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...

[Christine]

I keep seeing an orange" bubble car "  bombing around Uckfield .. Are they making new  electric retro style ones  ?  I couldn't catch the reg plate  ..

[Weird Car]

7 hours ago, Christine said:

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

Fucking baffles my brain how anyone at Reform is taken seriously when they say absolute dribble like that 🤦‍♀️

[Weird Car]

1 minute ago, Christine said:

I keep seeing an orange" bubble car "  bombing around Uckfield .. Are they making new  electric retro style ones  ?  I couldn't catch the reg plate  ..

They are, pretty cool cars actually but mega expensive iirc 

[Christine]

Might be one of these Microlino

[Christine]

Kiltox needs one...

[chadders]

11 minutes ago, Christine said:

Might be one of these Microlino

At about £20k each I'd be worried that someone would pick it up and run off with it.

[Christine]

I wonder what obsolete aircraft canopy    glass they use on those new ones  ?

[EyesWeldedShut]

2 minutes ago, chadders said:

At about £20k each I'd be worried that someone would pick it up and run off with it.

I'd be more worried about the windage on that there sail door, especially living up here - right now we got this (and it's pretty average for the time of year).
Couple of bags of cement behind the seats will help hold it down.

 

[Christine]

Dez says wind has no detrimental effect , even  overtaking lorries  doesn't buffet then 

[LightBulbFun]

5 hours ago, wesacosa said:

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

oh thats fucking brilliant  

 

the thing that tickles me with all these people who will post a picture of an Invacar (or not in this case LOL) and them make some spiel about "replace motability with these again, see how many people still claim/it will save a lot of money" is what these people really dont seem to realise is

motability is just a fancy 3 year lease, you have to pay for it out of your PIP allowance, if you cant afford to do that, then you screwed still

 

where as the Invacar scheme, was issued *entirely* free of charge to the end user, it was literally a prescription car, you went to your GP and he would get the ball rolling for you to get issued an Invacar, in the same way you got a set of Crutches or a wheelchair if you needed one, with the Invacar scheme they even paid you a fuel allowance and where possible, built a small garage for you to house your Invacar in at home

so I really doubt the Invacar would be some magic money saving bullet if they brought Invacars back, not to mention of course remember the Model 70 especially was built up to a specification not down to a price, it did what it was built to do very well, but it was not a cheap vehicle, costing about £1799 in 1977 or so vs £999 for a Mini I think? (tho where exactly the £1799 price comes from is a little bit hazy)

 

dont get me wrong I very much think the Invacar scheme and a modern version of the Invacar should be brought back for the reasons I outline below, and for the reasons above, it was a prescription car, you did not have to worry about PIP or anything like that, it was simply a motorise mobility aid

On 23/10/2025 at 21:53, LightBulbFun said:

I am not going to get too much into the Whole Political side of the Motability issue

 

*but* I will say to this bit I have quoted above, absolutely, I have said it many times, that when they ended the Invalid Vehicle Scheme, it left a great big hole between Simple Mobility Scooters, and Big Hulking 4 door cars

the hole for a vehicle, that is not merely  adapted and a compromise for their disability, but instead want a vehicle that is built from the ground up with disability in mind and many of these people do just want said vehicle for mobilising, getting about the local area to the shops, pootling about if you will

so I very much think that, they Invacar scheme should be brought back, not as a replacement for the Motablity scheme, but simply to plug that hole between a Mobility Scooter and a full size car and the fact that there is no vehicle on the market that is designed for the disabled from the ground up

as a Disabled driver myself, I find my Invacar  invaluable  and its disability minded features really do shine through compared to other cars, for example the all hand controls and completely flat floor means I can drive it for much longer and in much less pain then even being a passenger in a regular car which often has cramped foot wells and firm seats,

its no secret that even before I owned an Invacar, I was a big enthusiast of them, and I totally would still have one even if i was in 100% perfect health, but I did have the worry, that what if I get one and I find actually I cant get comfortable in it? but no, its been fucking brilliant! 

hence why I will (and have done per the picture above )   quite happily drive the entire length of the M40 to Kidderminster and the same back to London the day after

its one of the things that makes me really sad when I see people deride the Invacar, these people having never actually had to use one as intended in anger, sure they where not perfect, but by gosh I myself having studied them in depth and used one in anger, you can tell a lot of actual thought went into them to give the disabled a means of personal independence, and its such a shame that people these days are so dismissive of them and in extension so dismissive of the efforts all the people in the past put into the Invacar, from the vehicle itself, to the Invalid Vehicle scheme, which gave these vehicles out entirely for free (unlike a Motability vehicle which you do have to pay for) to ensure that disabled people could get out and about and have their own independent freedom of movement

 

and I am not alone in my thoughts, originally all Invacars where meant to be withdrawn by 1981, but there was such an outcry from existing users who did not want to move to the Motability scheme, that the last Invacar was not withdrawn from Ministry service until 2004 some 26 years after the last one was made

and to this day, I still come across disabled people looking to buy an old Invacar, just to have a *simple* disability vehicle, that is suited to the disabled while being simple and small 

 

again I am not saying get rid of the Motability scheme and force Invacars on every disabled person, even back when the Invacar was current,*before* the Motability scheme, they did hand out adapted regular cars to those who needed them (for example married couples, or disabled people with dependants like children etc)

 

but I do very much think that there is a hole in the market for an Invacar type vehicle: a relatively simple and compact mechanically propelled vehicle  which is specially designed and constructed, and not merely adapted for disabled, something that is no nonsense no compromise

but I am *not* for bring them back the reasons people on the internet want them back, because as I write above, they dont have a fucking clue what they are talking about!

and certainly not *instead* of Motability, as I have said before, even before the Motability scheme was a thing, they did issue regular adapted cars to people who needed them, they did *not* literally force Invacars onto every single mother with 5 children, as other people talking bollocks on the internet will try and lead you to think!

