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...

[adw1977]

10 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

Essex registration marks OO and WC where only introduced/added in the 1960s

I wonder if these were deliberately not used earlier because they were considered undesirable combinations?  OO because of confusion with zeros and WC because of its lavatorial association!

[keef]

26 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

I wonder if these were deliberately not used earlier because they were considered undesirable combinations?  OO because of confusion with zeros and WC because of its lavatorial association!

One of my fleet has a xWCxxxP registration, so naturally I named her Leak.

[LightBulbFun]

11 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Tell me more about the Sussex field find?

its where in 2017 about 15 or so Model 70's (still need to get an exact count!) showed up on ebay for sale as 1 big lot from/in a field near brighton

ended up selling for about £1K so about £66 per Model 70!, ah if only we had been aware of them back then probably could of done an autoshite group save and had more of them returned to the road by now!

 

its where TWC and TPA came from as well, it's fun to look back on the pictures and see how far they have come! (sadly TWC and TPA are the only 2 cars from the lot that have been returned to the road)

it is however also reassuring to look at TWC and TPA and see how (apart from the whole man made broken engine fiasco) relatively little work they needed to get put back on the road, despite literally sitting in a damp murky field for 15-18 years!

its also why im hopefully that recommissioning REV should hopefully not be too bad especially as she was stored/kept in much better conditions!

 

8 hours ago, keef said:

I wonder if this could be Tinker's Park?

im not sure, googling the name ya mentioned id of expected if it was they would store it a bit better/neater!

2 hours ago, adw1977 said:

I wonder if these were deliberately not used earlier because they were considered undesirable combinations?  OO because of confusion with zeros and WC because of its lavatorial association!

Yeah I had been wondering why those marks where not used until then and yeah those thoughts did cross my mind

as a side note its interesting to note the AWC was/has never been issued AFAIK which is interesting, is AWC some sort of rude word or acronym? 

[mitsisigma01]

49 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

its where in 2017 about 15 or so Model 70's (still need to get an exact count!) showed up on ebay for sale as 1 big lot from/in a field near brighton

Do you still have the sellers ebay name, current sales, etc, different pictures, possibly showing some location identifying clues in the background etc etc 

[mitsisigma01]

2 hours ago, keef said:

One of my fleet has a xWCxxxP registration, so naturally I named her Leak.

Which Rover omghgf have you got ???

[LightBulbFun]

6 minutes ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Do you still have the sellers ebay name, current sales, etc, different pictures, possibly showing some location identifying clues in the background etc etc 

heres some details (sadly the ebay link is dead now)

On 4/5/2019 at 6:02 PM, LightBulbFun said:

 

very cool

 

 

 

I did a bit of sleuthing and came across the ebay listing where the field of invacars originated from

 

(I had actually came across it before but at the time none of the pictures would load)

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192341348978

 

 

 

 

its interesting to see how out of all the invacars they could of chosen to photograph for 2 shoddy photos, they picked TWC and TPA

and here's an interesting photo that I dug up on facebook of what i'm almost positive is of the field find cars, but long before we found em!

On 9/1/2019 at 12:40 PM, LightBulbFun said:

 

im pretty sure the far right car is WHK372L the  body/wing damage looks pretty damn near identical (right down to them both missing a door on the same side)

which means the first picture must be the same location that TWC and TPA came from  so I really do wonder where the above picture is from, did someone visit the place long before it was discovered on ebay in 2017?

I have noticed the same Model 70's in several different locations in that same field

so it seems they had been shunted around the place for some reason, which might explain some of the body damage they sadly have

 

and heres some photos of the Model 70's 

 

[keef]

28 minutes ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Which Rover omghgf have you got ???

Oh My God h? g? f???

Another Maxi of course.

[LightBulbFun]

11 minutes ago, keef said:

Oh My God h? g? f???

 

OMGHGF

Oh my god Head gasket failure

this particular acronym is often found near K series engined Rovers

see here for details  https://autoshite.com/topic/13953-autoshite-lexicon/

(its a shame the text has been corrupted in the early posts)

(amusingly the Model 70 does not actually have head gaskets...)

