invacar 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]

so had my first paid for official proper driving lesson

I think it went very well, although was quite nerve wrecking for me LOL

although I managed to not stall during the lesson which Im pretty proud of  

I have booked the next lesson for Monday, and plan on doing 2 lessons a week (so that's 4 hours a week) for now, and I have bought 20 hours of "credit" that I can use to book more lessons

for those wondering the instructor says he thinks ill need 20-25 hours to pass my test, which is pretty good  going I think! (obviously ill buy more hours if needed!)

sadly I couldn't grab any pictures, but I saw some nice chod while driving around  

[Six-cylinder]

Well done.

What car did you drive? Don’t forget to photograph it because it may be boring now but in years to come it will be part of your motoring history.

There are no restriction on being at the field of dreams in the winter except the weather as there is no indoor space available!

Scheduling FoD open days is always tricky as spring comes and my diary fills up with other car events. The alternative is you raise your own posse, set your own date and we will provide you with access.

I think it is unlikely any of the garages I use would be keen to take on an Invacar.

[LightBulbFun]

15 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Well done.

What car did you drive? Don’t forget to photograph it because it may be boring now but in years to come it will be part of your motoring history.

There are no restriction on being at the field of dreams in the winter except the weather as there is no indoor space available!

Scheduling FoD open days is always tricky as spring comes and my diary fills up with other car events. The alternative is you raise your own posse, set your own date and we will provide you with access.

I think it is unlikely any of the garages I use would be keen to take on an Invacar.

Thanks

im not actually sure tbh I was a bit preoccupied LOL I do  it was some 67 or 68 plate VAG group car IIRC with an electronic handbrake that I dont like, but was otherwise alright to drive I think  

I will grab a picture next time  

good to know on the FoD, I think if this whole idea goes through its probably best done when you/ @Mrs6C are available for it too,

basically the plan is just "hijack" the next regular FoD gathering whenever that is happening, for Invacar fixing if people are up for it  

(aye I figured such on the garage front)

[Six-cylinder]

I got sent this picture tonight from a visitor to Concours of Elegance 8th Sep 2019 at Hampton Court Palace, do you know who's car it was?

[loserone]

5 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

 

im not actually sure tbh I was a bit preoccupied LOL I do  it was some 67 or 68 plate VAG group car IIRC with an electronic handbrake that I dont like, but was otherwise alright to drive I think  

Amazeballs.  Hero!

[LightBulbFun]

23 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

I got sent this picture tonight from a visitor to Concours of Elegance 8th Sep 2019 at Hampton Court Palace, do you know who's car it was?

ohh not seen that photo before  

but that will be ALB761A, an AC Acedes Mk15 Model 67, wearing plates from what I think is a metal AC Acedes Model 57 sadly, its the only AC Acedes Mk15 Model 67 I know of in the UK that is theoretically road worthy, although I dont think its driven on the road sadly

I would love to get more details of it for my records but sadly I dont know much about it currently, other then its owned by someone fairly high up in the AC Club or something like that

it was also papped by @Sudsprint here  

https://autoshite.com/topic/37640-hampton-court-concours-festival-of-the-exceptional/?do=findComment&comment=1873015

 

speaking of AC Acedes Mk15's

 

while I was talking over email to the owner of JBY503J (ex LVX250J), he mentioned that his was 1 of 2 that the combe motorcycle museum had

he said one was displayed and the other kept for spares or such, but he did not know if JBY503J (ex LVX250J) was the display car or the spares car

now I found this very interesting, because as far as I knew, combe only had the 1 Invacar Mk12, that being LVX250J

however I knew they also had DPD778J an AC Acedes Mk15 Model 67, so I was wondering that was "the other one"

well a couple days ago  these pictures got posted on facebook, which im pretty sure where from the combe motorcycle museum, which made me very excited,

because A, I finally got a picture of DPD778J! its one I knew about for a long time, but never had any pictures of finally, and also its shows another Mk12 on display, not LVX250J which tells us that LVX must of been the "spares" car

while I knew of KWC beforehand already and had pictures I never knew it was a combe car until now

 

 

it also finally tells me where this photo was taken/ where these 2 invalid vehicles where, I wonder what happened to these 2 once the museum closed? really is a shame they closed, they had a Very impressive collection of villiers powered invalid vehicles all of which looked to be in very good shape and road worthy which is very rare for a Villers machine

 

[LightBulbFun]

14 minutes ago, loserone said:

Amazeballs.  Hero!

