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]

On 14/11/2025 at 17:25, MrBig said:

This week I have read all 400+ pages of this thread, and never realised that your number plate with one simple misspacing would look at home on a chavved up M-series BMW bouncing off the limiter popping and banging 

I also have to say I'm incredibly envious of your proximity to brick lane too! Now that I live in the Midlands its a 2 hour trip to pick some "London Bagels" (as my kids call them!)

Anyway, loving your determination to keep REV on the road, keep up the good work!

Thanks  Thats impressive! I appreciate your own dedication in that regard  the registration mark thing has always tickled me in that regard, because REV is a Model 70, the type that has a CVT transmission! and on top of that, more recently, when someone does actually ask, (a couple school kids and a, older biker dude have asked me to "rev it!") its a bit of PITA because with the slight clutch issue, if I knock it into neutral to do so, I then have to turn the engine off to knock it back into gear, (as the clutch does not disengage at idle speed like it should) so somewhat ironically, no she does not rev for sir LOL

I'd be happy to get you some Bagels for you (especially if you plied me in return with vintage lightbulbs/fluorescent tubes )  but I suspect they might either be a bit cold by the time they got to you, or a bit oily, if I kept them warm in the engine bay/on the exhaust!

[LightBulbFun]

right, just to give some slight heads up so I dont miss any shitters I might be passing who might want to see REV, or the such like  I have bought very rare light off eBay (what else LOL) and I am going to be collecting it from Bedford, (because I am not trusting the postal service with this item!) looking to do it tomorrow or the day after (depending on when an amazon delivery shows up and unless someone or something says otherwise!) google is suggesting the M1 and or (depending on what time of day I punch in) the A1M and A1

I am thinking of just going up the M1 (tho there is slight apprehension with the fact some Genius* decided removing the hard shoulder from some of it was a good* idea,) but if anyone has any thoughts on the mater if I should do A1M A1 instead then im all ears (tho ill have to try and hope google actually gives me the route, it can be fickle like that)

 

[Mac69400]

53 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

right, just to give some slight heads up so I dont miss any shitters I might be passing who might want to see REV, or the such like  

 

I'm sure a lot of people will line the route you ultimately choose. It's hugely kind of you to make people aware of your upcoming adventure. 

Edited November 18, 2025 by Mac69400
Can't tell the difference between where and were

[Andrew353w]

Going up the M1 you'll need to travel from junction 1 to junction 13, and from junction 8 or 9 going northwards you'll be in a hard shoulder-free area, with a 50 mph limit (not that you'll be too bothered about the limit) and then at junction 13 you'll swing east, to Bedford.

Going up the A1 (M) it's ordinary north London roads (A406) North Circular Road, then northwards on the A41 to Apex Corner, then north on the A1 to the A1 (M)after which it's 9 junctions then the road becomes the A1. Carry on until the Q603, and then turn east for Bedford. 

It looks like north London, the A1 (M) and the A1, followed by the A603 looks a better bet, given REV's 'limited" power....

[LightBulbFun]

2 minutes ago, Mac69400 said:

I'm sure a lot of people will line the route you ultimately choose. It's hugely kind of you to make people aware of your upcoming adventure. 

just trying to be considerate thats all  

On 17/09/2025 at 21:32, CaptainBoom said:

On 17/09/2025 at 19:56, LightBulbFun said:

somewhere near Orpington

You could have said hello!  I live about three roads away from where you parked to collect the lamps from .  I see that you got over to Sidcup to Neves as well, nice one!

 

[Weird Car]

10 minutes ago, Mac69400 said:

I'm sure a lot of people will line the route you ultimately choose. It's hugely kind of you to make people aware of your upcoming adventure. 

London bus  rev spotters 📷

[beko1987]

2 hours ago, LightBulbFun said:

right, just to give some slight heads up so I dont miss any shitters I might be passing who might want to see REV, or the such like  I have bought very rare light off eBay (what else LOL) and I am going to be collecting it from Bedford, (because I am not trusting the postal service with this item!) looking to do it tomorrow or the day after (depending on when an amazon delivery shows up and unless someone or something says otherwise!) google is suggesting the M1 and or (depending on what time of day I punch in) the A1M and A1

I am thinking of just going up the M1 (tho there is slight apprehension with the fact some Genius* decided removing the hard shoulder from some of it was a good* idea,) but if anyone has any thoughts on the mater if I should do A1M A1 instead then im all ears (tho ill have to try and hope google actually gives me the route, it can be fickle like that)

 

Go M1. A1  you'll have to fuck about with whatever their doing on the Black Cat.

