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]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

I came across this old advert on Car & Classic:
https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C864718/

Any idea who this was or what happened to the collection

here we go managed to dig up the photos that went with it  (took me a bit becasue im on the laptop atm, and my main photo archives are on the main desktop machine)

[Out Run]

51 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

I make mention of it because of how it badly misleads people, and because well its not the right ID for the vehicle and can cause all sorts of grief

a number of invalid vehicles where sadly rung back when they where legitimately stolen government property and rung to try and hide their IDs to stop the goverment taking them back, but these days none of that matters anymore

(as since closure of the IVS in 2004 all surviving government owned invalid vehicles became public domain basically)

so I try my best to get rung Invalid vehicles back on their original registrations  

 

a really good example of this is how I helped the owner of MPH759P (Q231PVL) get his Model 70 back on its original registration mark which allowed him to keep it rather then be forced to sell it because it was on a Q plate

https://autoshite.com/topic/32723-invacar-model-70-acquired-general-ramble-thread-index-on-page-1-model-70-survivors-list-on-page-24-pre-model-70-ac-and-invacar-survivors-lists-added-on-page-135/page/26/?tab=comments#comment-1760809

 

 

a good example of how it miss leads people is how everyone thinks ALB761A is from 1963! because of the 1963 registration plate she wears, despite the fact she is a Model 67 Mk15 from 1969-1971!

https://flic.kr/p/2hJVypL

 

the situation with PPC363R is especially frustrating, because its owned by Simon who is the head of the ICR and has shown it on TV! someone may well look up "OYP595" and think its an AC Petite which is entirely false and missleading 

the ICR the public authority figure on invalid carriages really should be doing better than this!

the extra frustrating thing is, I have since informed Simon that OYP595 is not its correct registration mark and I have told him what its real mark is, but alas he has not done anything about it

 

Aye, I remember when these were ‘illegal’.

Thing is, some people won’t care about originality and will just be pleased the car is on the road. Advertising to all and sundry that their car is on a shady I.D. May not be met with enthusiasm.

Granted there are people out there who will want the original reg back, but personally I would still show a little more tact!

[LightBulbFun]

26 minutes ago, Out Run said:

Aye, I remember when these were ‘illegal’.

Thing is, some people won’t care about originality and will just be pleased the car is on the road. Advertising to all and sundry that their car is on a shady I.D. May not be met with enthusiasm.

Granted there are people out there who will want the original reg back, but personally I would still show a little more tact!

indeed in the end its their car they can do what they like with it, I cant do much about it if they dont want to or show no interest in getting it put back on its original reg

but I do at least try and inform and help out where I can! and most if not all people have been very happy with my offer to help them out regarding their invalid vehicle  

and yeah dont worry when im bringing up the subject directly with the keepers of such vehicles I do make sure to carefully word what im saying, but for a quick forum post im not going to beat around the push too much if that makes sense!

[High Jetter]

The thing that worries me about Invacars etc wearing incorrect numbers is that they may become invalid invalid vehicles.

[LightBulbFun]

just been tipped off that XPD805 and NPB840D some time ago, left the manchester transport museum and entered private ownership 

the person who now has the AC Acedes Mk12 Model 57 has asked to remain anonymous 

it saddens me when invalid vehicles end up in Limbo like this, and im especially worried about the Stanley Argson XPD805, the person has told me he will try and keep me informed as to what happens to that one, but he fears it will be left to decay in a dark garage somewhere

but im glad I have at least been informed on their current status/whereabouts 

 

as a side note I have also been informed that there is supposedly some sort of invalid vehicle at Tatton park farm I wonder if anyone is aware of it? another one to look for/into!  

[LightBulbFun]

in better news a pair of automotive metal halide HID head lamp bulbs and ballasts arrived today kindly given to me by @Floatylight

quite happy to get one (or a pair in this case) finally as I have wanted one for many years now, obviously not to fit to any vehicle! but just to mess with as a lighting collector and enthusiast 

its nothing fancy just a fairly cheap generic kit although I was surprised to find a UK supplier name on the ballast and what look like E markings on the ballasts as well but who knows if those are genuine!   