Haha, thanks? LOL

(just so its clear LOL I was supposed to type "I do know it" rather then "I do it" but had a brain fart, you can see the double space its supposed to go between LOL)

[Mrs6C]

8 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

so had my first paid for official proper driving lesson

I think it went very well, although was quite nerve wrecking for me LOL

although I managed to not stall during the lesson which Im pretty proud of  

I have booked the next lesson for Monday, and plan on doing 2 lessons a week (so that's 4 hours a week) for now, and I have bought 20 hours of "credit" that I can use to book more lessons

for those wondering the instructor says he thinks ill need 20-25 hours to pass my test, which is pretty good  going I think! (obviously ill buy more hours if needed!)

sadly I couldn't grab any pictures, but I saw some nice chod while driving around  

Jolly well done!

As @Six-cylinder says, get photos of the car you drive in lessons and the one in which you take your test, if it's not the same one. You'll want to remember it later. Even better, get your instructor to take a photo of you with the car and your Pass certificate when you get it!

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, Mrs6C said:

Jolly well done!

As @Six-cylinder says, get photos of the car you drive in lessons and the one in which you take your test, if it's not the same one. You'll want to remember it later. Even better, get your instructor to take a photo of you with the car and your Pass certificate when you get it!

Thanks  

indeed, I think these days you can come test time "rent" the car you have been learning to drive in, from the driving school, for the driving test, so everything in the car is familiar to you etc while you take the test

[adw1977]

8 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

I think these days you can come test time "rent" the car you have been learning to drive in, from the driving school, for the driving test, so everything in the car is familiar to you etc while you take the test

I did that when I took my test way back in 1994.  My instructor picked me up and drove me to the test centre and back home after.  During the test he waited in the test centre, although I believe your instructor can sit in the back seat during the test if you wish. 

[Six-cylinder]

13 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

ohh not seen that photo before  

but that will be ALB761A, an AC Acedes Mk15 Model 67, wearing plates from what I think is a metal AC Acedes Model 57 sadly

I would love to get more details of it for my records but sadly I dont know much about it currently, other then its owned by someone fairly high up in the AC Club or something like that

it was also papped by @Sudsprint here  

https://autoshite.com/topic/37640-hampton-court-concours-festival-of-the-exceptional/?do=findComment&comment=1873015

 

The photo is an original from a friend in the Triumph club who was showing us some car pictures he had taken last night, He was not surprised I then asked him to forward it to me, no, no, I am not going to get suckered in to this Invacar thing!

[egg]

I did my test in the car I learned in too. Diesel Pug 106.

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

The photo is an original from a friend in the Triumph club who was showing us some car pictures he had taken last night, He was not surprised I then asked him to forward it to me, no, no, I an not going to get suckered in to this Invacar thing!

haha  

he didn't happen to grab any interior shots did he?

with only about 10 AC Acedes Mk14/Mk15's known to survive, detailed pictures of them are sadly few and far between...

[plasticvandan]

The Combe Martin museum cars were collected direct from the dhss stores in Manchester,arranged by Julian who ran the ICR back then,c.96-97. This was when they were about to destroy all villiers machines and spares.only museums were allowed to buy from them and he bought one of each model. The rough mk12 was sold in Rumcar news for 495 iirc.

 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, plasticvandan said:

The Combe Martin museum cars were collected direct from the dhss stores in Manchester,arranged by Julian who ran the ICR back then,c.96-97. This was when they were about to destroy all villiers machines and spares.only museums were allowed to buy from them and he bought one of each model. The rough mk12 was sold in Rumcar news for 495 iirc.

