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...

[LightBulbFun]

7 minutes ago, OldBlokeInACaravan said:

XPD 805 is alive and well with me up in the North East.

Oh awesome! I did wonder if you had managed to grab it going by how you changed your profile picture to show it  

 

I very much look forward to hearing how you get on with it! and I am very glad to hear its in good hands! given the historical importance of this particular Argson, I came very close to buying it myself just to ensure it did not fall into bad hands!

but I could not quite make it work, mainly a case of lacking somewhere under-cover to stash it and transport

 

as a side note! I know you have sold a few of your other Argsons and invalid carriages etc, if at some point you could PM me a list of which ones you still have and which ones have been moved on, that would be awesome

just so I have some idea of whats where and with who etc  

[calebaaront]

[Slowsilver]

I was watching a programme that I had recorded called "Dial 999" on Talking Pictures TV. It was an episode called "Extradition", made in 1958 so obviously in black and white. I spotted the following:

This is the full-resolution picture taken from the whole paused TV screen.

And this is a potato-cam style closeup.

It appears to be an invalid carriage of some sort, possibly an early AC. The registration number looks like WPL 874. I don't know if @LightBulbFun has seen this before or knows of the vehicle but I thought it was worth posting for interest.
 

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, calebaaront said:

Sadly still dont know who has TPE409S now! I am still not sure how @Weird Car managed to sell a car without knowing who she sold it to!

On 04/03/2023 at 19:01, LightBulbFun said:

@Harriytait I noticed you have pulled the listing for TPE, any word on where she be off to now?  

On 04/03/2023 at 19:16, Weird Car said:

No clue, the chap had a northern accent though so may or may not be a clue 

much less an Invacar something I am sure everyone knows here that I specifically try and keep track of known survivors! 

ah well I am pleased to see that whoever its with seems to be using it on the road which is really awesome  

3 hours ago, Slowsilver said:

I was watching a programme that I had recorded called "Dial 999" on Talking Pictures TV. It was an episode called "Extradition", made in 1958 so obviously in black and white. I spotted the following:

This is the full-resolution picture taken from the whole paused TV screen.

And this is a potato-cam style closeup.

It appears to be an invalid carriage of some sort, possibly an early AC. The registration number looks like WPL 874. I don't know if @LightBulbFun has seen this before or knows of the vehicle but I thought it was worth posting for interest.
 

Ahh awesome! I have indeed seen it before, but only as you present it, a photograph that someone took of it on their TV, but your shots are somewhat clearer, and its good to know where it features  its a Harper Mk1 and a Very early one at that if WPLxxx registered 

 

[egg]

22 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

its a Harper Mk1 and a Very early one at that if WPLxxx registered 

I see the car in the road is a Wolseley 6/90 (?), but what's that parked behind the Harper?

[bobdisk]

20 minutes ago, egg said:

I see the car in the road is a Wolseley 6/90 (?), but what's that parked behind the Harper?

Could it be a Triumph Mayflower.  Seems to have the "razor edges" .

[Weird Car]

58 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

Sadly still dont know who has TPE409S now! I am still not sure how @Weird Car managed to sell a car without knowing who she sold it to!

much less an Invacar something I am sure everyone knows here that I specifically try and keep track of known survivors! 

ah well I am pleased to see that whoever its with seems to be using it on the road which is really awesome  

Ahh awesome! I have indeed seen it before, but only as you present it, a photograph that someone took of it on their TV, but your shots are somewhat clearer, and its good to know where it features  its a Harper Mk1 and a Very early one at that if WPLxxx registered 

 

FTFY

 

Also I do have a phone number of the current owner but he wasn’t comfortable with me sharing it unfortunately, I did ask him to reach out to you for advice and more information on the car and told him about the forum but it doesn’t seem he’s too interested in joining.

[High Jetter]

34 minutes ago, bobdisk said:

Could it be a Triumph Mayflower.  Seems to have the "razor edges" .

I'd say that's spot-on.

[horriblemercedes]

22 minutes ago, Weird Car said:

FTFY

 

Also I do have a phone number of the current owner but he wasn’t comfortable with me sharing it unfortunately, I did ask him to reach out to you for advice and more information on the car and told him about the forum but it doesn’t seem he’s too interested in joining.

I think I'd be the same, in fairness. If I bought a car simply because I liked it, I don't think I'd particularly want to contact a complete stranger to talk about it!

[JJ0063]

3 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

I think I'd be the same, in fairness. If I bought a car simply because I liked it, I don't think I'd particularly want to contact a complete stranger to talk about it!

This

Sorry but no matter how much your life revolves around these, you simply don’t have the right unfortunately…

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, Weird Car said:

FTFY

 

Also I do have a phone number of the current owner but he wasn’t comfortable with me sharing it unfortunately, I did ask him to reach out to you for advice and more information on the car and told him about the forum but it doesn’t seem he’s too interested in joining.

