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]

2 hours ago, AdgeCutler said:

Brian had a nice little outing today, to a lovely show I visit each year at Rainscombe Park. As always upon arrival I had a quick perusal of my steed and found an issue. Not the drive flange nuts as per the above post but the hub nut immediately behind them had worked ever so slightly loose. The only real tell tale was that the felt seal had allowed more than the usual wibble of grease to pass hardly noticeable but I am quite in tune with the car.

Anyhow, a great day was had,  86 A and B road miles covered in 2hrs 45minutes including a couple of quick photoshoot stops. 
Here’s a shot of Brian at Silbury hill.

Awesome to see Brian out n about once more, covering the miles  I notice he got papped on flicker at another show a couple weeks ago, I like the info-sign in the window with the drawn Invacar badge  

 

 

[egg]

An analogue shot of REV from my visit in March on long expired film....

[egg]

Oh and another one...

[Mrs6C]

@egg - brilliant! With a bit of a crop to remove the modern vehicle, I think the casual observer would be hard-pressed to say what year the photograph was taken...

[Andyrew]

Little REV update

New headlight bowls and trim fitted. My word these plastic bowl kits are utter shite

Anyone who's seen or maybe it's in this thread somewhere but the engine cover hinges had ripped through from over opening. One was hanging on by hope and the other had a big penny washer. I went for a stonger mechanical fix rather than fibreglass repair.  I made two brackets that utilise the body support struts. 

On the body it was missing some of its anti Rattle bungs for the engine cover to rest on when closed. I punched holes into 4 blind grommets and used some spare number plate screws and made my own and relocated the only two original ones to the top holes

New Clutch shoes being fitted

Upon removal I'd noted the standoffs that the shoes pivot off was  really tight on the shoe that the lining had failed on. On the used spare set it was the same story. 

The shoes had a little overspray inside the bush from the relining process. I cleaned both parts back with 600 grit then  put a blob of cutting compound on the stand off and kind of lapped it in until is turned smoothly. Happy that all 3 are now moving nicely. 

I also opted to use the spare centre plate as revs was bent

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, Andyrew said:

Little REV update

New headlight bowls and trim fitted. My word these plastic bowl kits are utter shite

my apologies for that! I picked those plastic bowls up just as  fuck about and find out sort of thing that I never quite got around to actually fucking about with and finding out  , the new headlight chrome and having them actually sit flush with the bodywork makes for a nice little facelift tho  

and thats very awesome to see the hinges and the new clutch shoes being fitted  once again thank you for taking care of all things like this!  

 

EDIT: also fitting day for a REV update, as Bert Greeves was Born on this day 119 years ago!

[LightBulbFun]

On 04/06/2025 at 13:08, motorpunk said:

Spotted today (?)

On 05/06/2025 at 08:04, motorpunk said:

In a field full of priceless classics and krypocurrency wankers it was a nice sight.

  if your wondering how it got there  

 

[beko1987]

52 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

  if your wondering how it got there  

 

Pppft that's cheating 

[LightBulbFun]

23 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Pppft that's cheating 

IKR! its the sole road worthy Model 67 and it wasn't driven there! ((its also ULEZ exempt and 2 Stroke, it would be rude *not* to drive it through Central London given the chance!)

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

IKR! its the sole road worthy Model 67 and it wasn't driven there! ((its also ULEZ exempt and 2 Stroke, it would be rude *not* to drive it through Central London given the chance!)

Yep! I'd understand if they drove 344 miles there on the trailer from somewhere then got it off and drove the last few miles and into the show  but trailering it right in ruins it

[Andrew353w]

2 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

IKR! its the sole road worthy Model 67 and it wasn't driven there! ((its also ULEZ exempt and 2 Stroke, it would be rude *not* to drive it through Central London given the chance!)

I should love to know more about that engine; two stroke and (presumably)  twin cylinder & air cooled-is it a little like a Trabant engine?

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Yep! I'd understand if they drove 344 miles there on the trailer from somewhere then got it off and drove the last few miles and into the show  but trailering it right in ruins it

why whats wrong with driving 300 miles in an Invacar?

still is a great rig tho dont get me wrong! if you are going to tow it, do it in style!   

2 hours ago, Andrew353w said:

I should love to know more about that engine; two stroke and (presumably)  twin cylinder & air cooled-is it a little like a Trabant engine?

