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...

[Mrs6C]

Here's a lightbulb mystery for your to solve!

See lightbulb photo and commentary about half way down the news article. If you can shed any light (ha!) on it, then why not drop a line to the HoP and let them know? You might get to visit!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51630630/

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

Here's a lightbulb mystery for your to solve!

See lightbulb photo and commentary about half way down the news article. If you can shed any light (ha!) on it, then why not drop a line to the HoP and let them know? You might get to visit!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51630630/

haha very cool  

sadly the photo is a bit blurry so its hard to make out the date code 

if its VL, then thats November 1964, however there are 2 digits or characters next to it, these could also be a date code or it could be a production line code (ie which factory line the lamp was produced on)

I sadly cant quite make out what they are (if its say 89 then that would be May 1949)

(GEC switched from a 2 digit ELMA code to a 2 Letter code of their own format in Jan 1958)

however I can say the lamp was most certainly made at the Wembley factory http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Documents/Factory - UK - Wembley.htm

(I noticed they say they are eager for more info, but they dont provide any contact details!)

2 hours ago, High Jetter said:

I thought we were running 240v back then, not the new-fangled 230v?

back then, the grid was not as standardized as it was today, and you had the option of buying light bulbs in voltages from 200V to 260V in steps of 10V (so 200V 210V 220V 230V 240V 250V 260V)

to match whatever your local supply was  

(so if you lived right next to a main power station/substation you might go for a 260V lightbulb, but if you lived in a village in the middle of nowhere supplied off a weedy substation miles away, you might go for a 210V lamp)

[keef]

Another tottally meaningless response to my FoI request here :-

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/not_taxed_for_on_road_use?nocache=incoming-1535916#incoming-1535916

I really don't know why I bother! 

[LightBulbFun]

12 minutes ago, keef said:

Another tottally meaningless response to my FoI request here :-

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/not_taxed_for_on_road_use?nocache=incoming-1535916#incoming-1535916

I really don't know why I bother! 

augh! 

when I can work up enough "can be arsed-ness" ill have to have my own bash at seeing if I can get any information out of them

either that or ill ask them about it on the phone if my V62 goes nowhere after 6 weeks

 

but speaking of V62's Just checked my bank account and the cheque has been cashed! (today in fact) so thats a good sign I think!  

[keef]

41 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

but speaking of V62's Just checked my bank account and the cheque has been cashed! (today in fact) so thats a good sign I think!  

I'm not sure how it work. Perhaps they cash all cheques, then refund if they are unable to comply? Hopefully they only cash cheques they can deal with, but then again we are talking about DVLA.

 

[LightBulbFun]

Just now, keef said:

I'm not sure how it work. Perhaps they cash all cheques, then refund if they are unable to comply? Hopefully they only cash cheques they can deal with, but then again we are talking about DVLA.

if @egg's first V62 attempt is anything to go by, they dont cash the cheque if they cant comply with the request

On 3/8/2019 at 11:14 AM, egg said:

Damn it

 

On 3/8/2019 at 11:28 AM, egg said:

Cheque has come back with the application, with the blank registration plate 'highlighted'.

 

so it looks like they only cash the cheque if they can, or hopefully that's the case!

[keef]

5 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

so it looks like they only cash the cheque if they can, or hopefully that's the case!

Fingers crossed, but we are talking about the same place that has just said my FoI request is not a requested for recorded information. 

[RayMK]

LBF: Is this one already in your comprehensive archive? It looks like QPD706L or CPD706L. Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/28083135@N06/14246296034/in/faves-47381765@N04/

 

[LightBulbFun]

8 minutes ago, RayMK said:

LBF: Is this one already in your comprehensive archive? It looks like QPD706L or CPD706L. Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/28083135@N06/14246296034/in/faves-47381765@N04/

ah yes am aware of that one  

OPD706L, it featured in my Model 70 and buses montage  

I appreciate the heads up tho!

On 5/3/2019 at 3:08 PM, LightBulbFun said:

Woo my 2000th posts

to celebrate it have a montage of buses and Model 70s

 

 

 

 

 

(OPD706L is another AC Model 70 wearing an Invacar badge) Most these photos where found on flicker, just search "invacar" and you will see them if your looking for the original sources   

also while bashing the DVLA during the great* AS outage I came across another Invacar Model 70 that shows up as a Reliant on the DVLA LOL (the other being WVW292S) im curious between these 2, and the 2 Aircraft tugs, was reliant the DVLAs default maker if they couldn't figure out who made the vehicle for some reason/if the system pissed itself? LOL

 

 

[Out Run]

This thread needs a longer title, IMO.

