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...

[keef]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

or maybe location related age related plates are only issued when you re-register a vehicle?

Don't think ther is any connection between where a car was imported or where you live as one of mine is an LJ reg. but has never seen Bournemouth.

[lanciamatt]

Import cars no longer use area specific reg numbers, it's just a continuas run say for instance a 1991 would go on the J reg run that's currently in use. Even new cars are starting to loose them. We always use the reg number YS or YT. But some are getting issued alsorts now. 

[lanciamatt]

Regarding age related for old cars, they use the reg numbers with most left, for instance it could be a reg from borders in Scotland. 

[keef]

With the loss of regional offices I guess we will see a return to centralised registrations across the board? A pity really as seeing where a car originates can be quite "fun".

[LightBulbFun]

so had my 34th lesson yesterday

went well  well I thought it could have gone better, (espically given how many lessons iv had by now id have liked to have been doing better by now!) but my instructor said it went pretty well and said ever since I shut up (paraphrasing of course!) he said iv been improving a lot, so thats good!

and he said he wants me to bring my test date forward to about the 1st of April (LOL) so thats a good sign I think!, so ill start hunting for earlier slots a bit more rigorously (so if anyone knows any good cancellation services (those are those apps or what have you that take your details and hunt out driving test cancellations for you to claim) or what have ya let me know  )

did get me thinking, it would be interesting to drive a car with someone else who hasn't been having lessons with me as a sort of external assessment of hows my driving is these days

anywho next lesson is on friday  

[LightBulbFun]

Woo my 5000th post! gosh I cannot shut up can I

as a 5000 posts special I have this picture of what im pretty sure is a Model 70 chassis being welded together at Invacar  

its from the greeves archives (but one I found independently on the interwebs that I have been saving for this moment its just a happy coincidence that Stuart happened to also be going through the greeves archives on location!) and as you can see its titled "electric welding invalid car" and the only invacar to have a chassis as shown is the Model 70  

(well I dont actually know what the chassis of a Mk10-Mk11 looks like, but I assume its of a back bone construction like the Mk12, cetially in the above picture I think I can make out some Model 70 features like the 2 front triangular shaped outriggers)

as a reference point here is a picture of the underside of an AC Model 70 (MPD553P/VAV1L for those wondering)

and another "bare chassis" shot (although the floor? means you cant see the mid section sadly) from AC this time (I sadly dont have a picture of the underside of an Invacar Model 70 yet)

[Mr Pastry]

Looking at the last picture I would have thought the fuel tank would be removed upwards, but IIRC according to the manual it is removed downwards.  Discuss. 

[LightBulbFun]

24 minutes ago, Mr Pastry said:

Looking at the last picture I would have thought the fuel tank would be removed upwards, but IIRC according to the manual it is removed downwards.  Discuss. 

Yeah even I thought you could/should/would remove the fuel tank by bringing it upwards and out,

but theres not enough space once the body etc is in place to get it out the top as we found out in person when removing dolly's fuel tank!

you can see how things where in a fully assembled model 70 in this picture here  

as you say mentioned in the manual, you lift it up a little out of its "cradle" then drop out under the car

 

(as a side note, its interesting to note the chassis number marked on the fuel tank in the assembly line picture, I wonder if that marking was left on or cleaned off during production? sadly most surviving Model 70's probably have replacement fuel tanks by now I think, so it would be hard to tell on a survivor)

[High Jetter]

3 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

Woo my 5000th post! gosh I cannot shut up can I

5000? Really? How time flies reading what you wrote....

Seriously though, well done, some achievement! I enjoy reading your posts even though I'm not overly into Invacars (OK, I'm weird) or old bulbs (no hope for me then) and I've passed my test. They're usually well-written and researched and I admire those who really get into their subjects and, as well as learning as much as possible, share their enthusiasm with others. Because of you, I will have to take a pic of a working old red bulb in an old display cabinet when I visit it at Easter.

So keep going, and and the 40-odd blown flourescent tubes I've accumulated over the last few years are yours for the asking - I can even reduce their volume into a postable size box if you like!

