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, Eyersey1234 said:

@LightBulbFun  When Invacars were issued by the DHSS what was the criteria for getting one?

im not sure what the exact medical criteria was but they where just issued to by your GP in the exact same way that you would get issued a set of crutches or a wheel chair

if you had a health issue that prevented you from getting out and about then the GP would issue you an Invacar just in the same way you would get a set of crutches or a wheel chair if you had personal mobility issues, trouble walking etc

including temporary issue, just as you might temporarily get given something after an operation or accident, you would also be given use of an Invalid vehicle

[plasticvandan]

Main requirements were a parent,pensioner or someone needing to get to work were priority.

[Christine]

Graham Hill  got one after his pins got smashed , boy did he love it !! Not..

[richardmorris]

In case you’ve not seen it. This popped up in my feed today.. A

 

edit, I see it’s posted a lot on the earlier page, sorry.

 

[quicksilver]

23 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

im not sure what the exact medical criteria was but they where just issued to by your GP in the exact same way that you would get issued a set of crutches or a wheel chair

if you had a health issue that prevented you from getting out and about then the GP would issue you an Invacar just in the same way you would get a set of crutches or a wheel chair if you had personal mobility issues, trouble walking etc

including temporary issue, just as you might temporarily get given something after an operation or accident, you would also be given use of an Invalid vehicle

That conjures up images of the GP writing a prescription for "1x invalid carriage, use as directed" and the patient taking it to the pharmacy to get their new Invacar alongside some ointment and cough medicine

 

 

[Remspoor]

Playing Peek-a-boo in Harlow.

[Mrs6C]

4 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

Playing Peek-a-boo in Harlow.

Very 70s...

[LightBulbFun]

so a couple weeks ago I noticed that @AdgeCutler had taxed Brian the Invacar Mk12E, after being SORN since the historic taxation class change was done

and thus I was wondering where things afoot?  well I am very pleased to say indeed things where! and I have been informed by @AdgeCutler that today Brian has had his Maiden Voyage out on the road! 

 

its seriously really Awesome to see this! the effort thats gone into restoring Brian is nothing short of fucking spectacular, so to see brian on the road mingling with (and probably confusing the fuck out of) modern traffic is so awesome!

and it sounds really sweet too! Jamie informs me that this trip was 10.5 Miles and apart from an exhaust nut coming loose and one of the indicator circuits not flashing properly, (and the tiller bar needs some adjustment as apparently the brakes come on even at the slightest downward movement)  it all went very well! he got him up to nearly 45Mph! which is pretty good going for a Villiers machine  I mean Invacar themselves quote 45Mph as the top speed for an Invacar Mk12c!

I can imagine once some more fine tuning is done he will really fly!

who would have thought in 1979 when Brian was withdrawn from Ministry service and put up as a shed, that over 43 years later, it would be tearing it up around roundabouts once more!

 

[Weird Car]

9 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

so a couple weeks ago I noticed that @AdgeCutler had taxed Brian the Invacar Mk12E, after being SORN since the historic taxation class change was done

and thus I was wondering where things afoot?  well I am very pleased to say indeed things where! and I have been informed by @AdgeCutler that today Brian has had his Maiden Voyage out on the road! 

 

its seriously really Awesome to see this! the effort thats gone into restoring Brian is nothing short of fucking spectacular, so to see brian on the road mingling with (and probably confusing the fuck out of) modern traffic is so awesome!

and it sounds really sweet too! Jamie informs me that this trip was 10.5 Miles and apart from an exhaust nut coming loose and one of the indicator circuits not flashing properly, (and the tiller bar needs some adjustment as apparently the brakes come on even at the slightest downward movement)  it all went very well! he got him up to nearly 45Mph! which is pretty good going for a Villiers machine  I mean Invacar themselves quote 45Mph as the top speed for an Invacar Mk12c!

I can imagine once some more fine tuning is done he will really fly!

who would have thought in 1979 when Brian was withdrawn from Ministry service and put up as a shed, that over 43 years later, it would be tearing it up around roundabouts once more!

