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]

11 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

In that first picture, is that a towing eye hole in the front bumper? Other than that, was the AC Model 67 front end the same moulding as the Model 70?

I think its just a bit of dirt/a scuff mark im pretty sure  and no the Model 67 had a vastly different bulkhead to the Model 70

Model 67 Mk15

so you would not be able to easily swap the 2 despite outward appearances 

11 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

Have you seen this one (supposed to be a Model 67 but no towing eye...)?

indeed I have  

 

On 03/10/2020 at 22:12, LightBulbFun said:

yay just as I hoped, the guy visiting the museum in Germany with the small gaggle of British invalid vehicles has uploaded a picture of the AC Acedes Mk14 or Mk14A (im not sure which it is) Model 67 I knew they had  

sadly no registration plate, but hopefully theres a VIN plate still

https://flic.kr/p/2jN8W4K

I think the last invalid vehicle they have that I dont have a photograph of is their AC Model 64, hopefully a picture of that will be uploaded in good time  

 

 

I also realised the guy uploading them is the same chap who uploaded this photo of KPA185K last year

https://flic.kr/p/2fovW7d

 

 

its an AC Acedes Mk14 or Mk14A, which did not have the towing eye but did have mould lines going down the front of the car which the Model 67 Mk15 and Model 70 did not (although Model 70 Prototype 5 did have mould lines down the front but that predates even the Model 67 itself!)

I think the towing eye was part of the same Ministry specification update that mandated the Model 70's parallelogram front suspension on most existing Villiers machines, and as such was added to all machines being updated with Parallelogram front suspension

so the Invacar Mk12E and AC Acedes Model 67 Mk15 (and the User trial Prototype Model 70's from which the PFS was borrowed from)

a tow bar was also fitted to the Tippen Delta at the same time (from OWK780G onwards) although it never got PFS,

and although the Model 64 did get PFS for the final 200 cars it never got a tow bar AFAIK, the Model 64 got it much later then other machines so perhaps they had dropped the requirements for a tow bar by then

I certainly dont see one!

and by the time the Model 70 entered production they had removed it for one reason or another (although I do have a picture which I sadly cant share of a Production Invacar Model 70 just after an accident that has something screwed into the front bumper suspiciously where the tow bar would be if fitted so go figure)

 

heres a good comparison of the various small feature differences between the AC Model 67 Mk14/14A and Mk15  with some Invacar Mk12's and a Model 70 thrown for good measure

another interesting thing to note is reverse control Model 67's also even had the tow bar flipped for some reason (the Reverse control Model 67 was a Mk15 only thing I think)

I wonder if the entire front suspension was flipped? but I have never seen a reverse control machine in detail sadly

 

and heres a close up of an Invacar Mk12E's Towing eye from @egg's visit to JBY503J (LVX250J), which you can just make out in the above heywood photo on GVW518H and ENO109G

[dollywobbler]

This is probably the best place to discuss, but there's a slightly chaotic plan gently forming to have an Invacar meet up this year. Given Adam seems to have the largest concentration of them, and Simon is based up that way, it's likely to be in the North East of England - which means a fair trek for the rest of us! Given summer is allegedly here, it's time to start trying to formalise a plan. I'm guessing it may be a bit soon for the Field of Dreams residents?

[LightBulbFun]

18 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

This is probably the best place to discuss, but there's a slightly chaotic plan gently forming to have an Invacar meet up this year. Given Adam seems to have the largest concentration of them, and Simon is based up that way,

Ohhh yeah!

 

but one thing I would say is watch out when trying to deal with Simon

because trying to get simon to do anything Invacar related can be like trying to get blood out of a stone, so by all means feel free to invite him etc, but I would not rely on him to arrange things etc if that makes sense

otherwise we will probably still be here in 2031 waiting for him to figure things out (see for example the Big book... *grumble*)

so just keep that in mind!

53 minutes ago, dollywobbler said:

I'm guessing it may be a bit soon for the Field of Dreams residents?

well thats the thing, (ignoring the fact i need a driving licence still...)

I Know REV really does not need all that much to get her road worthy, mostly just brakes, lights and a good servicing/wash!, she already goes just fine and she already has new tyres air filter and spark plugs fitted

 

its justing that work done thats the problem I dont know what to do about it

because I cant physically do anything from where I am, and its really frustrating! no amount of DVLA bashing is going to get my car on the road for example!

 

but assuming I can get REV on the road in time, im happy to go anywhere!