The Model 67 (Fibreglass AC Acedes) like all other non-electric fullbodied machines before the Model 70 (and excepting the AC Model 43 All Weather Tricycle) uses a Villiers 197cc single cylinder engine 9E in the early machines and 11E in the later machines (like the Fibreglass Acedes), devloping 8.6Hp sent to one rear wheel only  

which looks a bit comically lost in the engine bay! 

compare with this picture from @Mrs6C of REV's engine which has just been reinstalled (how many other cars can you see the dashboard from outside the engine bay like this LOL)

[LightBulbFun]

I appear to have to a secret admirer (that going by the box it came in has a non working speedometer) as this little 1/43rd scale 'TWC'  was handed to me by the post man this morning! which is nice I had a couple original KPK71P models but I never did get round to getting a TWC one, so its nice to have one  

[brummiejon]

On 09/06/2025 at 13:55, Andrew353w said:

I should love to know more about that engine; two stroke and (presumably)  twin cylinder & air cooled-is it a little like a Trabant engine?

Like an  Arial Arrow

[RayMK]

2 hours ago, brummiejon said:

Like an  Arial Arrow

The 200cc (nom.) 2 stroke twin from an Ariel Arrow would have made a Model 67 sound a bit more sporty than the Villiers 197cc single 😀.  Better still, the 249cc 2 stroke twin from the Ariel Leader would have improved performance even more but not even coming close to that of the Model 70's 4 stroke flat twin unit of nearly 3 x the capacity of the earlier Model 67s.  Trabants with the 2 stroke twin engine of either 500cc or later 600cc  had their design heritage from pre-war DKW units.  Interestingly,  after WW2 BSA took some small DKW 2 stroke engine and motorcycle designs from DKW as reparations, using them in the BSA Bantam 125cc (nom.) single cylinder motorcycle of 1948.  BSA acquired Ariel in 1951 but the Ariel Arrow and Leader engines and frames were British designs.  Speaking of 2 stroke twins and three wheelers, the front wheel drive Bond Minicars used Villiers two stroke singles of 122cc initially, then 197cc and 247cc, finally using the 247cc twin 2 stroke 4T unit before borrowing a detuned 4 stroke unit from the Hillman Imp in the totally different Bond 875 range.  The Bond Bug was more Reliant than Bond, using a Reliant engine from the light alloy ohv engined Regal/Robin.  

My schoolfriend bought a quite recent Ariel leader in 1968 which buzzed along nicely but was outclassed by the Japanese 2 stroke bikes flooding in at the time. 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, RayMK said:

The 200cc (nom.) 2 stroke twin from an Ariel Arrow would have made a Model 67 sound a bit more sporty than the Villiers 197cc single 😀.  Better still, the 249cc 2 stroke twin from the Ariel Leader would have improved performance even more but not even coming close to that of the Model 70's 4 stroke flat twin unit of nearly 3 x the capacity of the earlier Model 67s.  Trabants with the 2 stroke twin engine of either 500cc or later 600cc  had their design heritage from pre-war DKW units.  Interestingly,  after WW2 BSA took some small DKW 2 stroke engine and motorcycle designs from DKW as reparations, using them in the BSA Bantam 125cc (nom.) single cylinder motorcycle of 1948.  BSA acquired Ariel in 1951 but the Ariel Arrow and Leader engines and frames were British designs.  Speaking of 2 stroke twins and three wheelers, the front wheel drive Bond Minicars used Villiers two stroke singles of 122cc initially, then 197cc and 247cc, finally using the 247cc twin 2 stroke 4T unit before borrowing a detuned 4 stroke unit from the Hillman Imp in the totally different Bond 875 range.  The Bond Bug was more Reliant than Bond, using a Reliant engine from the light alloy ohv engined Regal/Robin.  

My schoolfriend bought a quite recent Ariel leader in 1968 which buzzed along nicely but was outclassed by the Japanese 2 stroke bikes flooding in at the time. 

some of the  Vernon industries ltd Licence built Invacar Mk6's had BSA Bantam engines

there was also the Invacar Mk8B with its 242cc British Anzani Twin, its a bit unknown exactly if this remained a prototype and this example is it, or if it saw limited private production before it was killed off, this example being found in Australia! (what is known is that the Ministry declined it so that killed it off)

I do wonder if the fact that Invalid Carriages have a legal speed limit of 20 Mph also put paid to it since the normal 197cc Villiers 8E powered Mk8A could do that with ease.

there was the AC All Weather Tricycle with a 4 stroke BSA C10 engine, I think the only 4 stroke invalid vehicle and the only Petrol invalid vehicle with a differential, until the Model 70!

there is this early example of an Invacar with a rather beefy looking unidentified engine, pictured in New Zealand in 1961

https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/821

and of course last but not least Derry Preston Cobb's own Invacar New Era which had a succession of ever more powerful tuned custom Greeves engines reportedly  propelling it up to speeds of 70Mph!  

