As we tend to do in creative agencies, our conversations drift into all kinds of areas, one of which was about those funny turquoise disabled cars you used to see around (or should I say, cars driven by disabled people). We were wondering about that particular colour and how it carries, even now, a strange association with disability in general, just as a colour, well, maybe that and Barclays...! So then I got looking for a good image and a little bit more information. The car is an Invacar model 70, it was banned from UK roads only in 2003. They stopped manufacturing them in the 70's. On one level, I kind of miss them, I remember seeing them and dodging a few on the road, they would usually be going hazardously slow on the very far left of the road, and even then I thought, how come they only come in one colour? I don't know if anybody can shed any more light on this? The other remarkable fact is just how few images there seem to be on the web. We just couldn't find one we could use legally, so we had to draw it from scratch. Contact us if you want to use our pic for anything! Phil
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Hi,
ReplyDeleteBlue is the corporate colour of the NHS. I used to call the colour 'NHS Blue' although I don't know if this was the official name.
All the cars were I believe, owned by the Department of Health.
Some were also painted a darker blue. There is one in the Museum of Transport in Manchester:
I remember seeing one had been adapted with a very tall roof so the driver could remain standing.
Some of the cars were made by AC which also made iconic sports cars.
I would be interested if there were any models of Invacars?