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...

[Mrs6C]

8 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

it would be nice/fun to reunite the pair someday once their restorations are complete  

It would be neat to recreate the whole picture if the Isuzu Trooper and its trailer were still available...

[AdgeCutler]

Absolutely fantastic, thanks for sharing it Dez and would I be allowed to do so?

Still plodding along with bits and bobs for Brian, made up a few new brackets etc., the originals having nearly corroded away but thankfully enough left to get a pattern. The front panel has had a good rub down, been primered and rubbed down again ready for another coat of primer, most pock marks and crazing have been eliminated.  There are two gaiters, one for the steering rod to pass through to the front wheel and one for the gear linkage to pass through to the rear. One of these gaiters was mouse eaten and both very stiff and just basically knackered. These were handed to a friend who a day later handed me two new items. 

[LightBulbFun]

27 minutes ago, AdgeCutler said:

Absolutely fantastic, thanks for sharing it Dez and would I be allowed to do so?

No problem! and yeah you can use/share it no problem  

27 minutes ago, AdgeCutler said:

Still plodding along with bits and bobs for Brian, made up a few new brackets etc., the originals having nearly corroded away but thankfully enough left to get a pattern. The front panel has had a good rub down, been primered and rubbed down again ready for another coat of primer, most pock marks and crazing have been eliminated.  There are two gaiters, one for the steering rod to pass through to the front wheel and one for the gear linkage to pass through to the rear. One of these gaiters was mouse eaten and both very stiff and just basically knackered. These were handed to a friend who a day later handed me two new items. 

pleased to see work on Brian is continuing to go well  

those gaiters look very fancy! and its interesting to see as I  never realised the Invacar Mk12 used any sort of gaiter like that!

[Crackers]

I know you had been asking for some photos of this, so while rain stops play at the miniature railway I've taken a couple. 

[LightBulbFun]

6 minutes ago, Crackers said:

I know you had been asking for some photos of this, so while rain stops play at the miniature railway I've taken a couple. 

very cool! (its a shame you dont have the rest of it!) thanks for the grabbing the photos, that is indeed an Electric Stanley Argson or Solocar speed control head

I wonder which it came off of they both used the same control scheme invented by Leonard Murphy  

[AdgeCutler]

A few dawn starts on Brian before going to work has seen him take on his second coat of primer and had it flatted back.

[AdgeCutler]

And now we have a couple of top coats, just gone on. Looks a little dry in places. As always, I'm scared of getting runs or sags and I think once cured can be worked to a better finish? 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, AdgeCutler said:

A few dawn starts on Brian before going to work has seen him take on his second coat of primer and had it flatted back.

 

11 minutes ago, AdgeCutler said:

And now we have a couple of top coats, just gone on. Looks a little dry in places. As always, I'm scared of getting runs or sags and I think once cured can be worked to a better finish? 

oh wow brian looks amazing now! 

thats some awesome work  

[barrett]

That looks flippin' fantastic man! It's gonna be the nicest invalid carriage out there when it's done, no contest.

Anyway, what do you reckon about this one @LightBulbFun? Am I seeing things, or is that... something?

 

 

[High Jetter]

^^^ Nice old shot of Brighton there, early 60s? It looks like ...something... to me, but the expert will be able to ID it for sure.

[barrett]

I can't tell if it's a Model 57 or an Austin A30, but the blue paint suggests the former to me. I think it's mid-late '60s judging by the A99 Westminster. Not much has changed since then!

[LightBulbFun]

4 hours ago, barrett said:

That looks flippin' fantastic man! It's gonna be the nicest invalid carriage out there when it's done, no contest.

Anyway, what do you reckon about this one @LightBulbFun? Am I seeing things, or is that... something?

 

 

hmm interesting

I want to say that it is some other larger 1950's bulbous saloon car

as it looks like it has a chrome bumper and a dedicated number plate cluster/recess if that makes sense

where as the AC Acedes, Model 57

and AC Electric Invalid Tricycle, Model 64 do not

and also the rear window is mounted too high up in the picture for it to be a Model 57 or Model 64 I think

 

[bobdisk]

Do you all mean that blueishgreen car with a black roof that man is pointing at?  It is an early 1960s  Austin A40 mk1 , one of several BMC cars styled by Farina.  My grandparents lived in Brighton at about that time, that car could be theirs 🤨  but the number is not clear.