 

[Christine]

It says they were banned and dangerous ....

[EyesWeldedShut]

12 minutes ago, Christine said:

Dez says wind has no detrimental effect , even  overtaking lorries  doesn't buffet then 

As Kipling famously wrote:
"By the living God that made you, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Dez"

Even with my BraveHeart brave pants on - you'd be lucky to find me playing on the M25 in Rev

[Christine]

I well recall Talbot  almost having a meltdown over dez using it as a daily ,  but he  seems to be doing okay in it ..I think i had 5 big ones by the time i was 19, and i only passed my test when i was 18...   My parents held their breath when i went out in my car ..But i'm an expert driver now 

 

 

 

[Christine]

Has Rev been over the  Dartford bridge yet ? That'll  be a bum clencher   

[Andrew353w]

1 minute ago, Christine said:

Has Rev been over the  Dartford bridge yet ? That'll  be a bum clencher   

What would an Invacar pay to go over the Dartford Crossing? I can't remember if there's a spacial rate for 3-wheelers or not. 

[D.E]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

and where possible, built a small garage for you to house your Invacar in at home

An Invacar sized garage? 

[Christine]

9 minutes ago, D.E said:

An Invacar sized garage? 

Yes , could be had with  an up and over door , stable door, barn  doors , drawbridge type door,  depending on your disability  

Not really . I just made it up.

[LightBulbFun]

49 minutes ago, Christine said:

Has Rev been over the  Dartford bridge yet ? That'll  be a bum clencher   

46 minutes ago, Andrew353w said:

What would an Invacar pay to go over the Dartford Crossing? I can't remember if there's a spacial rate for 3-wheelers or not. 

Legally, Invalid Vehicles (Mobility Vehicles) are exempt from most Toll roads including the Dartford Crossing and the M6 Toll road

Under Paragraph 18 of vehicles exempt from Vehicle Excise duty

*but* 

the online pay a charge portal, does not recognise Invalid Vehicles properly

so I am weary that the ANPR systems that everything is based on these days, wont recognise it properly either, and I then have to fight a spurious PCN, although part of me wants to go across the crossing, explicitly to see what will happen and kick them into touch if they try to fuck me about like that  

this is one of the reasons I have pondered about chucking REV back into the Disabled taxation class, but then I think I would lose my ULEZ exemption since that works via the Vehicle Taxation class (if Historic Vehicle then exempt)

 

but I have not really had a need to use the Dartford crossing or M6 Toll road, generally if I need to get across the Thames I go via the Blackwall (and Silvertown tunnel now, tho not done that in REV yet) which I am exempt from, or one of the Central London bridges, depending on where im going

[Christine]

Nah , honestly , you don't want to be going over the bridge in that ..Or doing M20  ,back on to the M25  junction .. Pulling out of Clacket lane sevices could be interesting ...

[Missy Charm]

13 hours ago, Christine said:

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

He should!  Apparently anyone eligible for the Reform scheme will receive a modern, electrified Invacar and a grant to build a small Farage to keep it in.  

[AdgeCutler]

On 28/10/2025 at 19:45, Weird Car said:

TWC???

 

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

It is VJN that I am taking on. My cousin drove her a few times to some shows to sit alongside Brian. Last year a fault developed and she has sat unloved since. We have come to a part exchange deal with my Norman Nippy moped going his way.

[M'coli]

18 hours ago, Christine said:

Has Rev got him his Nat King yet? 

FTFY

[Weird Car]

2 hours ago, AdgeCutler said:

It is VJN that I am taking on. My cousin drove her a few times to some shows to sit alongside Brian. Last year a fault developed and she has sat unloved since. We have come to a part exchange deal with my Norman Nippy moped going his way.

Amazing!! So glad to hear 

[chadders]

21 hours ago, Christine said:

I well recall Talbot  almost having a meltdown over dez using it as a daily ,  but he  seems to be doing okay in it ..I think i had 5 big ones by the time i was 19, and i only passed my test when i was 18...   My parents held their breath when i went out in my car ..But i'm an expert driver now 

 

 

 

Hubnut seems to be of the same opinion as Talbot.

[NorthernMonkey]

It seems Hubnut (or at least his car) has made the headlines…

[captain_70s]

The SUBHUMAN MENACE that are the DISABLED, shouldn't be allowed REAL CARS.

Why can't they just DIE QUIETLY in asylums like THE GOOD OLD DAYS?

[beko1987]

44 minutes ago, NorthernMonkey said:

It seems Hubnut (or at least his car) has made the headlines…

I thought I saw a post where he turned an interview down. I guess the photos are public domain from YouTube so they can use those

[dollywobbler]

4 hours ago, chadders said:

Hubnut seems to be of the same opinion as Talbot.

Not entirely. If I lived in a city, I would definitely drive TWC more. As it is, it's fast A roads or single track lanes around here. You don't know fear until you encounter a courier on a single track lane and your front wheel starts skidded down the grass in the middle of the road. Cadence braking is possible but not easy with arm power. 

TWC was actually a joy when I drove her across London as the 0-30mph is pretty brisk, visibility is ok and the lack of clutch means jams are no issue.

[D.E]

Watford.

[High Jetter]

43 minutes ago, D.E said:

Watford.

Granada, Cresta, Dixons, Ryman, Finlays. Now turkish barbers, vape shops or tanning salons