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...

[plasticvandan]

Whatever it is it won't work for me

[LightBulbFun]

  On 06/10/2019 at 22:12, plasticvandan said:

Whatever it is it won't work for me

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Aww, is your web browser etc fully up to date?

its a neat 3D demo/model of a Tippen Delta  

its something Simon and his posse of volunteers have been working on for about 6 months apparently,  and they finally released it  today to go with one of their exhibitions 

heres a couple screenshots  

 

 

(I suggested the ability to fast forward or rewind should you miss a section of the demo, or want to skip to the end to the free play section   hopefully it gets implemented)

reminds me, they have the wing mirror the wrong way round!

[Mrs6C]

You'll be pleased to hear that I have received Dolly's V5C at last. It was issued on 03-Oct-19, so it took eleven weeks and a day to be issued and another four days after that for it to arrive. The most interesting detail is that it states 5 previous Keepers!!!

She is classed as a 'DISABLED' for Taxation Class and has a Body Type of 'INVALID VEHICLE', with a Wheelplan of '3-WHEEL'

The chassis number has a full stop '.' between the leading letter and the number. You might like to check that format for other similar numbers when you do your DVLA chassis number checks, in case it reveals a few more recorded with the same method. I didn't put it in the application like that, so assume it was like that in the DVLA record already...

The engine number already recorded is correct in both number and format.

[egg]

Good news, but like me, after the long wait it will need to go back again to change tax class!

[LightBulbFun]

  On 07/10/2019 at 18:39, Mrs6C said:

You'll be pleased to hear that I have received Dolly's V5C at last. It was issued on 03-Oct-19, so it took eleven weeks and a day to be issued and another four days after that for it to arrive. The most interesting detail is that it states 5 previous Keepers!!!

She is classed as a 'DISABLED' for Taxation Class and has a Body Type of 'INVALID VEHICLE', with a Wheelplan of '3-WHEEL'

The chassis number has a full stop '.' between the leading letter and the number. You might like to check that format for other similar numbers when you do your DVLA chassis number checks, in case it reveals a few more recorded with the same method. I didn't put it in the application like that, so assume it was like that in the DVLA record already...

The engine number already recorded is correct in both number and format.

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Very Awesome!

funnily enough I was just wondering today how your V5 application was going  

very happy you have the V5 at long last!

5 previous keepers! I think thats the most keepers I have seen on a Model 70 "fresh" from DHSS service (ie one thats not passed through any previous private owners etc)

keeping in mind that generally from what I have seen Model 70's only have 2-3 previous keepers as it would of 1st owner AC/Invacar then 2nd the DHSS then 3rd the person it was were issued to, (long term users had the V5 for their invalid vehicle issued in their name, its a good example of the registered keeper not being the owner  )

and Model 70's that where short term loan cars where generally in the name of the local artificial limb place, so for one to accrue 5 previous keepers is quite interesting/unusual!

 

indeed I have seen a few Model 70's come back online with full stops (or decimal points?) between the lettering (I first noticed it it in my VIN number tidbits post see the thread index  ) including REV's chassis number on the V5/online database in fact  although I cant actually recall if Dolly had a full stop when I checked, but the tool I use to get VIN numbers from registration numbers is no more sadly so I cant check it once more (and some of the tools I had (before they stopped working 1 by 1) would not display special characters, it may of been that I had to use such a tool when verifying OPH868R's chassis number for the first time)

(im still looking for a replacement if anyone does know of any websites that can give me a VIN number from a registration number please let me know! I still have my HPI guy, but I would like to once more find a tool I have direct access to  )

im not sure why some have full stops and others don't, I imagine its  down to the way it was digitised etc (as its like that on the V5/the online database but its not like that on the car itself)

 

happy to see all the details check out  as mentioned on the various threads and above, all you have to do now is fill in V112, go down to the post office and change the Taxation class to "HISTORIC"  

(and you dont have to change anything else on the V5 )

[LightBulbFun]

does anyone here happen to know of any good driving instructors they would recommend that will cover E2?

sadly finding a suitable driving school/instructor has been harder then I would of liked...

its rather frustrating as I really do want to start and learn how to drive and I have the moneys saved up for lessons, but I have been unable to do anything!

(I had thought id found someone suitable, but it turns out im just outside of their area of operations which is not what they told me when I first called in late august... and annoyingly it seems like there's just franchises here so its a bit of a crap shoot as to who you actually get as your teacher, I think ideally id like to find someone who is independent and has good reviews/a good word of mouth recommendation)

 

 

on a separate note, @Mrs6C now you have the V5 you can get Dolly a nice set of number plates  

Im thinking some pressed white/yellow ally plates (as by 1976 they had switched to white/yellow plates) from Tippers like what REV has would suit her nicely and would of most likely have been what she would of come with from the factory and wore in service, as my research and period photos shows  

 

[Mrs6C]

No experience of these folk at all but they seem to have good reviews and cover your area...

https://www.elfdrivingschool.co.uk/

[LightBulbFun]

  On 08/10/2019 at 21:14, Mrs6C said:

No experience of these folk at all but they seem to have good reviews and cover your area...

https://www.elfdrivingschool.co.uk/

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ohh good find

ill show it to mum tomorrow and see what she thinks about it  the website looks somewhat familiar so we may have scoped them out beforehand, but it and the reviews looks good on my end i think! otherwise!