[RayMK]

1 minute ago, LightBulbFun said:

ah yes am aware of that one  

OPD706L, it featured in my Model 70 and buses montage  

I appreciate the heads up tho!

 

I thought that would be the case ?. I was actually looking for photos of the Wartburg dealers in Princes Risborough but was unsuccessful.

[LightBulbFun]

7 minutes ago, Out Run said:

This thread needs a longer title, IMO.

haha yeah it is a bit lengthy, since I have long since found a Suitable driving school/instructor, ill lop that bit off now!

 

[Out Run]

3 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

haha yeah it is a bit lengthy, since I have long since found a Suitable driving school/instructor, ill lop that bit off now!

 

Haha I was gonna say, that bit can surely go.

[Out Run]

Nice and short* now. Lol.

You would have been no good, placing an ad in the back of the paper!

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, Out Run said:

Haha I was gonna say, that bit can surely go.

haha yeah! I was thinking bout editing the title like I have done so now, a while back, but was worried about drawing attention to myself/thread unnecessarily  if that makes any sense!

a bit a of social anxiety thing I guess!

[Out Run]

12 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

haha yeah! I was thinking bout editing the title like I have done so now, a while back, but was worried about drawing attention to myself/thread unnecessarily  if that makes any sense!

a bit a of social anxiety thing I guess!

Don’t worry about all that, mate. It’s the internet. No one gives a fuck!

Plus, your thread always has attention on it, it’s always at the top of page one. 

[LightBulbFun]

so had a chance to speak to stuart again today, after a bit of a hiatus

he had been reading my messages but not been able to sit down and respond/discuss them until now as he had been busy visiting the Greeves archives to finish off his big book  

where he made several cool discoveries including finding out the registration number of Derry preston cobbs Model 70  

which is TTW581K, (from the block just before TWC!)

most curiously its a Ministry Model 70 rather then it being a private example that you might expect, or at least it looks like that going by its chassis number

its very cool to finally know just which Model 70 Derry had! and indeed TTW581K comes back as tax due 1st April 1983, which lines up with the story of it during 1983 going in for engine repair and derry sadly passing away while it was being fitted with a 650cc version of the Model 70's 493cc Steyr puch engine 

it has only 1 keeper recorded, Guessing either that will be Derry himself or it stayed registered to Invacar Ltd

he also discovered that Mk12 and then later Model 70 production took place in a different building, not where @dollywobbler visited with TWC!, (ill have to keep that in mind for when I visit with REV!)  

and that, that building is where the fire happened in November 1975, where apon they did setup a temporary Model 70 production line in the building Dollywobbler visited, before moving back to the dedicated Model 70 building

apparently after that Fire, the DHSS took control of 3/4th of the building and poached one of the higher up Invacar employees to Oversee Model 70 production as the Board of directors at Invacar themselves just couldn't handle it!

im honestly surprised the DHSS didn't just sack off Invacar entirely and let AC take up the remaining production of Model 70's (or maybe in some alternative reality, after the Factory fire, give Frank Tippen and sons the contract!)

but apparently the guy who was running the show at Invacar then was kissing the DHSS's ass pretty hard so to speak, so that may have had something to do with it

 

 

and for @barrett on the harper front, Stuart confirmed that indeed in about Summer of 1963, Harper moved production Egham in Surrey (the old Stanley works) to their parent premises at Exeter airport

(and that the 1960 Publicity photo I have of a Mk7 in stuart's small book, is actually from 1963 he says that "1960" was a typo, and indeed 827PDV is a 1963 registration!)

 

 

I also figured out what the hell happened with JNJ135L, it looks like back in 2012 whoever owned it somehow got it declared manufactured as 1965 (I bet @busmansholiday is getting flashbacks!) to get it MOT exempt at the time (although I thought back then to be MOT exempt it would have to be 1959 or older?)

and this sadly clearly caused the DVLA to issue it with an age related plate for 1965

gawd only knows how one would go about fixing such a colossal fuck up!, (I fear if you get declared manufactured as 1973 you might just get an age related L/M plate!)

as mentioned JNJ135L is still on the system but hidden away, but still as 1973 as it should be, I think if I was the owner of JNJ135L, I would start first by V62ing for JNJ135L and seeing where that goes

and if that fails, asking if the DVLA has an undo function to undo the 1965 declaration etc!

