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...

[RoverFolkUs]

11 hours ago, mitsisigma01 said:

Get them all together and do a London to Brighton run .....if they make it up Ditchling Hill 🤞

Ditchling hill 😱 you Satanist - a local here, it's Ditchling Beacon 😛

[Zelandeth]

Parts advice time.

I was sure I'd read that the felt draught excluder thing on the windows was a Mini bit.  Apparently not.

A good couple of inches too short.  Assuming this is a parts bin item rather than bespoke like the glass, anyone know what it's from?

[LightBulbFun]

19 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Parts advice time.

I was sure I'd read that the felt draught excluder thing on the windows was a Mini bit.  Apparently not.

A good couple of inches too short.  Assuming this is a parts bin item rather than bespoke like the glass, anyone know what it's from?

I sadly dont know directly off hand if theres a direct match

I do wonder if it was supplied on a big roll and cut to length at the factory rather then being a direct parts bin part if that makes sense, so still parts bin but not directly

in the same way that the rubber flooring of the Model 70 is the same pattern/type as found in the Invacar Mk12, but there obviously not directly swappable

 

the metal window frames are like that, there obviously not Mini window frames, but they are quite clearly made out of the same type cross sectional metal profile, that a classic Mini (and Enfield 8000) uses, just obviously shaped to fit the Model 70's door aperture/profile

I do wonder if there is a name for this window frame type, I know of a few Model 70's in need of new window frames so I wonder if the material can be found and then shaped appropriately? 

(I know @adam1db is looking for window frames and a windscreen to finish off KPL139P for example)

 

otherwise on the felt front, perhaps worth checking other british vehicles with sliding windows like this and seeing if they match up? perhaps Land Rover?

perhaps even if you cant find something thats a direct match if you find something a bit oversized maybe it can be trimmed to match?

[chadders]

Try these people if you haven't already.

https://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/

 

[Zelandeth]

Guess it will be a matter of measuring it and trying to find a match.  There's a pretty substantial metal U shaped channel in there, so it's not an easy thing to cut down to size using household tools.

Oh well, one that's a bit short is better than one that's completely missing for the time being.

[Mrs6C]

42 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Guess it will be a matter of measuring it and trying to find a match.  There's a pretty substantial metal U shaped channel in there, so it's not an easy thing to cut down to size using household tools.

Oh well, one that's a bit short is better than one that's completely missing for the time being.

Is this the kind of thing you want? If so, it looks like it is sold in a standard 8' length and then you can have it cut to size for shipping. As such, you could measure what you need and have the overall length cut into multiple sections of the right length or multiple sections of twice the required length etc. Given that there are a few other Model 70s about that may need the same item, then the overall length of 8' may cover two or three vehicles and the owners of these could chip in to assist with the overall cost...
https://www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/products/852-sliding-window-wipe-strip

[AdgeCutler]

More progress, hoorah. Perhaps I should have a decent nights sleep soon instead of watching the sun rise over Brian!

[egg]

great, soon you'll be experiencing 8.5bhp and one wheel drive!

[AdgeCutler]

37 minutes ago, egg said:

great, soon you'll be experiencing 8.5bhp and one wheel drive!

I see it as cruising in a rear engined single seater!
Three things of note in the picture, driveshaft, brake pipes ( hoping to bleed them come sunrise) and lastly the chain.

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, egg said:

great, soon you'll be experiencing 8.5bhp and one wheel drive!

ill have you know the Villiers 11E produces a whopping 8.6hp LOL (with something like that the .1 Hp probably matters LOL)

2 hours ago, AdgeCutler said:

I see it as cruising in a rear engined single seater!
Three things of note in the picture, driveshaft, brake pipes ( hoping to bleed them come sunrise) and lastly the chain.

complete with limited slip err "diff" LOL  (especially when turning right LOL)

[AdgeCutler]