the lamps themselves are completely devoid of any markings

 

any who I hooked one ballast and lamp up to an ATX PC Power supply to give me 12V DC and fired it up  

these things run up very quickly! but here it is pictured mid run up as the various metal halide salts vaporise and enter the arc stream

then shown here fully run up

I did take some electrical measurements, pleasantly surprised to see it does look to adhere to the electrical specifications a proper name brand 35W automotive metal halide lamp runs at 

which means I should be able to have some fun using the ballast to drive some lamps it was not made for! (an automotive 35W metal halide lamp runs at 0.45A 85V AC, which should for example run a 4ft fluorescent tube quite nicely LOL)

quite proud of this close up shot of the arc tube and arc  

[LightBulbFun]

thats a new one! LOL

I realised I dont think I ever went through the registration block quoted bellow so figured id do so, and being a relatively late Mk12 block means a few where still showing for me to pull details from  

KVX719J, KVX743J, KVX748J are the ones that are still showing on the (public) DVLA database  for those wondering  block is KVX701J-KVX800J

On 7/30/2019 at 7:26 PM, ZombiePaul said:

Hi,

Sorry for not being a member.
 

I got send these photo's after asking about Charles Lewis's garage in Shrewsbury that did both Citroen and fixed Invacars!!!!
The photos at from Crown Street in Wem, Shropshire, I don't know what year they were taken.

I hope you find them useful.  

 

On 8/2/2019 at 9:37 PM, LightBulbFun said:

Oh hello! sorry I missed your post as when the moderator approves your first few posts they dont get posted as new posts when they are validated but they just get inserted into the thread where you originally commented

curiously enough that garage you mention is where @dollywobbler's 2CV was sold from when she was new  

as for the Photograph, not one I have come across so thanks for posting  the J plate Mk12E indicates that the photos are at least post 1970

KVX770J or KVX710J its not very clear sadly, must be a relatively close relative of JBY503J, the only Mk12 I know of that's roadworthy and actually on the road/driven about its registration used to be LVX250J before it was plate raped

 

[LightBulbFun]

for @BlankFrank a Mk12 Door!, comes with a bonus free Invacar Mk12 attached too! 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/950689934973969/permalink/3033821906660751/

ok I dont know if it has a door sadly, but I could not pass up the joke

[egg]

I bet you a quid it doesn't have one!

[LightBulbFun]

3 minutes ago, egg said:

I bet you a quid it doesn't have one!

you know it occurred to me and im disappointed that no ones made a "your only supposed to blow the bloody doors off" joke yet LOL

[LightBulbFun]

On 6/4/2020 at 10:51 PM, LightBulbFun said:

those being DOO867G, EWC163H, MPU532J, and NPU156J

slight correction here its MPU352J my bad! (not MPU532J)

also just for anyone who is thinking about buying one of his Mk12's

if you end up eying up EWC163H id verify its reg with the Essex archive office, before V62ing it or what have ya

sadly the block its part of has no good results for me to pull and verify, but I have triangulated and calculated which chassis numbers im pretty sure the EWC-H block covers, so im able to take the chassis number of "EWC163H" and pretty confidently say "ah yeah I think that reg number is EWC163H" but I would still verify it to be safe

 

on the other registrations I was able to pull good examples from their respective blocks so then its a simple case of "this known registration car is 15 chassis numbers behind the unknown registration car im trying to ID, so the unknown car will be 15 registration marks ahead"

so im much more confident what that the registration marks are correct etc! (when im not making typos!)

 

reminds me I need to check if DOO867G is a Mark 12D or Mark 12E, for my research into the whole parallelogram front suspension thing and research into when the various revisions of the Mk12 was introduced

[LightBulbFun]

just got some new lighting installed over the desk in the form of the December 1983 twin lamp 70W T8 6ft Thorn popular pack @Slowsilver kinda gave me  (that @maxxo kindly delivered to me)

this finally replaces the bare single 6ft 70w T8 tube I had hanging over my desk by its wires that I have had up for a good few years now

with a proper fixture and a two lamp one at that so I double my light output  

 

have to say hanging such a fixture by chains is a fluffing PITA (well to be more exact a pain the back!!) and the thing is not quite level sadly (tho not as bad as by wonky camera skills would suggest!) I do have some extra mounting hardware on order that im hoping will address the issue somewhat and make things a little easier to remove and mount!

its much harder to mount/hang then it looks! im properly cream cracker'ed!

