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...

[dollywobbler]

It was a big decision but my storage is awful and not doing her any favours. Plus, it is genuinely terrifying on the roads around here. People bomb down the single lanes and you feel very vulnerable. Especially when the front wheel is sliding down the grassy centre line.

Also, my motivation just isn't there to make her better. I've been saying for years that I'll start a restoration and it just doesn't happen.

Price is flexible but also shows I don't just want her going to the lowest bidder.

[Remspoor]

How about getting rid of the folding caravan/tent? Using up space, Sits outside going to get ruined. 

[Snake Charmer]

7 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

Plus, it is genuinely terrifying on the roads around here. People bomb down the single lanes and you feel very vulnerable.

Totally get that, l took a Type 14 Lotus Elite for an Mot a few times, thoroughly enjoyed it until I sat at a set of lights looking at a trucks wheel nuts face to face. 

[Weird Car]

13 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

Plus, it is genuinely terrifying on the roads around here.

I said this about my ones multiple times, coming from someone who’s driven all sorts, 90+ year old Buses, 80 year old cars, helped to operate traction engines, all sorts of crazy and obscure Sans permis cars by far the scariest thing I’ve ever driven was an Invacar at 60 mph on a national speed limit back road 

[Mrcento]

13 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

Plus, it is genuinely terrifying on the roads around here. People bomb down the single lanes and you feel very vulnerable.

I can honestly say, that's also 1 of the factors why i stopped using the Cinquecento and have never done anything with it since i parked it up, and why it is/will be for sale as well. (And likewise, did everything i wanted years ago), there's just a point in life where you're in something, on a certain road and the awareness that it's a bad idea enters your head and never really comes out of it. The roads are just too quick, too narrow, too unsighted up v too many things that are too big, too heavy, travelling just as fast (or faster) than you, driven by somebody that is likely to have half an eye on their infotainment. The ultimate 'killer' for me i think was just how many near misses i was starting to have in it, just driving down main roads, and having people just pulling out of side roads right into my path like i wasn't there, Always felt that peoples eyes are so trained now to be looking for SUVs, the size of a small, low city car just doesn't compute in their heads and their instant judgement is somewhere in between 'That's much further away than it actually is, i have time to nip out' and 'I'm alright, Jack, i wouldn't even feel that if it hit me'.

And if i feel that in a Cinq which as flimsy as it is, is still metal and has 'some' protection, that can probably be multiplied tenfold in a fiberglass 1 seater, 3 wheeled invacar coming face to face with the latest Jaecoo easyshave 1000 piling around a blind corner at 60mph on a single car road..... 

The ultimate 'Yeah, that's it for me' was when i got the Discovery and the attitudes were polar opposite, not 1 car pulled out on me i can remember in my entire ownership of it, v the Cinq, it was happening nearly every journey, often multiple times.

You can't eliminate risk, but you can remove the silly decisions that make the risks greater.

[calebaaront]

1 hour ago, Weird Car said:

I said this about my ones multiple times, coming from someone who’s driven all sorts, 90+ year old Buses, 80 year old cars, helped to operate traction engines, all sorts of crazy and obscure Sans permis cars by far the scariest thing I’ve ever driven was an Invacar at 60 mph on a national speed limit back road 

I remember driving your Model 70 round the block, has to be the 2nd scariest thing I’ve driven, pretty sure your Vanden Plas tops that 

[captain_70s]

On 26/10/2025 at 06:52, dollywobbler said:

It was a big decision but my storage is awful and not doing her any favours. Plus, it is genuinely terrifying on the roads around here. People bomb down the single lanes and you feel very vulnerable. Especially when the front wheel is sliding down the grassy centre line.

Also, my motivation just isn't there to make her better. I've been saying for years that I'll start a restoration and it just doesn't happen.

Price is flexible but also shows I don't just want her going to the lowest bidder.

There's no point in keeping a car once the fun stops, especially when it has nowhere decent to live. Hence my selling of my Acclaim this year, it was just going mouldy on the driveway.

it'll free up some funds and time for other things.

Driving smaller/older cars is definitely getting less pleasant. The roads have changed a lot in the last decade and even my Dolomite no longer feels suitable as daily transport. Everybody who has a ride in it reckons it's fucking terrifying at 50mph!

Racked up a couple thousand miles this summer, but it was plenty of effort and I'm made of stern stuff as far as what I consider nessecary in a vehicle...

[chadders]

I tend to take my MGB and T2 out early on a morning, especially when it's tourist season when the roads around here are infested with Range Rovers driven erratically and with a sense of entitlement.

I'm not going to sell them though, they're still enjoyable to drive I just need to plan when.

[Blake's Den]

Spotted in the Manchester Evening News

Salford 1977: Lost streets, last pints and the faces of a vanishing community - Manchester Evening News https://share.google/pnfhVoJmt9PYy6gxc

[LightBulbFun]

6 hours ago, Blake's Den said:

Spotted in the Manchester Evening News

Salford 1977: Lost streets, last pints and the faces of a vanishing community - Manchester Evening News https://share.google/pnfhVoJmt9PYy6gxc

Nice, a Higher resolution/clearer version of this same picture can be seen on Page 472 of this thread ( but I do as always appreciate the posting of, just incase!  pretty sure its PPK484L (part of the PPK481L-PPK680L block)

[Christine]

Blimey ,look at the shop lighting !     Osram,   June 5th  1975 dated  flourescent  tubes. They where really rare . Very awesome 

[R Lutz]

REV appeared on my 'recommended for you' X feed this morning. 