[LightBulbFun]

24 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

5000? Really? How time flies reading what you wrote....

Seriously though, well done, some achievement! I enjoy reading your posts even though I'm not overly into Invacars (OK, I'm weird) or old bulbs (no hope for me then) and I've passed my test. They're usually well-written and researched and I admire those who really get into their subjects and, as well as learning as much as possible, share their enthusiasm with others. Because of you, I will have to take a pic of a working old red bulb in an old display cabinet when I visit it at Easter.

So keep going, and and the 40-odd blown flourescent tubes I've accumulated over the last few years are yours for the asking - I can even reduce their volume into a postable size box if you like!

Yeah, it also so happens that since the 1st of march iv been on the forum for 2 years now! 

cant believe how quickly that time has flown! if I was actually thinking about it I could have probably coincided my 5000th post with my 2 year anniversary on this forum LOL

I appreciate the kind words, and as ever im happy to hear people are still enjoying this thread! 

(none of those fluorescent tubes have bayonet or brass/bakelite end caps do they?)

[LightBulbFun]

oh and as a Bonus picture, via the kit bashed Model Model 70 thread @quicksilver posted

I came across a picture of what I think is a Tippen Delta by rail

 

which makes all 3 "major" types spotted by rail now  

(AC, Invacar,and Frank Tippen & sons)

[LightBulbFun]

anyone in south africa want an Invacar Mk12?

(for about £2200 it looks like)

I know this ones chassis number but sadly dont know its registration number currently

its the 3rd oldest known surviving Mk12 

[LightBulbFun]

13 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

anyone in south africa want an Invacar Mk12?

(for about £2200 it looks like)

I know this ones chassis number but sadly dont know its registration number currently

its the 3rd oldest known surviving Mk12 

 

 

I knew of this one from beforehand via discussion with stuart, but didn't have any pics of it until now so im happy to have some!

I hope it ends up going to a good home!

I do wonder if it was a government example, or a private example, I did notice that its chassis plate lacks the "government property" text but it looks like someone's just chopped that part of the VIN plate off

but given how Invacar simply painted over the "government property" bit on REV's chassis plate I would not be surprised if this is something Invacar did from the factory!

(and looking at it compared to a normal VIN plate, the rivits would normally be higher up and if someone re-rvitted it id expect holes in the old positions...)

(if it is a private example I wonder if it was sold to South africa when new or not?)

I sadly dont currently know any of the history of this particular Mk12

for reference here is a normal Mk12 chassis plate

[egg]

Cor. That's a good one.

[Mr Pastry]

I look forward to reading the collection thread.  

[LightBulbFun]

5 minutes ago, egg said:

Cor. That's a good one.

Yeah  

heres an image dump of all the rest of the images from the listing

its interesting to note that I think this one is setup for entirely 1 arm control going by the lack of a gear shifter in the uhh "center" console, I wonder what the pedal looking thing under the dash is about!

its also interesting to note the engine type is an 11E, 971D, im pretty sure now according to the spare parts list the Mk12 uses the 313F, however I dont know exactly what that leading number means or perhaps maybe the 313F superseded all early types used in the Mk12?

(I know for example most all other Villers invalid vehicles use the 419F specification of 11E villiers engine, for some reason I have it in my head that the "313F" number etc is to do with the gear ratios in the engines gearbox, but im not sure where I got that idea from!)

BTW this made me chuckle

 

 

 

 

[busmansholiday]

Get @dollywobbler  to South Africa to drive it back. I'm sure* that a bit of crowd funding will make him a rich man when he gets back to the UK.........

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

I look forward to reading the collection thread.  

 

4 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Get @dollywobbler  to South Africa to drive it back. I'm sure* that a bit of crowd funding will make him a rich man when he gets back to the UK.........

I do wonder what it would cost to get it back to the UK, I suspect more then however much it would have cost to ship ONO454D back to the UK from NI and I sadly couldn't find a buyer for that one on here, so I think finding an AS buyer for this one in SA might be a bit far fetched!