he had this until about 1972 after which he upgraded to a Customised, 2 tone Invacar Model 70 (tho curious with Ministry Chassis number!) which he had until his passing in 1983 (during which it was reportedly mid-way through a 650 cc engine upgrade out of a Haflinger!)  and its reported that one of the AC Model 70 Prototypes did have the 650cc engine for drive-line wear testing

[Zelandeth]

12 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

some of the  Vernon industries ltd Licence built Invacar Mk6's had BSA Bantam engines

there was also the Invacar Mk8B with its 242cc British Anzani Twin, its a bit unknown exactly if this remained a prototype and this example is it, or if it saw limited private production before it was killed off, this example being found in Australia! (what is known is that the Ministry declined it so that killed it off)

I do wonder if the fact that Invalid Carriages have a legal speed limit of 20 Mph also put paid to it since the normal 197cc Villiers 8E powered Mk8A could do that with ease.

there was the AC All Weather Tricycle with a 4 stroke BSA C10 engine, I think the only 4 stroke invalid vehicle and the only Petrol invalid vehicle with a differential, until the Model 70!

there is this early example of an Invacar with a rather beefy looking unidentified engine, pictured in New Zealand in 1961

https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/821

and of course last but not least Derry Preston Cobb's own Invacar New Era which had a succession of ever more powerful tuned custom Greeves engines reportedly  propelling it up to speeds of 70Mph!  

he had this until about 1972 after which he upgraded to a Customised, 2 tone Invacar Model 70 (tho curious with Ministry Chassis number!) which he had until his passing in 1983 (during which it was reportedly mid-way through a 650 cc engine upgrade out of a Haflinger!)  and its reported that one of the AC Model 70 Prototypes did have the 650cc engine for drive-line wear testing

Derry really strikes me as one of those people I'd love to have a time machine to go back and have a natter with - by all reports it sounds like they would be both a fascinating person to talk to and an utter laugh to know.  Seems like despite having drawn such a crap hand of cards in life they never let anything get them down.

[barrett]

Have you seen this one?

https://timed.eastbristol.co.uk/auctions/9315/sreas11142/lot-details/50208e6d-69ba-4d28-b7a9-b2f800e2bc7f

Lots of light bulbs and other electrical shit in that auction which you'll probably find interesting, too

[Yoss]

Found this outside a local garage this morning. I couldn't decide what thread to put it in but as it has a Steyr Puch badge on the front I thought I'd leave it here. Apart from the badge I'm none wiser. 

[Sheefag]

I'd love one. A Haflinger or Pinzgauer, depending on vintage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steyr-Puch_Pinzgauer

https://www.haflingertechnik.com/for-sale/vehicles-for-sale/

[LightBulbFun]

18 hours ago, barrett said:

Have you seen this one?

https://timed.eastbristol.co.uk/auctions/9315/sreas11142/lot-details/50208e6d-69ba-4d28-b7a9-b2f800e2bc7f

Lots of light bulbs and other electrical shit in that auction which you'll probably find interesting, too

oooh not sure I have! Carters Model G  also yeah there are some quite interesting lighting/lightbulbs in that lot, which I would like to have a punt at! but i am not sure if I can make the logistics of that work or not...

ignoring the fact REV's on leave atm, its a fair old Jaunt from here to Bath! at least 4 hours one way I suspect (if the run up the M40 to Kidderminster is anything to go by, Google maps said that would be about 2:30-3 hours, but driveway to driveway it was more like 5 hours in the end)

 

are you/is anyone else on here planning on bidding on anything?  

[Datsuncog]

Model 70 very briefly visible in a late '70s film clip about Riding For The Disabled:

Can't really see the registration, annoyingly, though I think the first three letters might be BPL?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1267888401539052&surface_type=vod&referral_source=vod_deeplink_unit

[beko1987]

Surely hooking the horse straight to the Invacar is an easier solution 😂

[LightBulbFun]

47 minutes ago, Datsuncog said:

Model 70 very briefly visible in a late '70s film clip about Riding For The Disabled:

Can't really see the registration, annoyingly, though I think the first three letters might be BPL?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1267888401539052&surface_type=vod&referral_source=vod_deeplink_unit

I'd say a BPU-L car maybe?  

[Snake Charmer]

That second clip,  could be from a scary movie "Attack Of The Model 70's"! 😄

[D.E]

16 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

That second clip,  could be from a scary movie "Attack Of The Model 70's"! 😄

🎬 COMING THIS FALL... FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL AND THE DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT... 🚨

 

NIGHT OF THE TRICYCLES
 

"You can run... but they'll roll forever."

