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...

[AdgeCutler]

On 10/23/2019 at 10:34 PM, LightBulbFun said:

neat  OOO601M to OOO700M is also a Block of Invacars   (Model 70's)

and yes if you must know POO201-POO300M is also a block of Invacar Model 70's so that virtual gaz picture was partly right!, im surprised they ever issued the POO regs, 

imagine being all excited for your shiny new Ford (it seems like a lot of fords where registered in the Essex area) only for it to have a POO reg!

 

its interesting to note that im pretty sure I have only seen Invacars come back as Reliants, (I dont think I have seen an AC come back as reliant but does remind me I need to get UPB421M run...)

 

I have just finished going through the last Oxx-K regs (PU, TW, VW, VX, and WC) and indeed no invacar blocks as i suspected 

so thats every* block between LVX-J and PEV-K found  

(*depending on if LWC101J to LWC200J and MVW301J to MVW400J are Invacar blocks too, i cant tell right now as nothing shows up on the DVLA for those blocks)

the plan is now to get all the regs that show up still and send em off to my HPI guy for processing, then once I have their chassis numbers I can figure out the 2 Surviving Mk12's registration numbers (as I have their chassis numbers and know they fall after the LVX-J block)

and also should tell me if indeed I am "missing" a block or 2 (say if between LVX-J and MHK-J theres 100 chassis numbers gap then that would tell me that yes LWC-J is an Invacar block since there are not any holes of 100 elsewhere after LVX but before MHK)

 

I was planning on doing the DVLA bashing side of things anyway as I was quite curious what all the K reg Invacar Mk12 blocks where, and finally the 2 Unknown Mk12s gave me good incentive to do so

(I could tell from being September-october 1971 that there must of been K suffix Mk12 blocks before PEV-K)

 

sadly such methods shown here would not work for anything older then a J reg Invalid vehicle, since anything older, and we get to the point where just entire blocks no longer show up on the DVLA, and also just in general fewer normal cars show up still from the period, making it very difficult/time consuming to find the invacar blocks

 

so it looks like between LVX201J to LVX300J and PEV401K to PEV500K was:

(LWC101-200J?) MHK801J to MHK900J, MPU301J to MPU400J, (MVW301J to MVW400J?) MWC701J to MWC800J, NNO501J to NNO600J, NPU101J to NPU200J, NVW801J to NVW900J, OHK101K to OHK200K, and finally OOO301K to OOO400K

8 blocks so 800 chassis numbers/cars, or 10 blocks or 1000 chassis numbers/cars if you count the suspected ones

i might be able to use this info alone in conjunction with the known chassis numbers of LVX293J the 2 Unknowns and the chassis number of PEV442K (the youngest surviving Mk12)

to figure out the reg numbers of said 2 unknowns, but im not 100% sure

(although I suspect stuart may have gotten PEV442K chassis number wrong but still figuring that out)

Over the Jubilee weekend one of my nephews took my Fordson Major to be part of one of the local celebrations. There he got chatting to a chap about the tractor and my other restoration jobs and inevitably moved to InvaCars. It turned out that the chap had owned one briefly (bit of a dealer), all he could remember was that he sold it on some 25 years ago from where he had it near the lower reaches of the river Severn and that the number plate was POO.

I guess it was actually less than 25 years ago that the chap had it, post destruction date for InvaCars.

Do you know any POO survivors @LightBulbFun?

[LightBulbFun]

13 hours ago, AdgeCutler said:

Over the Jubilee weekend one of my nephews took my Fordson Major to be part of one of the local celebrations. There he got chatting to a chap about the tractor and my other restoration jobs and inevitably moved to InvaCars. It turned out that the chap had owned one briefly (bit of a dealer), all he could remember was that he sold it on some 25 years ago from where he had it near the lower reaches of the river Severn and that the number plate was POO.

I guess it was actually less than 25 years ago that the chap had it, post destruction date for InvaCars.

Do you know any POO survivors @LightBulbFun?

thats very interesting! I dont know of any POO-M cars that currently survive sadly, but in the block of POO-M Model 70's (POO201M-POO300M)

is POO214M which  I single out, as its Private car number 3!, this Model 70 would have never been owned by the government and would have been free to have been sold and traded just like REV was for example

but as you can see it was tax due in March 1988 and has never had a keeper change since it was computerised in the Mid to late 1970's

however it has no scrapped marker so who knows, so maybe it sat in someones garage for a long time before moving onto your friend? do you know what he did with this supposed Invacar of his?

