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...

[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

[plasticvandan]

Reliants were exported to quite a few places,Holland,Germany and Austria the main markets,plus built under licence in Greece.The Netherlands had similar licencing laws to the UK,but the weight limit was lower,at 400kg iirc,so the bodies were made a bit thinner than UK spec ones to scrape under the weight limit.LHD cars still being made in small numbers til the end of production in 2001.

[Christine]

Race weight Robin Reliants

[chaseracer]

2 hours ago, Christine said:

Race weight Robin Reliants

It's actually a thing, in case anyone had wondered where they'd all gone...

 

[big_al_granvia]

some of those lads were rolling deliberately 

[Christine]

That was the funniest Top Gear ever

[Pieman]

1 hour ago, big_al_granvia said:

some of those lads were rolling deliberately 

Oh of course, just as in Bangers you have drivers who go for the win and others who try to crash, in the Reliants some drivers will try to win and others will try and flip over as many times as possible just to entertain.  A chap I know who does the Citroen C1 endurance series also races Reliants - in fact he's in that video, the #196 car that goes over at about 1:45.

[LightBulbFun]

so today is the 5th of November, that means its REV's birthday  she is 48 years old today! and for that occasion I took her out on my longest trip yet and my first collection caper with her  , still all 20 mph zones, but its the furthest I have been, I went under the River Thames, in the Rotherhithe Tunnel which was quite fun, only got caught out by 1 box junction turning right when oops turns out my exit was not clear ( @dollywobbler do you recall how long it took for your box junction FPN to come in?)

along the way I also got petrol for REV, my first time filling a car up at a petrol station! she got the good 97 octane stuff (as it was E5 rated, playing safe for now!) obligatory petrol station shot of course  

looks like the tank was already just under half full anyhow so I dont think it was strictly nessery, but I prefer to get these things done and out the way so I know where I stand (at this perticular point I was not sure how accurate REV's fuel gauge was or was not) 

but it appears to be functioning for the most part  and thankfully the nozzle fitted in just fine I was a bit worried with REV's alternative fuel tank setup it with the filler being lower down then normal it might not fit, but I had nothing to worry about at all

soon was filled up with fuel and screen wash, and on our way to our destination, through routes unknown and new (and the afromentioned tunnel!)  

apart from getting caught out at the afromentioned box junction got there without incident, and got the goods

with the goods in hand I turned around and headed back home and thankfully avoiding getting caught out by any box junctions on the way back (tho I did end up in the wrong lane on a large roundabout, but I managed to finagle my way back into the correct lane)

and soon I was home with an Apple PowerMac G4 cube in hand  , which is a vintage and rather iconic apple computer that I spotted on eBay for cheap as collection only, a few weeks ago and realised hang on ill have REV back soon, so I asked the seller if they would hold it for me and they very kindly did so 

I am very pleased with all this, this is one of the prime reasons I have REV, to enable me to be able to go places, I see something thats collection only on eBay and I can now actually consider it, when previously most such things had been off limits

 

 

[Christine]

When they look up the reg for the fine and see" INVACARE"  , they may think its an electric scooter and you'll get away with it . Anyway , stopping when turning right is allowed innit ?  

[schonker]

This must be doing your confidence a world of good Dez.I was probably one of the ones thinking, he'll never use it once REV arrived, but good on you for proving me and lots of us wrong

[Mrs6C]

Happy Birthday to REV!!!

As a present, have a picture of an Invacar Mk12 parked in London... acquired from elsewhere onthe Internet... another of the XWC 4nn F series...