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LightBulbFun's Invacar & general ramble thread, index on page 1, survivors lists on Pages 24/134 & AdgeCutler's Invacar Mk12 Restoration from Page 186 onwards, still harping on...


LightBulbFun

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No capacitor sadly, just the ballast and no date code on that which I can see:

 

post-5223-0-79869700-1544990738_thumb.jpg

 

But on the casing, applied with great care, was a QC sticker giving the date!

 

post-5223-0-97516900-1544990836_thumb.jpg

 

The starter is presumably original too:

 

post-5223-0-82284000-1544990805_thumb.jpg

 

Looking at the other fittings they are either Crompton, or unknown due to faded labels (Thorn rings a bell in my head for some reason?)

 

post-5223-0-79888700-1544991098_thumb.jpg

 

post-5223-0-70104200-1544991018_thumb.jpg

 

The latter does have an old looking tube, which may shed some light? (Ha!)

 

post-5223-0-09695100-1544991144_thumb.jpg

 

Notice the bird's nest against the fixture!

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Oh not now technology...

 

I realised I forgot to include some contact details in a response to a PM on the RUMCar forums, but every-time I try and send any form of PM now I just get a database error! (iv tried closing reopening refreshing and 2 different computers) I was given a phone number but im reluctant to call that straight away...

 

edit: sent the person a text message via my mums phone (as my Phone is out of credit atm annoyingly), to let him to know to email me as the RUMCars PM system seems to have broken...

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Oh Thank Fuck I got the PM to send at last! (I just kept trying between episodes of running around like a headless chicken and it finally sent I think)

 

im super exited right now, and also worried in equal measures...

 

I really did not need the whole PM system to break on me like that...

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So much for that :(

 

someone on the RUMCar Forums very kindly offered me their model 70 :)

 

sadly for me his invacar is a very nice example which is a good thing apart from the fact he was asking for way more then I could ever hope to afford :(

 

this is why im just looking for one with a good drive train/oily bits, and a body that aint missing too many large chunks... aka im hoping to find one in the current condition TPA-TWC are in.

 

I REALLY hope model 70s are not all heading in this direction, Please tell me I have not missed the boat  :(

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This is great news!

 

What has essentially happened is that someone has responded to your post the very next day. I realise he is offering one at the other end of the scale to what you're after, but I would wager that most remaining Invacars are needing a fair bit of work, so this one here is perhaps in the minority? Stands to reason that there are more out there of the type you're wanting than tip-top examples.

 

This is a very good omen for your search :-D

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It does show that they're out there though! I'd not get too disheartened at this stage. It's a data point in the research, and you've started to get the word out that you're after one.

 

Once TP is up and running and we've got you your licence you'll be more than welcome to have a run around here with her.

 

Think how much more disappointed you'd have been if they'd said "yes, here are the keys, come collect it tomorrow" and you'd then realised that you've nowhere to safely put it etc.

 

It took me 13 years before I found the right Lada for me...the van even longer. You know when that turned up? Right after I stopped looking!

 

I'll be interested to hear what they were asking for (PM if you don't want to mention it in an open forum) simply out of curiosity.

 

I just need to win the damned lottery already so I can turn up on your doorstep with one for you - as much to see the look on your face as anything.

 

Speaking of you driving, we'll need to get something in the diary to get you your first proper foundation driving lessons under your belt. Sounds daft but I'm actually quite looking forward to that.

 

Aside from anything else, it's my duty to ensure you start out learning in a decent car...no bloody boring Fiesta or Bini or something like that...Top of the line Citroen or Lada thanks very much. Sadly the van's off the road until spring. ...Or until I decide that was a bloody stupid idea in a few weeks and get it an MOT because I miss driving it too much (and watching the baffled responses of the general public when I turn up to the supermarket in it).

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It does show that they're out there though! I'd not get too disheartened at this stage. It's a data point in the research, and you've started to get the word out that you're after one.

 

Once TP is up and running and we've got you your licence you'll be more than welcome to have a run around here with her.

 

Think how much more disappointed you'd have been if they'd said "yes, here are the keys, come collect it tomorrow" and you'd then realised that you've nowhere to safely put it etc.