Oh! sorry about that! I do apologise I have edited my post accordingly, and thanks for passing on my details  that is much appreciated!  

 

[neil1971]

From the British Roadscene 1955 - 1995 Facebook group, Bath 1976

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, neil1971 said:

From the British Roadscene 1955 - 1995 Facebook group, Bath 1976

ahh yes NWC581P one of the old guard so to speak, aka one of those pictures that always crops up at some point or another  (along with NPN924P, the side profile shot of WOO848S and so forth!)

it is quite amusing how the person who posted it to that Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/BritishRoadscene1955to1985/posts/6575634872493526

thinks the photo is from 1976 (guessing they just went off P suffix) try 2002 instead!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/28083135@N06/8900814444/

 

someone even once used that photo for some Hubnut Fan art!

On 27/10/2020 at 17:00, LightBulbFun said:

https://www.facebook.com/HubNutCarVideos/posts/845502346259607

its not the stig TWC its actually TWC's Cousin NWC from Bath! (sadly not a known survivor)

https://flic.kr/p/eyx131

 

 

 

 

[brummiejon]

I’ve just discovered this… I assume that you’ve seen it before but it’s worth posting anyway

 

[LightBulbFun]

41 minutes ago, brummiejon said:

I’ve just discovered this… I assume that you’ve seen it before but it’s worth posting anyway

 

indeed I have seen it a few times  tis a lovely bit of footage, lovely colour shots of some really rare/extinct carriages  

do wonder/hope the original film stock survives somewhere, so it can be properly scanned in someday in lovely HD or 4K (and allow me to oggle at the finer details! LOL)

[Eyersey1234]

This cropped up on my Facebook feed yesterday @LightBulbFun

[LightBulbFun]

2 hours ago, EML said:

Last one for today,  Odeon cinema on the corner of Victoria st and East St Mary's gate

Building is still there,  now a Mc's and the road is pedestrianised 

 

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

You forgot to tag @LightBulbFun for that one. It even has a readable reg.

Oh cool! not a picture I have seen before CVX200G, its the last car of its block, already aware of the block tho so sadly nothing new on that front, I say sadly because CVX101G-CVX200G comes just before a 2 blocks that I am missing before I pickup again on DPU501G-DPU600G

so if it was literally 1 car newer, it would of revealed to me one of the blocks I am missing, but its still very neat to see  

 

speaking of neat to see, theres an old Petrol Stanley Argson on eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404347463638

not quite from 1931 mind! me and Stuart are pretty sure its LPC29, one that cropped up for sale earlier a few months back, that it looks like someones restored, and maybe gone a bit overboard with the Brass! (it looks like they took inspiration from TF6405) but if it is the same machine, its good to see it got some much needed TLC

note the exact same sort of added foot pedal

[brummiejon]

I’m having a bit of trouble with Flo…. And no one really to turn to….. There is no power difference between 1 and 2 then a big jump to 3.  I’ve had a good look at the wiring and the speed controller, no obvious issues… I’m a bit stumped and have no one to turn to…

anyone here have any contacts for vintage electrical engineers? 

[LightBulbFun]

1 minute ago, brummiejon said:

I’m having a bit of trouble with Flo…. And no one really to turn to….. There is no power difference between 1 and 2 then a big jump to 3.  I’ve had a good look at the wiring and the speed controller, no obvious issues… I’m a bit stumped and have no one to turn to…

anyone here have any contacts for vintage electrical engineers? 

Pretty sure thats @Zelandeth's calling card  

 

do you have a multi-meter to hand? I would just check for continuity across the switch contacts first to make sure they are making/breaking the connections they should be, and like wise on DC voltage mode check that however many volts is supposed to be going where its supposed to be going (and make sure its coming from where its supposed to be coming from)

it sounds almost like its stuck on 1, and speed mode 2 is not being selected so makes me think a bad switch contact/connection somewhere

does speed 4 (and the 2 reverse speeds) work as they should?

[brummiejon]

Speeds 1 3 and 4 work as they should as do both reverse speeds… I understand that the 2 reverse speeds are the same as speeds 1 and 2 just with reverse polarity…. This makes me think that they’re nowt wrong with the motor…. I’ve checked over the speed controller, cleaned the copper contact with wet and dry paper and examined the contacts and wiring… All looks ok.

the controller itself is rather complicated and M not sure what I should be testing…. 
 

 

[somewhatfoolish]

To verify; you say that fwd 1st & 2nd are the same, but reverse 1st and 2nd are behaving normally and not the same? If so a quick test would be to bridge terminals 1 & 2 with a piece of wire(decent wire thickness and secure firmly as the current will be large)  and try in fwd 1st; it should go at 2nd speed.

