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...

[beko1987]

Nice work! 

Now, when you get bored at 3.45am later, have you checked there's no parasitic draw? I doubt there could be but you want it stone cold dead when not in use. 

Also, now you've scoped the wiring a bit, is there room for a hidden unless you know where it is kill switch? Bit of extra security. 

My green zx 1.9td had one! The previous owner lived in Tunbridge Wells and worked Mon-Fri in London. Monday morning the zx would be dumped on a street and he'd flick a switch hidden under the dash that killed the glow plug power. Friday evening it got flicked back on and down south he drove for 10 years before I bought it at 270ish k 😂

I rarely used it tbh bar to prank Amy the rare times she drove it. The deep rich cloud of unburnt fuel and shite that came out after several minutes of cranking before out of mechanical sympathy I gave the game up and flicked it back on was always amazing

[Landy Mann]

Great work, really enjoyed the last couple of pages in this thread

[Mr Pastry]

It's certainly a 5/16" bolt.  It looks like UNF to me - to be sure you would have to count the number of threads in a given length.  5/16 UNF would be 24 threads per inch, and BSF would be 22, so they don't look very different unless you see them side by side.   Happy to send a few nuts over for you to try.  

[Snake Charmer]

At a glance I would declare that thread to be 5/16" UNF. 

[ETCHY]

Great job.

I really like that Petrol Only Stencil under the bonnet (I find stuff like that cool). Good to see that you've finally got your dream home 😊

However please tell me you've now wiped the bird shit off the battery !

[Snake Charmer]

16 minutes ago, ETCHY said:

However please tell me you've now wiped the bird shit off the battery !

Part of REV now, classic "splatina". 😆

[auntiemaryscanary]

Great stuff LBF, well done. Hopefully you are a little more confident on the electrical side now and you get a couple of drives in this weekend.

 

[Agila]

This is actually getting quite interesting now, getting out and about in it and doing some tinkering etc.

Significantly better than just talking about it constantly.

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 01/11/2024 at 08:15, chadders said:

Given the height of a lot of modern cars, never mind SUVs, wouldn't they just over ride the chassis and their engine would end up where the driver was, especially if the driver was sitting low to the ground?

1. no wheels on pig so sitting too low
2. conveniently pig parked in front of tree so as to squash pig

[Agila]

2 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

1. no wheels on pig so sitting too low
2. conveniently pig parked in front of tree so as to squash pig

Don't think the lack of wheels make a massive difference. Just a different point of impact.

Of course the tree gives it something chunky to crumple against, instead of it being shunted down the road. In the real world that could be a parked car, brick wall, railings etc.

[captain_70s]

44 minutes ago, Agila said:

Don't think the lack of wheels make a massive difference. Just a different point of impact.

It moves the chassis, the only source of strength in the car, well below the point of impact.

Not that it matters, modern cars are so high that they'll run right over the structure of most pre-2000s cars.

[garbaldy]

On 01/11/2024 at 01:18, wuvvum said:

That's only because salad doesn't actually exist up there.

Oh we grow it up here but since we're not stupid enough to eat that shit we send it south to sell in swanky over priced restaurants to southern Jessie's 😁

[Missy Charm]

On 31/10/2024 at 18:24, plasticvandan said:

Scary 😟 

Be careful out there,it's not you that's the problem,it's all the other nutters on the road

 

He'll be fine; that type of Fiesta disappeared off the road years ago!  

[LightBulbFun]

after Fridays battery change I was utterly knackered, to steal a phrase from @Zelandeth (I think!) I was hurting in places I didn't know I have, I mean I dont even know how I managed to bruise myself here of all places!

but after resting up yesterday, today I set out on another trip in REV, this time going a bit further afield taking me to places somewhat unknown following google maps sat-nav, she picked up a rather large friend!

where I needed to go took me through brick-lane which was "fun" guess who had no idea that Sunday is when they have a massive market there? but I did rather accidentally however appropriately find  a rather fitting sign!

eventually I manage to navigate through that cluster-fuck and get to where I needed to go, got the goods and shopping for the household and came back home  

I was more or less on the road for a maybe couple hours I think? and REV performed flawlessly  I could of certainly done without the brick lane palaver, but I am pleased I managed to navigate around it further practice for when I encounter stuff like this later down the road!   