[LightBulbFun]

Yesterday/Today marks a year since REV returned home, cant believe its been a year already! so of course I had to take REV for a trip somewhere  

(yes she got leaflet for some Halloween do stuck under her wiper LOL) but where to go?  

well went past a canal with some canal boats on it (I did look to try and get a outside picture of REV and the boats together for @Mrs6C but the road was quite narrow *and* a bus route, so I did not want to clog things up by lingering for too long)

but after a bit of traipsing about the place, trying to avoid all the "LTN's" and other such traffic restrictions about the place (aint driving in London fun!) I got to my destination, that shop with all the scaffolding around it

which is the shop, that over 20(!) years ago now, I got my very first fluorescent tube from  I thought it would be fitting to visit the shop on REV's first anniversary home, amazingly although sadly they did not have any T12's in stock still, they still had the same display of T12 tubes on the ceiling  they had 20 years ago with the same tubes in place, conjured up some fond memories,

I of course still picked up a few mementos while I was there even tho they did not have and old T12 tubes, I did see they still had some other bulbs from back in the day  

made a stop at the chippy, and then home   

again hard to think its been a year already! 1380 miles cover in a year I would say not bad going given my predicaments and the fact she spent a couple months away during the summer  and her only major breakdown was in part due to me procrastinating about replacing a drive belt that I knew was of unknown age/condition, besides otherwise a snapped throttle cable, she has been pretty much 100% reliable

[Mrs6C]

7 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

1380 miles cover in a year

Beats the @Six-cylinder mileage in the RR, at only 1196.1 for the last year to date!

[AdgeCutler]

I can now announce that finally I am the owner of a model 70. Hopefully I will before another age passes, be able to begin work on it and will post some progress reports when I do.

firstly though I must complete a project that has now been ongoing for nine years , somewhat interrupted by the Brian restoration.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Have you had the Elvis Costello photo yet? 

[Weird Car]

1 hour ago, AdgeCutler said:

I can now announce that finally I am the owner of a model 70. Hopefully I will before another age passes, be able to begin work on it and will post some progress reports when I do.

firstly though I must complete a project that has now been ongoing for nine years , somewhat interrupted by the Brian restoration.

TWC???

 

also any updates on how your cousins getting along with VJN?

[LightBulbFun]

10 hours ago, R Lutz said:

REV appeared on my 'recommended for you' X feed this morning. 

neat! did you grab a link to share?  

27 minutes ago, Dick Cheeseburger said:

Have you had the Elvis Costello photo yet? 

yerp Page 6  

https://autoshite.com/topic/53521-albumshite/page/6/#findComment-2745816

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, Weird Car said:

TWC???

 

also any updates on how your cousins getting along with VJN?

I cant say much about VJN *blinks twice* , but I can say that that restoration on MPU your old Invacar Mk12 has started  I caught up with the chap who has it at the National Microcar rally and between Me and @AdgeCutler we kind of broke his brain with a deluge of Invacar Mk12 knowledge, so that was fun  and he has started working on it since

he has the body entirely off and is starting from the chassis up, which looks impressively solid so far only 2 spots of grot have been identified

and the front hub looks almost new! clearly must of been overhauled just before the MPU came off the road 

 

 

so things are off to a pretty good start for your Mk12 all things considered   

[Weird Car]

9 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

has the body entirely off and is starting from the chassis up, which looks impressively solid so far only 2 spots of grot have been identified

I always said it was a solid chassis, no one ever believed me though 

 

thanks for the update, wonder if he’s any closer to getting a v5? I remember he was a bit hesitant to attempt it as he wasn’t sure if its reg number was genuine 

[Joey spud]

Can I ask what happened to the one that Mr Egg dragged out of a scrapyard a few years back ?

[Weird Car]

16 minutes ago, Joey spud said:

Can I ask what happened to the one that Mr Egg dragged out of a scrapyard a few years back ?

Believe it’s with @Mrs6C now 

[wesacosa]

[Christine]

Dez will be voting Reform !  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15240421/blue-three-wheelers-motability-Reform-benefits.html

[Remspoor]

53 minutes ago, Christine said:

Dez will be voting Reform !  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15240421/blue-three-wheelers-motability-Reform-benefits.html

Suits the Batshit Bonkers Britain then. 

Is this the reason why Hubnut is selling his?

[Christine]

Not sure why an Isetta is pictured in the article ... i'd love one  , but not an Invacar.. 

 

[wesacosa]

1 hour ago, Christine said:

Not sure why an Isetta is pictured in the article ... i'd love one  , but not an Invacar.. 

 

its quite funny as they moan about people getting BMWs and then mistakenly picture a BMW Isetta instead of an invacar!

[D.E]

*facepalm*

I guess this journalist just searched for a "blue microcar 1960s" stock pic and didn't do any research whatsoever to confirm it's the correct model.

[EyesWeldedShut]

10 minutes ago, D.E said:

I guess this journalist

Oh, that's utterly brilliant. I love it.

(what quality* paper/outlet is it?) [edit] read up the page a bit more - Daily Snail - ironic the picture and the moan are both BMWs
 

[Christine]

And they're not cheap , those Isettas! 

 

 

https://www.carandclassic.com/list/10/isetta/