[bobdisk]

14 hours ago, brummiejon said:

I’m having a bit of trouble with Flo…. And no one really to turn to….. There is no power difference between 1 and 2 then a big jump to 3.  I’ve had a good look at the wiring and the speed controller, no obvious issues… I’m a bit stumped and have no one to turn to…

anyone here have any contacts for vintage electrical engineers? 

@brummiejon A company called ReCare in Oxfordshire bought the Argson Electric from Mathewsons last year. They are specialists in equipment for disabled persons. They successfully fixed it, and got 15mph from it.  I do remember the Bangers And Cash program started with a Fiat 500. ReCare was 37 minutes into the program.  Perhaps they can help.

https://uktvplay.co.uk/shows/bangers-and-cash/series-7/episode-5/6320052620112

https://www.recare.co.uk/

[brummiejon]

3 hours ago, bobdisk said:

@brummiejon A company called ReCare in Oxfordshire bought the Argson Electric from Mathewsons last year. They are specialists in equipment for disabled persons. They successfully fixed it, and got 15mph from it.  I do remember the Bangers And Cash program started with a Fiat 500. ReCare was 37 minutes into the program.  Perhaps they can help.

https://uktvplay.co.uk/shows/bangers-and-cash/series-7/episode-5/6320052620112

https://www.recare.co.uk/

I’m already in touch with them… planning to email the today thank

[brummiejon]

13 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

To verify; you say that fwd 1st & 2nd are the same, but reverse 1st and 2nd are behaving normally and not the same? If so a quick test would be to bridge terminals 1 & 2 with a piece of wire(decent wire thickness and secure firmly as the current will be large)  and try in fwd 1st; it should go at 2nd speed.

I’ll give it a go thanks

[LightBulbFun]

On 25/01/2019 at 15:41, LightBulbFun said:

interestingly I found this screen cap of another Model 70 with what looks like a GPG-K Reg (next to a Routemaster too ) sadly I cant quite make out the reg of the model 70, and the combinations iv tried on the DVLA dont turn up anything

 

 

so who remebers this one from all the way back from Page 12?! 

 

well I am bringing it back up as I noticed The NHS:  A Peoples history was currently on BBC iPlayer, and I knew this screenshot was from that show, I have been wanting to find the episode so I could have a good look at it, as I knew there would be better shots of it in there as well as general archive footage for me to oggle over

and indeed! I was able to grab this good screenshot, which confirms it to be a GPG-K as I had suspected all those years back, GPG814K to be exact, but also really interestingly its got dual plastic Desmo wing mirrors, the Model 70 standard configuration was a single plastic Desmo Mirror, these where often quickly replaced by their metal counterparts in service as the OE plastic ones where/are very fragile from what I understand

and all of the Dual Mirror Model 70's I have seen had metal mirrors, but I did wonder where any did get configured with dual plastic mirrors? and indeed heres period proof of that  (I do wonder if it left AC like that, or if the 2nd one was added shortly after the fact)

I also notice its a steering-wheel car! which is somewhat fitting because the oldest production Model 70 known to survive GPG721K is also a steering-wheel car!

it was also nice to grab a better shot of it next to the Routemaster, (I sadly dont have many Model 70+Routemaster photographs)

and rather fittingly for @Yoss I noticed the RM is one with an offside illuminated advert  

in-fact I just noticed I am pretty sure its Route 2B which is *very* fitting  I wonder if anyone recognises the exact location would be fun to do some recreation shots

(although maybe it could be Route 2A? which was only withdrawn in 1974, I note the RM is one of the few with the "DMS" style London Transport open roundel, and obviously theres a Model 70 there so that puts the date firmly between 1971-1974 since I think in 1974, the open roundel was replaced by the sold white roundel)

 

its later shown next another RM on Route 30

and also shown just mingling in Central London traffic which was fun to see  

 

and then finally going back around to what I said above about at hoping to get some more archive footage to go over, well I got exactly what I was hoping for! in the form of this shot:

which shows YPG646G an Early AC Acedes Mk15 Model 67, and the reason thats significant is it plugs a missing 50 car block I had between YPE831G-YPE930G and YPK751H-YPK950H

this block is YPG601G-YPG650G and is the last G suffix AC block, being such a small block in such an awkward place meant It would of been a lot of work to manual find it out (since I did not know which side of the suffix change it was on, the suffix change is why it was such a small block)

so I am really pleased to have gotten this shot, as it  finally plugs that gap  

[LightBulbFun]

Oh and @brummiejon Stuart mentioned quickly that on his Argson when he had a running one, that on his there was never much change between speeds 1 and 2 and the jump in power with speed 3 was always much larger

although correct me if I am wrong, it sounds like your getting no change in speed at all between speeds 1 and 2?