(and I do want to visit simons collection anyway to inspect and photograph his rarer machines for small details for my research etc)

 

 

I dont think @Mrs6C's Model 70 needs much more then REV either, ok she need new clutch shoes fitting which is an engine out job and a broken wheel stud sorting out, but otherwise I dont think she is that far off road worthiness either 

[adam1db]

3 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

This is probably the best place to discuss, but there's a slightly chaotic plan gently forming to have an Invacar meet up this year. Given Adam seems to have the largest concentration of them, and Simon is based up that way, it's likely to be in the North East of England - which means a fair trek for the rest of us! Given summer is allegedly here, it's time to start trying to formalise a plan. I'm guessing it may be a bit soon for the Field of Dreams residents?

I can see a new Guinness world records getting made in 2021, the most Invacar's something something etc

 

[LightBulbFun]

On 03/05/2021 at 12:25, LightBulbFun said:

will be interesting to see how the others go, NOO738M especially as that one also has no scrapped marker

Like clockwork!  

NOO738M's V62 process was of a more typical time span/experience , this one did get the usual "thank you for your V62 it will be processed on such and such date" letter that you normally get when V62ing a vehicle

(but which I dont think UPB262M ever got)

who's "such and such date" was today (well yesterday now!) so I have been stalking its DVLA record extra vigilantly today to see if/when it would update

looks like the DVLA checker updates around midnight or so!  (which I think was the same with Adams cars IIRC)

for those curious NOO738M's V62 was sent in the same envelope as UPB262M's was and so was OVW445P and TPE222S, V62's as well, those later 2 do have scrapped markers so will probably take longer to process if current experience is anything to go by

 

I do still wonder about UPB262M's blisteringly fast turn around time!,

I have to wonder if perhaps at some point in time someone had just simply sent its previous V5 back to the DVLA, so it became keeper-less but with no scrapped markers or such so when @st185cs applied for its V5 they where able to turn around in double quick time since they did not have to check with the previous keeper "oi someones trying to apply for your vehicles V5!" nor did they have to worry about any scrapped markers or the such like

 

[Six-cylinder]

A new type of letter on me from DVLA. My 2CV has been on SORN since 1^st Oct 2020 and has run out of MOT Nov 2020, I have received this letter asking if it is still off the road?

@LightBulbFunUnder what circumstances do they send out this letter to a car on SORN?

[LightBulbFun]

16 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

A new type of letter on me from DVLA. My 2CV has been on SORN since 1^st Oct 2020 and has run out of MOT Nov 2020, I have received this letter asking if it is still off the road?

@LightBulbFunUnder what circumstances do they send out this letter to a car on SORN?

interesting, thats not one I have seen before!

not sure what could of prompted that especially as its only been SORN for a relatively short while

its not like you have had it on continuous SORN since 2013!

but I do wonder if its the DVLA way of poking people to stop them using SORN as a way to lazily scrap a vehicle etc especially if you take a vehicle apart on your driveway, the V5 no longer has a "I have scrapped this vehicle" check box, you have to take the vehicle to a proper scrap yard to get it a CoD, which might be a bit tricky when not much of it physically exists anymore! so a lot of vehicles that die just end up on SORN, im really hoping XEV88S is not one of those, as id really like to get its registration number stuck back onto the Model 70 it was stolen off of!)

either that, or for some reason, someone reported the car as being on the road despite SORNed to the DVLA? (although I imagine you would get a nastier letter then what you got, if you where "papped" driving a SORN vehicle on the road)

maybe you can give em a call and ask them whats prompted it  

 

I will say V49 tho indicates its a fairly old form, although the /3 my be a new addition to it, I have never seen a V49 on its own so dunno what that looks like (it might be a relatively internal form like a V202 or V894)

(the 4/21 indicates that this form was revised pretty recently!)

the DVLA forms are fun like because the numbers go up in order of introduction its why a V5 is a V5 its one of the very first forms from the DVLC/DVLA , and for example a V890 is such a high number as SORN was only relatively recently introduced

[LightBulbFun]

was just going through my invalid vehicle photo archives and realised I missed out a few I was going to post on page 200/post (these where ones I had discovered while on the laptop and had forgotten to transfer them to my main desktop where I keep the main photo archive)

so figured I may as well post them now  

first up is this nice lineup picture, which is especially notable for the Fitt continental, one of the rarer early Ministry machines on the far left, (as in rare even when new, none are known to survive sadly) and the really early Stanley Harper Mark 1, WPL407 on the far right which shows that Stanley Harper and Stanley Argson production did indeed overlap  (the youngest Argson I know of is XPD805)

another photo of some Model 70 Production at AC  

an Unknown Tippen Delta which I thought was a scale model of some kind at first! but no Im pretty sure its a full size machine!

a nice line up of AC Model 43 All weather Tricycles  

theres a "hand propelled" invalid carriage joke in here somewhere!  

and finally this nice picture of DNI89, notable not just for being an Irish registered Tippen Delta but a survivour, this one does survive somewhere I think its the only known surviving Tippen Delta 3, but this photograph is a new one! not one stuart had seen before etc

I wonder if the current owner of DNI89 is aware of it or not? there are not many period photos of surviving invalid vehicles sadly so this quite the find!