 

aye I had figured such, as thats where pretty much all the villers machines you see in museums today came from mostly  (side note I dont think the DHSS destroyed all their villiers spares, remember there was at least 1 AC Acedes Model 57 that made it until 2003, JPE789C )

very cool that the museum went out their way to get one of each type!

most other museums "just" ended up with Model 57's, as at that specific point in time Heywood was disposing of about 14 Model 57s IIRC

 

IIRC  JBY503J (LVX250J) was sold when the museum closed, I don't know about KWC896J however

 

 

speaking of one of each type!

I just had a load of registration numbers run via my HPI guy, a quite an interesting mix, with some very interesting results which I look forward to discussing with stuart  

I had the following run  DPF670J, or DPF680J, NNO246C, 594BGN, GVW600H, RVX309K SHK365K, TVW4R, OPK110L

the 2 DPFs regs are Model 64,s, their chassis numbers are partly what I expected but also different at the same time, im hoping ill figure it out enough that I can figure out the registration number of Simons Model 64 we know the chassis number of but not the reg number

NNO264C is an Invacar Mk12, and its chassis number looks to be accurate and has been added to my list (accurate in that while I dont have enough info to calculate Mk12 chassis numbers like I can Model 70's I do have enough to tell if a chassis number fits roughly within the registration age etc)

594BGN is a Metal AC Acedes Model 57, now I was told this was a private example, however most interestingly it looks like it has the same chassis number format as government Model 57's so I do wonder if 594BGN is its original registration number or if its been plate raped, or if at this point in time private AC's where part of the same chassis number series as the government vehicles (its chassis number is only about 40 behind 1940PE's chassis number, which tallies up with the fact that 1940PE was registried about a month later then 594BGN)

GVW600H checks out and has been added to the list of confirmed Mk12 chassis numbers  (I believe this is the Mk12 thats pictured with "SFA1873" show plates)

RVX309K and SHK365K are Model 70's and more or less check out/are what I was expecting them to be and has been added to the Model 70 list

TVW4R checks out, which confirms that "TTW906R" is indeed actually TVW4R, im still thinking about how to go about sorting this one out,

as previously mentioned back in stuarts early days when he got TVW4R, he got it with no number plates, and did not know of the TVW-R block, so he thought it was TTW906R, and when he got the V5 and saw that the chassis numbers did not match, he thought it was DVLA shenanigans, so he changed the chassis number to what was on the Model 70 he had, this now means tho that the registration mark TTW906R and TVW4R both have the same chassis number according to the DVLA, and im not sure what would happen if the owner of "TTW906R"  does a V62 for TVW4R etc, I would like to think that the DVLA records showing that TTW906R's chassis number was changed at some point which would make it easier to explain to them that it was changed erroneously back in the day, espically as id want to correct the Chassis number on TTW906R's V5 incase the real TTW906R is out there still)

and finally OPK110L is one of the AC prototype city cars that we suspect are based on a Model 70 chassis, I was wondering if its chassis number would continue on from the Prototype Model 70's but it does not

all in all some very interesting results  (and once again im very thankful to my HPI guy for running registration numbers for me )

[Andyrew]

Assuming the brake pipe is standard 3/16s, 

Have proper brake pipe flare tool, pipe straigtner and cutter. 

25ft rolls of copper and imperial fittings can be sourced via my work cheap. 

Will work for tea* and biscuits

*Tetley tea bags can GTF .

[LightBulbFun]

ah happy to know your onboard, tis much appreciated  

 

aye yeah I think its 3/16th 

heres what the "DHSS spare parts list" has to say for brakes should give people some idea what lengths and fittings may be needed, I do wonder what "Kunifer 10" is I know what Kunfier is, but im not sure what the 10 means in this context

(and hopefully Zel will be with us, which is good since he has had a lot of experience with this stuff on TPA!)

and heres the workshop manual for the Model 70 incase anyone wants to have a read and see what involved in doing whatever jobs may be needed

DHSS Workshop Manual For The Model 70 Three Wheeler(OCR).pdf

[LightBulbFun]

you know your dealing with the strange and unusual when when your HPI guy goes

"heres my number call me tomorrow of these Registration numbers returned results so weird I need to discuss it over the phone"

most of it seems down to the fact that the HPI thingy is trying to interpret what little data the DVLA has for vehicles this old and weird, and is falling over itself doing so

(for example 594BGN comes up on his HPI checker as ACEDES like it does on the DVLA, but also as a Leyland Unknown. and has a date first registration in the future LOL)

tho the most curious thing is, a LOT of the reg numbers/invalid vehicles i have had run (as in since the start, not just this latest batch) come back as insurance write offs for whatever reason...  go figure that one out!