 

the tube closest to the camera, the GE 70W Polylux is the tube thats been running over my desk for the past few years,  as seen here

 

and the tube in the back is a Philips 70W T8 from June 2012 that I have fished out of the collection

the Philips tube has seen a lot less use then the GE tube and its interesting to see how the GE tube is slightly dimmer and different in colour, even tho both are officially 840 tubes thats to say 4000K colour temperature (cool white) at an 80-89 CRI (colour rendering index)

 

I was originally just going to use the modern Sylvania made osram tube that was included with the fixture along with my GE tube as above (as im saving the original to the fixture December 1983 Thorn T8 which is the other tube that also came with the fixture for the collection)

but Sylvania made Osram Tube is an 835 tube (3500K) which would not match up as well with the 840 (4000K) GE tube so when I discovered the Philips tube in my collection was 840 I decided to go with that one instead  

I may have a rummage around the collection and see if I can unearth another 840 tube, as the Philips 840 tube is quite a nice tube, and ideally id like to keep it for the collection, im hoping I can find a Sylvania tube or such in 840, but I think all my Sylvania 6ft tubes are 3500K

 

but yeah im quite pleased to finally have a proper fixture lighting my desk now, and a twin one, I have been wanting a 6ft-8ft twin fixture for a good few years so im very happy to have finally got one its perfect for the role I wanted it for  

 

have a bonus picture of the beautifully worn 70W Thorn Tube that is original to the fixture  

[LightBulbFun]

a neat photo popped up on my twitter feed via a retweet from @dollywobbler

its particularly interesting because the Model 70 pictured is NPJ954L, which is from a block that starts in October 1972 and ends in December 1972 (NPJ741L-NPJ990L, the block is an impressive 250 cars long and also marks the end of the Z chassis number block)

and as such is just from before the cut off date for white on black plates and I have wondered if Model 70's stuck with white on black plates till the very end of if they jumped ship to black on white plates a few months earlier or such

and this picture of a December 1972 car tells me it looks like they stuck with white on black plates to the end  

 

other interesting things to note is the Model 70 is wearing L plates, and the Mk12 there as well, its a shame its registration is obscured as I see its an E reg Mk12, and those who have been following this thread for a while will recall a while back that I did some DVLA hunting for E reg Mk12's and found some oddities but no solid info

(as I believe Simons really early Mk12c lies inside an E reg block)

so it would be interesting to see what its full reg is, see what block its part of and feel that block out for any that still might be on the DVLA! although Im pretty sure I have already gone through and searched every E Reg Mk12 block there is

[Mrs6C]

If it helps, the preceding number looks like a '5' with an outside chance it is a '6', also 'E' registration was the 'short' year of 01-Jan-67 to 31-Jul-67. Would that help your sleuthing?

[LightBulbFun]

17 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

If it helps, the preceding number looks like a '5' with an outside chance it is a '6', also 'E' registration was the 'short' year of 01-Jan-67 to 31-Jul-67. Would that help your sleuthing?

Sadly that does not give me much info, if knew what the starting number was then It would give me some idea of what range the block covered and possiably even what block it was from (which if nothing else would give us a little more info on when the paint scheme changed  ) 

(invacars where almost always done in blocks of 100, and in the pre DVLC days where done in nice neat blocks of 101-200 or the such like, in later DVLC/Model 70 days things got a bit less tidy, still blocks of 100 normally but jumping off from a random number)

I appreciate the effort tho  

 

heres a consolidation of all my posts on these pesky E reg cars

 

I think IDing Simons car will be a trip to the essex office job, im very glad the Essex office do have all their old vehicle registration records still!

unlike surrey which do not have any of their old records still sadly, and leaves Stanleys and AC's out in the cold sadly

On 1/2/2020 at 2:15 PM, LightBulbFun said:

this one has been fun!, having finished off all the Mk12E's I figured id challenge myself to something a bit older and more difficult

in that Simon of the ICR in his gaggle of 7 Mk12's has I think exactly 1 that still has a chassis plate still, so I figured id have a bash at IDing it, only its an early Mk12c so would be much more of a challenge as I have less jumping off points from that period, and less and less vehicles still show on the DVLA checker the older you get 

( @egg's Mk12c is the only Mk12c I know of that's been fully and correctly identified, and this Unknown Mk12c im trying to ID is about 800 cars prior) the only other Mk12c I know of with a registration mark is WOO976F and sadly its chassis number is from a newer Mk12D I think, certainly does not match the registration number sadly)

however thankfully I knew of this Mk12c Brochure, complete with a picture of what i imagine is a very early Mk12c!

and amazingly going through the block one does show up!, sadly tho its chassis number is very obviously wrong, as in it has the chassis number of a B or C Suffix Mk12!

