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| Lot number | 16 |
|---|---|
| Hammer value | £5,000 |
| Description | Tippen Delta Invalid Carriage |
| Registration | ORW 132F |
| Year | 1968 |
| Colour | Blue |
| Chassis No. | 8M029 |
Frank Tippen Ltd of Coventry was one of the earliest manufacturers of three-wheeled invalid carriages in Britain.
Announced in 1955, the Tippen Delta was one of several designs produced by a variety of British firms to meet the requirements of the Ministry of Health for a simple three-wheeled machine for disabled former servicemen. Tippen was not the only company to be contracted to produce three-wheeled vehicles for disabled drivers. Others included Harding, Dingwall & Son, AC Cars, Barrett, Thundersley, Coventry Climax and Invacar Ltd. ‘Invacar’ eventually became the generic name by which all three-wheeled invalid carriages came to be known.
The first Tippen was an open vehicle powered by an air-cooled single cylinder Villiers 147cc engine which drove via a four-speed gearbox to one of the two rear wheels. The Delta was announced soon after and was one of the earliest full-bodied three-wheeler invalid carriages, featuring a sliding door for access. The body was made in glass-fibre, self-coloured in the familiar shade of ‘Ministry Blue’, Tippen being an early exponent of this form of construction. The chassis was a space frame with side members of deep rectangular section, tied with tubular section cross members. Early Deltas used the Villiers Mk8E engine, while the Delta 2 built after 1958 was powered by a Villiers Mk9E.
In 1965, a 36-volt electrically-propelled version of the Tippen Delta, using the same body as the petrol Delta, was introduced specifically for the Ministry of Health. Production of the petrol Delta ended in 1970, while the electric version continued until 1976.
On 31 March 2003 Deltas were banned from British roads because of safety concerns, the veteran vehicle proving unable to meet modern-day regulations. Most were recalled by the Ministry of Health and scrapped, although others were used by the Royal British Legion and some of these survived. The Tippen Delta is therefore a very rare machine these days.
The second invalid carriage on offer today, this Tippen Delta dates from May 1968 and has the later squarer styling and a retractable roof. Weighing in at 305kgs and powered by a petrol engine, this exhibit had two former keepers before being acquired for the Stondon Museum in August 1999.
