When I did my apprenticeship back in the late '60s the company I worked for employed a number of disabled people and there were a few of these mostly driven by older people - except one, Gerry - he was in his mid twenties and drove the thing like a total lunatic when the factory 'whistle' went at 5:30pm - no-one got on Gerry's way, he went at speeds you'd never have thought possible! - he may have turned it over a few times!

Electrics by Joseph Lucas Industries - a.k.a."The Prince of Darkness".

Frankfurt?

Messerschmitt - and the one in the back looks like an Opel?

I've now found the link to the full Phyllis Nicklin collection this shot was taken in 1968 and around 9000 worked on the GEC site at the time.Heres another with plenty classics on view,wonder if thats a gaffers Vanden Plas 3litre?

http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/view/series/Birmingham=2...

There was one like that on my commute in the early seventies, every evening flat out down the middle of the A5 bouncing over the cats-eyes. We used to call him 'The Flying Cripple'.

Yikes! There's a whole world out there we knew nothing about. There are websites, clubs and societies.

I thought they were built by several companies including AC but it turns out there were two; AC and Invacar.



The relevant bit: "Although produced jointly by both AC Cars Ltd & Invacar Ltd, the Model 70 was entirely an AC design from the ground up."

They seem now to be dreadfully undignified but you have to remember that at the time they made a vast improvement to the lives of those who used them. One of my great uncles became very disabled with old age and preferred to have his Austin 1100 converted to hand controls. It was such a ramshackle, Heath Robinson solution! Each conversion being a one-off for the firm who did them. It worked though, complete with holes in the floor for levers to pass through. For the majority, an invalid carriage was presumably considered a better option.

O/T When my uncle gave up driving I was asked by my mother to go and see him, say nice things about the car, give him what he wanted for it and drive it to the breakers. When he opened the garage there was a one owner Austin 1100, 4826 PE. "That's very nice, Jack. You haven't, er, got the history have you? All the bills and receipts and things?" "Oh, no. When I knew you were coming I had a clear out."

It had no MoT and he wanted £50 for it. It took 84p for a bulb to get it through the MoT and I used it for three years as my commuting car in the late 80s. It had front wheel drive, disc brakes and a heater. It was fine. The only real problem I had with it was the interior light wouldn't work. I would fix it and it worked once or twice and gave up again. When I took it for its fourth MoT, the garage quoted £400 for welding and told me to give up. I transferred the registration and drove the car to the breakers. They gave me £10 and directed me to a clear area by the grab. When I got out for the last time the interior light came on. I could have wept.