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]

10 minutes ago, Mally said:

It's possible the driving instructor may want to carry on with lessons, because wage.

Your call though, could be quite a while before they resume tests.

yeah that's basically what he told me last lesson yesterday

if I do end up continuing to have lessons, as mentioned ill probably drop it down to 1 a week or something such, enough to keep me fresh so to speak etc while hopefully being easier on the ol wallet!

and yeah looks like driving tests have been suspended for up to 3 months!

[Mrs6C]

It must be very frustrating, that's for sure, to be so close and then have it pulled away into the distance. Still, all is not lost. It's a temporary pause rather than being a permanent situation and it will all come good in due course. On the bright side, you do own your dream car, it's taxed, insured and MOT-exempt, it will be on the road before too long and you will be able to drive it when you have passed your test!

[Mrs6C]

As a consolation prize, have a picture of an Invacar, taken in Bath in 2002..

 

 

[Mrs6C]

Here's another Invacar - NWC519P - this time in Edinburgh New Town in 1992...

 

[LightBulbFun]

13 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

As a consolation prize, have a picture of an Invacar, taken in Bath in 2002..

and uploaded to the autoshite servers for safe keeping  

tis one I have come across before   its an amusing one tho, because especially in thumbnail form, due to the lighting conditions with the light reflecting off the curves, it looks a lot like the Model 70 had been painted in Satin blue paint!

(obviously once you view the full sized image you can see thats not the case and just an effect of the lighting)

5 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

Here's another NWC-P Invacar, this time in Edinburgh New Town in 1992...

 

ah yes NWC519P  

you may also find TPE409S "nearby" on your searches, notable for I think being the only surviving Model 70 to be pictured in service

[Mrs6C]

The last for now... there is a selection of Invalid cars in a photo about half-way down the page..
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-british-deadly-sins-a-touch-of-class-part-3-reliant-kitten-the-discreet-charm-of-the-toiling-masses/

[LightBulbFun]

42 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

you may also find TPE409S "nearby" on your searches, notable for I think being the only surviving Model 70 to be pictured in service

would be rude not to include pictures!

On 2/23/2019 at 12:15 PM, LightBulbFun said:

TPE409S, AC, Date of first registration: 8 December 1977, Current status: owned by Grant Kearny otherwise unknown, Untaxed since 1st march 2004, Date of last V5C (logbook) issued, 20 April 1982, notable for being tiller control

https://flic.kr/p/9eVhKL

(not sure why the guy thinks it might have been scrapped!)

 

17 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

The last for now... there is a selection of Invalid cars in a photo about half-way down the page..
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-british-deadly-sins-a-touch-of-class-part-3-reliant-kitten-the-discreet-charm-of-the-toiling-masses/

ah yes that is a lovely photo  here it is in slightly higher rez from my archives, its a shame the harper's registration is not quite visible!

(also LPD880D is a close relative of LPD806D the AC Acedes Mk11 MoH Model 57 in the Hammond collection ) 

[Dannyk]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

Here's another Invacar - NWC519P - this time in Edinburgh New Town in 1992...

 

Nice golf! Shame the blue things in the wa... Oh I see.

But seriously, that's shit about the test, when I done mine I was like a kid waiting for christmas.

Might of missed it and don't want to scare you but have you thought about security for rev when its home? Can't use a disklok

[Christine]

NWC is my initial s.    

[LightBulbFun]

21 minutes ago, Dannyk said:

Nice golf! Shame the blue things in the wa... Oh I see.

But seriously, that's shit about the test, when I done mine I was like a kid waiting for christmas.

Might of missed it and don't want to scare you but have you thought about security for rev when its home? Can't use a disklok

Yeah!

yeah iv thought about security, and have some potential ideas in mind but suggestions are always welcome  

[Dannyk]

Well  i think the only option is an alarm, probably not a moss one though, I was always told Clifford or toad were good

[Christine]

Invacar stolen . Police looking for a one armed bandit.

[Christine]

Being plastic, a fire alarm might be better...along with armoured glass to stop bricks being lobbed at it and breaking windscreen s

[LightBulbFun]

2 minutes ago, Christine said:

Being plastic, a fire alarm might be better...along with armoured glass to stop bricks being lobbed at it and breaking windscreen s

one thing I do need to get for REV is a fire extinguisher as sadly at some point in time her original one has gone walkies (was it used at some point in time?!)

I do know someone with a load of NOS Model 70 ones will have to see if he is willing to sell me one at some point in time (or ask @Zelandeth if he still has TPA's original one somewhere )  

 

but otherwise im not too worried about REV getting damaged or messed with, people are too busy stabbing each other here to be worried about car crime these days!

