Have you spotted a retro Sinclair C5 in Edinburgh?

Reports have been coming in that a retro 80s Sinclair C5 has been spotted in Edinburgh - if you don’t know what that is, then prepare to be astounded.

Sir Clive Sinclair in his C5. Picture: PA

It’s the Next Big Thing that Never Was! The early ancestor of the Segway. Looking like a shoe made from Lego, the C5 was launched as the future of commuting by inventor Sir Clive Sinclair in 1985 to much fanfare and acclaim. Yes, there was actually a huge fuss about these things back in the eighties.

It was said that by the year 2000 every household would have at least one of these.

This tiny electrically-assissted pedal vehicle was on the front of every magazine in the country, but the public quickly turned off to the idea of driving a whopping 15mph and being too low to be visible in car mirrors.

For a while there wasn’t a day gone-by without some photo of a London yuppie or proto-hipster millionaire appearing in the papers in a C5, but rarely was one seen in person - understandably so when they only sold around 4,500 in total.

Selling for around £399, that’s around £1,150 in today’s money.

Looking back it may be hard to imagine how this battery-operated roller skate captured the imagination so much, and yet many children of the 80s saw it and wanted one instantly.

So if you’ve seen one of these little three-wheeled wonders in Edinburgh, get in touch. Send us your photos and videos by clicking here: http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/extra/content/your-stories. Do you know the mysterious owner? Drop us an email at [email protected]