ORIGIN OF THE ENFIELD 8000 TO BE SHOWCASED ON THE ONE SHOW TONIGHT

Teatime TV favourite The One Show is to showcase the origin story of the 1st British electric car to go into mass production, the Island-made Enfield 800, later this evening (Thursday). Designer John Ackroyd’s granddaughter Moza will present a segment on the motor during the 30-minute show on BBC One. The Enfield 8000 was a product of its time, confronting the very real possibility during the 1973/4 fuel crisis that petrol supplies might dry up. It was built by Enfield Automotive, a British company owned by Greek shipping magnate, Giannis Goulandris. The parts were made in the Greek island of Syros, but the car was assembled at Northwood. The 1st Enfield 8000 rolled off the production line in 1973. The prototype for the Enfield 8000 was designed by Ryde resident John Ackroyd (1937-2021), who went on to design Thrust 2, which held the world land speed record from 1983 to 1987. The Enfield 8000 had an aluminium body, used Hillman Imp suspension, and had a rear axle based on a Reliant 3-wheeler. The brakes, wheels, and doors came from the Mini. The project had the backing of the Electricity Council. Of the 120 Enfields built between 1974 and 1977, more than half were bought by the Electricity Board and used by its meter readers. On the road, the 8000 was said to be simple to drive, with no gears (there was a separate switch that just ran the motor backwards for reversing), nifty handling, an acute turning circle and was apparently a remarkably smooth ride. California Governor Ronald Reagan (the future president) was so taken with the Enfield that he offered to subsidise the building of a factory to produce the cars in his clean-air state of California. The bad news was that it was slow: up to 10mph the acceleration felt brisk, but soon tailed away to virtually nothing as the car struggled with its 1,000kg weight. Nor was it especially quiet, as the generator hummed like that of a milk float. Range was a problem, given that there was no infrastructure for recharging. A 6-hour overnight charge could give the claimed 40-mile range; this could drop to 15 miles in cold weather. The segment was filmed back in August and is due to air at 19:00 this evening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJlT_WQxSwk&t=2s