[plasticvandan]

I would fit a motorcycle tilt switch alarm,it's far more likely to get rolled over by drunks or kids.friend of mine in London had his Rialto rolled 5 times in 3 weeks.he bought a kitten in the end.

[LightBulbFun]

30 minutes ago, plasticvandan said:

I would fit a motorcycle tilt switch alarm,it's far more likely to get rolled over by drunks or kids.friend of mine in London had his Rialto rolled 5 times in 3 weeks.he bought a kitten in the end.

I was thinking something like that, mercury tilt switch wired to a relay to the horn or something such LOL

or go the full 9 yards and install one of those Train locomotive horns and a camera and record people utterly shitting themselves if they dare touch my car  (I do have a dash cam here Id like to fit)

(the horn is another thing that needs fixing on REV, luckily we have a spare horn in the spare parts pile, but im hoping the horn she has just needs a whack with a hammer or such as it does feebily go meep when you try and activate it so it sounds like its trying to work, id say its a bad earth but im not entirely sure as I do notice the dash light dims slightly when you try so that tells me its drawing power alright)

[Eyersey1234]

2 hours ago, Christine said:

Invacar stolen . Police looking for a one armed bandit.

You pinched @Cavcrafts joke book ?? 

[Zelandeth]

Is an alarm even worth it?  Realistically is anyone going to pay the slightest bit of attention to one going off around there?  It's not going to draw your attention to an issue either as you don't have line of sight from the flat to the parking area.

Amusing though it is, forget the locomotive horn idea.  They're huge, need a substantial compressor you'll struggle to run from a little 030 battery, heavy and expensive.

My thought on the best solution for a car like this was probably a good quality wheel clamp (or possibly two).  If you want any security in the car, it wouldn't be too difficult to convert the parcel shelf into a locker.

Engine immobiliser is a bit tricky just because it's such a simple system...even with a good one installed anyone with two brain cells who knows anything about vehicle wiring will be able to bypass it in two minutes.  Probably the best thing here might be the old school approach dating back to WWII days, taking the rotor arm off and keeping it indoors with you. 

Other thought would be that it wouldn't be massively difficult to create a setup which allowed the cooling fan to be physically locked, preventing the engine from being started (the line to the starter is fused which should prevent damage to the dynastart).  Something I may consider for TPA at some point.

The thing about vehicle security is that it's never about making a car impossible to nick or break into, it's about making it enough hassle that the idiots involved can't be bothered and go find something else to mess with.

So making it so she doesn't roll or drive would be first priority I'd think.

[High Jetter]

Fitting a tracking device wouldn't be a bad thing.

[Mrs6C]

Just disconnecting the battery using the disconnect switch it has already would probably do the trick. Hard to start a car if you don't know where the battery is located and it's behind a locked lid anyway...

[LightBulbFun]

8 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Probably the best thing here might be the old school approach dating back to WWII days, taking the rotor arm off and keeping it indoors with you. 

reminds me of an amusing story @1970mgb told me about a chap who had an MGA back when they where shite tetertory cars like an MGF or something is now

and how he wired either the key or starter button I cant recall which, to the HT output of the ignition coil and said more then once in the middle of the night he would hear someone scream and see them running away from the car  

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, Mrs6C said:

Just disconnecting the battery using the disconnect switch it has already would probably do the trick. Hard to start a car if you don't know where the battery is located and it's behind a locked lid anyway...

Yeah I was thinking that  

(one thing I dont want to do is make it too difficult for myself to use her, I don't want to have to do my back in having to unbolt wheel clamps etc every time I want to go a drive, kinda defeats the purpose!) 

[Jikovron]

Imo somehing like handbrake lock would be more faff than a theif would want as it cant be pushed away to be hot wired ect out of apparent owner sight and even if running it wont have the torque to overcome its small car type brake drums , could maybe take the form of a pad locked bracket onto the lever? Pull handle? 

[LightBulbFun]

"We've identified this vehicle using the details you provided"

 

have you now really?! LOL

 

 

just doing some quick research on some anomalies iv noticed, NPD927L (an AC Model 70) is weird, in that it wont show up on the DVLA or MOT checker, but does show up on some 3rd party tools

but with very little info, and while shows up my special tool, if I take its chassis number (which is correct) and shove it back into the tool it goes "nope cant find anything" despite having just pulled said chassis number up via the registration number moments earlier LOL

its not the first vehicle iv come across like this I know of a Couple Model 64's that do the same, just very unusual/weird and im not sure what the root cause of it is, but its amusing when it does happen just how utterly confused some sites get LOL

(cuz remember wont show up on BOTH the DVLA or the MOT checker, so not a case of a CoD or Age related number fuckery like it is with JNJ135L or such I dont think!)