 

It took me 13 years before I found the right Lada for me...the van even longer. You know when that turned up? Right after I stopped looking!

 

I'll be interested to hear what they were asking for (PM if you don't want to mention it in an open forum) simply out of curiosity.

 

I just need to win the damned lottery already so I can turn up on your doorstep with one for you - as much to see the look on your face as anything.

 

Speaking of you driving, we'll need to get something in the diary to get you your first proper foundation driving lessons under your belt. Sounds daft but I'm actually quite looking forward to that.

 

Aside from anything else, it's my duty to ensure you start out learning in a decent car...no bloody boring Fiesta or Bini or something like that...Top of the line Citroen or Lada thanks very much. Sadly the van's off the road until spring. ...Or until I decide that was a bloody stupid idea in a few weeks and get it an MOT because I miss driving it too much (and watching the baffled responses of the general public when I turn up to the supermarket in it).

 

Yeah I am surprised and happy I got a response so quickly :) just a shame it was way out of my price range, on an unrelated note, how much are kidneys worth these days?  :mrgreen:  (if one did fall into my lap suddenly somehow, im pretty sure im entitled to a parking space in the Dead end thats part of this council estate, I can park it next to the Rover SD1 that lives permanently there and then recreate a 1980s street scene :) ) hopefully a more down to earth offer comes along at some point.

 

My big sister was here the other day for "Christmas" and she was talking about how she learned in a Bini and it was not very nice, and so I showed her the Mercedes she said (as you mentioned before) the van was a good idea because its so large and would give me good special awareness :) I also mentioned to her the fact the van takes slow movements so I cant accidentally tweak the steering wheel slightly and then over steer skid into a lamp post (Hopefully!)

 

 

 

Links broken for me sadly...

 

 

No capacitor sadly, just the ballast and no date code on that which I can see:

 

attachicon.gif20181216_155219.jpg

 

But on the casing, applied with great care, was a QC sticker giving the date!

 

attachicon.gif20181216_155151.jpg

 

The starter is presumably original too:

 

attachicon.gif20181216_155325.jpg

 

Looking at the other fittings they are either Crompton, or unknown due to faded labels (Thorn rings a bell in my head for some reason?)

 

attachicon.gif20181216_160936.jpg

 

attachicon.gif20181216_160112.jpg

 

The latter does have an old looking tube, which may shed some light? (Ha!)

 

attachicon.gif20181216_160054.jpg

 

Notice the bird's nest against the fixture!

 

sorry never got a chance to properly respond to this while I was hyperventilating through the whole invacar episode last night :)

 

that Fitzgerald fitting is surprisingly original down to the tube and starter, if I moved into that house id of swapped it out and added it to the collection :mrgreen:

 

the Choke (ballast) is made by Atco (later tridonic atco), in Australia going by those mounting flanges.

 

the second fixture is indeed a Crompton Crompack... (everyone basically ripped off the Thorn Pop pack naming scheme LOL) it does look to be a fairly early T8 one going by the label style

 

the GTE tube is much newer then the rest of things pictured notice the CE logo for one :) looks to be some Chinese tube.

 

 

edit: just realised this is my 486th post  :mrgreen:

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Aren't there instructors out there with non-tedious cars anymore? My first lessons were from a chap with an early injected mini cooper, I paid a slight premium over the competition with their Fiestas etc but it did make it a lot more enjoyable.

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Aren't there instructors out there with non-tedious cars anymore? My first lessons were from a chap with an early injected mini cooper, I paid a slight premium over the competition with their Fiestas etc but it did make it a lot more enjoyable.

 

Nope because all modern cars are tedious.

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I confess to the Fiesta I took my lessons in wasn't boring - but that was mainly due to it being from the era where they still weren't quite sure what to do with turbo diesels...so had just crammed the largest one they could into it.  The result being a car which could pull off in third gear and went astonishingly well.  At home I had an utterly clapped out Metro with the low compression engine and three and a half working cylinders...So it felt like a rocket ship in comparison!

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as in the bubble cars ad?