 

on the other hand it could of been just another Ministry car that managed to escape out the back door!, but it is very interesting to hear it was a POO-M car given the private car that is in that block

[LightBulbFun]

when researching the Northern Ireland aspect of Invacars I have wondered if any where directly caught up in the troubles at all

turns out according to this poor chap yes! Invacars literally bomb proof!

https://www.facebook.com/springchicken.co.uk/posts/1433221766863035?comment_id=1433471656838046

 

[AdgeCutler]

On 6/10/2022 at 12:01 PM, LightBulbFun said:

do you know what he did with this supposed Invacar of his?

My nephew is going to ask again to see if he can glean any more info but thinks all that can be told already has. He knows the surname of the gentleman that bought it but it is believed that he has since died, what the cars fate was from then on is unknown.

It is very intriguing to me that there is possibly a model 70 hiding out in a shed nearby, almost frustrating given my long quest for one seems never to bear fruit.

[beko1987]

Thought of you at the car boot this morning! 

Not enough to buy any of them but enough to take some pics 😂

[LightBulbFun]

6 hours ago, AdgeCutler said:

My nephew is going to ask again to see if he can glean any more info but thinks all that can be told already has. He knows the surname of the gentleman that bought it but it is believed that he has since died, what the cars fate was from then on is unknown.

It is very intriguing to me that there is possibly a model 70 hiding out in a shed nearby, almost frustrating given my long quest for one seems never to bear fruit.

indeed! 

I was just reading your post it and reminded me I have this, a listing of Microcars for sale from 1997 including an Invacar, which must of been a Model 70 if it could do 70 Mph! does the phone number ring familiar for you or any of your mates per chance? (especially as your friend says it was 25 years ago as if my maths is correct 2022-25=1997!)

 

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, beko1987 said:

Thought of you at the car boot this morning! 

Not enough to buy any of them but enough to take some pics 😂

hah very cool! that Philips MLU is from Jan 1969, just one year newer then the one I got from @Andyrew 

 

On 26/01/2021 at 20:02, LightBulbFun said:

a little while ago @Andyrew very kindly saved a number of lightbulbs from a house clearance skip and gave them to me at one of the FoD gatherings

in there was this lamp, a rare Self ballasted mercury lamp, made for Sun tanning, therapeutic uses, and as a general UV/IR source it uses a tungsten filament as a ballast for the mercury vapour arc tube which produces the UV (down to about 300Nm is whats allowed through the hard glass bulb) said Filament while acting as the ballast for the arc tube eliminating the need for any external control gear also produces infrared for therapeutic and such applications 

was quite excited when this was dug out as they are quite rare, (this type of lamp  was a bit more popular in the US however and I had such a US example, the US examples where 275W and made by GE, Sylvania and Westinghouse, my US example is a GE SUN RS one for those curious)

but until then I had no 220V-240V/European examples so I was very pleased to finally get one to compliment my US example

 

well I finally got round to testing it and im pleased to report it works  my Example dates to November 1968 for those wondering, its always a bit nerve wrecking testing filament lamps like this where its hard to see what sort of shape the filament is in

dont want it to turn it on have it go PLINK! on you with a bright flash or find its lost vacuum and have the filament burn up and oxidise  

 

here it is just after striking, at this point the arc tube is still cold and the voltage drop across it is very small (about 15V-20V) so most of the light is produced by the ballast filament

once the lamp warms up the light output from the arc tube increases greatly and so does its voltage drop (to about 115V) meaning a lot less voltage is across the filament now so a lot more light is now from the mercury vapour arc tube

\

a more detailed/technical description of this lamp can be found here for those curious http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Spec Sheets/D MB Philips MLU300.htm

 

[bunglebus]

You've probably seen it already but OVW 418P Invacar features in The Comic Strip presents Dirty Movie

Judy watching it on Channel 4 online 

[LightBulbFun]

4 minutes ago, bunglebus said:

You've probably seen it already but I've 418P Invacar features in The Comic Strip presents Dirty Movie

Judy watching it on Channel 4 online 

indeed I have! but I appreciate the heads up as always  its full reg mark is OVW418P

 

On 24/12/2019 at 13:31, LightBulbFun said:

On 24/12/2019 at 07:10, JimH said:

There doesn’t appear to have been a mention of The Comic Strip Presents: Dirty Movie so far.

It isn’t but there is some hardcore Type 70 action in it.