I  have heard of someone supposedly taking their Villers powered Machine to Spain and (assumingly!) back home, that must of been fun flat out at 45Mph!

(and I know another, of a Catholic priest taking his Model 70 to france and back via the motorways in the 1980s)

and here is a picture of a Stanley Mk7 with the remains of a GB sticker on the back!

[busmansholiday]

That pic needs to be in the background ( pics of buses with shite behind them) thread post!

Also, 37 mph to Inverness (from Sheffield) in a Recent V is slow enough!

[LightBulbFun]

also, had my 35th lesson yesterday

went pretty well fairly average for one of my lessons, (we did following the satnav as its been awhile since I last did that) the weather was quite nice tho, and I saw someone running around in a Moggie traveller which was nice to see!

I did fluff up the parallel parking tho, just when I thought I was getting the hang of it ah well hopefully I can do better next lesson! (it is times like this I wish I had a car available to me, where I could just spend some of my own time practicing maneuvers over and over again in say the dead end or such quiet area!)

also had an amusing one coming back home where I was behind some sort 7.5T type truck, to whom speed limits must not have applied, but everytime he sped away in front of us, we always ended up right back behind him as he always seemed to run into red lights LOL

next lesson is on tuesday  (as a side note the quiet suburban street we practice maneuvers in is full of chod, I really must grab some pics somehow at some point!)

[egg]

Unless you're a driving god, everyone has days when they can't parallel park. It's just one of those things!

[LightBulbFun]

so, due to circumstances I have been informed that sadly there wont be a FoD open day until June at the earliest 

this leaves me in a pit of a pickle regarding REV and shitefest, as iv mentioned I very much want to get REV roadworthy before the 1st of may as I really want to taker her to shitefest and back

(plus she is my only means of getting there I think!)

I have been informed that access to the FoD is not a problem (obviously weather depending!) thankfully, but that if I want to have any work done on REV etc ill have to form my own working party so to speak

and iv never really done anything like that before, I was just planning that during the next FoD open day to kindly ask a few unfortunate shitters if they could help me with REV  

 

so I was wondering if anyone has any idea what I should do?, goes back to what im saying I wish I could just chuck it at a garage so to speak, but I dont think anyone would touch a Model 70 sadly!

 

 

in better news, I setup an account with one of those driving test cancellation services and it was able to find and re-book my driving test for the 31st of March 2:05PM  

(my instructor said to aim for the 1st of April hopefully a day early will be ok, if not I can tell the service to search for another test slot )  

[Eyersey1234]

I haven't much experience of working on cars other than a bit of fettling but if I'm free when you are planning on doing it am glad to help. Whereabouts are you based? I'd be coming down from Yorkshire and if I can feasiblly do it don't mind picking you up. 

[LightBulbFun]

13 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

I haven't much experience of working on cars other than a bit of fettling but if I'm free when you are planning on doing it am glad to help. Whereabouts are you based? I'd be coming down from Yorkshire and if I can feasiblly do it don't mind picking you up. 

I appreciate the offer  

I live in London (E2) and REV is currently in the FoD 

 

also forgot to mention this in the first post, but I would also like to have REV roadworthy as soon as possible to also minimise the time she has to live on the grass,mk

I know TWC and TPA survived 15 years of standing in a damp boggy field without any rust issues, (a good testament to the robustness of the Model 70!) but id still like to minimise  REV's exposure to it if possible!

 

once she is road worthy (and I have my full licence) I can then bring her home to the dead end  

[LightBulbFun]

place your bets on what the resulting quote will be! decided even tho I dont yet have a full licence, I may as well give getting a quote from someone else a go just to see what will happen!

(I did tell it that my car only has 1 seat and I only currently hold a provisional so it will be interesting to see how it handles that!)

also had a bit an amusing moment with body type, I selected Custom car, although I wonder if I should have selected saloon? not really sure what the Model 70 counts as according to this list!