 

Absolutely incredible! I can’t wait to see Brian in person when we all eventually have the big meet up! I’d love to see a huge fleet of Invacars out for a road run, just make sure to keep Brian in the middle 

[Mrs6C]

44 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

its seriously really Awesome to see this!

Absolutely agreed!

Well done @AdgeCutler!!!!!!

[Noel Tidybeard]

was brian coming over all christine and opening the door to jetison mr cutter?😁

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, Mrs6C said:

Very 70s...

I clocked that too. Brilliant image.

[egg]

@AdgeCutlerwhat a legend! Well done. AS resto of the year unless I'm missing something equally brilliant.

[LightBulbFun]

BTW if anyone wants to read through the whole restoration without any of my fluff getting the way you can do so here from this page which contains only @AdgeCutler's posts  

https://autoshite.com/profile/29392-adgecutler/content/page/8/?type=forums_topic_post

scroll to the bottom then work your way up and through  

[plasticvandan]

Well done adgecutler,I've sent the video to my dad who is probably the only person around to have seen your mk12 when it was first driven into its position along the hedge back in 1980!

[Weird Car]

Merry Christmas all!

my family knows me too well! 

[Weird Car]

5 hours ago, Harriytait said:

Merry Christmas all!

my family knows me too well! 

And another Invacar related gift! 

[LightBulbFun]

Likewise Merry Christmas all as well!

in a scene all too familiar to those over about the age of 40, and @PhilA (where proper C6 Christmas lights are just about still a thing)

yes, I decided to spend this Christmas getting working the vintage lights @egg kindly gifted me a couple years back  

some cheating probing later with a multimeter deduced I had 2 dud bulbs and fitted replacements that I had acquired for this purpose, in true autoshite fashion these are of the completely wrong voltage and wattage so dont light up with the rest of the string, but do pass current to light the rest!

gives off a lovely warm glow  (dont worry I only wound it up to 200V on the Variac to take into account 2 bulbs shunted out) I will very much have to get some proper replacement bulbs for next year  

 

also for @AdgeCutler  a couple Christmas bonus photos for you   that I managed to get of Brian before he was rescued, I noticed that although there where a few photos of the total line up you could not really see Brian for the shrubbery! so its very nifty to get a dedicated photo of him!

of all 5 he really was the one most entombed!  really goes to show just how epic the restoration was!

and again Him on the trailer with KPL, but from another angle  

 

and I hope everyone is staying wrapped up and warm out there!

the really fun thing about this photo, is not only that just a couple registrations up is 594BGN the Oldest surviving AC Acedes, but also that there is a good chance 592BGN also survives somewhere, Stuart said he spotted it listed in an auction catalog many years ago, but had no pictures, and I am able to find a hidden DVLA record for it which shows keeper changes as late as 2004! so as you can imagine it was very cool coming across a period picture of a potential surviver, and also the first picture of the machine full stop!

[dollywobbler]

Bloody marvellous. Great to see a single-pot out on the road.

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, dollywobbler said:

Bloody marvellous. Great to see a single-pot out on the road.

question is can you wrangle it in time to make a review of Brian your 100K subscribers special video?

I mean  it was TWC that helped get your channel off the ground so a review of one her direct ancestors would be fitting to celebrate such a momentous occasion   

[Dick Cheeseburger]

4 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

 

also for @AdgeCutler  a couple Christmas bonus photos for you   that I managed to get of Brian before he was rescued, I noticed that although there where a few photos of the total line up you could not really see Brian for the shrubbery! so its very nifty to get a dedicated photo of him!

of all 5 he really was the one most entombed!  really goes to show just how epic the restoration was!

and again Him on the trailer with KPL, but from another angle  

Hang on, that's Brian? Kudos to Adgecutter - I didn't realise just quite what a basket case the starting point was!

[PhilA]

All C7 and C9 here now.

Some real C7's and a fake snowman.

[High Jetter]

6 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

 

 

Parents had that very set, bought from Woolworth methinks. Very durable.

[AdgeCutler]

On 12/23/2022 at 9:20 AM, plasticvandan said:

Well done adgecutler,I've sent the video to my dad who is probably the only person around to have seen your mk12 when it was first driven into its position along the hedge back in 1980!