Page 72 Im aware of one  https://autoshite.com/topic/32723-invacar-model-70-acquired-and-general-ramble-thread-index-on-page-1-phase-2-finding-a-suitable-driving-schoolinstructor-getting-lessons-and-a-licence-16th-lesson-had-mum-wants-a-car/?do=findComment&comment=1866634

knew about for a long time, just never knew which one it was exactly or which "episode" or such it was featured in, as the image on the IMCDB, is postage size stamped, but thankfully @busmansholiday was able to tell me where to find it so I did  

and it was OVW418P (fun fact OVW480P, the last P reg Invacar Model 70 does survive ) 

AFAIK its the only Model 70 featured? but id be happy to be proven wrong!  

On 24/12/2019 at 10:35, Mrs6C said:

 

[bunglebus]

Bloody autocorrect! 

[martc]

On 6/10/2022 at 11:58 PM, LightBulbFun said:

when researching the Northern Ireland aspect of Invacars I have wondered if any where directly caught up in the troubles at all

turns out according to this poor chap yes! Invacars literally bomb proof!

https://www.facebook.com/springchicken.co.uk/posts/1433221766863035?comment_id=1433471656838046

 

He replaced his 'noddy car' with a VW Golf. I guess he suffered some sort of head injury.

(about 2 hours ago someone at work asked if we had any superglue as the offside mirror glass has parted company from the backing plastic and fallen off his 4 year old Golf, apparently the same happened with the nearside one which he glued back on about 6 months ago))

[Eyersey1234]

@LightBulbFunanother mention on Faceache

[Mrs6C]

Invercar... somewhere between Inverness and Redcar, perhaps?

[LightBulbFun]

9 minutes ago, Mrs6C said:

Invercar... somewhere between Inverness and Redcar, perhaps?

theres also invercargill in New Zealand, you have no idea how many times @dollywobblertripped me up on his NZ trip because of that location LOL

its entirely possible there was an Invacar there at some point in time! I know of this very unusual example that existed in NZ in period

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

a Pretty early Invacar, with some interesting mods or options, including a rather beefy engine, clearly not your usual Villiers 125cc or 197cc option!

[Eyersey1234]

3 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

theres also invercargill in New Zealand, you have no idea how many times @dollywobblertripped me up on his NZ trip because of that location LOL

its entirely possible there was an Invacar there at some point in time! I know of this very unusual example that existed in NZ in period

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

a Pretty early Invacar, with some interesting mods or options, including a rather beefy engine, clearly not your usual Villiers 125cc or 197cc option!

One chodtastic Invacar there 

[LightBulbFun]

DHSS Workshop Manual For The Model 70 Three Wheeler(OCR).pdf

just bringing this back up for someone who I know has an account on here so should be able to download it!  

[AdgeCutler]

Apologies for not having given an update of late, I’ve been steadily making progress with Brian in my spare time but neglected the camera in favour of moving onward with limited time. The wiring and lights have been gone through, damage repaired, restored and mostly gone through and I feel the circuits are now good. On the lighting front I found a couple of headlamp assemblies that were salvageable and have those ready to use after a friend of mine found some new old stock lenses in his shed. They are not Lucas but period copies by Remax, these will light the way far better than the rotten originals. I managed to restore the stop and tail L761 units but sadly the L760 flashers were past it and until I source some, plastic reproduce will have to suffice but of course with the original lenses to cover them. Many more imperial fasteners have had to be tracked down and purchased and windscreen rubber identified bought and fitted, also the correct type rubber trim has been acquired and is partially prepared for fitting. Still no door or exhaust but I’m feeling it’s not far off.

[Mrs6C]

Brian is looking fantastic! Well done!

[Rust Collector]

That looks incredible! Can't wait to see the finished car.

[barrett]

1 hour ago, AdgeCutler said:

Apologies for not having given an update of late, I’ve been steadily making progress with Brian in my spare time but neglected the camera in favour of moving onward with limited time. The wiring and lights have been gone through, damage repaired, restored and mostly gone through and I feel the circuits are now good. On the lighting front I found a couple of headlamp assemblies that were salvageable and have those ready to use after a friend of mine found some new old stock lenses in his shed. They are not Lucas but period copies by Remax, these will light the way far better than the rotten originals. I managed to restore the stop and tail L761 units but sadly the L760 flashers were past it and until I source some, plastic reproduce will have to suffice but of course with the original lenses to cover them. Many more imperial fasteners have had to be tracked down and purchased and windscreen rubber identified bought and fitted, also the correct type rubber trim has been acquired and is partially prepared for fitting. Still no door or exhaust but I’m feeling it’s not far off.