Looking at one picture right now it's incredible the amount of hours that have gone into this little beasty. I've not bored you all with the ins and outs of a cats arsehole but wow, my wife is correct, I'm not right in th'ead! Neither is my mate who denies partaking in this project, he recently took the hub drive spindle which had lost a good deal of thread due to corrosion seizure. He removed the threads, built up the spindle with weld, re-machined and cut new threads. Another mate who has tolerated my calls, " can I borrow this tap or that die". Another mate who only today gave me some Lucas 700 bowls and other lamp parts. Another great friend who left me his Lathe when he left this world, but I'll always blame my Dad who inflicted me with this disease. It's all madness and to quote another friend who has also involved himself in the job tutoring me and helping rather than getting on with his own work, "is it ever worth it"? You bet it will be when we're all smiling ear to ear, hurtling along at 40 mph! 

[High Jetter]

Not bored at all. Superb work, candidate for Restorer Of The Year Award. Well done, Sir 

[Pigeonator]

8 hours ago, AdgeCutler said:

Looking at one picture right now it's incredible the amount of hours that have gone into this little beasty. I've not bored you all with the ins and outs of a cats arsehole but wow, my wife is correct, I'm not right in th'ead! Neither is my mate who denies partaking in this project, he recently took the hub drive spindle which had lost a good deal of thread due to corrosion seizure. He removed the threads, built up the spindle with weld, re-machined and cut new threads. Another mate who has tolerated my calls, " can I borrow this tap or that die". Another mate who only today gave me some Lucas 700 bowls and other lamp parts. Another great friend who left me his Lathe when he left this world, but I'll always blame my Dad who inflicted me with this disease. It's all madness and to quote another friend who has also involved himself in the job tutoring me and helping rather than getting on with his own work, "is it ever worth it"? You bet it will be when we're all smiling ear to ear, hurtling along at 40 mph! 

Hello, your standard of workmanship is an inspiration. I 'found you' on You Tube and that led me to here as I'm near the end of my MK12b rebuild and was looking for info.  Keep up with your excellent work.

(Unfortunately mine is a completely different rebuild as I started with the fibreglass body on a pile of rust and don't have much engineering knowledge or tooling at hand. But it's not far off being back on the road) 

[mitsisigma01]

@Pigeonator let's see them pictures...

[LightBulbFun]

in other invalid vehicle news, finally broke down and topped up Le commercial tool again which finally meant I could finish off some Tippen Delta research I was doing/wanting to do  

 

a good couple years ago when I first got my commercial tool in hand, I found a bunch of Tippen Delta's still on the DVLA by their chassis number, but I noticed that by then taking the ones I did find and going up and down a few reg numbers, there where more Delta's still live that I had missed!

and now finally having the credit to pull the full data on these its been quite interesting!

the main reason I missed a lot of these the first time round, is for whatever reason, Tippen Delta's have very little consistency in how their chassis numbers are recorded on the DVLA! if you say have ABC123, some will be ABC123 but others may be recorded as A/BC123 some are A/B/C/1/2/3 or ABC/123 or ABC/1/2/3 etc etc

which means if you try and bash them out via their chassis number your going to miss a bunch like I did! (since my tool only works with exact matches for vehicles inactive pre 1998) and at least one of the Tippen Delta's I found had no chassis number recorded at all! (but very curiously did have an "engine" number recorded which I presume was its electric motor number, but i have never seen the motor of an electric delta in detail sadly)

 

but having realised the situation with the chassis numbers and then switched to bashing out registration numbers like the bad old days I then unearthed a whole load more Frank Tippen And Sons Electric Tippen Delta's (Model 69E)  

and quite interestingly so, that it seems like Tippen Delta's like AC's and Invacar's where also registered in blocks, and that the electric Tippen Delta blocks could stretch for a fair old amount of time!