BTW one thing iv noticed thats common across all the driving schools I have looked at is that the automatic lessons are a few quid more expensive, I wonder why that is exactly?

you would think since you would not have to teach clutch control etc it would be less expensive...

just wondering out of sheer curiosity 

(I do wish I had some more driving experience before starting lessons so id not have to worry about the basics so much...) 

[LightBulbFun]

so this is exciting I have been in email contact with the owner of JBY503J an Invacar Mk12E

and he just sent me a picture of its V5, and heres a snippet

its very interesting to note that it does list a revenue weight, and that its 305Kg (which is interesting because the brochure for the Mk12c lists the weight as 700Lbs which is 317Kg, did the Mk12E shed some weight or are one of these figured rounded in someway? (a bit like the Model 70 revenue weight thing, of how its listed as 406Kg but is 410/413Kg on the V5)

having never seen a V5 for a Mk12 before @egg and now JBY503's

its very interesting to study  I wonder if XWC468F does not have a revenue weight listed because revenue weights where only listed after a certain date in production

or because of DVLA shenanigans due to the somewhat abnormal situation that was getting the V5 for XWC468F?

BTW its interesting to note that the Taxation class is "HISTORIC VEHICLE" for some reason I thought it would say just "HISTORIC" when you changed the tax class

 

it would be interesting to see the V5 for a Model 67 or any other invalid vehicle and see what the revenue weight of one of those is listed as

[LightBulbFun]

so booked my first driving lesson  decided to go with with bsm.co.uk 

somehow I managed to miss them completely in my searches, but while talking to Fraser a couple days ago (because scammers are still trying to sell him Invacars they dont own LOL thats what happens when you advertise on gumtree!) he mentioned it to me

so I checked it out looks like they are highly regarded, so I booked a couple hours with them on the 15th of October 12:30-2:30Pm

interesting times ahead!

 

I also bought "The Official DVSA Theory Test Kit for Car Drivers Online" from here https://www.dvsalearningzone.co.uk/

for me to study in the meantime  

[Eyersey1234]

  On 10/10/2019 at 13:22, LightBulbFun said:

so booked my first driving lesson  decided to go with with bsm.co.uk 

somehow I managed to miss them completely in my searches, but while talking to Fraser a couple days ago (because scammers are still trying to sell him Invacars they dont own LOL thats what happens when you advertise on gumtree!) he mentioned it to me

so I checked it out looks like they are highly regarded, so I booked a couple hours with them on the 15th of October 12:30-2:30Pm

interesting times ahead!

 

I also bought "The Official DVSA Theory Test Kit for Car Drivers Online" from here https://www.dvsalearningzone.co.uk/

for me to study in the meantime  

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Good luck with your lessons LightBulbFun 

[LightBulbFun]

  On 10/10/2019 at 16:10, Eyersey1234 said:

Good luck with your lessons LightBulbFun 

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Thanks

I only booked a couple hours for now, as the plan is to see how the 2 hours go, see whether or not I get on well with the driving instructor and depending on how that goes, ill ask the driving instructor on how many lessons  he thinks I may need and at what frequency and then ill then hopefully book a bigger block of lessons

(I don't want to book a bunch of lessons and spend a bunch of money with an instructor I have not met before only to find I don't get on well with said instructor for whatever reason)

but yeah exciting/interesting times ahead! (also a little bit nervous LOL)

I wonder what modern shit box thats probably devoid of all road feel ill end up driving for the lessons LOL

[Mrs6C]

Excellent news! Hope you have a great time in your first lesson. Look forward to the photos!

In other news, @Six-cylinder took Dolly's paperwork off to the Post Office today and got her tax class changed. The new V5C that I've had only since Monday has now gone off back to the DVLA to have the details updated..

[LightBulbFun]

  On 10/10/2019 at 18:16, Mrs6C said:

Excellent news! Hope you have a great time in your first lesson. Look forward to the photos!

In other news, @Six-cylinder took Dolly's paperwork off to the Post Office today and got her tax class changed. The new V5C that I've had only since Monday has now gone off back to the DVLA to have the details updated..