That looks absolutely incredible! Can we see it sitting on the restored wheels and new rubber? That is definitely my 'car resto progress fetish'

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, AdgeCutler said:

Apologies for not having given an update of late, I’ve been steadily making progress with Brian in my spare time but neglected the camera in favour of moving onward with limited time. The wiring and lights have been gone through, damage repaired, restored and mostly gone through and I feel the circuits are now good. On the lighting front I found a couple of headlamp assemblies that were salvageable and have those ready to use after a friend of mine found some new old stock lenses in his shed. They are not Lucas but period copies by Remax, these will light the way far better than the rotten originals. I managed to restore the stop and tail L761 units but sadly the L760 flashers were past it and until I source some, plastic reproduce will have to suffice but of course with the original lenses to cover them. Many more imperial fasteners have had to be tracked down and purchased and windscreen rubber identified bought and fitted, also the correct type rubber trim has been acquired and is partially prepared for fitting. Still no door or exhaust but I’m feeling it’s not far off.

its really lovely to see Brian come together at long last! 

its going to simply stunning!  

[AdgeCutler]

9 hours ago, barrett said:

That looks absolutely incredible! Can we see it sitting on the restored wheels and new rubber? That is definitely my 'car resto progress fetish'

It’ a bit dull here right now, perfect for setting the headlamp beams infact. Here goes.

[AdgeCutler]

I’ve no idea how to downside up that picture and I’ve just pushed Brian back into his shed, sorry.

[egg]

[AdgeCutler]

Just now, egg said:

 Like magic! Thanks Mr. Egg Sir.

[LightBulbFun]

8 minutes ago, AdgeCutler said:

I’ve no idea how to downside up that picture and I’ve just pushed Brian back into his shed, sorry.

beaten to it by @egg!  

but its a very awesome photo! amazing to see after all this time!

also finally gives me a good photograph to stick into my survives list  

(now excuse me while I visit the Calendar thread)

[LightBulbFun]

Many thanks to @EightMegs's who dropped on by to hand deliver this, lamp which I won on ebay, but only realised 5 minutes to the end was collection only, but very thankfully @EightMegs stepped in literally at the last minute to collect it and safely bring it to me  

its a very rare antique large carbon filament lamp made by the Sunbeam Electric Light Ltd company from 1890's, they specialised in making large high power lamps, to compete with the smaller carbon arc lamps of the time

I did indeed light it, for the first time in probably well over 100 years! I knew it was a high current low voltage lamp so I used by DC bench-top PSU for it, which at its max output of 30V the lamp draws about 5A, clearly not full power, but it was quite awesome to see

I dont know the exact rating of this particular lamp but I know these lamps ran at about 3.5 watts per Candle power, and where produced in the 150 cp 2000 Cp range, from 50V to 120V, going by the size I suspect this one to be around the 200 cp range, so would be a 700W lightbulb in modern parlance

I would like to bring it up closer to full power on the Variac, but obviously especially not knowing the exact ratings of the lamp ill have to tread very carefully if I do attempt that!

it joins my 16 Candle power 100V Ediswan lightbulb from c1893 shown on the right, as one of the oldest lamps in my collection 

a serious piece of awesome antique glassware I am really pleased and quite proud to have in the collection  

[Yoss]

Didn't understand a word of that (and dont bother trying to explain, I'm happy in my ignorance) but it looks nice. Well done. 

[High Jetter]

5 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

Many thanks to @EightMegs's who dropped on by to hand deliver this, lamp which I won on ebay, but only realised 5 minutes to the end was collection only, but very thankfully @EightMegs stepped in literally at the last minute to collect it and safely bring it to me  

its a very rare antique large carbon filament lamp made by the Sunbeam Electric Light Ltd company from 1890's, they specialised in making large high power lamps, to compete with the smaller carbon arc lamps of the time

I did indeed light it, for the first time in probably well over 100 years! I knew it was a high current low voltage lamp so I used by DC bench-top PSU for it, which at its max output of 30V the lamp draws about 5A, clearly not full power, but it was quite awesome to see

I dont know the exact rating of this particular lamp but I know these lamps ran at about 3.5 watts per Candle power, and where produced in the 150 cp 2000 Cp range, from 50V to 120V, going by the size I suspect this one to be around the 200 cp range, so would be a 700W lightbulb in modern parlance

I would like to bring it up closer to full power on the Variac, but obviously especially not knowing the exact ratings of the lamp ill have to tread very carefully if I do attempt that!

it joins my 16 Candle power 100V Ediswan lightbulb from c1893 shown on the right, as one of the oldest lamps in my collection 

a serious piece of awesome antique glassware I am really pleased and quite proud to have in the collection  

My late Uncle was  a Marconi engineer. I think he'd have been on your wavelength.

[The Old Bloke Next Door]

Posted on facebook today/