The Doctor's Car

**The Doctor's Car** (also referred to unofficially as **The Whomobile**) was a futuristic-looking vehicle owned by the Third Doctor. It was similar to a hovercraft and was capable of flight.

## History

The Third Doctor first used the vehicle to search for the secret base of Operation Golden Age.

Sarah Jane Smith used it to travel to Goodwood Motor Circuit, West Sussex, where she encountered Daleks.

At some point, the vehice was put in mothballs. It was taken out when the Remoraxians took over a Unified Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT) seabase. The Doctor and Sarah Jane took the Whomobile to quickly get to the base.

Lupton stole the Whomobile after taking the Doctor's Metebelis crystal at the behest of the Eight Legs. After Lupton abandoned it and stole a gyrocopter, the Doctor and Sarah Jane used the craft's flying ability to follow him.

### Legacy

The Eighth Doctor once reflected to Mary Shelley that he used to have a hovercar with a 'brilliant number-plate'.

## Behind the scenes

### The name

The vehicle was not created for *Doctor Who*, but was personally commissioned by Jon Pertwee, who retained possession of it after his tenure as the Doctor. Pertwee gave it the name "Whomobile" during press interviews, but it was also known — again, off-screen — as "Alien". Had the vehicle been named in *Doctor Who*, it almost certainly would *not* have been called "the Whomobile", as this violated producer Barry Letts' strong conviction against making plays on the programme's title. *The Doctor Who Technical Manual* referred to it simply as "the Doctor's Car."

The name Whomobile was spoken in an audio drama featuring Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen recorded for the audio story *Glorious Goodwood*.

### As a real-life vehicle

The car was one of Jon Pertwee's personal vehicles. He retained possession of it until nearly the end of his life.

The Whomobile was hastily written into the script of *Invasion of the Dinosaurs*, where it replaced an army motorcycle as the Doctor's transport around the deserted London. The Whomobile's roof/door section had not been completed at the time of filming, so a motor-boat windscreen was fitted to make the car legally roadworthy. The vehicle was classified technically as an "Invalid Tricycle".

When Pertwee demonstrated the vehicle to Peter Purves on the 5 November 1973 edition of *Blue Peter* during his tenure, he revealed that the vehicle was roadworthy and legal, though he mentioned that the BBC forbade him or any of the crew from removing it from the studios except for outside shoots. It was capable of a top speed of 105 mph (roughly 169 kph). Footage of this is available on the DVD release of *Invasion of the Dinosaurs*.

### As documentary subject

Jon Pertwee presented the Whomobile in the documentary *30 Years in the TARDIS*.

### Other appearances

Jon Pertwee, in costume and in character as the Doctor, appeared with the Whomobile in *Billy Smart's Children's Circus* on the afternoon of Sunday 4 November 1973 (broadcast Sunday 6 January 1974). The *Doctor Who* theme music played as the Doctor drove the vehicle into the circus ring, with Gabriella Smart, sister of young ringmaster David Smart Jr., in the passenger seat. The Doctor then chatted briefly with David, before driving off with Gabriella to help find her lost performing dogs.

## External links

* http://www.3wheelers.com/whomo.html
* http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/features/2003/11/doctor\_who\_car.shtml

## Notes

1. ↑ Both unofficial. The latter name had been painted onto the skin, but was removed at the insistance of Invasion of the Dinosaurs director Paddy Russell.
2. ↑ Also depicted in the Doctor who comic story *In With the Tide*

## Sources

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Whoology (2013 Edition) Page 289
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Doctor Who Wiki
3. ↑ Whoology (2013 Edition) Page 290
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Doctor Who audio story *Glorious Goodwood*
5. ↑ Doctor Who TV story *Invasion of the Dinosaurs*
6. ↑ Doctor who comic story *In With the Tide*
7. ↑ Doctor Who TV story *Planet of the Spiders*
8. ↑ Doctor Who audio story *Army of Death*