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...

[Rovorsche]

5 hours ago, chadders said:

If Hagerty start quoting Invacare values then you'll know that they've arrived and the values will go up as a result. Maybe enough to start producing replicas as Dobloseven says, there seems to be enough fibreglass moulding expertise out there looking at the garden ornaments that you can buy, which appear to be far more elaborate.

Pass it to the left, you are hogging the green.

[LightBulbFun]

are you sure about that? @dollywobbler a Model 70 on 12 inch wheels (like TWC) has 8 inches of ground clearance, which is more then some SUV's these days I think!

whats the ground clearance of a 2CV? (google is telling me 7.5 inches, but I know first hand how you cant trust google!)

if google is to be believed, then TWC would actually have Elly beat on those stakes!  

although the lack any ablity to clutch control and a somewhat lack of low down torque I imagine would be TWC's undoing in such an attempt, would still be great fun to see just how far she could make it tho!

[somewhatfoolish]

Three wheelers are a giant liability on a green lane as nothing else uses the middle of the track.

[sierraman]

19 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Funny one, innit? High entry points do keep some people out of classic* ownership - and that's a bit of a shame.  However, firm prices also stop things getting crushed for trivial reasons.  Nobody in the UK things twice about throwing a 15 year old, perfectly serviceable, car away because it needs work.  But if that £400 Ford Focus was worth £5,000 - it'd be getting new discs and pads all round and - who knows - maybe even a wash too!

When the Sierra was £700, it was genuinely at risk of getting raced.  It's probably worth getting on for £3k now which reduces that significantly.  At the point it's north of £5k I'd say that it'd only end up getting bangered if it was stolen.

All told, higher asking prices that better reflect the value of things is probably better than the alternative.

 

I’d agree with that in a sense, it gets them out of peoples hands that will make an absolute hash of it I suppose. Restoring a car properly means lots of ££££, if you haven’t got that then unless you are tremendously skilled you end up cutting all sorts of corners filling it full of wob and it ends up in a worse position than when started.
 

Sad bastard me was looking last night at an old issue of Craptical Plastics from 1997 seeing which of the front page resto jobs were still going, most of them were as they were proper thorough jobs not bits of road signs riveted in the floor and spades of P38. When you look at some of the other ones a bit further in then it’s a bit different, the ones done in lock ups and painted with Rustoleum etc tended to be long gone. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that by the way, it’s given someone a few summers of enjoyment which is what it’s all about. But once they’re worth a few quid suddenly it’s worth spending £600 on a NOS wing or £3,000 at the engine reconditioners. You will always get someone that will remortgage the house to restore a Talbot Alpine or whatever but because it’s worth about 34 pence when it’s done and there’s no parts or demand for it when done then it’s likely to get ‘done on the cheap’.

[SiC]

17 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Sad bastard me was looking last night at an old issue of Craptical Plastics from 1997 seeing which of the front page resto jobs were still going, most of them were as they were proper thorough jobs not bits of road signs riveted in the floor and spades of P38

March 1996

 

Still going* but it is/was a proper bodge job of poorly welded together panels.

I should have stripped it for parts and got some of my money back. Ended up so far costing more than a good one in parts & panels - even with me doing the work. 

[SiC]

I put this on TDW about the 5k one (before it was 5k):

Best thing, imo, is for it to be restored as a museum exhibit. I know there is a lot hatred for them on here but they are part of our national history, good and bad. There isn't many in museums at all.

Mrs SiC great grandfather had one after he was severely injured in a bicycle accident with a bus when he was off to work (he was a sign painter). Anyway he put an extra seat in there for passengers. My wife's nan took a ride in the Invacar it to get back home quicker as she had to sort out some ill aunt the other side of town. Except on the journey the police passed them. She ended up getting arrested after they were caught red handed. They let her go on a warning after her story passed true that her aunt was ill and she needed to get back to her kids. No doubt knowing Mrs SiC nan, she probably giving the police some jip too and caused her being arrested. 🤣

Anyway I'm sure there are many stories out there on them and they are very much part of our social history that many can relate to. Museums have the advantage of many people getting to see and experience them. Also gets over an issues about trying to get it re-registered and the like. 