[busmansholiday]

9 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

and if that fails, asking if the DVLA has an undo function to undo the 1965 declaration etc

Yorkshire Traction rebuilt a Leyland Leopard, (CHE297C), and had it re-registerrd (EWB376V). It's preserved now, and the owner got it re-registerrd back to CHE. 

[LightBulbFun]

3 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Yorkshire Traction rebuilt a Leyland Leopard, (CHE297C), and had it re-registerrd (EWB376V). It's preserved now, and the owner got it re-registerrd back to CHE. 

interesting  is EWB376V correct? it comes back as a Ford of some kind on the DVLA!

[busmansholiday]

Apologies, 386.

[LightBulbFun]

23 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Apologies, 386.

is 387 its maths co processor?

 

on a serious note, its interesting, EWB386V's wont show up on the DVLA and the MOT checker (JNJ135L still shows up in the MOT checker at least)

but I can pull EWB386V's info with my 3rd party tool, so it looks like its still on the DVLA just hidden that little bit more

and as expected neither show any plate history,

as like with JNJ135L and 163CLD, when a vehicle gets a new registration number because of a historic reason

(ie claiming a registration via V765, CSV609 to 163CLD, or a change in year of mfg causing the issuing of an age related plate JNJ135L to HKH330C)

the DVLA does not simply issue that vehicle entry a new registration number like a plate transfer would,

but it looks like the DVLA creates a new vehicle entry with a copy of the old entries data but obviously with the new registration plate and any other corrections!

(or incorrections if thats even a word, in the case of JNJ135L!)

 

so it looks like what the owner of CHE did, was take EWB386V got it declared in 1965 and also V765ed? for its original registration number CHE297C all in one fell swoop

[busmansholiday]

If I see Mick I'll ask him how he did it (Don't get too excited, haven't actually seen him for a couple of years).

[Mrs6C]

3 hours ago, RayMK said:

I thought that would be the case ?. I was actually looking for photos of the Wartburg dealers in Princes Risborough but was unsuccessful.

Was there a Wartburg dealer in Princes Risborough? Where was that? I thought the nearest one would have been Empire Motors of Ealing. Having said that, when Six-cylinder was a lad (a very long time ago) he lived in a village not a million miles away from Princes Risborough... where the parents of a certain Roy Castle lived... and they had a 1972 or 1973 Wartburg Knight Tourist from new...

[wuvvum]

Interesting about the age related plates.  I've been wondering how I'd go about getting a correct plate for the Renault 6 (manufactured 1972 but currently on a V suffix).  I did ring DVLA about it about 10 years ago but the person I spoke to said that was the reg the car had been issued with and that was that - if I wanted a different plate I'd have to buy one.  Struck me as possibly one of those situations where the outcome depends on who in Swansea answers the 'phone though.

[LightBulbFun]

18 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Interesting about the age related plates.  I've been wondering how I'd go about getting a correct plate for the Renault 6 (manufactured 1972 but currently on a V suffix).  I did ring DVLA about it about 10 years ago but the person I spoke to said that was the reg the car had been issued with and that was that - if I wanted a different plate I'd have to buy one.  Struck me as possibly one of those situations where the outcome depends on who in Swansea answers the 'phone though.

how is the Renault 6 recorded on the DVLA? is it down as Year of manufacture 1972 or 1979/1980? if the year of mfg is recorded as 1979 or 1980 then you will have to get it declared/prove it was Mfg in 1972 to the DVLA so they can change that then give you an appropriate plate

but if its recorded as 1972 then you should be able to request an age related plate for your vehicle, just like how when Age related suffix less plates where introduced and if you had a Suffix Less car on an A suffix replacement plate you could request an age related plate for it

another way of going about it, is simply transfer/stick the V suffix plate on retention, then the DVLA will issue it with an age related plate

although unless this renault 6 did have a previous proper 1972 UK registration, then id elect to keep it on the V suffix plate just for the unusualness of it  

(I do wonder on such cars like this, from before Age related plates where a thing, and plates where issued according to the date of registration rather then year of mfg, how plate transfers work with them now? if say you had a 1972 car you imported in 1979 so it got a V suffix plate, could you today, transfer say a personal S suffix plate to it not etc?  )

(and yeah! pretty much everything with the DVLA can change depending who you get on the phone!)