Brilliant, I hope it brings him a smile. Thanks for the little nuggets of history you’ve shared.

[AdgeCutler]

15 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Hang on, that's Brian? Kudos to Adgecutter - I didn't realise just quite what a basket case the starting point was!

Indeed, he was an absolute heap but still enough left to gain all the necessary measurements from. He was by a considerable leap, the worst of the hedgerow bunch. Call me insane but I chose to take on him rather than any of the others simply because he had that tiny slither of history that came with the remnants of the old service dockets that had sat within him in the undergrowth for decades.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Just now, AdgeCutler said:

Indeed, he was an absolute heap but still enough left to gain all the necessary measurements from. He was by a considerable leap, the worst of the hedgerow bunch. Call me insane but I chose to take on him rather than any of the others simply because he had that tiny slither of history that came with the remnants of the old service dockets that had sat within him in the undergrowth for decades.

Projects with even vague paperwork links to their past are so much more worth the effort. My Lambretta is a real Trigger's broom but I was able to look past that owing to the old girl still having the original buff logbook 62 years later. I've since been able to track down the dealership from when new along with the daughter of original owner. It makes the project infinitely more worthwhile. 

Have you been able to decipher anything from your service docket remains?

[Eyersey1234]

1 hour ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Projects with even vague paperwork links to their past are so much more worth the effort. My Lambretta is a real Trigger's broom but I was able to look past that owing to the old girl still having the original buff logbook 62 years later. I've since been able to track down the dealership from when new along with the daughter of original owner. It makes the project infinitely more worthwhile. 

Have you been able to decipher anything from your service docket remains?

Does the dealership still exist? It would be chodtastic to get a photo of the Lambretta outside it now if that was the case

[LightBulbFun]

On 06/10/2022 at 14:11, LightBulbFun said:

Tis like Buses they all come along at once! Another Model 70 has shown up for sale! (I do have to wonder if the port hole car "selling" for £LOL has brought them out of the woodwork...)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134264350173

I have dropped the seller message so hopefully I can figure out which it is and assist the seller in any Model 70 matters  

 

so some people are probably wondering what became of this one?

well turned out, that it happened to be the same car as the donedeal.ie one! despite the eBay listing being "located" in wales, the seller was just selling it on behalf of the chap in Ireland! 

I never actually heard back from the seller directly sadly, but once Adam realised it was a steering wheel car, it was pretty much "ooh steering wheel car!" *5 minutes later* "right so its outside my house now"  

as Adam has been wanting a Steering wheel car, to go with his many handle bar machines

 

so I was of course able to get all its details! and extra photos  (these are actually photos of it still up in Ireland that Adam was given he just grabbed it and has stashed it away, in a classic case of grab car worry about details later LOL)

 

and the really exciting thing, although it is a standard AC Model 70 Mark A, from July 1973, it still retains its original dash mounted gear change!

this was something that was standard on all Model 70 Mark A's (hence the slot in the dashboard) but then removed from 99% of cars by the end of the 1970's for as I understand it crash safety reasons, with the gear shift being moved to the floor as it was on the Mark B's

thus these days a surviving dash changer is very rare, I only know of 3 total survivors including this one

so yeah thats really awesome! and I very pleased to finally get the details of this one as being in the ROI I did wonder if it was a private example, but alas not, just a Ministry example that managed to escape over the boarder!

(tho the question still lies on if it was a NI issue example or a English Issue example, Ministry machines this old all had standard Factory issue registration marks even when NI issued, so that does not tell us sadly)

[LightBulbFun]

Little late Christmas gift for those who follow this thread! 

but I noticed just now that https://www.freecarcheck.co.uk/

now spits out previous registration marks if a vehicle has previous plate history  

[FakeConcern]

12 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

Little late Christmas gift for those who follow this thread! 

but I noticed just now that https://www.freecarcheck.co.uk/

now spits out previous registration marks if a vehicle has previous plate history  

That's pretty good, I've just tried it on my C30 and I like the graph showing miles compared to the average and the MOT advisories without having to go all through MOT history.

However it did only show one number plate change and my car is on its fourth number plate as I did a paid for Cazana check when I bought it...