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Thanks  

happy to hear things are progressing well with Dolly its a shame you cant do the tax class change online/that they require you to send the V5 back, ill have to do it for REV eventually and it will technically mean id be missing a V5 from my history file which I dont like LOL 

since she is having her tax class changed I think that means she is now taxed? illl keep an eye on the DVLA checker over the next few days  

[Six-cylinder]

  On 10/10/2019 at 18:29, LightBulbFun said:

since she is having her tax class changed I think that means she is now taxed? illl keep an eye on the DVLA checker over the next few days  

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The rule used to be you could not change the tax class without taxing the car but the chap in the PO seemed quite happy just to change the tax class without.

[LightBulbFun]

  On 10/10/2019 at 18:34, Six-cylinder said:

The rule used to be you could not change the tax class without taxing the car but the chap in the PO seemed quite happy just to change the tax class without.

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Interesting #DVLAShenanigans! 

(you say used to, but if @egg escapades with XWC468F are anything to go by, it was still like that last week! LOL)

ill still keep an eye on things just incase they happened to have taxed it without telling you or if it still gets taxed as part of an automated process

[egg]

I wish they could have done that for me! Crazy how different post offices have their own quirks about this process. Haven't heard anything yet by the way.

I did get a £0.00 receipt to prove I'd taxed it, so unless you got that, I reckon you're ok...

[Six-cylinder]

  On 10/10/2019 at 18:50, egg said:

I wish they could have done that for me! Crazy how different post offices have their own quirks about this process. Haven't heard anything yet by the way.

I did get a £0.00 receipt to prove I'd taxed it, so unless you got that, I reckon you're ok...

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No £0 receipt, I watched him scan it, write Historic in the change area and he told me that was complete and he would send it off.

[Mally]

Re the driving lessons.

This may not be true, but was last time I looked into it.

Do your own research, you are good at that!  And make your own decisions.

BSM use ADI, instructors (Approved Driving Instructor) green badge in screen, fully qualified.

And PDI instructors( Potential Driving Instructor) pink badge in screen, not fully qualified.

They may have explained this already but might have forgotten*

The PDI has to tell you he is PDI, and charges 20% less than their normal fee.

If a ADI turns up no problem.

If hes PDI and you are prepared to have an unqualified Instructor teaching you, fair enough, they have to learn on someone.

As I said check the above yourself, It's a while since I failed my instructor test!

[dozeydustman]

Good news that you've found a driving school, LBF.

[Heidel_Kakao]

Good luck with your lessons, it's a shame Invacars are single seaters as turning up in one to take your driving test would be hilarious.

Edit

Just checked out of curiosity and it must have four wheels so would be a no goer anyway

[Mrs6C]

  On 10/10/2019 at 20:38, Heidel_Kakao said:

Good luck with your lessons, it's a shame Invacars are single seaters as turning up in one to take your driving test would be hilarious.

Edit

Just checked out of curiosity and it must have four wheels so would be a no goer anyway

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Dolly has four wheels...

[LightBulbFun]

  On 10/10/2019 at 19:35, Mally said:

Re the driving lessons.

This may not be true, but was last time I looked into it.

Do your own research, you are good at that!  And make your own decisions.

BSM use ADI, instructors (Approved Driving Instructor) green badge in screen, fully qualified.

And PDI instructors( Potential Driving Instructor) pink badge in screen, not fully qualified.

They may have explained this already but might have forgotten*

The PDI has to tell you he is PDI, and charges 20% less than their normal fee.

If a ADI turns up no problem.

If hes PDI and you are prepared to have an unqualified Instructor teaching you, fair enough, they have to learn on someone.

As I said check the above yourself, It's a while since I failed my instructor test!

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Thanks for the heads up/info 

indeed I read some stuff about that

ill keep an eye out for the badge!

funnily enough I did get a discount, but it half off rather then 20% off

was a bit unexpected because it was not mentioned during the selection process, but just right at the end when putting in the payment details it was like "heres half off!" so Im pretty sure it was promotional thing rather then "LOL you picked the n00b heres a condolences discount" sort of thing

(during the booking of lessons it let you select from a drop down list of driving instructors, that I imagine they have which cover the post code, his rate was/is £28 an hour which was inline with the other driving instructors in that list an hour so was going to be £56 or so for 2 hours but ended up being about half IIRC)

but yeah we will see I guess!

 

  On 10/10/2019 at 20:36, dozeydustman said:

Good news that you've found a driving school, LBF.

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Thanks  my main worry is that I hope i get/have chosen  a good driving instructor etc!

 

  On 10/10/2019 at 20:38, Heidel_Kakao said:

Good luck with your lessons, it's a shame Invacars are single seaters as turning up in one to take your driving test would be hilarious.

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haha yeah I was thinking that when I was reading up on stuff  and it mentioned that the driving test itself can be taken in your own vehicle, but is generally done in the instructors vehicle

I wonder what the most shite/ridiculous cars have been brought to the test center by their owners for them to take their test in or such?  