I also love the front *ahem* number "plate"  

 

[Six-cylinder]

[LightBulbFun]

6 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

Looks like you just buried someone there!

the last shitter who made the mistake of criticising @Mrs6C's Cider perhaps?  

[Six-cylinder]

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

That looks promising! Intrigued...

[Crackers]

Spoiler alert, after all these years he doesn't actually like Invacars so he's sold it and these photos are of it being dropped off with its new owner.

[Andrew353w]

Given the part of the registration we can see, I can't help feeling an eccentric Vicar would just love popping round to his (or her!) parishioners in that!

[LightBulbFun]

48 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

 

 Poor REV has been gagged bound, thrown in on the back of a van and kidnapped by the RAC! (I hope when the tape is peeled off it does not strip the paint/enamel from the number plate LOL)

27 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

That looks promising! Intrigued...

promising indeed!

23 minutes ago, Crackers said:

Spoiler alert, after all these years he doesn't actually like Invacars so he's sold it and these photos are of it being dropped off with its new owner.

Hah you wish! LOL  

19 minutes ago, Andrew353w said:

Given the part of the registration we can see, I can't help feeling an eccentric Vicar would just love popping round to his (or her!) parishioners in that!

well we also have the nuns

just need Kittens now!

 

 

but for real, @st185cs and @adam1db have very kindly worked together to get REV road worthy for me  

 

@st185cs is taking her up to @adam1db's place for some fettling to get her road worthy at long last, some very good fettling hopefully seeing just how well adam and his people have sorted out GTW614N GPF282N KPC538P VJN960S and KPL139P  

for this I am forever thankful!

and I am very relived to finally see REV getting some proper love at long last!

as I have been feeling really bad for how she has been sitting on grass for the past 2 years while I fail to get her road worthy!

[High Jetter]

Great to hear there's progress with REV! I was intrigued by that trailer, it looks specially designed/adapted for a 3-wheeler of that size. Just need to get that test passed so you can get on the road when she's fixed.

[LightBulbFun]

5 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Great to hear there's progress with REV! I was intrigued by that trailer, it looks specially designed/adapted for a 3-wheeler of that size. Just need to get that test passed so you can get on the road when she's fixed.

Thanks

indeed just lessons/licence left now hopefully! easier said then done mind!, sadly my instructor has had to cancel a few lessons recently, for what I think are genuine reasons (I mean if she has to cancel it means she does not get paid etc!)

but it means iv not had Lessons for a good couple weeks now again and its rather frustrating! I just want to have driving lessons and pass my test Damn it LOL

(I wonder if I should snuck into REV and shipped myself up to Yorkshire and see if I could have better success there! LOL)

[dollywobbler]

Wow. That's a fair old jaunt! Look forward to seeing progress.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

2 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

 Poor REV has been gagged bound, thrown in on the back of a van and kidnapped by the RAC! (I hope when the tape is peeled off it does not strip the paint/enamel from the number plate LOL)

promising indeed!

Hah you wish! LOL  

well we also have the nuns

just need Kittens now!

 

 

but for real, @st185cs and @adam1db have very kindly worked together to get REV road worthy for me  

 

@st185cs is taking her up to @adam1db's place for some fettling to get her road worthy at long last, some very good fettling hopefully seeing just how well adam and his people have sorted out GTW614N GPF282N KPC538P VJN960S and KPL139P  

for this I am forever thankful!

and I am very relived to finally see REV getting some proper love at long last!

as I have been feeling really bad for how she has been sitting on grass for the past 2 years while I fail to get her road worthy!

That's brilliant news for you. What a decent bunch, along with the Cylinders for storing your car in the meantime. 

Really looking forward to seeing the reawakening of Rev. 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

That's brilliant news for you. What a decent bunch, along with the Cylinders for storing your car in the meantime. 

Really looking forward to seeing the reawakening of Rev. 

indeed! I am very thankful to them and everyone who has helped with REV over the last couple years  

hopefully its all straight forward and there are no nasty surprises hiding in REV! 

(I do feel a little bad for leaving Dolly behind, but hopefully if nothing else, with REV out of the way, hopefully more FoD resources can be focused on getting Dolly road worthy as well )

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

Wow. That's a fair old jaunt! Look forward to seeing progress.

indeed it is! I wonder if she has been papped by anyone along the way!

 

 

 

 

and I have just been informed that @adam1db has received REV safe and sound  now the recommissioning can start hopefully!

Invacar a long way from home! (and once more many thanks to @st185cs for taking her up to Adam's for me!)