[keef]

3 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

Oh my god Head gasket failure

Of course!

Nothing to do with George Forman (grilles) at all.

[keef]

Is that what I think it is?

https://thumbsnap.com/t37AmKbQ

 

[LightBulbFun]

2 minutes ago, keef said:

Is that what I think it is?

https://thumbsnap.com/t37AmKbQ

sadly not! its a reliant regal 3/25  

 

[keef]

2 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

sadly not! its a reliant regal 3/25  

 

Ah well. Better luck next time eh?

[plasticvandan]

Mr lbf,more research needed,as that car in the b&w pic is not a Regal. Poss Anglia

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, plasticvandan said:

Mr lbf,more research needed,as that car in the b&w pic is not a Regal. Poss Anglia

ah good spot, I think you may be correct comparing the small nuances  

[LightBulbFun]

https://live.email-dvla.service.gov.uk/w2c/en_gb/forms/KeyWorkerHomeVehicles

hmm as its been over 4 weeks now since I did the taxation class change on REV and I still have not got anything back, I was gearing up to contact the DVLA (twas planning on doing it next week)

but reading the above im not sure what to do now? because id like to get REV's V5 back! but its in no way directly involved with the nations response to the whole situation going on

but its not nice being without the V5 on hand! should I need to SORN REV for any reason or such like, or if something comes up where I need to give proof of keepership etc

I see that there is a web chat option https://www.gov.uk/contact-the-dvla/y/vehicle-registration-and-v5c-certificates-log-books

https://live.email-dvla.service.gov.uk/w2c/en_gb/forms/Chat V5C

which still seems to be open for normal folk

has anyone had any experience with said webchat? 

[keef]

Yes, don't bother with webchat. You fill in a load of boxes with your life story and THEN they tell you the service isn't avaible!

Quite why they can't tell you before you click on, or even after you click on the link is beyond me, but we are talking about DVLA.

[Mrs6C]

4 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

its not nice being without the V5 on hand!

I wouldn't worry about it, personally. It'll come back in its own time. Dolly's took weeks. REV is taxed and insured and is declared MOT exempt so you don't need to worry about anything until March 2021. You don't need to prove keepership to anyone and can't be penalised for not having the V5 if the DVLA is in possession of it.

With regard to Molly, I left the taxation class blank when I did the V62 because I didn't know what it would be. I have found it is always best to keep things simple and just put down the details you know to be a match to the DVLA data record. That way there is no inadvertent data discrepency to get the application shunted off to the Data team sidings for investigation, which could add weeks to the end-to-end process.

Molly turns out to have a tax class of ELECTRIC, a body type of FLOAT and a wheelplan of 3-WHEEL. No Revenue weight is mentioned.

When I speak next to the previous but one Keeper, I will ask if they got the DVLA letter.

[LightBulbFun]

50 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

I wouldn't worry about it, personally. It'll come back in its own time. Dolly's took weeks. REV is taxed and insured and is declared MOT exempt so you don't need to worry about anything until March 2021. You don't need to prove keepership to anyone and can't be penalised for not having the V5 if the DVLA is in possession of it.

Yeah, ill continue to keep an eye on it, but im worried it might of got lost somewhere given iv not even got any confirmation from the DVLA that they got anything

50 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

With regard to Molly, I left the taxation class blank when I did the V62 because I didn't know what it would be. I have found it is always best to keep things simple and just put down the details you know to be a match to the DVLA data record. That way there is no inadvertent data discrepency to get the application shunted off to the Data team sidings for investigation, which could add weeks to the end-to-end process.

Molly turns out to have a tax class of ELECTRIC, a body type of FLOAT and a wheelplan of 3-WHEEL. No Revenue weight is mentioned.