Bedford is halfway up the a421 from either the m1 or a1 end. I do the road end to end fairly frequently going to peterboghorror!

Just check the m1 isn't fucked before you set off 

[Crackers]

On 14/11/2025 at 20:30, Six-cylinder said:

I had a problem with our Daimler Sovereign S2 on black and silver number plates both in a car park in Guildford and Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

My P6 on black plates came up with "Detection error" at West Wittering beach, then the barrier went up anyway. Saved me 7 quid!

[Saabnut]

This just came up on faceache, not sure if you have this one

[LightBulbFun]

43 minutes ago, Saabnut said:

This just came up on faceache, not sure if you have this one

I have seen it indeed, its a colourised black and white version, but they are Vernon Gordon microcars not Vernon Invalid cars sadly! I appricate the heads up none the less  

here is a Vernon Invalid car for comparison

 

the Gorden is notable, as it can trace its roots all the way back to the Invacar! (for Vernon Started out by building Invacars under licence, which then lead to them developing their own Invalid Car, and then the Gorden Microcar, all of which have the characteristically Invacar Ltd side mounted Villiers engine!)

[lesapandre]

I'd go the A1 route - I always find it quite easy out of London and a lot less hectic than the M1 which can be very difficult. The bit round Luton is expecially hairaising.

I'd go in the daytime - and atm it's likely there may be a bit of ice. Warming up next week apparently which may be a better time. It's not the travelling but being FTP in 0° conditions best avoided.

[LightBulbFun]

as alluded to above, I had a good-ol-jaunt in REV today  to bedford and back, decided to take the M1, because I did not fancy having to deal with any more London traffic then strictly necessary! 

step one was fit the new rear-view mirror, as REV's original was somewhat falling apart after 50 years

just a suction cup amazon jobby for £9 but it works well  

first stop was fuel, 34Mpg this time round, not bad going, given more recent trips have been more slogging through London trips then cruising trips

second stop was Toddington services (I think!) just to reconfigure my phone mount and and use the toilet 

where a London bus has clearly gotten very lost...

eventually made it to the sellers house, and got the item!

Order of sizes!, had hoped to get home before i lost daylight, but that was not to be, but the night time cruising on the M1 was actually pretty nice all things considered, (first time for me driving on a motorway at night!) albeit quite busy, whole lot of it was 40-60Mph restricted,  but became delimited at the end where at one point to clear a line of traffic, I used a down hill portion to my advantage and shot through the middle lane at 70Mph completely befuddling 3 workmen in a van in the outside lane  

120 miles covered, and now well over 1500 miles covered in total since her return to the road  

and home without a hitch! I am very pleased with how things went all things considered, this is the longest I have trip I have done on a relative whim without much prior planning or the such like

just check the basics (tyre pressures, fluids, lights) hopped in and went there and back

 

 

 

but what I hear you ask* did you do a 120 mile round trip for?

this thing! whats so special about that I hear you ask?

this is whats speical about it  it takes and came with a 10W SOX lamp, which was the smallest size of normal low pressure sodium lamp ever put to commercial market, extremely rare and sought after, and I am extremely pleased to have the lamp alone, let alone a whole fixture of this incredibly rare size/type of SOX lamp (fixtures are especially rare since when production of this size ended by the very early 1990's, well there was no lamps left to service the fixtures with some most where pretty quickly scrapped and replaced)

the fixture itself is also quite interesting, as its a US fixture, thats been sold for the UK market, dont normally see US stuff here, think of it like seeing some US Model car but in RHD and with a rare-special British engine stuffed in it! you can still see the original Spec it would been in the US (either 50W or 35W High pressure sodium) moulded in the back of it  

 

all in all a find I am extremely happy with (espically as it was a bit of a gamble in that I knew it was 10W SOX but the lamp itself was not shown so I had no clue if the lamp itself was any good! but it appears to be NOS/very little used ) 

[auntiemaryscanary]

6 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

as alluded to above, I had a good-ol-jaunt in REV today  decided to take the M1, because I did not fancy having to deal with any more London traffic then strictly necessary! 

step one was fit the new rear-view mirror, as REV's original was somewhat falling apart after 50 years

just a suction cup amazon jobby for £9 but it works well  

first stop was fuel, 34Mpg this time round, not bad going, given more recent trips have been more slogging through London trips then cruising trips

second stop was Toddington services (I think!) just to reconfigure my phone mount and and use the toilet 

where a London bus has clearly gotten very lost...

eventually made it to the sellers house, and got the item!

