If ever a vehicle was way ahead of its time it was the Sinclair C5. This was a contraption so utterly ridiculed back in the 1980s, that it flopped faster than you could say Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

It was the madcap brainchild of electronics whizz Sir Clive Sinclair, who up until then had not done badly after he invented the first pocket calculator and followed up with the first home computer under £100 which allowed a generation of disaffected youth to play space invaders but little else.

Still, it made Sir Clive a millionaire and, like you do, he decided to spend all his money on a three-wheeler “car” powered by a battery.

In fact, it’s not really a car at all as was proved later in the case of a drunk in charge of a C5 where the court ruled that in fact it was a tricycle.

Unbelievably, Lotus agreed to get involved in the design and production was set up at Hoover’s factory in Merthyr Tydfil.

The engine came from an Italian washing machine manufacturer and perhaps it would have been better if the motor from a twin tub had been bolted on rather than the elastic band driven contraption that ended up on the finished product.

Top speed was claimed to be 15mph, but that was only going down a steep hill with someone pushing and a force 10 gale behind you. Otherwise the motor would usually cut out with the battery lasting about as long as it took to play a Wham! single.

Climbing anything bigger than a speed bump left the driver pedalling frantically while being overtaken by five year-old girls on their Barbie bikes with stabilisers.

The C5 was also totally exposed to the elements and of course cold, rain, sleet and snow all combined to make driving an unpleasant if not hazardous experience.

Amazingly, 12,000 were produced before the company went into administration in 1985.

Still, Sir Clive has gone on to pursue much more potentially lucrative activities such as poker (where at least if he gambles he could be on to a winner...).

But even this month he has promised to to revive the C5 with better batteries and a new design.

You have been warned.