When I speak next to the previous but one Keeper, I will ask if they got the DVLA letter.

interesting to know you can leave that section blank then  (still raises the question if you put historic vehicle there will the DVLA automatically change the tax class for you so you don't have to immediately send the V5 back etc)

interesting on the electric tax class, I was wodnering if it would be under such, or if there was a dedicated milk float class or not, I guess reading this that a Petrol powered milk float would be classed as a LGV (light goods vehicle) 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/840453/v355X1-notes-about-tax-classes.pdf

 

 

as a side note I discovered this interesting little expert  

which answers a question I had about modern mobility scooters

say if your an able bodied collector of mobility scooters, while its easy enough to with a Model 70 or such, to say simply change the tax class from disabled to either Tricycle or Historic vehicle 

but the question I had is what taxation class would you change a mobility scooter to! especially if its not old enough for the historic vehicle taxation class (although reading above you could stick a Mobility scooter in the electric taxation class, but still leaves petrol powered mobility scooters in the cold)

but going by the above, looks like it would be OK to leave said mobility scooter in the disabled taxation class, and I guess you could even leave a Model 70 (and pretty much all old school Invalid vehicles) in the disabled taxation class...

(because they weigh less then 508Kg)

although invalid vehicles above 306Kg still need an MOT (unless are MOT exempt through age of course)

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/737342/v112-declaration-of-exemption-from-mot.pdf

see category E

which is interesting and amusing because Invacar Mk12E's have a revenue weight of 305Kg on their V5! I guess only Model 70's needed/got MOTs back then

although I sadly have not seen the V5 of a Model 67 so I don't know what their revenue weight is listed as

 

 

[LightBulbFun]

heres a fun/interesting thing thats cropped up on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283841196382

almost positive I have come across a colour version of this Model 70 painting, or the "same" art style Model 70 painting but in colour and bearing the same registration number

I remember it because I came across it at the time when details of @Mrs6C's Model 70 where first coming to light and for a time I thought it was part of a P reg block, so I was explicitly hunting out P suffix Model 70s to try and ID Mrs6c's Model 70

and I came across the above in a Bing search of all places IIRC!,

funnily enough tho I was actually thinking about it recently again in my hunt for the missing private cars (those that have been following this thread may have seen me post that between LRL389P and REV451R there are 13 Private Invacar Model 70's I cant find (LRL is private car 9 and REV is private car 23) so I was curious as to what its registration was (I don't recall it showing up on the DVLA, but I wanted to try it again with the new tools I have on hand now)

but I remember it was not a Surrey/Essex registration (which is Very unusual for a Model 70 and generally NI and plate robbery shenanigans aside is always an indication of a private Model 70 and even then all (apart from 1) of the private Invacar Model 70's iv been able to find have an Essex registration's just sitting in the middle of a block of Ministry cars, its mostly private AC's that have non factory location registrations)

so I was planning on going digging for the photo again, rather timely it should pop up on ebay  

although sadly I dont think its an actual Model 70 registration if all the sellers other paintings are anything to go by its made up/random registrations

however while LVT726P and LVT728P give actual results (as in they where period issued reg's), LVT727P does not show up so I do wonder if it was a Model 70 that just did not last long... (however the car is wearing an AC badge not an Invacar badge, but there are about 4 missing private AC Model 70's too, between PPG124L and NPN924P)

[keef]

LVT 123V and LVT 124V are/were both Austin Maxis.

[LightBulbFun]

@barrett I recall you expressed interest in wanting a Harper Mk6/Stanley Mk7 at some point

if your still interested I might have a potential lead on one!

speaking to stuart about this one, he says it was sold on ebay in 2007, but he does not think it actually was collected etc, as when it was on ebay stuart went to view it, but then in 2009 ish he went past the same location recalls seeing it among the plantlife 

supposedly its in a Traveller type camp just off the A3 quite literally! 

right here (roughly where the 2 red cars are, stuart said he walked along the hard shoulder to find it!)

we sadly have no idea if its still there or not, but I think it would be neat to chase up, especially given how few Harpers are known to survive! and the thought of saving/seeing a Harper get saved is quite exciting!

(also credit to @egg for digging up the source that the I got the image of 61 HPA from  I had known of the car for a long while now, but had not had any pictures of it, apon seeing the pictures I made further enquires into its whereabouts resulting in the above info) 

[keef]

Not on DVLA site and no MOT history.

