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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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6 minutes ago, plasticvandan said:

Think that was the one I drove,it was all blue then

you said that about TTW991R at the time :mrgreen: https://autoshite.com/topic/32723-invacar-model-70-acquired-and-general-ramble-thread-index-on-page-1-phase-2-finding-a-suitable-driving-schoolinstructor-getting-lessons-and-a-licence/?do=findComment&comment=1718069

where you actually thinking of TTW906R or did you get a chance to drive both? :)

 

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I gave a couple driving schools a ring today sadly the first option I had lined up did not turn out good, mum does not like the way they conducted themselves on the phone etc

we found a second good driving school that looked good (good reviews etc etc), gave them a call, much better this time on the phone, but sadly they are fully booked up for at least 3 weeks so thats no good for me

its really quite frustrating, as I really want to learn how to drive and get my full driving licence and I want to get onto it as soon as possible, but trying to find a good driving school/teacher... 

if anyone does know of any good teachers/schools that cover the E2 east London area do let me know :)

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yeah its just quite frustrating as otherwise im sitting on my ass when I could be doing lessons (the way he told me he was booked up he said 3 weeks was just a guess as he said all the instructors are booked up and the others are on holiday apparently so he was not really sure when he would have a slot free sadly, so I dont think this particular school we called up could of even booked me in advance)

theres also the "fun" of just trying to find a good driving school in the first place, and avoiding blowing several hundreds of pounds on lessions with a bad school/instructor

(given how tight money is here I would like to avoid throwing money down the drain)

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yeah its just quite frustrating as otherwise im sitting on my ass when I could be doing lessons (the way he told me he was booked up he said 3 weeks was just a guess as he said all the instructors are booked up and the others are on holiday apparently so he was not really sure when he would have a slot free sadly, so I dont think this particular school we called up could of even booked me in advance)
theres also the "fun" of just trying to find a good driving school in the first place, and avoiding blowing several hundreds of pounds on lessions with a bad school/instructor
(given how tight money is here I would like to avoid throwing money down the drain)
I would try and take recommendations from friends or people in your local community, via websites like nextdoor or local fb groups, FL junior is currently having lessons and the variation in price has been quite big, in the end we went with someone who has taught the neighbours kids, door block bookings of 10 hours for £240, but problem with the good guys is they keep each student on a weekly / fortnightly basis until they pass, so having patience is worth it, one thing I didn't realise is that a lot of the big chain instructors use instructors who aren't fully qualified instructors and full members of the DSA, so it's worth asking that question, I'd also check how long they've been a fully qualified instructor..

Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, Floatylight said:

I would try and take recommendations from friends or people in your local community, via websites like nextdoor or local fb groups, FL junior is currently having lessons and the variation in price has been quite big, in the end we went with someone who has taught the neighbours kids, door block bookings of 10 hours for £240, but problem with the good guys is they keep each student on a weekly / fortnightly basis until they pass, so having patience is worth it, one thing I didn't realise is that a lot of the big chain instructors use instructors who aren't fully qualified instructors and full members of the DSA, so it's worth asking that question, I'd also check how long they've been a fully qualified instructor..

Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk
 

thats one of the frustrating things, I don't know anyone local I can ask, and we are not really in touch with the local community if there even is one!

 

1 hour ago, egg said:

I think you'd know if it was a bad instructor after a lesson or two - so don't pay too much up front - test them out a bit. 20 years since I learned, but again similar to Zel a couple of weeks wait is what I'd expect.

yah thats the plan :) ill book a couple normal lessons or so to see how things are before plonking down the cash on any more lessons after that

 

1 hour ago, brownnova said:

When I turned 17 I couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel, I was dismayed at the wait time for lessons! 

Keep trying, sometimes the smaller independent driving instructors are better than big driving schools in my experience. 

yeah even before I was into cars as a proper hobby I have always wanted to learn how to drive and get a licence :) 

 

1 hour ago, egg said:

I didn't learn to drive until I was 22, before that there was no way I could afford a car.

(You're doing well Dez on that front).

Yeah im quite proud of myself there :)  it was a case of save every single penny I could into the Invacar slush fund, and it still took me a year to save up to what REV cost me (I also had some money show up just before buying REV which also helped things, very convenient timing there!)

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Just finished going through the TTW-R block, it being one of my earliest meant i never actually went through the block properly, since I had TTW906R and TTW991R, and that covered me for if a number plateless Model 70 showed up within that Chassis number range, and having other priorities to use my at the time limited amount of lookups per day on my Reg to chassis number tool on, meant i never actually went through the block on the DVLA checker

but since I did not actually know when the block started and ended I figured that out and then went through it just now :)

funnily enough TTW906R is the first TTW-R car its a block 94 cars curiously, from TTW906R to TTW999R (im guessing they got cut short there LOL)

a total of 12! survived until 2001-2004 (with TTW906R and TTW991R being the 2 that are still around :) ) which is quite high for a block, im usually lucky to get more than 2-3 (and some Blocks I know of, none survived into VIN look up range sadly) but i have noticed that the later R and S reg blocks have a larger amount of 2001-2004 survivors then prior blocks 

im also taking the opportunity to go through Invacar Model 70 blocks that I have not properly gone through before because the current tool I use for getting chassis numbers from registrations does not have a look up limit, so im making use of it while its still around!

