rocket man gerald has a passion for invention
IF YOU’VE been to one South Wales valley recently, the chances are you’ve spotted Gerald Howells driving around with a space shuttle attached to the top of his car.
Strapped to the roof of his red Vauxhall Corsa, the rocket comes complete with propellers, stabiliser wings, blacked out windows and the word “Shuttle” written across the front.
The spacecraft has been causing quite a stir on social media this week, with many people on local Facebook groups describing it as looking like a “submarine”, an “alien spotter”, a “campercan” and a “weather machine”.
Self-taught inventor Gerald, 71, from Treherbert, Rhondda, has worked everywhere – starting on the Valleys coal lorries, before becoming an electrician, a fireman, a gardener, a Butlins red coat and even an actor – appearing in a number of Welsh programmes and films.
But as interesting as his past may be, it’s Gerald’s crazy contraptions and wacky inventions that have really captured people’s attention.
Although Gerald says he’s always been “mechanically minded” and interested in art, his love of gadgets and inventions really started after he fell ill and had to give up his career as an actor.
He said: “I was really ill and I was in hospital for a year – so I had to give up the acting. That meant I had a lot of time on my hands and I just wanted something to do. It was boredom more than anything.”
Gerald has created everything from wind turbines out of old bicycle parts to massive robots, boats, propellerpowered bicycles and vintage tandem bikes.
“I’ve got a wild imagination – always have since school,” Gerald said. “As soon as I have one idea, I have another idea – and I just jump from one to another. Everything I make works and has a purpose and I make everything out of waste – I don’t really buy anything.”
The shuttle is one of Gerald’s latest inventions, and the craft – which was created from old lifeboat rafts – was designed as a “sleeping box” although, Gerald admits he hasn’t actually had a chance to sleep in it yet.
He said: “If I’d been on a long run, I’d end up sleeping in the back of the car and waking up with a crick in my neck in the morning.
“So, I thought – hang on, why don’t I make a sleeping box on top of the car? One where I can lie down and stretch out in it.”
Gerald worked on the shuttle almost every day and night over the summer, sometimes only stopping for about two to three hours’ sleep a night.
“I don’t want to disturb any of the locals when I’m working, so my workshop is up on top of the Rhigos mountain,” he said. “It’s nice and quiet and peaceful. It gives me time to think up there.”
He said: “I know people talk about me but I don’t care. I’m just happy doing what I’m doing,” he said.
Gerald, who’s always been interested in aerodynamics and sci-fi films, says the fin on top of the shuttle helps to streamline the car and it has stabilisers which help balance it in the wind.
The shuttle also comes with propellers – which he hopes will eventually heat the sleeping box and a tent which will stretch out from the back and over a frame, giving it “plenty of space” and making it “quite comfortable”.
Gerald added: “I taught myself how to do everything – mostly, because I couldn’t afford to pay anyone else to do it for me. These days you need papers and certificates to be able to do anything. It’s all on computers.
“I just read a lot of books. I’ve read everything from Einstein to Darwin and I take an interest in everything around me. You’ve got to take all that inspiration and put it into something.”