[LightBulbFun]

6 minutes ago, bobdisk said:

Do you all mean that blueishgreen car with a black roof that man is pointing at?  It is an early 1960s  Austin A40 mk1 , one of several BMC cars styled by Farina.  My grandparents lived in Brighton at about that time, that car could be theirs 🤨  but the number is not clear.

I think @barrett is talking about this one further up the road  

[AdgeCutler]

9 hours ago, barrett said:

That looks flippin' fantastic man! It's gonna be the nicest invalid carriage out there when it's done, no contest.

 

 

Thank you good Sir. I do what I can with what I have and always listen to the man I miss the most, my Dad. He taught me many things along with his corrupted version of Confucious; "if you think you can, you can. If you think you can't, you'm bloody well right". Also, " If a job's wuff doin' it's wuff doin' right". I do's my bes' an' thas all I cous do, sadly I'm just a village idiot but luckily a bunch of good friends have formed around me to help with, give guidance on and laugh at and with my efforts. I must also say there has been input since I joined you "Shiters" that has been invaluable, Many thanks go to Dez and a very helpful gent he has enabled me to connect with.  

[LightBulbFun]

its fun to see what Invacar photographs there are still out there waiting to be unearthered, like this fun very 1970's one I found today  

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10153616939921351&set=o.438586119514400

 

it would go well with this chaps Carpet!

[LightBulbFun]

this is pretty cool! its a Barrett Midget in the wild! I think its the first picture I have seen of one in the wild, and certainly the first incidental picture/spotting I have seen of one im pretty sure

its at about 5:45 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIUcI_k4fNo

 

[Dannyk]

Im Guessing you've already seen this one. 

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Dannyk said:

Im Guessing you've already seen this one. 

I had not actually! so thanks for the heads up  

quite an intriguing photo, I wonder what happened exactly, also @Harriytait it looks like your MPU was not the only one to go Crunch!

there was also a street scene picture containing a Tippen Delta too in that group which i had not seen before

shame the registration mark cant quite be made out

Edit: oh and this for @Mrs6C  

[Weird Car]

6 hours ago, Dannyk said:

Im Guessing you've already seen this one. 

Seems to be a common trait among MPU's lol

[406V6]

Interesting feature on Invacars on the BBC News Channel this morning. It appeared in a piece called Witness History about 745am.  Likely to be repeated again and maybe on the IPlayer.

[bobdisk]

24 minutes ago, 406V6 said:

Interesting feature on Invacars on the BBC News Channel this morning. It appeared in a piece called Witness History about 745am.  Likely to be repeated again and maybe on the IPlayer.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000ygys/witness-history-disability-special        At 18 mins 45secs, with a short view in the introduction. I think most of us have seen these clips.

[AdgeCutler]

Dez, do you follow Photonicinduction on the YouTube? It's a great channel which I missed when he went AWOL, anyway he's back and I thought you would be interested in his most recent video: 

 

[LightBulbFun]

10 minutes ago, AdgeCutler said:

Dez, do you follow Photonicinduction on the YouTube? It's a great channel which I missed when he went AWOL, anyway he's back and I thought you would be interested in his most recent video: 

 

indeed I have  I have been "subscribed" to him since before I even had a youtube account! so well over 10 years now!

 its nice to see that he has a new appreciation for old lamps and lightbulbs, for many years as much as I enjoyed his antics I always cringed and felt sad every time he blew up some rare light bulb, for example in some of his earliest vids he had a very rare GEC 1000W Between Phases (415V) Mercury lamp

which he ended up microwaving and then just putting a hammer through! poor lamp

 

On 19/07/2021 at 18:55, bobdisk said:

@LightBulbFun,    Have you seen the antics of this bloke, Photonicinduction ?? 

Plus loads more of silly videos along the same lines!! I would swear he is pissed most of the time!!