I know invalid vehicles where insured back in the day, but how it worked with the government owning most of them I dont know...

I do wonder if when they were scrapped they where written off by whoever handled the insurance as a way to try and stop them returning to the road or something like that?

[LightBulbFun]

so heres an interesting thing I noticed on the whole

"Not taxed for on road use"

 

I was doing some idle googling, and came across XPD805 a Stanley Argson Deluxe from the manchester museum of transport

 

and I went to shove its reg number into the DVLA to see if  it was on there/what it came back as 

and pleasingly it did show up and I noticed it was "not taxed for on road use"

where on closer inspection I noticed it said "Vehicle status: Tax and due" as if its tax is about to expire

I never noticed this before, and I wondered, are all "not taxed for on road use" vehicles like that

so I checked a few others...

YVX206L was tax not due when I took this screenshot a few months back

but checking it again today shows it as Taxed and due

 

1940PE comes back as tax not due

LVX293J was Tax not due a few months ago and is still tax not due today

 

 

 

but TEV673N is down as Not taxed, and is still down as not taxed

 

its very interesting to note that I can pull the chassis numbers (or could until the tools broke)

of all these "not taxed for on road use" invalid vehicles

except for TEV673N, which noticeably is the only one thats down as "not taxed"

its interesting the different "vehicle statuses" despite them all being "not taxed for on road use"

I still wonder "not taxed for on road use" means exactly, especially after noticing the different vehicle statuses

 

(side note I noticed a lot earlier invalid carriages that do still show up on the DVLA are down as not taxed for on road use)

[LightBulbFun]

Full house? not taxed for on road use, but tax is not due somehow despite having having an export marker!

 

usually when a vehicle gets an export marker its tax is canceled as seen with ATW722L 

also remembered that YTB768N is another "not taxed for on road use" Vehicle which was showing tax not due on the 18th of June

but is now showing as taxed and due 

 

its interesting how a lot of these "not taxed for on road use" vehicles are coming up as "taxed and due" at the same time, but not all of them

[LightBulbFun]

as a side note I noticed a while back that one of @Mrs6C Bond equipes is also showing "not taxed for on road use" while showing "tax not due"

im curious @Mrs6C is this a vehicle that you get reminders to renew the tax on every year or is it one that you have not had to do any admin on since getting it? (and do you know if it was always "not taxed for on road use" in your ownership?)

might help us understand what this whole "not taxed for on road use" malarky is all about! 

[DodgeRover]

I don't know if I've said this already but when you register plant (that will never go on the road but you want the vin number in the system so it can be traced when it's stolen) they get allocated a number but the tax class goes down as not taxed for road use.

[LightBulbFun]

10 minutes ago, DodgeRover said:

I don't know if I've said this already but when you register plant (that will never go on the road but you want the vin number in the system so it can be traced when it's stolen) they get allocated a number but the tax class goes down as not taxed for road use.

aye yeah I do recall reading something about that

and when I first got into this whole thing, thats what I thought this whole "not taxed for on road use" stuff was all about (For tractors and the such like etc)

but its clearly something more than that!

but what exactly im not sure, AFAIK there's no option when taxing a vehicle to select "do not tax for on road use" or something is there?

 

 

do you mean the Taxation status on the DVLA checker or the tax class on the V5 specifically? 2 different things, sorry if it sounds a bit picking at things, but when dealing with weird/fine details like this its important to get it right!

(for example my Invacar Model 70 is current Tax class Disabled, (as in for a disabled driver) but tax status on DVLA checker is SORN)

[mrbenn]

I'd be up for a field fettling session on the Invacar, depending on when etc. I was hoping to make it down to one of the recent meets but circumstances conspired against me.

