View allAll Photos Tagged sinclair
Wow! I had to look twice at this building before it hit me. This used to be Auburn, Indiana's Edsel Dealership!
In this photo I took a couple years ago, you can see the place was a mess, having last been a carpet dealer. Someone bought and refurbished the building, adding on this retro canopy and the vintage Sinclair pumps and sign.
Nice job! Of course, what makes me happiest is that this means someone cares about this building, so another original Edsel Dealership site will live on, albeit in different clothing. (Though that's still "Edsel Green" the place is sporting.) :-)
Sir Clive Sinclair started production the Sinclair C5 in 1985 with much aplomb. Sales numbers were a disaster as the vehicle was slow and had a short driving range. There were also safety concerns using it on the road in between far larger cars. In about half a year the company run out of money and production stopped after only 14,500 C5's were built.
Clive Sinclair formed Sinclair Radionics in 1961, having a good understanding of electronics and transistor manufacturing. Always the entrepreneur he bought a quantity of transistor test failures from Semiconductors Limited (Semics) of Swindon. As seems to be the norm in British semiconductor history, it was convoluted. Semics was actually Plessey who had licensed Micro Alloy Diffused Transistor technology from Philco in the US. Sinclair used the transistors in a very small pre-amplifier and sold both the amplifier and retested/re-badged transistors separately.
He must have done this again as ST140 and ST141 transistors were on the market, albeit probably in relatively small quantities again.
Above is an ST140 Sinclair transistor. There is also an original Philco MADT transistor. In the middle is a UK manufactured Texas Instruments transistor.
Texas Instruments opened a semiconductor plant in Bedford, UK to manufacture transistors, before moving onto standard logic during the 1960s. It eventually closed in 1994. Sinclair became a large customer for TI in the UK through its various Hi-Fi, micro TV and other products including for the supply of custom ICs. Unfortunately the supply of custom TI ICs was problematic and Sinclair went back to standard logic for the ZX80 home computer and Ferranti Uncommited Logic Arrays for the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum.
The ST140 is an npn, hfe49, vf=715mV, so silicon.
For my video; youtu.be/dEL2DoCm1wg
Southward Car Museum, Paraparaumu, New Zealand
The Sinclair C5 is a small one-person battery electric velomobile, technically an "electrically assisted pedal cycle". It was the culmination of Sir Clive Sinclair's long-running interest in electric vehicles. Although widely described as an "electric car", Sinclair characterised it as a "vehicle, not a car".
J549 approaches the Sinclairs lane crossing with a special Maldon Folk Festival shuttle to Muckleford.
Seen here on it's return to Maldon.
Walmer, Vic.
2/11/19
As viewed through the window of my 1980 Laurel. It's the third time in a fortnight I've seen this now, the first time wasn't sure if I was daydreaming...
Last time I saw one on the road was 1985/86, on a school trip to London.
What seemed like a long walk from Wick, through Papigoe and Staxigoe to Girnigoe...good Viking names and you'll find these wonderful ruins near the lighthouse at Noss Head!
This was my first 'hi-fi' amp. Packed flat for easy home assembly, or so I thought. Sir Clive Sinclair was a genius really and this small box of electronic tricks was a real gem. I haven't seen one for decades, but might just buy one if it came along at a decent price. It was only 10w per channel I think, but had such a lovely clean sound.