HPA - That's Guildford, isn't it?

[egg]

26 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

(also credit to @egg for digging up the source

Oh, I need to credit @Christine as he made it available to me!

[LightBulbFun]

9 minutes ago, keef said:

Not on DVLA site and no MOT history.

Yeah sadly I dont know of any Harper Mk6's or Stanley Mk7's that still shows up on the DVLA still

iv been trying to find something but not found anything yet sadly

(although I do know the Devon registration archives are intact, so Ian hellings Stanley Mk7A should be identifiable at least!  as we know that ones chassis number at least, but sadly not its registration) 

 

as a side note, the above is not just for @barrett just figured id give him a heads up/"first dibs" so to speak since I know he expressed interest in one in the past  

but yeah just in general would be very cool to see it saved by someone on here! (or well just saved in general!, again I sadly don't know what happened to it so maybe its already been saved! but I definitely think its worth chasing up)

[Out Run]

Look at that reg.

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, keef said:

Not on DVLA site and no MOT history.

continuing the Harper theme tho, I do know of 1 Harper Mk6 that shows up on an registration checker, not a British one tho! https://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=11scw

On 11/28/2017 at 8:21 PM, Jon said:

Don't think I've chipped in with a comment yet but I think these are great and I'm glad that so many have been saved. Hopefully, it should be a relatively painless overhaul and you'll be back buzzing about on the streets soon enough. 

 

Mrs_Jon & I started seeing each other in 2002 and I distinctly remember sighting one in York when we were together one day, so there was at least one shite stalwart locally holding onto one to the bitter end. I'd totally forgotten about them by that time but they were a core part of street scenery when I was growing up in the early-mid eighties but just like half pennies and those red and white stripey tents that workmen used to cover holes with, they disappeared overnight.

 

 

4 years ago, I brokered a deal with my cousin to buy a Fiat 500 locally, for £2500 (!!!). It was owned by this fella, who had previously owned a much more interesting machine:

 

 

 

 

Yes, at least one Harper Mk6 Invalid Carriage made it to New Zealand! 

 

 

 

 

 

I know what it's called, from the correct identification back in 2013 by one Scott Barrett. Anyway, I think the owner was attracted to the Invacar, as he'd suffered a stroke in 1983, so perhaps it was easy to pilot. That said, it didn't stop him buying the 500 in the 1990's and driving it all over NZ, despite him having effectively lost the use of the right side of his body. The test drive of the 500 was truly an eye opener, as he drove a 3 pedal car with his left foot only - approaching a T Junction downhill and having to give way was particularly terrifying. Suffice to say, much use of 4th gear was utilised during the trip.....

 

On 4/16/2019 at 9:14 PM, Jon said:

Interesting!

 

Not sure if you're aware of carjam.co.nz but you can look up look up an NZ car's registration number and usually, it has some relevant info to give.

 

Here's the Tippen's details:

 

https://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=pr471

 

 

And the Harper's:

 

https://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=11scw

 

 

Note that the Tippen is registered as a passenger car (and has a standard number plate, issued to cars, vans and trucks (AB1234, or ABC123 layout, according to time issued)), whereas the Harper is registered as a moped (I can't work out any rhyme or reason to how mopeds, bikes, trailers, tractors etc. are issued their number plates) and mentions it being re-registered. From that, I reckon the Tippen is most likely a UK import (as it states in the report but that isn't always wholly accurate) and the Harper I imagine was sold new here.

 

I've no idea about the history of invalid carriages in NZ but I did note that both of the above got their new plates and registration only 3 months apart and both are clad in a quite lurid coat of 2 pack red, so perhaps they were owned by the same person? It could well have been the guy I mentioned on here back in 2017 but I've no idea where he is now, so wouldn't be able to verify that!

and speaking of this particular Harper I managed to slueth up another picture of it earlier today  its interesting to note that at some point in time it has been fitted with Halogen headlamps which are a bit more rounded in style compared to the orignial 5 inch units as you can see on 61HPA above (and most other 1957 specification invalid vehicles like the AC Model 57, Model 64, Tippen Delta Mk3-7 and Invacar Mk10-12c etc)

https://flic.kr/p/fkYve

I do wonder whats become of this Harper as well? last WOF (the NZ version of an MOT) looks to have been in 2010...