(on that note I have also sent off an email to the creators of the Reg to VIN number tool I use asking politely if they can fix it so it does not error out on VIN numbers shorter then 5 digits so I can look up AC Model 70's, as it stands i can only look up Invacar Model 70's using the tool, because Most AC Model 70's have Chassis numbers shorter then 5 digits and as such regardless, the tool always errors out, and as mentioned previously and is seemingly common with most of these tools, any vehicle I want to know the chassis number of has to have been last taxed in 2001 or later, but ill ask them about that issue once/if they get back to me on the issue of short VIN  numbers and AC model 70's)

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6 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Worth bearing in mind that we're currently in the school & university summer holidays, so there's going to be both additional demand and less instructors available.

You may find you have better luck getting a reasonable waiting period in a couple of weeks once the schools are back in.

thats a good point, ill keep an eye out incase something good does pop up, but I think ill probably do as you say and wait a couple weeks and see if the second driving school I called today has any free slots then, 

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@Datsuncog be like @egg :) https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1146777

(for a Mk12 its in fucking good shape!  ONO454D is its reg if its hard to make out)

11948277.thumb.jpg.c185f4f46a150367c867f9dca78e577d.jpg

 

11948279.thumb.jpg.4aee65dd67bc25dfbaa234ecf2b04869.jpg11948281.thumb.jpg.4f196c5bcf076ae61122db66693059b9.jpg11948283.thumb.jpg.2a61a9d7082ae34e08c7cc80b925fe3a.jpg

 

I do hope someone here buys it, id like to see it go to a good home 

price wise for £1250 id say its OK it could be be much worse, its in very good shape for a Mk12, (i know of Mk12s in much worse shape then this for about the same price)

but its a different beast from the Model 70 much more crude and not as usable in day to day life, so keep that in mind, i got posted the link to it on my thread on the retro rides forum, currently asking if the person who sent the link is the person selling it, as id like a vin plate picture :) 

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6 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

@Datsuncog be like @egg :) https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1146777

(for a Mk12 its in fucking good shape!  ONO454D is its reg if its hard to make out)

11948277.thumb.jpg.c185f4f46a150367c867f9dca78e577d.jpg

 

11948279.thumb.jpg.4aee65dd67bc25dfbaa234ecf2b04869.jpg11948281.thumb.jpg.4f196c5bcf076ae61122db66693059b9.jpg11948283.thumb.jpg.2a61a9d7082ae34e08c7cc80b925fe3a.jpg

 

I do hope someone here buys it, id like to see it go to a good home 

price wise for £1250 id say its OK it could be be much worse, its in very good shape for a Mk12, (i know of Mk12s in much worse shape then this for about the same price)

but its a different beast from the Model 70 much more crude and not as usable in day to day life, so keep that in mind, i got posted the link to it on my thread on the retro rides forum, currently asking if the person who sent the link is the person selling it, as id like a vin plate picture :)

 

As it's D reg, it's a 1966, rather than 62 as stated.

How much is getting it back from Ireland going to cost?

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5 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

 

As it's D reg, it's a 1966, rather than 62 as stated.

How much is getting it back from Ireland going to cost?

yeah I did not notice the reg plate at first, I was happily surprised when I noticed it

I sort of posted the link in a blind flail then edited the post to be better formatted later on in the night

as I was actually talking to Stuart about invacar stuff when I came across it for sale :) 

Stuart Thinks it may be this one http://rumcars.org/forum/index.php?topic=3800.0

sadly that forum shat all its pictures

however heres a pictures stuart sent me, do you think its the same car? I think its the same car, I mean how many 2 Tone Mk12's are there in the ROI LOL, and the "patina" looks the same between this photo and the one for sale

69031469_224384115157727_8982621699526623232_n.jpg.f46f7bd2c7725dcd68066af3f3b80538.jpg

the most interesting bit for me is "There are several aspects of its possible history which might well be interesting. As it surfaced in the Republic, there is every chance it is one of five second-hand cars sent out via a link up between Invacar Ltd & the Southend-on-Sea Rotary Club in the late 1960s to assist disabled persons in the Republic, which of course did not have the UK Invalid Vehicle Service"

which may go some way to explaining this :) https://autoshite.com/topic/32723-invacar-model-70-acquired-and-general-ramble-thread-index-on-page-1-phase-2-finding-a-suitable-driving-schoolinstructor-getting-lessons-and-a-licence/page/32/?tab=comments#comment-1764303

(how did car registrations work in the ROI back then? being its own country im guessing you would have to re-register a car imported there just like you have to re-registre a car from the US here in the UK if you import one, however the above Mk12 is on british plates, unless they stuck the ROI plates over the british ones!)