Good news on the driving lessons! Apologies if I've missed it, are you learning in a manual or auto?

[LightBulbFun]

3 minutes ago, mrbenn said:

I'd be up for a field fettling session on the Invacar, depending on when etc. I was hoping to make it down to one of the recent meets but circumstances conspired against me.

Good news on the driving lessons! Apologies if I've missed it, are you learning in a manual or auto?

happy to hear your up for some tinkering  

im not sure when yet, I imagine just whenever the next FoD gathering is happening that I can then hijack for invacar fun!  sadly we are heading in winter now so I think the next FoD tinkering session will only be in a good 6 months time sadly, when the weather improves

Little bit frustrating but oh well! (as Im hoping I will have had my licence by christmas time or so, so I imagine there will be a good few months of just twiddling my thumbs sadly)

 

Thanks, im learning to drive in a Manual 

I know the Model 70 is automatic, so I could make life easier for myself by learning an an auto, however I know its a good life skill to know how to drive a manual (just in case you have to drive one unexpectedly etc)

plus I do plan on owning manual cars sometime in the future  

(and there are several manual cars on this forum that id like to have a proper drive of at some point in time!)

[mrbenn]

Agreed, learning in a manual gives you options for the future. With the way traffic is nowadays (that makes me sound old) I think my next daily driver will be an auto. Stop-start in heavy traffic is a bit of a dance. I drove into the centre of Manchester at 10:30pm middle of last week and it was like rush hour. Couldn't believe it. Would have been easy in an Invacar ?

[LightBulbFun]

haha yeah, Both Zel and Dollywobbler said that their Model 70's do very/surprisingly well in stop start traffic/city driving

which is good to hear considering I live in near central London! 

[LightBulbFun]

just spotted this instagram post

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3m885CF9dG/

whoever skr079 is on here if he is on here, thank you for asking for details on it!

(I should make an instagram account one of these days so I can directly ask for info on anything invacar related! I just dont do modern day social media hence why I dont have an account)

while I am aware of this Model 70's existence, (from all the way back on page 8!) I sadly don't have details on it (although thanks to the above link I do now know the name of the owner at least)

sadly its lost its original UK plates, so I would need a chassis number/plate shot to ID it  (or see if I could get a chassis number from the US plate somehow!)

here's a couple pictures I do have of it

Rollover bar tells me its a Post March 1976 Model 70 at least

 

 

[LightBulbFun]

Forum coloured AC Acedes  

it actually is Beige too not just DVLA shenanigans, I knew of this one for a while, but sadly it was plate raped at some point and I did not know whats its new plate was, well now I do  I also got some pictures of it that I did not have before   

its THOUGHT to be a private example, especially as 9771KR is not a Surry plate, however apparently its chassis number is like that of a government AC Acedes so go figure!

ill send its reg no to my HPI guy just to double check/see what the DVLA has it recorded as  

its very interesting to see the control layout of another Metal AC Acedes, interesting to note it has a foot operated brake and a slide over thingy

 

 

 

as a side note, on 1940PE and 594BGN thing above this post, I somehow missed that 1940PE is 1963 and 594BGN is 1961, when figuring out what its chassis number meant so that nulls my chassis number theory for that one sadly

594BGNs chassis number is weird in that its all numbers, pretty much every other AC invalid vehicle I have seen has had a leading letter or 2/3

however I got 594BGNs chassis number from the DVLA database, and we all know how accurate* that can be, so I wonder if we are missing a couple letters off the start of it

so I do wonder if 594BGN really is a private example, if its chassis number actually starts with "PS" like private AC Model 70's do or if its something else!

ill just have to hope @Conan can find it if it really does live at the Jesda museum these days! and grab a picture of its actual chassis number for me  

 

also slight apologises to @dollywobbler for abandoning the live stream just as it got going, Stuart came online and he rarely comes online so it was a case of drop everything and talk as much as I can with him before he has to do things and go offline again!

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Congratulations on starting your learner journey, Dez.  I remember being a ball of nerves when I started, too.  It gets much, much easier.