 

(as a side note I noticed the MOT checker got a very light cosmetic overhaul I think the font for the number plate has changed, will be on my toes to spot any other differences!)

[Mrs6C]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

but with very little info, and while shows up my special tool, if I take its chassis number (which is correct) and shove it back into the tool it goes "nope cant find anything" despite having just pulled said chassis number up via the registration number moments earlier LOL

It is possible that it's just a data quality issue. When the data were entered originally for the chassis number, the person doing it may have added a space say after the last character of the registration number or a carriage return or inserted some other control character which is not visible to humans, but which the system knows to be there. When you do a search by entering the character string that you believe it to be, this may not then match up with the character string that is really in that data field for that record.

I have come across this kind of thing a lot in my line of work!

[LightBulbFun]

34 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

It is possible that it's just a data quality issue. When the data were entered originally for the chassis number, the person doing it may have added a space say after the last character of the registration number or a carriage return or inserted some other control character which is not visible to humans, but which the system knows to be there. When you do a search by entering the character string that you believe it to be, this may not then match up with the character string that is really in that data field for that record.

I have come across this kind of thing a lot in my line of work!

Yeah what you describe seems sort of to be the case with the Random dots! but in this case checking the raw data output from the API for the data package im using (yay for commercial tools where you can do that!) I don't see any hidden characters, however looking at how the data is displayed, if there was a carriage return or such on the end it probably would not show it to me, nor do I have any way to enter such a string, not without making a custom website to interface to the API I dont think LOL

 

I do wonder about it also, because based on some other information I have, I think it may have shown up on the DVLA at some point in time, I have asked stuart if he can recall if it did or did not 

because if it did show up on the DVLA at some point I wonder why it fell off!

 

and for those wondering heres the 2 Model 64's displaying the same/similar traits, however these 2 Model 64's I can find just find by searching their chassis numbers (and its how I found em in the first place)

On 1/31/2020 at 12:57 AM, LightBulbFun said:

I also have had the odd vehicle that wont show up on either the DVLA checker or the MOT checker, but still show up in 3rd party tools, I know of a couple AC Model 64's like this

GPA627J (this one has a data integrity warning on my special tool, like when I run a registration number thats on retention and it brings up the last vehicle that number was on)

EPD674J (but this one does not have a data integrity warning)

again I wonder why these 2 flat out wont show up, apart from 3rd party tools 

(NPD927L does not have a data integrity warning from my tool, but amusingly/interestingly LPD806D and that shows up just fine on the DVLA!, same for UPA224 so go figure)

(as mentioned most common cause of a data integrity warning is when I look up a number plate thats on retention it will show me the last vehicle its on but give me a data intergity warning and tell me the VRM is void, if I then take the VIN number from that and shove it back into the tool I then get up to date data on that vehicle including its new/current reg plate  )

[richardmorris]

5 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

Just disconnecting the battery using the disconnect switch it has already would probably do the trick. Hard to start a car if you don't know where the battery is located and it's behind a locked lid anyway...

I have a battery cut off you can have FOC. I had it on the 2cv but got fed up of forgetting it was there and blowing the fuse.

[richardmorris]

Did you have a test booked yet? All testing  is cancelled for now.

[LightBulbFun]

2 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

Did you have a test booked yet? All testing  is cancelled for now.

I did...

On 3/20/2020 at 7:52 PM, LightBulbFun said:

clearly someone from the DVLA must be reading this thread LOL

just got this via email...

ah well...

(assuming lessons don't also get canceled, at least it will give me some more time to get more hours in!)

 

[1970mgb]

11 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

reminds me of an amusing story @1970mgb told me about a chap who had an MGA back when they where shite tetertory cars like an MGF or something is now

and how he wired either the key or starter button I cant recall which, to the HT output of the ignition coil and said more then once in the middle of the night he would hear someone scream and see them running away from the car  

That was my friend Basil, who lives out in California and who I buy a lot of parts from.

He's an MGA guy(even though he claims to have an MGB or two in his barn) and bought his first one back in the 70s as his main/daily driver while he was in graduate school in-I think-San Francisco.

And yes, he wired the HT lead to the starter pull every night so that someone trying to start it would get a nasty surprise(the key wouldn't do a ton of good since your hand probably isn't on it while trying to start). That of course serves the dual purpose of temporarily disabling the car and also deterring anyone who tries to start it.

I THINK he said it only happened once that he heard a scream/saw someone running away, but at least it did its job on that occasion.