 

5 hours ago, egg said:

Should be easier to get the v5 for that! Cool.

well finding out the reg was much easier! getting the V5 who knows, sadly does not show up on the DVLA checker

but at least we have the Essex records and it will be in there :) 

 

4 hours ago, Dirk Diggler said:

Mallow is a fair trip; would be a €250-300 recovery to Rosslare ferry port

seller says he may be able to help with transport 

maybe you could use it as a negotiating point and see if he will sell for a round £1000 :) 

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland

we had a great system from 1987 - 2013, now diluted. Funnily enough an original Irish car on a 60s or 70s plate would be worth much more than something imported; strictly speaking, plates are non transferable.

Possibly because so many cars were assembled here from ckd pre 1973; at one point people felt an affinity with the cars they drove, a Beetle made on the Naas Rd., a Renault made in Wexford that the old type regs mean more; you could fill an interesting thread about the many car plants that once existed and the many people that worked building cars

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I did a bit more DVLA bashing and came across another Model 70's whoes revenue weight is listed online :) (for some reason only very few Model 70's show this online despite all having it in the V5 from what I have seen)

 

1838912961_Screenshot2019-08-21at13_58_44.thumb.png.3d319d006f030986eb7f074cfef7bcf8.png

 

also turns out TTW-R Block is a right headache that im still trying to wrap my head around 

its 94 Model 70's from TTW906R to TTW999R, however somewhere between TTW939R and TTW957R the chassis numbers fall behind by 3!

plus some extra weirdness with TTW906R itself (TTW912R for example is 6 regs ahead from 906, but its 9 chassis numbers ahead!)

then from TTW912R to TTW939R everything is hunky dory, then at some point after TTW939R the numbers fall out by 3...

which means if I calculate say TTW997Rs chassis number from TTW906R its correct, however if I use say TTW912-939R I overshoot by 3, but if I use TTW957R to figure out TTW997R chassis number its correct again!

augh this is proper headache inducing! LOL

 

on a separate note I was thinking about something, its said the Model 70 was introduced in June 1971, however the K Suffix was not rolled out until  the 1st of august 1971

so the VERY earliest Model 70's might actually be on a J plate! (and if im looking at the chassis numbers right, there are 100 Model 70's before the GPG-K block which is the earliest Model 70 block I know of)

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For once a hunch of mine proved correct. That is indeed a batch of 100 and there are six more after TTW999R registered TVW1-6R. I suspect your missing chassis numbers may be in that series. Good news is that TVW6R survived until the end (last taxed in April 2003) so you should be able to look up its chassis number.

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17 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

For once a hunch of mine proved correct. That is indeed a batch of 100 and there are six more after TTW999R registered TVW1-6R. I suspect your missing chassis numbers may be in that series.

Bloody hell nice work!

TVW1-6R and would you look at that TVW6R survived until 2003 so I pulled its chassis number and its right in between TTW906R and TTW912R

now I wonder if TTW906R is TVW4R, because if my maths is correct going by the chassis number of TTW906R it would be TVW4R

the reason I say this is while discussing/discovering this with Stuart he mentioned that he had to "correct" TTW906Rs numbers with the DVLA when he got the car but he now wonders if he accidently messed it up (at the time he thought the DVLA had messed things up or such)

and doing some maths if we assume that TTW906R is actually what came after TVW6R then indeed TTW906R is 6 chassis numbers away from TTW912R as it should be

I have given Stuart this new info that you have discovered and I eagerly await a response :)

(TVW-R is the shortest Invacar block by far LOL and what are the chances that one did survive until the end so I could pull its chassis numbers :) )

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Glad to be of service. A batch of 94 didn't seem right knowing they were usually built by the hundred and it was the sort of logic puzzle I like. Obviously the TTW-R series couldn't go beyond 999 so I worked out that TVW1R would have been the next issued after TTW999R, and sure enough hit six more Invacars. I was disappointed that the first five didn't survive into the 21st century (although TVW4R nearly did) so finding that TVW6R made it to 2003 so you could look it up was pleasing.

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22 minutes ago, quicksilver said:

Glad to be of service. A batch of 94 didn't seem right knowing they were usually built by the hundred and it was the sort of logic puzzle I like. Obviously the TTW-R series couldn't go beyond 999 so I worked out that TVW1R would have been the next issued after TTW999R, and sure enough hit six more Invacars. I was disappointed that the first five didn't survive into the 21st century (although TVW4R nearly did) so finding that TVW6R made it to 2003 so you could look it up was pleasing.

yes thank you very much! it plugs the gap between the SHJ-R and TTW-R blocks very nicely and solves the mystery of TTW906R :) 

there is still the fact that between TTW939R and TTW957R the chassis numbers "fall behind" by 3

for example TTW939R its chassis number is 6 digits ahead of the number of the registration number

but TTW957R's chassis is only 3 digits ahead of its registration number

indicating that 3 Model 70's between TTW939R and TTW957R might be private examples I think

sadly none between TTW939R and TTW957R survived into chassis number look up range

(not without a proper HPI check type thing anyway, and speaking of I have sent a PM "my guy" who can do those, and asked him if he can run TVW1R-TVW5R for me, focusing of TVW4R if he can only run 1)

but if there were private examples in TTW-R block, id of expected there to be 3 additional Model 70's made to compensate

like what happened with the REV-R block and REV451R etc

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