[egg]

Can I just say, it is a little annoying when people call TWC

[sierraman]

I don’t get the dislike for them to be honest, I remember one being near us, an amputee lady that lived in the flats had one. It’s probably easy to look back and think that it probably objectified disabled people in this blue contraption but I suppose at the time it gave a lot of people freedom they wouldn’t otherwise have had as there was no motobility schemes until the late 70’s. Obviously at the time they acquired a lot of unpleasant nicknames but that was probably reflective of peoples attitudes at the time.

[brummiejon]

8 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

are you sure about that? @dollywobbler a Model 70 on 12 inch wheels (like TWC) has 8 inches of ground clearance, which is more then some SUV's these days I think!

whats the ground clearance of a 2CV? (google is telling me 7.5 inches, but I know first hand how you cant trust google!)

if google is to be believed, then TWC would actually have Elly beat on those stakes!  

although the lack any ablity to clutch control and a somewhat lack of low down torque I imagine would be TWC's undoing in such an attempt, would still be great fun to see just how far she could make it tho!

When I used to go to Glastonbury festival in the 80s, if it rained, the only vehicles that could get off the site were Landrovers and 2CVs. You’re also forgetting that with one tool, you could wind up the 2CV suspension if needed 

[DSdriver]

9 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Three wheelers are a giant liability on a green lane as nothing else uses the middle of the track.

A lot of the proper single track roads are like that around here, green up the middle, which elicits the comment "you don't get many Reliant Robins around here"

[Dobloseven]

3 hours ago, sierraman said:

I don’t get the dislike for them to be honest, I remember one being near us, an amputee lady that lived in the flats had one. It’s probably easy to look back and think that it probably objectified disabled people in this blue contraption but I suppose at the time it gave a lot of people freedom they wouldn’t otherwise have had as there was no motobility schemes until the late 70’s. Obviously at the time they acquired a lot of unpleasant nicknames but that was probably reflective of peoples attitudes at the time.

Another thing to remember is if you didn't have an Invacar, what would you drive. Seventies cars weren't easy to drive by todays standards. Power steering and autoboxes were rare except for big motors. Even servo brakes were by no means a given. LBF pointed out a while back, that a Model 70 could possibly be driven by someone with only one hand. Also the matter of access. With a high seat and access from both sides plus sliding doors a wheelchair user could get in and pull their chair in after themselves. Plus you got to get behind the goal at the football!Imagine a pitch full of Motability Kia Sportages. Seriously, for their time they were a vehicle for a very specific job. A while back I did a job for a young, severely disabled guy. He answered the door in his electric wheelchair he controlled with a joystick. He seemed to have a live in carer. Told me he was studying Politics at university and hoped to become a journalist. When I left, I noticed a VW T5 or 6 window van outside. Something made me look inside. The interior was completely devoid of seats, apart from the front passenger one. No apparent controls, steering wheel etc. Seems the rear doors would open, a ramp emerge, Thunderbirds style. He'd drive the wheechair in to the driving position, clamps would grip it to the floor, a seat belt wrap round him automatically and he'd drive it with a computer game style joystick about where the electric mirror controls would be. Imagine something like that in the sixties or seventies. 