[LightBulbFun]

so I was watching @richardthestag part 12 on sandy the landy the other day, and he was talking about fuses how the Land rover has 35A fuses that are 35A blow but only 17A continuous, but that someone had fitted an actual 35A continuous fuse  

and it got me thinking that I never really thought about the blow characteristics of automotive fuses and it turned my attention to the fuses in the Model 70 (naturally LOL)

specifically the 2 mounted on the bulkhead in the cabin theres a 35A main fuse and a 25A fuse for auxiliary circuits

and it made me wonder if the 35A (and the 25A) fuse is meant to be of the Lucas 35A blow 17A continuous type?

as doing some maths 35A at 12V is 420W which is way higher then what the dynastart is rated for (240W) however doing the maths at 17A gives me 204W which sounds much more reasonable so I do wonder...

and the final reason I bring this up is because im pretty sure @dollywobbler has a big beefy 35A continuous fuse fitted to TWC, like the incorrect type removed from sandy the landy and I just wanted to go over this to make sure TWC and other Model 70's have the correct fuses fitted!

for those wondering this is what the workshop manual has to say on fuses etc

 

 

as a side note it makes me wonder what the blow characteristics of modern blade type automotive fuses are?

[steveo3002]

have you seen this one...

[LightBulbFun]

21 minutes ago, steveo3002 said:

have you seen this one...

Oh very cool not seen that picture before! its a quite an early Invacar Model 70

I had known of the RVX-K block (RVX301K to RVX400K) but I only knew of it from my own DVLA bashing/research

On 8/25/2019 at 12:33 AM, LightBulbFun said:

filling the gaps like yeah!  also more DVLA madness LOL (this is not one I singled out, its the first one I landed on while searching the RVX-K reg series for an Invacar block )

 

 

in this case there is well was  a gap of 200 cars between REV-K and SPU-K

but its the first time iv seen a picture of an RVX-K Model 70  

bonus DVLA fuckery too! (although I suspect its more whoever moved it from its buff logbook to the V5c system did not know what they where doing!)

 

[LightBulbFun]

11 hours ago, RED2stroke said:

What ho chaps, I suspect like many of you, I have spent the last few weeks, mowing the lawn to within an inch of it's life, painted everything that keeps still long enough and fixed all the stupid stuff on the car. So in true AS fashion and having competed every job that "er indoors " could find I have now retired to the garage, to indulge my lifelong passion for resurrecting two wheeled shite........

I have managed to get a couple of easy fix bikes running again and now I have started on a third bike, all my bikes are CZ, Jawas or other eastern bloc shite (beauties). Anyway I thought that this one might be of interest to fellow bikeshiters. It's a 1976 CZ 175 Sport (eastern bloc humor), I bought it along with three other bikes locally, this particular bike was for some reason dismantled and stored in the guys loft for many many years. I think that its all there but I can't be 100% sure as there are so many boxes, jars and marge tubs it's impossible to tell. Any way it's about 75% assembled and I have attached a couple of small pics to whet your appetite. I am getting close to firing her up and stripped the carb just to check everything, as this model has a separate oil tank the carb was very clean, no gone off petroil mix that smells like a bag of mouldy potatoes left in the shed and sticks like shite to a blanket. The carb had been wrapped in oily rag and when I took it apart I was amazed by the condition of the float, just look at that after 43 years of off the road!  Check out the supplying dealer sticker on the rear mudguard and the one and only tax disc that the bike has ever had.

I will update as and when if anyones interested?

dragging this one over here, because I noticed its been untaxed since may 1977! but it last had a V5 issued in 2020

so im curious do you know before you acquired this motorcycle if it showed up on the DVLA checker or not?

or did it only become alive when you V62ed or otherwise became the keeper of it or such?

im curious if this is another "brought back from the dead" case or not