Order of sizes!, had hoped to get home before i lost daylight, but that was not to be, but the night time cruising on the M1 was actually pretty nice all things considered, (first time for me driving on a motorway at night!) albeit quite busy, whole lot of it was 40-60Mph restricted,  but became delimited at the end where at one point to clear a line of traffic, I used a down hill portion to my advantage and shot through the middle lane at 70Mph completely befuddling 3 workmen in a van in the outside lane  

120 miles covered, and now well over 1500 miles covered in total since her return to the road  

and home without a hitch! I am very pleased with how things went all things considered, this is the longest I have trip I have done on a releitve whim without much prior planning or the such like

just check the basics (tyre pressures, fluids, lights) hoped in and went there and back  

 

 

 

but what I hear you ask* did you do a 120 mile round trip for?

this thing! whats so special about that I hear you ask?

this is whats speical about it  it takes and came with a 10W SOX lamp, which was the smallest size of normal low pressure sodium lamp ever put to comerical market, extremely rare and sought after, and I am extremely pleased to have the lamp alone, let alone a whole fixture of this incredibly rare size/type of SOX lamp

the fixture itself is also quite interesting, as its a US fixture, thats been sold for the UK market, dont normally see US stuff here, think of it like seeing some US Model car but in RHD and with a rare-special British engine stuffed in it! you can still see the original Spec it would been in the US (either 50W or 35W High pressure sodium) moulded in the back of it  

 

all in all a find I am extremely happy with (espically as it was a bit of a gamble in that I knew it was 10W SOX but the lamp itself was not shown so I had no clue if the lamp itself was any good! but it appears to be NOS/very little used ) 

Good to hear the jaunt went well and without incident.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, LightBulbFun said:

I used a down hill portion to my advantage and shot through the middle lane at 70Mph 

Brilliant. I wonder how many went that fast, under their own steam. 

[MGBetts]

Can anyone identify this?  Posted in the HubNut Fans! Facebook group.

[Andrew353w]

Very smart and shapely......Oh, sorry, did you mean the car......? 😀 

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, MGBetts said:

Can anyone identify this?  Posted in the HubNut Fans! Facebook group.

It's a traffic warden.

[Snake Charmer]

3 hours ago, richardmorris said:

It's a traffic warden.

[LightBulbFun]

7 hours ago, MGBetts said:

Can anyone identify this?  Posted in the HubNut Fans! Facebook group.

tis an AC Acedes Model 57 (or possibly an AC Model 64)  

On 04/01/2025 at 04:09, LightBulbFun said:

what caught my eye on this is the GEC Difractor streetlight, I mean the AC Invalid Car, a floppy top but with glass sliding windows still is a rare configuration for one of these, and I also cant help but notice the sideways mounted mirror on the A post!

 

[Pieman]

Can't even escape the things at the National Festival of Railway Modelling....

[beko1987]

2 hours ago, Pieman said:

Can't even escape the things at the National Festival of Railway Modelling....

Ooh I'm there too! Will look out for that

[Pieman]

Was a good day, have just got home.  I found another Invacar on another layout, my phone's gone flat so will post a pic when it's charged.

Over 60 layouts there, the highlight for me was Eastgate Harbour, one man's 14-month lockdown project featuring as many model ships as there were locomotives, incredibly detailed buildings, and a model cinema that was actually showing black and white films on a little screen!

[Pieman]

[Peter C]

[Snake Charmer]

On 22/11/2025 at 20:43, Pieman said:

Lashed correctly  @LightBulbFun ?? 😊

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, Snake Charmer said:

Lashed correctly  @LightBulbFun ?? 😊

almost! the rear sand bag was normally down across the engine bay rather than against the back window like that

 

 

 

(I do love the fact its parked alone at a train station like that, imagine that, your in Leighton Buzzard waiting for your commuter train or what have you, and a random carfit with a Model 70 rolls to a stop in front of you and then @Mrs6C manning a small diesel locomotive/shunter suddenly appears out of a siding that you where pretty sure was not there 5 minutes ago, and hoiks it away, I bet no one would believe you in the pub afterwards )

[bobdisk]

On 21/11/2025 at 13:45, Snake Charmer said:

That traffic warden looks like Rob Brydon !

[MorrisItalSLX]

24 minutes ago, bobdisk said:

That traffic warden looks like Rob Brydon !

But he sounds like Ronnie Corbett

[Saabnut]

Another off faceache that I assume you have (taken in Coatbridge)

[Snake Charmer]

4 hours ago, bobdisk said:

That traffic warden looks like Rob Brydon !

It is, and the other actor is Huggy Leaver.