I bought #1 over 10 years ago from ebay.uk IIRC for about 250 quid, marked as "In need of TLC". As the vendor was offering P&P I contacted him and he agreed the ship to Germany. Believe me or not, the P&P from the Sheffield area to Munich was a amazing £46. It was cheap and in a rough condition, chain rusted, no chain tensioner, frame rusted but not too badly, plus the electrics were shot.

Once again IIRC the vendor was BL Minis or B&L Minis, but I can't remember his ebay pseudonym. I've been try to find him for quite some time, as I would like to know the name of the transport company. Due to a HDD crash I lost all the details to this transaction.

I didn't have a camera at the time so sorry only 1 photo (for use in a defunkt C5 forum). I used this one to install a 3 speed hub (the 1 photo). As it was just a test, I welded the back frame from an old bike to the top of the C5 frame. It took some time to find a suitable drive cog, but it worked out well. I had to bypassed the CB to test the motor which turned out to be OK. As you can see from the photo, the condition of the C5 is not what you can call the best.
[albumimg]191[/albumimg]
Because of the German regs. it was only on the road, close your eyes, il*****ly :-" , a couple of times. It's been stripped down, for renovation, for quite some time now, and stored at the back of the garage.

I still need to find a solution for the Pedelec problem before I put it back on the road again.

Karl

[center][size=9]C5 #2[/size][/center]

As #1 was lying dismantled in the garage, so I decided to look in ebay.de for a replacement. I found one were the bidding price was quite low, so I place a bid for 350 Euros and won it for just over 300. Even though it was located only about 100 klicks (approx. 60 miles) from here, it cost me a whopping 100 in Monopoly money, sorry Euros (about 80 in real money, oops GBP), to collect. The C5 looked good in ebay except it was fitted with a steel driving wheel. In the photo the steel wheel is partially removed to be replaced with a Sinclair one.
[img=http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/w477/XE521/Wheel_Change_zpscad64bf0.jpg]Wheel_Change[/img]
The wheel adaption was a fantastic piece of machine work.

The intermediate adapter (red) fitted perfectly to the domed center section of the wheel, the original C5 mounting adapter (blue), and last but not least the QA inspector (yellow).

Mechanically it was in quite good condition, but the electrics were badly butchered. The wiring was fed into the side of the CB case, and not though the inlet. The case inlet was sealed off with tape, the relay mounted externally with the leads fed though a cutout in the case. Instead of using screws they had spot welded the case together using (I assume)a soldering iron. Most of the wiring from the CB were not connected, just hanging loose in various parts of the C5.
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I bypassed the CB to test the motor, with a no go. The brushes in the motor had to be freed as they were seized, once this was done it ran well.

I stated to do some voluntary social work which took up most of my time, so the poor C5 was also relegated to the back of the garage. The woman who I was caring for died in September, so I'm now back to the C5s.

[center][size=9]C5 #3 'The Egyptian Mummy'[/size][/center]

#'3 was bought about five months ago, once again through ebay, solely for spare parts. The thing that tempted me was the vendor was prepared to deliver, by the German post (DHL), for only 35 Euros (about 28 quid), plus it cost me just over 100 Euros. I had to laugh when it arrived as most of the neighbours asked if I'd had a mummy delivered, I must admit it did look like one.



I had a great time unpacking the thing, there were four layers of packing. I won't waste forum space with lots of photos, they are all in 'My Albums, C5 #3'. The wheels, all three, wheel covers etc, and the boot had been removed and stored in the bodywork.

It was in very rough condition, rear light smashed, CB missing, cables cut through all over the place, chain rusted solid like a rod, body with multiple drill holes, almost impossible the remove mechanical parts due to rust etc.

I removed all the parts I could use, then cut up the body and disposed of all that was not required.

Poor #3, † RIP. (Rest in pieces)