[brummiejon]

47 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

Oh and @brummiejon Stuart mentioned quickly that on his Argson when he had a running one, that on his there was never much change between speeds 1 and 2 and the jump in power with speed 3 was always much larger

although correct me if I am wrong, it sounds like your getting no change in speed at all between speeds 1 and 2?

Yes, not noticeable at all, no change in power either on a slight incline. Im sure it was better before…

there is a noticeable difference in power between 1 and 2 in reverse and it looks like it uses exactly the same circuit as 1 and 2 forward just with the polarity reversed..

[Yoss]

3 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

so who remebers this one from all the way back from Page 12?! 

 

well I am bringing it back up as I noticed The NHS:  A Peoples history was currently on BBC iPlayer, and I knew this screenshot was from that show, I have been wanting to find the episode so I could have a good look at it, as I knew there would be better shots of it in there as well as general archive footage for me to oggle over

and indeed! I was able to grab this good screenshot, which confirms it to be a GPG-K as I had suspected all those years back, GPG814K to be exact, but also really interestingly its got dual plastic Desmo wing mirrors, the Model 70 standard configuration was a single plastic Desmo Mirror, these where often quickly replaced by their metal counterparts in service as the OE plastic ones where/are very fragile from what I understand

and all of the Dual Mirror Model 70's I have seen had metal mirrors, but I did wonder where any did get configured with dual plastic mirrors? and indeed heres period proof of that  (I do wonder if it left AC like that, or if the 2nd one was added shortly the fact)

I also notice its a steering-wheel car! which is somewhat fitting because the oldest production Model 70 known to survive GPG721K is also a steering-wheel car!

it was also nice to grab a better shot of it next to the Routemaster, (I sadly dont have many Model 70+Routemaster photographs)

and rather fittingly for @Yoss I noticed the RM is one with an offside illuminated advert  

in-fact I just noticed I am pretty sure its Route 2B which is *very* fitting  I wonder if anyone recognises the exact location would be fun to do some recreation shots

(although maybe it could be Route 2A? which was only withdrawn in 1974, I note the RM is one of the few with the "DMS" style London Transport open roundel, and obviously theres a Model 70 there so that puts the date firmly between 1971-1974 since I think in 1974, the open roundel was replaced by the sold white roundel)

 

its later shown next another RM on Route 30

and also shown just mingling in Central London traffic which was fun to see  

 

and then finally going back around to what I said above about at hoping to get some more archive footage to go over, well I got exactly what I was hoping for! in the form of this shot:

which shows YPG646G an Early AC Acedes Mk15 Model 67, and the reason thats significant is it plugs a missing 50 car block I had between YPE831G-YPE930G and YPK751H-YPK950H

this block is YPG601G-YPG650G and is the last G suffix AC block, being such a small block in such an awkward place meant It would of been a lot of work to manual find it out (since I did not know which side of the suffix change it was on, the suffix change is why it was such a small block)

so I am really pleased to have gotten this shot, as it  finally plugs that gap  

It looks like an ALM B reg too. Possibly 71 or 77 but it really is just that bit to blurred to see it properly. Also can't quite read the destination. It is obviously a 2B which probably ran from Golders Green to Crystal Palace at that time but it doesn't look like either of those so must be a short journey. 

Also interestingly, for me at least, is the Triumph 1300 behind.

[High Jetter]

Sure you've seen it before, PPD 305 on B&C

[LightBulbFun]

my 11000th post! (well technically 11001th post, but its not my fault the forum software no longer displays your post count in whole numbers under the left side bar anymore LOL)

but you know what that means another post of a few interesting photos I have accumulated overtime

first up, this one, which in in itself is a nice shot, a fun contrast of colours of 3 wheelers, between the AC Model 70 and the Bond bug

but more interestingly, from a completely separate source IIRC, I found this photo

which looks to be almost the exact same lineup + an additional bond bug, I do wonder what was going on there! I Mean I almost wonder if the Model 70 is part of some sort of early 3 wheeler collection rather than a ministry issue to a disabled person? or maybe tis a disabled person who also has/had a collection of Bond bugs? either way quite curious!

 

moving onto to this one, which we have had before

but I recently found this one, which amused me for just how similar the setup is, (give or take some sideburns) despite being probably 10 years apart or so?

(and obviously Model 70 in the first picture and AC Acedes Mk14A in the 2nd picture)

 

speaking of Acedes, heres a Mk15 with Racing(?) stripes! and someones pushed the boat out and fitted retroreflective plates, looks weird LOL

(reminds me of the Northern General RMF's and the Retroreflective plates they gained relatively early on)

 

and finally these period pictures of 521TRT  a Harding Model IV (aka a Harding Consort in Electric form)

 

amazingly I do know that 521TRT does still survive somewhere! gotta wonder if the current owner is aware of these photos or not!