[sierraman]

Just now, Dobloseven said:

Another thing to remember is if you didn't have an Invacar, what would you drive. Seventies cars weren't easy to drive by todays standards. Power steering and autoboxes were rare except for big motors. Even servo brakes were by no means a given. LBF pointed out a while back, that a Model 70 could possibly be driven by someone with only one hand. Also the matter of access. With a high seat and access from both sides plus sliding doors a wheelchair user could get in and pull their chair in after themselves. Plus you got to get behind the goal at the football!Imagine a pitch full of Motability Kia Sportages. Seriously, for their time they were a vehicle for a very specific job. A while back I did a job for a young, severely disabled guy. He answered the door in his electric wheelchair he controlled with a joystick. He seemed to have a live in carer. Told me he was studying Politics at university and hoped to become a journalist. When I left, I noticed a VW T5 or 6 window van outside. Something made me look inside. The interior was completely devoid of seats, apart from the front passenger one. No apparent controls, steering wheel etc. Seems the rear doors would open, a ramp emerge, Thunderbirds style. He'd drive the wheechair in to the driving position, clamps would grip it to the floor, a seat belt wrap round him automatically and he'd drive it with a computer game style joystick about where the electric mirror controls would be. Imagine something like that in the sixties or seventies. 

The sad fact is that in the seventies he’d have been written off and institutionalised. 

[brummiejon]

8 minutes ago, sierraman said:

The sad fact is that in the seventies he’d have been written off and institutionalised. 

Sadly, there are plenty of people still out there that believe that we are in-valid, and our unproductivity is a nothin more than a drain on their taxes 

[adw1977]

1 hour ago, Dobloseven said:

Another thing to remember is if you didn't have an Invacar, what would you drive. Seventies cars weren't easy to drive by todays standards. Power steering and autoboxes were rare except for big motors. Even servo brakes were by no means a given.

This is an early (1977) Ford effort at catering for disabled drivers.

No servo assistance on the brakes!

The only adaptations not on the ordinary options list were the remote control driver's mirror and extended seat slide.

[SiC]

2 hours ago, Dobloseven said:

Seventies cars weren't easy to drive by todays standards. Power steering and autoboxes were rare except for big motors.

Iirc @BeEP had an automatic Morris 1800 that was previously converted to hand throttle. 

Power steering was less necessary as the steering wheels are big, steering racks setup for it and perfectly adequate provided you don't try dry steering - which is a modern habit all of us are used to now. 

[SiC]

Maybe I'm wrong about them being in a museum as rare to see them! Spotted this one while waiting in the Chippy queue. 

Zoom, enhance

😁

[Snake Charmer]

18 minutes ago, SiC said:

Maybe I'm wrong about them being in a museum as rare to see them! Spotted this one while waiting in the Chippy queue. 

Zoom, enhance

😁

 Wheelie bars!! (That leave you stranded on the kerb.)

[meggersdog]

I met an old fella who grew up in the village where I live a few years ago.He was born with normal legs and feet but only his upper arms, no forearms or hands. Interesting guy he spent most of his working life as the captain of a tug boat working on the Thames. He was driving a Peugeot 205 automatic with cups on the steering wheel so he could steer with his upper arms. Previously he drove a manual Meastro with the cups but also the gearstick was extended so it fitted in his armpit and he changed gear by moving his upper body.

Anyway, when I met him he had just been pulled for speeding. The next village along used to be 40 mph the last time he came through and now it's 30mph. Copper asks to see his licence , the old fella flicks his welly off delves into his bag on the passenger floor with his bare foot and retrieves his licence with his toes. Brings the foot up to his upper arms and shows it to the copper. The copper just told him to keep his speed down.

[Dobloseven]

5 hours ago, sierraman said:

The sad fact is that in the seventies he’d have been written off and institutionalised. 

Not necessarily. Often seriously disabled people insisted on working for a living against all sorts of odds. An Invacar would often aid that. The guy I mentioned might just about have been able to get in and drive one. An automatic Mk2 Escort. No way. Not getting political or wishing to offend,this thread is about Invacars so could be relevant,but back in the day, there were schemes to provide employment for disabled folk, which rightly or wrongly don't seem to exist anymore. 

[somewhatfoolish]

Gordon Brown decided to pull the funding from Remploy, putting a lot of people on the dole.

[Dobloseven]

3 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Gordon Brown decided to pull the funding from Remploy, putting a lot of people on the dole.