In a sleepy English village, the fog rolls in thicker than usual. But it’s not just the mist you should fear… it’s the whir of tiny engines and the screech of three tiny wheels.

From the shadows of forgotten car parks and derelict garages, they awaken — an army of possessed AC Model 70 invalid tricycles, once symbols of mobility… now tools of carnage. Fueled by a demonic force, these pint-sized killers have a taste for flesh and a hatred for the able-bodied.

🚗💀 No brakes. No mercy. No escape.

Each night, they stalk. Each morning, another villager is found crushed, mangled, or driven insane by the squealing laughter of their engines. The government is silent. The church dares not intervene. Only one disgraced ex-mechanic and a clairvoyant nurse stand between mankind and total tricycle annihilation.

👿 Possessed by evil. Built for revenge.
This isn’t mobility — it’s mayhem.

🎥 Filmed in Trike-O-Vision™ and banned in 14 counties for excessive wheel-based terror!

🛑 WARNING: Do not park near ramps. Do not trust the disabled bay. And whatever you do…
DO. NOT. LAUGH. AT THE HORN.

---

NIGHT OF THE TRICYCLES (1977)
Rated X for EXTREME TRIKE VIOLENCE
Coming soon to a drive-in near you… if you dare.

[lesapandre]

This is up for sale on Ebay at the moment. Not quite an Invacar - but an interesting vehicle along the same lines.

https://ebay.us/m/lwHVy7

[LightBulbFun]

On 21/03/2025 at 13:59, LightBulbFun said:

On 21/03/2025 at 07:51, beko1987 said:

I had a dream about dez and Rev last night 😂

You'd learnt that Rev fits inside abandoned buildings and onto bridges and had taken to terrorizing people hanging about/exploring places... You'd sneak in and behind them in Rev then turn all the lights on and drive towards them fast as they ran away for their lives, then drove off and away out of sight. 

Do I need to seek medical help now 🤔 

On 21/03/2025 at 09:44, beko1987 said:

I can still hear the echoes of dez's manic laughter as smack heads and piss heads scatter far and wide 😂

On 21/03/2025 at 15:41, beko1987 said:

That's it 😱 Was a proper film noire type dream too. I wonder what you'll get up to tonight...

39 minutes ago, D.E said:

58 minutes ago, Snake Charmer said:

That second clip,  could be from a scary movie "Attack Of The Model 70's"! 😄

🎬 COMING THIS FALL... FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL AND THE DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT... 🚨

 

NIGHT OF THE TRICYCLES
 

"You can run... but they'll roll forever."

In a sleepy English village, the fog rolls in thicker than usual. But it’s not just the mist you should fear… it’s the whir of tiny engines and the screech of three tiny wheels.

From the shadows of forgotten car parks and derelict garages, they awaken — an army of possessed AC Model 70 invalid tricycles, once symbols of mobility… now tools of carnage. Fueled by a demonic force, these pint-sized killers have a taste for flesh and a hatred for the able-bodied.

🚗💀 No brakes. No mercy. No escape.

Each night, they stalk. Each morning, another villager is found crushed, mangled, or driven insane by the squealing laughter of their engines. The government is silent. The church dares not intervene. Only one disgraced ex-mechanic and a clairvoyant nurse stand between mankind and total tricycle annihilation.

👿 Possessed by evil. Built for revenge.
This isn’t mobility — it’s mayhem.

🎥 Filmed in Trike-O-Vision™ and banned in 14 counties for excessive wheel-based terror!

🛑 WARNING: Do not park near ramps. Do not trust the disabled bay. And whatever you do…
DO. NOT. LAUGH. AT THE HORN.

---

NIGHT OF THE TRICYCLES (1977)
Rated X for EXTREME TRIKE VIOLENCE
Coming soon to a drive-in near you… if you dare.

[LightBulbFun]

30 minutes ago, lesapandre said:

This is up for sale on Ebay at the moment. Not quite an Invacar - but an interesting vehicle along the same lines.

https://ebay.us/m/lwHVy7

ahhh Bond 875, quite often mistaken for a Model 70 by the general public so to speak, I think @wuvvum's had previous with em, Bond 875's that is,

 

they are quite interesting in that they (Bond 875's) are Monocoque fibreglass construction, weighing 410kg with a full (albit detuned) Hillman imp engine in the back, so reportedly quite rapid, espically once you start tuning it and/or drop the bigger capacity versions of of the imp engine in there! 

I have heard that the front suspension has some bits made unobtanium, but I admit I have not looked into the details of that!

[lesapandre]

Bidding closes in a hour and only £250 atm. Looks a fascinating little project and as you say some parts are Imp. Let's hope it goes to a good home.