 

but speaking of A suffix replacement plates, I also spoke to stuart about EFD326B, which if you recall, was interesting, because it was a 1961 AC Acedes with a plate from a replacement plate series for Pre suffix cars, but rather then being an A suffix like those are normally it was B suffix, and stuart said indeed at the start some replacement pre suffix plates series where B suffix and even C suffix!, but says those are very rare, (I have to ask him if he knows of any such examples for me have a look at  )

[keef]

9 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

(I do wonder on such cars like this, from before Age related plates where a thing, and plates where issued according to the date of registration rather then year of mfg, how plate transfers work with them now? if say you had a 1972 car you imported in 1979 so it got a V suffix plate, could you today, transfer say a personal S suffix plate to it not etc?  )

I wonder about KRW794 having "first registered" as 1977; would I get an S suffix plate or would they use the date of manufacture and issue a new M plate, given that they have no record of her original ROL471M?

[LightBulbFun]

29 minutes ago, keef said:

I wonder about KRW794 having "first registered" as 1977; would I get an S suffix plate or would they use the date of manufacture and issue a new M plate, given that they have no record of her original ROL471M?

she would get a Age related 1974 plate

its in the name so to speak  "age related",  since 1983 or so (the introduction of prefix plates) they started to and now issue plates according to the vehicles age of the vehicle rather then the date of first registration 

the question is would she get an M or N suffix plate, since they know she is from 1974 but no idea on the Month (unless the V5 says otherwise?)

I have a feeling she might get an N plate cuz they I think they will treat "1974" as 31st of December 1974 as iv seen on some imported vehicles like 283UXJ)

unless of course you claim ROL471M via a V765 or such, (I would try and call the DVLA one of these days and ask what they have on ROL471M )

or you could try send a V62 off for ROL471M, but then you might end up with a Quantum Maxi that exists in 2 places at once on the DVLA system!

[keef]

10 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

or you could try send a V62 off for ROL471M, but then you might end up with a Quantum Maxi that exists in 2 places at once on the DVLA system!

Might try that as I already have that with one of the others.

I'm just waiting to see if the amended V888 produces any fruit first.

[RayMK]

17 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

Was there a Wartburg dealer in Princes Risborough? Where was that? I thought the nearest one would have been Empire Motors of Ealing. Having said that, when Six-cylinder was a lad (a very long time ago) he lived in a village not a million miles away from Princes Risborough... where the parents of a certain Roy Castle lived... and they had a 1972 or 1973 Wartburg Knight Tourist from new...

Good question.  My memories of Princes Risborough  are mainly from 1962/63 when dad was based at RAF Naphill just down the road so to speak, then again in 1964-66 when we were at RAF Halton and yet again at Halton from 1972-75. I recall the garage selling Wartburgs being on the main road within the town, probably when I was at John Colet School in Wendover (64-66). Driving through the place now (or indeed on Google Maps) it looks quite different, making it difficult to visualise where the garage might have been. Dad could not be persuaded to buy a Wartburg - he traded in his '58 Riley 1.5 for a nearly new Victor FB estate instead. I also tried to get him interested in a brand new Moskvitch at a dealer somewhere near Wendover (not Risborough). He had a look at them and was put off by the front brake flexibles rubbing on the front tyres at full lock. 

In the period 1970-2005 approx., I attended several microcar rallies in whatever car I had at the time - i.e. as a visitor, not an exhibitor. I have looked through my photos and can't see or recall any Invacars being present, only an AC Petite, my only sighting of such a beast. Invacars and other invalid carriages were much more common on the roads back then of course, but their owners may have had difficulty getting around at the ad-hoc sites/fields used for microcar rallies and probably stayed away.  In my early years I can remember the hand propelled (levers or cranks) invalid carriages which were used mainly on pavements, a market now completely dominated by electric mobility scooters.  

[Six-cylinder]

I was asked to add this from a 1977 Autocar.