 

On 19/07/2021 at 19:14, LightBulbFun said:

indeed I am  I have been following him for a bit over 10 years now!

indeed he is very entertaining to watch, but also I have to wince at times as he has blown up/broken several rare lightbulbs over the years

but these days he seems to have realised the history and rarity of lamps and actually has a collection himself  (and also a collection of all sorts of fun electrical things, I would LOVE a MAR and yet he has multiple of the things! LOL)

and I have in fact bought a couple Lamps from him (a rare GEC 26W SOX-E low pressure sodium lamp and a 1980's Self ballasted mercury vapour blacklight blue ultraviolet light lamp)  and he has a Power Groove tube with my name on it  

which ill try and arrange to pickup in person if I can once I am on the road with REV, far to rare and fragile to risk posting!

 

[uk_senator]

One (well 2, but you cant see the second) for your collection LBF (from "Uprising").

[LightBulbFun]

11 minutes ago, uk_senator said:

One (well 2, but you cant see the second) for your collection LBF (from "Uprising").

ohh not a scene I have seen before , the shots are not very clear but using the pre-existing data i have accumulated on almost every Model 70 made at this point! it looks like an Invacar Model 70 Mark B, from the JNO617N-JNO716N block  

[uk_senator]

1 minute ago, LightBulbFun said:

ohh not a scene I have seen before , looks like an Invacar Model 70 Mark B, from the JNO617N-JNO716N block  

I`m glad you can make the reg out, the camera sharply panned just as it got to them, so thats as clear as it got.  It must be a hospital close to New Cross somewhere.
I did see a picture online with another Invacar in the background last week, & I saved it for you, but I`ll be buggered if I can find it now. I`m sure I`ll find it at some point.

[LightBulbFun]

taking a breif interlude into my other hobby that is all things lightbulbs

I was recently contacted by @anonymous user who unearthed a bunch of vintage lightbulbs and very kindly sent them to me completely Free of charge

I am very thankful as the box contained a nice selection of rare incandescent lamps (and one very well used Philips Beehive neon lamp but with very rare external acid etching)

the box contained mainly Cryselco 210V (yes 210V pre grid standardisation FTW) 100W external Colour sprayed lamps  

apart from being quite old from the 1940s and 210V, they are also unusual in that you dont often see coloured lamps in wattages as high as 100W due to how hot they would (and do) get 

so I was very pleased to have these in the collection  

and today I got round to testing them where im pleased to report they all worked lovely  

(all the major GLS lamps anyhow, the Projector lamps look fine but have not been tested as they have funky bases to which I dont have sockets, and the Beehive neon will need additional equipment setup to test)

all the 210V lamps where of course properly given 210V by way of my very handy Variac (variable voltage auto transformer, a nifty transformer where 240V mains goes in, and theres big evil laboratory style knob on top that I can turn to dial in any AC voltage I want between 0V and 270V )

this smaller lamp is Siemens lamp of unknown power rating, as per the wrapper its rated at 210V but at that voltage gives me about 50W which is a non standard wattage so go figure...

(a couple of the lamp where while clearly being unused where in non matching wrappers however, so it may be that this is a 230V 60W lamp, but I did not want to risk it without being sure)

another Cryselco 100W lamp  

this large lamp was in the Osram wrapper, and is a Siemens 150W 240V GLS lamp, dating to November 1940 or September 1941  (note its unusual slightly elongated bulb shape)

another Cryselco green

and then finally a couple Blue 100W Cryselco lamps, these really do get quite toasty quite quickly as the coating absorbs the most amount of light (as a normal filament lamp produces relatively little blue light)

once more im very thankful to @anonymous user for sending me these lamps, and completely free of charge too

it is very much appreciated! and im very pleased to be able to give them a good home in my collection  

[R1152]

What you need is a plate neon as used in a Baird Televisor... I do like beehive neons.

Similarly, I have a 200-210V Baby Belling cooker and a 200-210V Belling electric fire here. Given my local supply is typically 248V I don't use them!

[UltraWomble]

 

With a range of just half a mile