so that meant I could not use it sadly, as I still did not know what chassis numbers the THK-E block actually covered

but I knew since the car im trying to ID is a Mk12c I could use the THK-E block as a jumping off point to go forward, and I found the TTW101E-TTW200E block, but sadly none show up from that block

then heres where things get proper weird!

after Txx-E comes Uxx-E alphabeticly right?

yet for some weird reason Uxx-E for the essex area was issued BEFORE Txx-E

im not sure why, but its properly weird, and I was about to write off the entire Uxx-E reg ranges because it would mess up the Invacar blocks alphabetically

but low and behold I found the UNO-E block, and one does show up (by the skin of its teeth seeing as the block is UNO301E-UNO400E) and just like the Uxx-E reg series it was registered February 1967!

where as THK195E which was issued alphabetically before it was registered later, at least UNO399E's chassis number looks to be accurate I THINK so I can use it as another jumping off point

 

(although if UNO399E's chassis number is to believe it is about 1800 cars prior to XWC468F, so if my maths is correct that meant they made 1800 over 12 months, or 5 a day, which sounds a bit high, I know Stuart said they made 3 a day, but im not sure if he was talking about the Model 70 or the Mk12 or such)

properly weird, I wonder why Uxx-E was issued before Txx-E,

it will be interesting to know if anyone has any idea! and ill continue going through the rest of the Uxx-E markers in search for blocks

(as a side note it looks like UWC-E was never issued for some reason, and that things thankfully snap back to normal with Vxx-E)

 

 

On 1/3/2020 at 9:30 PM, LightBulbFun said:

haha, this latest Mk12c I have been trying ID has really been a tough cookie to crack

I have found several Suspect Invacar Mk12 blocks, but sadly none show up on the DVLA, its one of the big issues when trying to ID something this old

so far I have found UVX101E-UVX200E looks like a block but none show up so I cant say for sure currently what chassis numbers those cover (although I dont think theres any blocks between UNO-E and UVX-E so its easy to theorise what chassis numbers it covers)

I then found the VEV401E-VEV500E block and 2 show up from that block in fact consecutively!, but both sadly have chassis numbers that are obviously wrong (VEV446E has 7 total keepers, and VEV447E comes back as a Tricycle with the Cylinder capacity of a Model 70 LOL)

then I found VPU801E-VPU900E another suspected block, but none show up sadly

then heres where things get a bit tricky VVW601E-VVW700E MIGHT be a block but the problem is VVW-E is right at the suffix change and between VVW551E-VVW853E nothing shows up, so its hard to say if theres an Invacar Block there or just a bunch of registrations that where reserved by someone but never got issued etc

then again from VVX864E onwards I cant find anything, so VVX900E-VVX999E might be block but again hard to say

and as it stands currently ill be going through WHK-F soon (already been through WEV-F and not found anything)

but knowing the chassis numbers at play here, I fear that I have already passed the Mk12c im trying to ID here, so things are going to get interesting if thats the case!

 

On 1/6/2020 at 6:55 PM, LightBulbFun said:

so I finally have reached somewhat of a conclusion with the Invacar Mk12c I have been trying to ID

sadly there is just not enough data for me to reliably say exactly what its Registration number (just too many blocks dont have invacars that show up and those that do show up are sadly obviously wrong)

but extrapolating backwards from XWC468F (XWC401F-XWC500F) my only solid datum point, then this unknown chassis number looks to be VPU841E or if I work backwards from WOO block (I THINK WOO900F-WOO999F) then I get VPU837E

definitely looks like it is part of the VPU801E-VPU900E block, but again i cant say for 100% certain because there's sadly too many unknowns a couple discrepancies here and there (but I think UNO399E's chassis number is actually wrong) 

as mentioned i have been able to detect a bunch of blocks, but since none of those have any cars that show up still I can't pinpoint what chassis numbers those blocks cover (and sadly those that do show up have their chassis number recorded wrong)

but at least if nothing else it should help narrow down what the Essex archive office needs to search for if we get to that stage  (since lets not forget that is an option here, I was just hoping here that I could ID the car without having to go to them, but it looks like that wont be possible sadly, so its a good thing they do have the records!)

(if the DVLA is to be believed VEV446E/VEV447E, WOO976F and ATW435F all have chassis numbers about 10 cars apart from each other LOL which obviously is not correct I think here the only one with its chassis number properly corect is ATW435F and that one does not even show up on the DVLA for me to check!) 

 

[barrett]

Have you seen this? Isle of Wight festival, 1969. It's been shared online because by chance post-Floyd Syd Barrett is in the pic (sitting, green top, in front of the Invacar) but clearly this pic has, er, wider interest... I quite admire the chutzpah of rocking up in one of these and parking in front of a load of people sitting on the grass, totaly blocking their view of what was going on...