(sadly even if REV was a 2 seater, as she is an Automatic, she would not be suitable as I have booked manual lessons and plan to take a manual test  ) 

 

although its worth noting that the science museum has XPU614, its a Invacar Mk8 thats had the weather protection removed, and notably, fitted with Dual controls, both hand controls and foot controls

although unconfirmed its thought this Invacar was used as a training vehicle for first time invalid vehicle keepers  

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co127550/invacar-invalid-carriage-england-1950-1959-invalid-carriage

 

[Mrs6C]

Some re-education is needed at the Science Museum!

That web page states: "The Invacar is now banned from British roads for safety reasons. However, models are still held by museums and collectors."

[LightBulbFun]

  On 10/10/2019 at 21:30, Mrs6C said:

Some re-education is needed at the Science Museum!

That web page states: "The Invacar is now banned from British roads for safety reasons. However, models are still held by museums and collectors."

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indeed its amazing (in a sad way) the details that even fairly official bodies get wrong about invalid vehicles! 

which goes back to what iv said at various points that outside of this forum, pretty much everything you read about them online is incorrect/not true! LOL

 

on the note of learning to drive and invacars, I have been wondering if it would be worth putting P plates on REV when I first hit the road in her after hopefully passing my test!, or if that might be drawing a bit too much attention to myself LOL

[MorrisItalSLX]

I can speak from experience that P plates on oddball cars make you a police magnet. I’ve been pulled over in the Jag more times than I care to remember, tested for booze, drugs, dodgy insurance and everything in between.

Or maybe it’s just me and my purple crushed velvet suit and leopard skin hat.

Anyway, good luck with your driving. I’m not sure about the UK system but I never used an instructor, my parents/grandparents taught me everything (along with the handbook), but I realise that not everyone has this available to them.

EDIT: P plates are compulsory in Australia, in my state (NSW) for a minimum of 3 years.

[LightBulbFun]

  On 11/10/2019 at 05:33, MorrisItalSLX said:

I can speak from experience that P plates on oddball cars make you a police magnet. I’ve been pulled over in the Jag more times than I care to remember, tested for booze, drugs, dodgy insurance and everything in between.

Or maybe it’s just me and my purple crushed velvet suit and leopard skin hat.

Anyway, good luck with your driving. I’m not sure about the UK system but I never used an instructor, my parents/grandparents taught me everything (along with the handbook), but I realise that not everyone has this available to them.

EDIT: P plates are compulsory in Australia, in my state (NSW) for a minimum of 3 years.

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aye I figured such, they aint compulsory here, but you can stick em on if you want

in the UK you dont technically need any lessons etc before you take your test, you can rock up and take a test whenever you want

but sadly as you mentioned I dont have anyone local who can teach me the ropes sadly,

also as my mum said, there's Learning how to driven, and then learning how to pass the test

2 very different things! LOL (in that most people know/learn how to pass the test but dont learn how to drive properly LOL)

so in that regard even if I was getting lessons from my mum or such, id still want to take some driving lessons with a paid instructor so I know how to pass the test LOL

but yeah I do wish I had some on road driving experience beforehand, especially so i can learn how to actually drive rather then just pass a test LOL

fun times ahead as they say!

[MorrisItalSLX]

I should also say that in 6 months of Corolla ownership I have never been pulled over, but old Corollas are textbook first car fodder here, albeit not quite as old as mine.

[LightBulbFun]

so a couple days ago I got sent some cool pictures of JBY503J while she was being sanded back to blue

it looks like its moulting LOL  I also got a detailed run down on its history, and how it got used in anger once more for a while when the owner injured himself in a way that would normally stop you from driving, but not when you own an Invacar!  (and how last year when the points for going forward closed up on him, he simply put into reverse and drove back home 3 miles in reverse! because on these 2 stroke villers machines you enter reverse by starting/running the engine backwards which uses its own set of points, mostly interesting he says theres no lockout in regards to selecting above 1st gear, I was told by stuart that they should have a lock out, It will be interesting to see if its just a case of JBY has been tinkered with or if there really is no lock out!)

when I asked if he had been insane enough to take it onto the motorway, he said they were not allowed, so I showed him how thats not true for the Mk12, so he said "so M25 here I come!"  (although ment jokingly, on a more serious note he said might take it on a short jaunt on the motorway just to say that he has done it, the mad man! LOL)

 

 

 

 

I have also sent an update email to John the previous owner of my Model 70 detailing him on whats been going on with REV and dolly etc

id of liked to have sent one sooner but sadly progress of things have been a bit slower then id originally anticipated/would of liked, hopefully ill hear back soon

 

and while I was firing off emails, I finally sent an email off to the the seller of this mk12 https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1146777 hopefully he gets back to me!

[egg]

Nice pics, I think it took him 40 hours or so the sanding back.