 

IIRC on an MOT exempt vehicle when the MOT runs out it will just say "MOT No results returned" but if you go to the MOT history page it will at least display past MOTs, and of course if it has a current MOT that will show on both pages even if MOT exempt

 

so just curious as it looks like the invacar in the ebay listing has not had an MOT since the online records started, but AFAIK to change from invalid carriage to Trike/Historic vehicle you need an MOT,  ( on that note, I did read of one guy with a Model 70 that somehow managed to get away with it still classed as an invalid carriage LOL! )

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theres just something about the Model 70 that really clicks with me :) I have many reasons/excuses as to why I want one, but at the end of the day its just I REALLY want one if thats understandable :)

 

at least im on the right forum when it comes to wanting cars "normal" people would consider shite  :mrgreen:

 

thats not to say I dont like reliants id prefer a Regal/Rialto/Robin over a bond bug however

 

just right now im plowing all efforts into finding a Model 70, I want to try and get one ASAP before I miss the boat so to speak.

 

once I got a Model 70, i can then start worrying about other cars lower down on the want list, like an FX4 London taxi or such :)

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theres just something about the Model 70 that really clicks with me :) I have many reasons/excuses as to why I want one, but at the end of the day its just I REALLY want one if thats understandable :)

 

at least im on the right forum when it comes to wanting cars "normal" people would consider shite  :mrgreen:

 

thats not to say I dont like reliants id prefer a Regal/Rialto/Robin over a bond bug however

 

just right now im plowing all efforts into finding a Model 70, I want to try and get one ASAP before I miss the boat so to speak.

 

once I got a Model 70, i can then start worrying about other cars lower down on the want list, like an FX4 London taxi or such :)

 

I'm keeping an eye out up this way as well, will let you know if i see any come up. Have heard that there is (or at least was) a couple on the west coast and maybe one up north but i haven't been able to track anything down bar one long deleted for sale ad from Glasgow years ago.

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I'm keeping an eye out up this way as well, will let you know if i see any come up. Have heard that there is (or at least was) a couple on the west coast and maybe one up north but i haven't been able to track anything down bar one long deleted for sale ad from Glasgow years ago.

 

do you have any details on that? because Im aware of 3 Glasgow gumtree adverts for the same Model 70 by the same seller, from about a year and half ago and id like to know what happened to it... (especially if its still available for £550 :) )

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/car-replacement-parts/1973-ac-invacar-for-full-restoration-/1263502076

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/car-replacement-parts/1973-ac-invacar-for-full-restoration-/1255030097

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/car-replacement-parts/1973-ac-invacar-for-full-restoration-/1251247584

 

I still wonder about the one pictured in a bush up in wales...

 

 

I can see where you're coming from...my reaction when I saw DW's pair was very much one of "I've no idea what that is, but I want one!"

 

indeed, plus a healthy* dosage of early childhood nostalgia in my case :)

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indeed, plus a healthy* dosage of early childhood nostalgia in my case :)

 

That's where the fascination with the Lada Riva and Mercedes T1 came from for me...two things I've fond memories of before life got turned upside down in 1995. 

 

Vauxhall Nova Antibes is also on that list, but unmolested ones are silly money now.

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do you have any details on that? because Im aware of 3 Glasgow gumtree adverts for the same Model 70 by the same seller, from about a year and half ago and id like to know what happened to it... (especially if its still available for £550 :) )

Sadly not, i know of ones out that way that have been up dating back from 2012 right through to August 2017, there's someone in that area currently posting wanted ads for one, which is a bit of a coincidence, my guess is it's the same guy who had one for sale out that way on the lookout for another, clearly unable to source one as well.

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/transport-stuff-wanted/wanted-ac-thundersley-invacar-model-70-steyr-puch-mobility-disability-disabled/1321967011

 

Howmanyleft have nearly 50 on the road and 10 Sorn'd (of course there will be some off the system abandoned somewhere too), there's that many fields with things lurking in them i can almost be certain there will be one somewhere up this way. It's just finding them!

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This guy on Instagram has just picked one up as a project, no idea where he found it but i reckon worth contacting to see if he has any leads on any others https://www.instagram.com/p/Brae6ZvF_KO/

 

http://autoshite.com/topic/33919-oli’s-cars-reliant-jubilee-robin-rover-metro-rio-rover-211i-rover-city-rover-sprite/?p=1688092

 

:mrgreen:

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