[beko1987]

I drove down Highgate Road/West Hill Road last night (just, 11.30pm).

I almost wished I was in something like rev. Dad's massive skoda and some big vans parked in the parking side made for some tight places, I had to stop a couple of times. 

You'd be away off up the road whilst the cars are stuck navigating it in rev 😂

The bit after you joined the a1 north all the way to j16 wouldn't be as fun though... 

[Yoss]

On 30/10/2024 at 20:18, Yoss said:

I use the passenger side window winder on the Škodas but I realise that's something not many people will have any more. 

Like so. Perfect, that's not going anywhere. Unless the winder snaps but I do have spares. 

[rustdevil]

great to see you out and about Des.

[Pieman]

21 hours ago, Yoss said:

Like so. Perfect, that's not going anywhere. Unless the winder snaps but I do have spares. 

Just don't do what a Range Rover owner did once according to a chap on Pistonsheds who did leather seat repairs.  The RR owner had hung his takeaway curry from the hook above the rear door, and a combination of a leaky container and the swinging motion of the bag splattered curry grease all over his leather rear seats, which subsequently had to be replaced at huge expense!

[LightBulbFun]

another day another trip in REV  this time a little bit of a smaller one to run a parcel of fluorescent tubes to the post office destined for a collector in Lithuania, who very kindly some months ago, sent me a load of soviet/eastern block fluorescent tubes and and other various soviet/eastern-block lamps  in exchange for some other tubes I helped him get which he really-really wanted, this is just some extra tubes I want to send him to reaffirm my appreciation  for the tubes he sent me (as some of the tubes/lamps from him did get broken in the post, and others where not quite what I was looking for, so I am sending these extra tubes of mine to him, to reassure that despite those issues, I still very much appreciate what he did ) 

and beside the Mohawk she made a TX4 friend  

and since I was going past the chippy anyhow thought it would be rude to, also for @Yoss 

soon was home with a few more miles covered

all going well I have got a larger trip planned for tomorrow which will be the furthest ill have driven in REV so far which will see me on the road for a good couple hours I think, so thats something to look forward too  

[Christine]

Yessss ! The M25 !

[auntiemaryscanary]

Great to see you are getting out and about and building up confidence in both yourself and the vehicle.

[Mrs6C]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

all going well I have got a larger trip planned for tomorrow which will be the furthest ill have driven in REV so far which will see me on the road for a good couple hours I think, so thats something to look forward too  

Don't forget to top up that screenwash!

[High Jetter]

4 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

another day another trip in REV  this time a little bit of a smaller one to run a parcel of fluorescent tubes to the post office destined for a collector in Lithuania, who very kindly some months ago, sent me a load of soviet/eastern block fluorescent tubes and and other various soviet/eastern-block lamps  in exchange for some other tubes I helped him get which he really-really wanted, this is just some extra tubes I want to send him to reaffirm my appreciation  for the tubes he sent me (as some of the tubes/lamps from him did get broken in the post, and others where not quite what I was looking for, so I am sending these extra tubes of mine to him, to reassure that despite those issues, I still very much appreciate what he did ) 

and beside the Mohawk she made a TX4 friend  

and since I was going past the chippy anyhow thought it would be rude to, also for @Yoss 

soon was home with a few more miles covered

all going well I have got a larger trip planned for tomorrow which will be the furthest ill have driven in REV so far which will see me on the road for a good couple hours I think, so thats something to look forward too  

This is not Autoshite. This is premium quality shite, brilliant.

[JJ0063]

Next issue is when Dez is 25 stone from eating takeaways every day and can no longer fit in the Invacar.

[AnthonyG]

On 02/11/2024 at 16:13, captain_70s said:

It moves the chassis, the only source of strength in the car, well below the point of impact.

Not that it matters, modern cars are so high that they'll run right over the structure of most pre-2000s cars.

I don’t think the pig had a chassis in that ‘experiment’. Just the body, which I don’t think has a great deal of strength in it by itself. 

However crap/pointless the video: it confirms one thing I had previously only seen on an old episode of Van der Valk - Reliant three wheelers were exported to Holland when new, and perhaps other European markets too?

Did AC/Greeves/whoever actually export any Invacars? Thinking places with strong British links in the 1960/70s like Cyprus and Malta here. 

