lovingly at their ZX81 and quietly inform their visiting Aunty that it was like a calculator but bigger and it could actually play chess. Of course, you also knew you could not demonstrate it to her, as there was only a fifty percent chance the tape drive would actually load that whole 1k of data, and you didn’t want her to think you were any crazier than she already did. Thousands of young computer professionals (geeks to you and I) almost worship Sir Clive back in those days. He followed up with the ZX Spectrum, which became the bedroom accessory to be had by anyone who still had acne spots. It wasn’t until he started messing with the Sinclair QL that people began to realise he really was a very clever person, so it was time to stop liking him.

After being almost solely responsible for the home computer boom, Sir Clive decided it was time to tackle something more challenging. He settled upon designing a means of reducing global pollution and solving traffic congestion in all major cities around the world. After a brief period of time in the development labs he wheeled out the Sinclair C5 (he had to wheel it out, the prototype was made of cardboard). This innovative little vehicle was a cross between a go-kart and a supermarket shopping trolley, with a healthy chunk of golf cart thrown in for good measure.

In reality it was a very good design, the little vehicle could travel at 15km per hour, for an extended period of time. It came with full weather gear and would have made a great commuter vehicle. Unfortunately, the general public took one look at it and laughed, they continued laughing until the C5 was withdrawn from the market, after only 17,000 units had been sold.

The Sinclair C5 is seen as one of the worst launches of new technology ever witnessed in the UK, and is deemed a commercial disaster by financial analysts. The real disaster in this story is the fact that had the public accepted this new form of transportation, they would be living a healthier life that was less harmful to the ecology.