[bobdisk]

15 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

just need Kittens now!

 

[bobdisk]

ps, "Spring Kitten"  won the "Best Photo of April" pics at work!

[AdgeCutler]

All great news on Invacars and ACs being brought back to life.  I've been quite short of time and funds of late but am still making progress in the small windows of time I have had, today saw this: 

 

[LightBulbFun]

7 hours ago, AdgeCutler said:

All great news on Invacars and ACs being brought back to life.  I've been quite short of time and funds of late but am still making progress in the small windows of time I have had, today saw this: 

 

Oh wow thats awesome! very well done!  

sounds really sweet!

Very awesome to see the engine running at long last and running so nicely!

thats a major step forward in getting Brian on the road! I bet your chuffed to bits, Im very chuffed just seeing it myself  

 

[AdgeCutler]

Thanks Dez, sounds ear splitting without the exhaust but while my ears bled I did have a beamer on my chops. Hopefully we shall have it running much better once it has an exhaust, air filter and cables but there's isn't much can be done as to setting up until I have those components.

Great to hear Rev has gone to receive some attention.

[LightBulbFun]

Finally had another driving lesson today! (after all the ones this month so far having been cancelled by my instructor for a series of reasons)

yet another "new" instructors car (as the swift was only a temp car while she jumped from BSM to setting up her own school) but im up to 6 different driving school cars at this point, must be some sort of record surely? LOL

this time round its a Vauxhall of some kind iv already forgotten, ill have to grab a picture next time

the actual driving aspect of it was quite good its quite confidence inspiring, and I felt more relaxed driving it compared to any previous modern

but by gosh are the ergonomics crippling, (something I feared going by my experience in the FoD Astravan) 

hopefully I can fine tune the seating positions and what not and make it a bit more manageable

but I did manage to finally get some proper driving manoeuvres done with my new instructor and her method of parallel parking is so much easier to understand/grasp/do compared to what my previous instructor tried to teach me, so im very pleased about that  (as parallel parking is one of the manoeuvres I really struggled with)

 

and in REV news, Adam has given her a quick look over and on first impressions says she looks to be in good shape, so thats good to hear!  

[Weird Car]

7 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

Finally had another driving lesson today! (after all the ones this month so far having been cancelled by my instructor for a serious of reasons)

yet another "new" instructors car (as the swift was only a temp car while she jumped from BSM to setting up her own school) but im up to 6 different driving school cars at this point, must be some sort of record surely? LOL

this time round its a Vauxhall of some kind iv already forgotten, ill have to grab a picture next time

the actual driving aspect of it was quite good its quite confidence inspiring, and I felt more relaxed driving it compared to any previous modern

but by gosh are the ergonomics crippling, (something I feared going by my experience in the FoD Astravan) 

hopefully I can fine tune the seating positions and what not and make it a bit more manageable

but I did manage to finally get some proper driving manoeuvres done with my new instructor and her method of parallel parking is so much easier to understand/grasp/do compared to what my previous instructor tried to teach me, so im very pleased about that  (as parallel parking is one of the manoeuvres I really struggled with)

 

and in REV news, Adam has given her a quick look over and on first impressions says she looks to be in good shape, so thats good to hear!  

Keep up the great work with your lessons dez, you'll get there, I'm actually still on l plates myself and have been driving on them for years just to save on the astronomical prices of insurance, I learned to drive in my Peugeot 404 LHD USA spec, no power steering and 4 wheel drums 'awful ones at that' I find it so hard to drive a modern car for my lessons as the steering is to light and breaks too sharp 😂 

[RichardK]

1 hour ago, Harriytait said:

Keep up the great work with your lessons dez, you'll get there, I'm actually still on l plates myself and have been driving on them for years just to save on the astronomical prices of insurance, 

Um... am I missing something here?

[Weird Car]

12 minutes ago, RichardK said:

Um... am I missing something here?

What do you mean? I was just continuing the conversation.

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, Harriytait said:

Keep up the great work with your lessons dez, you'll get there, I'm actually still on l plates myself and have been driving on them for years just to save on the astronomical prices of insurance, I learned to drive in my Peugeot 404 LHD USA spec, no power steering and 4 wheel drums 'awful ones at that' I find it so hard to drive a modern car for my lessons as the steering is to light and breaks too sharp 😂 

Thanks!  

I noticed that on FB etc I love the Trabant on L plates, goes back to a small discussion I had on the forum here if you could take your test in a Trabant  

I love seeing odball/shite cars on L plates especially in todays age

you must get some fun looks with the Trabant and 404  

I learnt my clutch control in @Zelandeth's Lada Riva estate and I attribute that to the reason why I never have clutch control problems, once you learn clutch control in a Lada your ready for anything else thrown at you LOL