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, barrett said:

Have you seen this? Isle of Wight festival, 1969. It's been shared online because by chance post-Floyd Syd Barrett is in the pic (sitting, green top, in front of the Invacar) but clearly this pic has, er, wider interest... I quite admire the chutzpah of rocking up in one of these and parking in front of a load of people sitting on the grass, totaly blocking their view of what was going on...

ah cool indeed I have seen this before originally shared to the forum by @egg  but I dont recall there being any known details about it

so its nice to have some more details  (and yeah people think its bad with all the phone waving at concerts etc today, but  imagine going to one only to have your view entirely blocked because theres an invacar parked in front of you! im surprised no one climbed on-top of it LOL)

its a really good example of the interesting flux  invalid vehicles sat in at the time, generally on road vehicles, but no one would really object if you drove yours into a normally pedestrian area like the music festival as above  

its interesting to note there is some sort of note taped to the front, I have wondered what it says  

I also love all the young 1960's styling going on in that photo and then Bam theres an Invacar right in the middle of it all, something normally associated with OAPs!

(also note theres a 2nd person, the drives GF perhaps? squeezed in where the wheel chair goes, so much for passenger carrying is forbidden!)

[barrett]

I think the note on the front is a very faded L-plate, if you look closely. should have known it had already been shared here.

[LightBulbFun]

14 minutes ago, barrett said:

I think the note on the front is a very faded L-plate, if you look closely. should have known it had already been shared here.

oh yeah never noticed that but now you point it out I can see it  

I still very much appreciate you sharing it! better be safe then sorry as they say!

plus as mentioned I did not know any details about the photo other then what was in the photo of course

so you still contributed something new that way  

[LightBulbFun]

in other news I got a new keyboard in today! 

until now I was using a vintage Apple Extended II keyboard. its a good keyboard (with alps key switches), but to get it to work with any vaguely modern computer I had to string it through an adapter to adapt its old 1980s/1990s Apple Desktop bus connection to a USB one

and every now and then this setup would glitch out on me which was annoying during a long typing session to then have to unplug and plug things back in etc

 

so I finally decided to bite the bullet and get a keyboard I have been wanting for a good while, and that keyboard is a Unicomp Model M keyboard (for Macintosh)

the special thing about these keyboards is they use buckling spring key switches which mean they are sublime to to type on, and they really are! 

if all this sounds familiar thats because its a direct descendent of the IBM Model M keyboard, the Keyboard IBM included with its computers in the 1980s and 1990s  those classic clickity clackity keyboards  

I had been putting off getting one for a good few years now because its quite a lot of money to drop on a keyboard but im glad I have finally done it!

makes my invacar ramblings all the more pleasurable to type up now LOL (and since this is a more modern mac keyboard I get all the media keys too to control my music etc  )

a side bonus thing is, I bought this through a reseller in the UK https://www.keyboardco.com/ because to buy directly from unicomp in the US would of been even more expensive (with international shipping etc)

so I had wondered if given the rather niche keyboard this is (I cant imagine there are many Mac users going for such a function over form keyboard!) if I would be getting old stock, but no it was made pretty recently which is always nice to see  

 

TL;DR im a keyboard snob LOL

but I highly recommend a buckling spring keyboard to anyone who does a lot of typing on their computer  

[bobdisk]

6 hours ago, barrett said:

Have you seen this? Isle of Wight festival, 1969. It's been shared online because by chance post-Floyd Syd Barrett is in the pic (sitting, green top, in front of the Invacar) but clearly this pic has, er, wider interest... I quite admire the chutzpah of rocking up in one of these and parking in front of a load of people sitting on the grass, totaly blocking their view of what was going on...

Look closely at the driver, it looks like he is holding a brick-type mobile phone!!  And squeezed in passenger reminds me of a pop star of the time, but I cant place who

[egg]

My mum was at Isle of Wight in '69, the year Bob Dylan played. Can't spot her, lol.