Yes, they had a big place in Leicester which would have closed round that sort of time. 

[ETCHY]

I always believed tbe idea behind the Invacar was a very decent one. Basically if you have no legs / aren't mobile the government will provide for you in  the form of an Invacar.  Looked at by the standards of the time, for a government to invest that much time effort & money in the scheme is very laudable.

[somewhatfoolish]

For all its faults govt policy 1945-1979 wrought huge social change and mostly for the better, considering how broke the UK was at the end of the war successive govts made a decent enough fist of it.

[garbaldy]

20 hours ago, brummiejon said:

Sadly, there are plenty of people still out there that believe that we are in-valid, and our unproductivity is a nothin more than a drain on their taxes 

That's not true and you know it, there are thousands of disabled  people working and two in a local factory I know of,   I also know a few disabled that won't work but could quite easily and it's the second group that people notice unfortunately 

[brummiejon]

17 minutes ago, garbaldy said:

That's not true and you know it, there are thousands of disabled  people working and two in a local factory I know of,   I also know a few disabled that won't work but could quite easily and it's the second group that people notice unfortunately 

I’ve noticed a distinct change in people’s attitude from my able bodied self and my disabled self… I never used to get huffing and puffing around me in the supermarket or people barging past me on the pavements…  I was treated well at work until I was forced to retire and I’m treated well by railway staff, but the general public…. Only a few.

[wuvvum]

Maybe because they're thinking "There's that plonker who goes hooning around at 30mph on an illegal electric bike with no brakes."  Just a thought.

[Remspoor]

No idea where this is from. It looks like a screen shot from a video.

 

[Remspoor]

This image up for grabs on Alarmy- Dated 2013

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-unusual-sight-of-a-line-up-of-three-wheeled-ac-thundersley-invalid-55208476.html

[wuvvum]

On 8/12/2023 at 9:30 AM, sierraman said:

You will always get someone that will remortgage the house to restore a Talbot Alpine

@Grey the Floydian Sergal

[brummiejon]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

Maybe because they're thinking "There's that plonker who goes hooning around at 30mph on an illegal electric bike with no brakes."  Just a thought.

I don’t, which is why I get around at walking pace in a modified (brakes upgraded with modern brake shoes and  added brake lights) vintage mobility scooter. Even a road legal e-bike is faster than this  “death trap” as the flamers like to call it. 

Every attempt to register it with the DVLA has been refused (even with a certificate of registration from the issuing country council).  

They refused the original plate, an age related plate, a Q plate and everything else in between… even a supporting letter from the DVLAs registered owners club expert  was rejected. 

But hey…  I deleted my posts not because I was admitting to doing something I shouldn’t… I did it because I was concerned that the Flamers were spoiling LBFs thread…. I was mistaken, they did anyway and you’re still doing it… PM me if you’re pissed off.

The carnival photos where I “could have killed a child” doesn’t show how I was flanked by four people, there were crowd control Marshall’s  everywhere and the procession covered 1.5 miles in 2 hours (yeah, child killing speed). BTW, I am not wearing a brass helmet, it’s made of paper.

Thanks for the hate….. I’d rather be me than you and your pack of dogs lurking to bite without having anything constructive to say or any helpful suggestions other than “you’re an ignorant cunt”.

I told you I don’t care, and I don’t…. Report me… it’s all adding to the story that I’m writing with a journalist about the whole sorry state of the DVLA and now the pack of dogs on this forum will feature in it too. I’ll post a link to it when it’s published.

BTW it might be worth reading this link below… PM me, it’s disrespectful to @LightBulbFun to spew you hate for me on his thread.:

@OldBlokeInACaravan is right, in law, it is bullying…

https://socialmediavictims.org/cyberbullying/types/flaming/#:~:text=Flaming is a form of,common places for flaming cyberbullying.

and a UK definition

https://www.familylives.org.uk/advice/bullying/cyberbullying/what-is-cyberbullying