it was also interesting to learn through this research that I conducted that it looks like there where 150 Tippen Delta 8 based Tippen Delta Electric Mk4's produced 

and the reason I specifically say Tippen Delta 8 based Mk4, is there where 4 Marks of the Electric Tippen Delta, and very interestingly the mark revision, did not follow the change in chassis type/body style of their Petrol counter parts, for example the very first Tippen Delta Electric Mk4's starts with roughly the 60th Delta 7 electric chassis ! so its worth nothing that the chassis number between Electric Tippen Delta Marks did not always change! (they only changed when the actual base petrol machine car/chassis they where based off was changed ie From Tippen Delta 7 to Delta 8 chassis or such)

and the fact the Mk 4 was produced with Both Delta 7 and Delta 8 chassis/bodies is notable as the Delta 8 was a rather major face lift of the Tippen Delta so its quite curious that they never introduced another Mk for the electric version of the Delta 8!

but with this figured out it looks like Frank Tippen and Sons produced 150 Delta 8 Model 69E Mk4's split between 2 blocks (seemingly because of the suffix change in the Middle!)

from OWK442G to OWK501G and then OVC12H to OVC101H, bellow are the oldest and latest cars I can find from each block that are still DVLA live, note how the OVC-H block ran from August 1969 to March 1970!

[D.E]

You've probably seen this pic already, but I just came across this and was wondering if the little blue threewheeled thing is a Model 57? Or is it something else?

[LightBulbFun]

4 hours ago, D.E said:

You've probably seen this pic already, but I just came across this and was wondering if the little blue threewheeled thing is a Model 57? Or is it something else?

very cool! no not a pic I have seen before  

indeed its an AC Acedes (Model 57) or AC Electric Invalid Tricycle, (Model 64) sadly the rear is blocked by the gate post, and its the rear that will tell you an AC Model 57 from an AC Model 64

[dollywobbler]

Just popping in to say I'm really keen to try a two-stroke invalid carriage and see how it compares. And we really just have a meet up! Shame we are all very spread out in terms of geography, but we could always invade a National Microcar Rally perhaps?

[LightBulbFun]

just in the middle of some more Tippen Delta DVLA bashing and research, and I just came across OWK502G which I just have to post about 

because its registered as a Taxi of all things LOL so much for passenger carrying is forbidden...

looking into it, the body type code for Taxi is 07 and the Body type code for Invalid Vehicle is 08, so its pretty clear what happened someone at the DVLA accidently selected or typed 07 instead of 08

but its hilarious none the less, especially of all the invalid vehicles it happened to, it was an Electric Tippen Delta, not only the narrowest full bodied machine, but also one of the slowest with a top speed of about 12 Mph LOL couldn't of selected a worse invalid vehicle to be a taxi if you tried LOL

(as an aside you may have noticed the 2068 date! for some reason a lot of older vehicles have recently started to show up as being registered in the future like this, I do wonder if its because they have their date stored in 2 digit form ie 28-08-68 and someone messed up somewhere so instead of appending 19 its appending 20 LOL, its only on the tools that use the Experian back end tho)

 

[AdgeCutler]

On 5/26/2022 at 7:18 AM, Pigeonator said:

Hello, your standard of workmanship is an inspiration. I 'found you' on You Tube and that led me to here as I'm near the end of my MK12b rebuild and was looking for info.  Keep up with your excellent work.

Thank you for the kind words on Brians restoration. I'd love to read about your restoration project and see any pictures you may have taken along the way. 

[Yoss]

14 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

 Shame we are all very spread out in terms of geography,

I once remember John Peel saying Aberystwyth was the furthest place from anywhere, even if you were already in Wales. I always think of this the few times I've travelled the A44. It must occur to you a lot more. 

[bobdisk]

11 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

just in the middle of some more Tippen Delta DVLA bashing and research, and I just came across OWK502G which I just have to post about 

because its registered as a Taxi of all things LOL so much for passenger carrying is forbidden...

looking into it, the body type code for Taxi is 07 and the Body type code for Invalid Vehicle is 08, so its pretty clear what happened someone at the DVLA accidently selected or typed 07 instead of 08

but its hilarious none the less, especially of all the invalid vehicles it happened to, it was an Electric Tippen Delta, not only the narrowest full bodied machine, but also one of the slowest with a top speed of about 12 Mph LOL couldn't of selected a worse invalid vehicle to be a taxi if you tried LOL

(as an aside you may have noticed the 2068 date! for some reason a lot of older vehicles have recently started to show up as being registered in the future like this, I do wonder if its because they have their date stored in 2 digit form ie 28-08-68 and someone messed up somewhere so instead of appending 19 its appending 20 LOL, its only on the tools that use the Experian back end tho)

 

@LightBulbFunThe reg number you say is OWK502G, the panel has ORW502G. Boob??