[LightBulbFun]

37 minutes ago, AnthonyG said:

I don’t think the pig had a chassis in that ‘experiment’. Just the body, which I don’t think has a great deal of strength in it by itself. 

However crap/pointless the video: it confirms one thing I had previously only seen on an old episode of Van der Valk - Reliant three wheelers were exported to Holland when new, and perhaps other European markets too?

Did AC/Greeves/whoever actually export any Invacars? Thinking places with strong British links in the 1960/70s like Cyprus and Malta here. 

oh yeah Invalid Carriages got exported far and wide  as you say mainly to countries with British links (plenty in New Zealand for example) but here is an Invacar brochure for Brazil even  

and some people even took their carriages with them when they moved abroad, I know of one lady who took her private Model 70 with her to the USA!

https://autoshite.com/topic/32723-lightbulbfuns-invacar-general-ramble-thread-index-on-page-1-survivors-lists-on-pages-24134-adgecutlers-invacar-mk12-restoration-from-page-186-onwards-still-harping-on/page/277/#comment-2614173

that reminds me, this private AC Acedes which I found in Cyprus

On 23/05/2024 at 01:11, LightBulbFun said:

speaking of the Villiers machines, this very interesting photo cropped up on facebook the other day, sadly no text/context behind it despite me asking

whats fascinating about it, besides the fact that its a Private AC Acedes, is that number plate, because unless someones hacked part of it off for some reason, thats not a British plate, but it is of a British Stylee, I know that a few countries with British influance while they dont use the same system we do, they use the same/similar size of digits etc, but the question then is, where was this then? I am not sure I have ever seen a foreign Acedes before now so its most interesting  (although there is a french film on the IMCDB, where in one of the scenes there is an Acedes in the background!)

On 23/05/2024 at 14:46, LightBulbFun said:

very interesting! I wonder what its story is, I noticed in the picture there looks to be a square boxy car in the distance so its possibly taken in the 1980's? would of been fairly old by then and certainly does look run down, I have to wonder what happened to it, is it still stashed away somewhere? and I wonder how they got it serviced/parts etc! @eddyramrod I understand you lived in Cyprus for a time, you would not happen to know what sort time period that registration plate was issued? I can tell its an Acedes Mk10 or later so its 1964 or newer, and Metal Acedes production ended in volume in the middle of 1967 (although carried on on a special case by case basis until 1971)

On 23/05/2024 at 15:58, eddyramrod said:

You understand correctly sir!   That number plate would have been issued in the late 70s.  My Capri was registered in 1978 as JV 481, so we're probably looking at 75-77 for the Acedes.  I agree about the boxy car too, I think it's most likely a Datsun or Toyota from the mid-80s.

On 23/05/2024 at 16:44, LightBulbFun said:

Awesome thank you for the additional info thats exactly what I was hoping for  , its very interesting to hear its likely from 75-77, do you recall how the registration system in Cyprus work back then, was it like the British system where a plate stayed on a car for life/went with the car, or did the registration mark change with the owner/over time etc? ie would the later plate indicate then that this might be a used import, that someone imported from the UK in 1975-77?

On 23/05/2024 at 17:29, eddyramrod said:

That's exactly how it works, yes.  There's no geographical element, except for the Greek/Turkish split, so numbers are issued strictly in sequence and stay with the car.  There's also no number-plate trading.  However: in this century they've started offering "A" plates for classic cars, especially if imported, so you might see three 1971 Minis, for example, wearing FTxxx, from 1971; KSZxxx from 2008 and xxxxA from 2023.

well I found the original picture of sorts which gives a wider/clearer view of things which I thought was neat

and a location is even given "Limassol-Cyprus" 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/950689934973969/posts/7390209381021960?comment_id=7447625028613728&reply_comment_id=7456143947761836

I wonder what became of it in the end?

 

 

as an aside on the Dutch Reliant Robin thing, indeed Reliant had a nice export market there, as I understand they had for a time (maybe still do?) similar laws to the UK that made 3 wheelers cheaper/more accessible, @dollywobbler has even driven a dutch market Left Hand Drive example  

 

[lesapandre]

This is French - said to be around 1902.

For sale details here:

https://www.leboncoin.fr/ad/voitures/2769945548