[ETCHY]

On 6/9/2020 at 6:45 PM, LightBulbFun said:

a neat photo popped up on my twitter feed via a retweet from @dollywobbler

its particularly interesting because the Model 70 pictured is NPJ954L, which is from a block that starts in October 1972 and ends in December 1972 (NPJ741L-NPJ990L, the block is an impressive 250 cars long and also marks the end of the Z chassis number block)

and as such is just from before the cut off date for white on black plates and I have wondered if Model 70's stuck with white on black plates till the very end of if they jumped ship to black on white plates a few months earlier or such

and this picture of a December 1972 car tells me it looks like they stuck with white on black plates to the end  

 

other interesting things to note is the Model 70 is wearing L plates, and the Mk12 there as well, its a shame its registration is obscured as I see its an E reg Mk12, and those who have been following this thread for a while will recall a while back that I did some DVLA hunting for E reg Mk12's and found some oddities but no solid info

(as I believe Simons really early Mk12c lies inside an E reg block)

so it would be interesting to see what its full reg is, see what block its part of and feel that block out for any that still might be on the DVLA! although Im pretty sure I have already gone through and searched every E Reg Mk12 block there is

I could be wrong but that photo looks to have been taken at Rivington Barn near Chorley in Lancashire. I used to go there sometimes as a kid in the 70's in our friends 105e Anglia !

[LightBulbFun]

2 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

I could be wrong but that photo looks to have been taken at Rivington Barn near Chorley in Lancashire. I used to go there sometimes as a kid in the 70's in our friends 105e Anglia !

indeed that looks to be the case  

 

 

[keef]

On 28 May 2020 at 10:53 PM, LightBulbFun said:

but do keep an eye on it as it does look things are indeed happening now  

 

FKE 467V

✓ Taxed

Tax due: 
1 April 2021

Incorrect tax status
 

Date of last V5C (logbook) issued

9 June 2020

and received today.
 

[LightBulbFun]

49 minutes ago, keef said:

 

FKE 467V

✓ Taxed

Tax due: 
1 April 2021

Incorrect tax status
 

Date of last V5C (logbook) issued

9 June 2020

and received today.
 

nice happy to see it worked out as intended in the end for you as well  

[keef]

Seems to be over two months delay for Post Office applications. Not sure on the postal ones as I have only had that one letter some weeks back.

[LightBulbFun]

8 minutes ago, keef said:

Seems to be over two months delay for Post Office applications. Not sure on the postal ones as I have only had that one letter some weeks back.

probably about the same I imagine, the post office just mail it off to the DVLA like any other thing

when I did it the guy at the post office even had the cheek to ask if I wanted to pay £6 for express delivery, given how everything got delayed im glad I declined now LOL

[keef]

There was a youtube video of a guy trying to tax his vehicle(s) as Historic. Might have been linked off of here. He had to pay a couple of quid for the Post Office to send his logbook off even though they were sending another off for him at the same time. I did suggest he tax the second vehicle and then the Post Office would send it for free.

I might have known they would try and get extra from the customer(s) asking for special delivery!  I assume they get a set fee for every car they tax, but not sure if they still get this fee for Historic or even disabled tax?

[LightBulbFun]

rather excitingly Iv managed to unearth another AC Acedes Model 57 Ministry machine for the list  the block is JPJ251C-JPJ450C, (as a side note I noticed Invacar liked 101-200, where as AC liked 251-450 for some reason)

I say exciting, because compared to say Invacar Mk12's iv been able to find Very few Model 57's that are still on the DVLA (which is a shame because theres no archive office fall back like there is for Invacars)

at one point Im pretty sure I had more private AC Acedes's in my list then I had Ministry ones!

 

its interesting too because at first it may seem a bit weird, the AC Acedes Model 57 was introduced in 1957 and production ran until 1971, with the Invacar Mk12 being introduced in 1960 and production running to 1971 as well, so it  may seem a bit odd how come lots more Invacar Mk12's show up then Model 57's if they spanned the same time span roughly?

but its worth noting that the Model 57 was replaced by the Model 67 in 1967, with the Model 57 becoming a special case vehicle (ie only produced in very small numbers for special cases, for example SPK162F and HPH37K are only 31 cars apart!) so the majority of Model 57's where only made between 1957-1967, and because of that most never made onto the DVLC/DVLA sadly

(the Ministry back then would try and replace a users vehicle every 7 years)

where as the Invacar Mk12 was never replaced by anything until the Model 70 showed up so was produced along side the 57 and then the 67 (and even the first AC Model 70s), and indeed most of the Mk12's I have been able to find have been later ones rather then ones from the Model 57's time of which I have been able to find very of as well sadly (but I at least know that for earlier Mk12 info there is the essex archives hopefully)

 

if the reg looks a bit familiar its because I knew there was a block in the JPJ-C range from this photo and used it as my jumping off point