 

I have spoke to @Zelandeth via PM and got some good pointers on things regarding recommissioning REV etc

from the sound of things we only need one extra pair of experienced hands I think (although the more the better!)

so im hoping it wont be too difficult to find someone on here willing to help me out and get a date set!  

from the PM this is what it looks like REV needs doing 

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

I reckon that with a bit of forward planning (and luck) we could get Rev into a reasonably roadworthy state in a weekend.

[] Full set of bulbs so we don't have to mess about with ancient dodgy contacts.

[] Tyres.

[] Fuel lines.

[] Petro Putty to see if we can patch up that weeping connection to the tank.  It needs repairing long term, but it's a small leak so it's possible it could be plugged.  It's a pretty low risk location for a small leak too so it's worth a shot.

[] Set of brake wheel cylinders on hand in case they're needed after we've bled the brakes.

[] Reel of brake pipe and fittings on hand to replace any corroded lines - the main front to rear line and both centre to wheel lines have been shot on both KPL and TPA.  Rev hasn't spent years in a field though and has been in recent use, so you might be lucky.

[] Oil & filter.

[] Wiper blade.

[] Add a fuel filter as I don't recall seeing one.

[] Set of points, though I reckon they'll be fine with a clean.

[] Throttle grip & cable.

which I dont think is too much work in the grand scheme of things, Im pretty sure I have most of those parts in the spares stash

and im thinking once I can find someone to help us out and we have a rough date set, I can order the bits I dont have like tyres a wiper and ironically bulbs 

or maybe I should already do that since well May isn't all that far away!

(on the bulb front, I was wondering, can anyone recommend a good pair of H4 headlamp units, the ones on REV are pretty shot so need replacing and while I have normal 36W head lamps in stock I think fitting some H4's would not be a bad idea! AFAIK the Model 70 uses normal 7 inch headlamps, ideally id like something that looks relatively stock/period)

 

I have never arranged a Gathering or anything such before so im a bit nervous and unsure how to go about things etc!

[Out Run]

I still say you should go down there by yourself, and sort some of the little jobs.

It speeds up the whole saga, if even just a little, and also means it’s a bit less hassle for whoever is doing the lions share of the graft.

@Wingz123  (iirc) offered to take you there when he can, and even lend you tools. All you have to do is make your way to his place.

You have more free time than those that will be doing the big jobs for you, so make the most of it! It’s nice that people are willing to do the work you require, but you have to remember that for no one but yourself, is the car a priority.

[LightBulbFun]

38 minutes ago, Out Run said:

I still say you should go down there by yourself, and sort some of the little jobs.

the problem with that is its quite a bit of effort just for me to get there and back (and by effort I mean lots of back pain etc)

and so I have to be careful etc with how I do things, so if im going to do something thats takes it out of me regardless, id like to get as much done as possible to get the most out of the pain if that makes sense!

(even with Wingz kind offer I still have to get to a certain location and back)

38 minutes ago, Out Run said:

It’s nice that people are willing to do the work you require, but you have to remember that for no one but yourself, is the car a priority.

oh im well aware!  its why im quite nervous about it all etc its not doing my social anxiety any favours!

[Wingz123]

Offers still there man and as it happens I have to go to Birmingham on Thursday morning only I have to be there for 9am so guessing it would be difficult for you to get to Reading for early o'clock....?

[Mr Pastry]

8 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

so I was wondering if anyone has any idea what I should do?, goes back to what im saying I wish I could just chuck it at a garage so to speak, but I dont think anyone would touch a Model 70 sadly!

Surely there's a classic friendly garage or mobile mechanic within reach who could sort that for you?  Not saying you can't do it with a little help from your friends, but you need it done quickly.  It doesn't look like a lot of work, but these things never quite go according to plan, and it won't be quick in a field with no facilities.

 

[LightBulbFun]

whoever bet “9:09AM phone call waking you up” you win!

still going through the motions with them so not quite got a quote yet, I have been kicked to their motorcycle department LOL

(and waiting for them to email me, so they can get a picture of the handle bars...)