[martc]

17 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

(as an aside you may have noticed the 2068 date! for some reason a lot of older vehicles have recently started to show up as being registered in the future like this, I do wonder if its because they have their date stored in 2 digit form ie 28-08-68 and someone messed up somewhere so instead of appending 19 its appending 20 LOL, its only on the tools that use the Experian back end tho)

 

It's the Millennium Bug, run for the hills everyone, they said it would happen and all we hold dear would collapse in date related computer mayhem.

Shutting this down seems a bit premature to me.

[LightBulbFun]

On 30/05/2022 at 06:22, bobdisk said:

@LightBulbFunThe reg number you say is OWK502G, the panel has ORW502G. Boob??

Doh! yeah I meant ORW502G!

its a common one I make myself and normally catch it but have worried when it may have slipped me by like now! so thanks for the heads up!

the typo's happen as

ORW104F-ORW203F ( Petrol Delta 8 )

ORW387F ( Electric Delta 7 )

ORW388G-ORW487G ( Petrol Delta 8 )

ORW488G-ORW560G ( Electric Delta 7 )

OWK276G-OWK375G ( Petrol Delta 8 )

OWK442G-OWK501G ( Electric Delta 8 )

you can see why the numbers for Tippen Delta's can get confusing/,mixed up at times at times!, they all contain O and they all contain W, and either G or F suffix with a K or an R!

(further confounded by the fact that Coventry county council when they hit suffix change in August, they would just keep issuing the registration block they where in but simply change the suffix, other county councils would end the block early and move to the next location marker in their allocated series for the new/next suffix etc)

and then as you may of noticed it looks like Frank Tippen and Sons continued building Electric Delta 7's even after the Petrol Delta 8 came out which is quite significant as the Delta 7 as mentioned previously is a rather different machine in its outward appearance etc

(it would of meant they would of had 2 sets of body moulds etc, unless they just had a large stash of Delta 7 bodies, chassis and bits in stock that just took time to be finished into complete machines) 

 

[LightBulbFun]

well this is quite exciting! for those who remember this Model 70 (or whats left of it!)

On 14/02/2019 at 23:21, LightBulbFun said:

during one of my past sleuthing sessions I came across this picture (in a thread on the piston heads forum about abandoned cars IIRC?)

 

well Fraser has just found it! turns out it was near him and somewhat of a local legend, but he had never been able to locate it until now!

a plan is being worked to rescue it to salvage what few good bits are left, most notably obviously the rear bodywork is still pretty good all things considered and the engine is still present

so yeah its quite exciting that another one thats been on "the list" for a long time now has been found and hopefully rescued  

 

[mitsisigma01]

What part of the country is it in ?

Is a work party required?

[LightBulbFun]

Nelco Solocar a long way from home! maybe one for @PhilA?  #alwayshopeful

you could really show up those people on electric scooters in Walmart LOL

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/mcd/d/tacoma-1958-nelco-solo-car/7489599806.html

not one I recognise which is interesting! they say its from 1958,  but looking at the chassis numbers and other known Solocars id place this machine at 1954...

[Squire_Dawson]

No. Leave it alone to rot in peace. There are no good bits left on it. The remains should be left for all to see. 

[PhilA]

Just a touch far, in Seattle. 2600 miles, takes 3 days to get there by road.

[Dyslexic Viking]

2 hours ago, PhilA said:

Just a touch far, in Seattle. 2600 miles, takes 3 days to get there by road.

And guess that it would take even more days if you were to drive it home. Something we really want to see by the way.