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Oli’s cars Reliant Jubilee Robin, Rover Metro Rio, Rover 211i, Rover 75 Club CDTi Tourer, AC Model 70


OliD-E

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Well we have some big developments today in KPL world my other spares guy Alan Hitchcock the man who found KPL in the first place has responded to my list shame i cant currently afford all of it but i will work on that cdb251151a38a28d752dfe94ca73f444.jpgdb0e96acbc7b01630b084cb37fd8bba5.jpg3f89caaf8449ba0281129bd98288bb2e.jpg

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very cool stuff! if not a bit expensive price wise! (considering if everything goes to plan with my lead, you could get an entire Model 70 for that much!)

see if you can try and get ahold of mark sharratt, I aint had much luck getting ahold of him sadly, but supposedly he is the one who ended up with all the Model 70,s from the field (and I think is the guy selling the Model 70 bits n bobs on ebay) so he might be able to help out.

on the headlining front, I have not 100% confirmed everything, but im pretty sure KPL is a pre internal facelift Model 70, lacking the rollover bar larger speedo etc and would of had no head lining originally, so I would not worry about that, unless you want one of course

pretty much all the lighting and brake stuff is off the shelf BL stuff, so I would shop around first see if you can find it cheaper elsewhere :)

KPL would of been on 10 inch wheels im pretty sure, which are just normal Mini items so I dont think they would be too hard to source either

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very cool stuff! if not a bit expensive price wise! (considering if everything goes to plan with my lead, you could get an entire Model 70 for that much!)
see if you can try and get ahold of mark sharratt, I aint had much luck getting ahold of him sadly, but supposedly he is the one who ended up with all the Model 70,s from the field (and I think is the guy selling the Model 70 bits n bobs on ebay) so he might be able to help out.
on the headlining front, I have not 100% confirmed everything, but im pretty sure KPL is a pre internal facelift Model 70, lacking the rollover bar larger speedo etc and would of had no head lining originally, so I would not worry about that, unless you want one of course
pretty much all the lighting and brake stuff is off the shelf BL stuff, so I would shop around first see if you can find it cheaper elsewhere
KPL would of been on 10 inch wheels im pretty sure, which are just normal Mini items so I dont think they would be too hard to source either

Lights are the same as my Robin so i can get them easily enough the Ebay man is Barry Lee who has the NOS shell what i don’t understand with that is the KPL had a section of headlining at the front i think for now just the engine will be enough to be getting on with
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2 minutes ago, OliD-E said:


Lights are the same as my Robin so i can get them easily enough the Ebay man is Barry Lee who has the NOS shell what i don’t understand with that is the KPL had a section of headlining at the front i think for now just the engine will be enough to be getting on with

ah my bad on the ebay front! that one confuses me for some reason, at least i have my microcar world facebook post book marked, so i can go back and check whos who LOL

ah cool im guessing your aiming for original factory reliant regal rear lights? I had it in my head that those are pretty hard to find these days

 (originally I thought they came from the Mk1 robin, but the guy with the 2 Model 70,s im chasing said they are from the regal, which makes more sense, as I was scratching my head a bit, as the Robin only came out in 1973, 2 years after the model 70 did!) I know fraser wants to change his pair out for the later smaller britax lights, so if you need a pair of original style lights, he might be a source, (but I think he wanted to donate them to GPG721K)

 

can you show me a picture of the headlining? 

the factory headlining looked like this :) 

 

58444699_2318736328175878_7631539994544308224_n.jpg

 

58378090_593751621094313_6488894010214580224_n.jpg

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ah my bad on the ebay front! that one confuses me for some reason, at least i have my microcar world facebook post book marked, so i can go back and check whos who LOL
ah cool im guessing your aiming for original factory reliant regal rear lights? I had it in my head that those are pretty hard to find these days
 (originally I thought they came from the Mk1 robin, but the guy with the 2 Model 70,s im chasing said they are from the regal, which makes more sense, as I was scratching my head a bit, as the Robin only came out in 1973, 2 years after the model 70 did!) I know fraser wants to change his pair out for the later smaller britax lights, so if you need a pair of original style lights, he might be a source, (but I think he wanted to donate them to GPG721K)
 
can you show me a picture of the headlining? 
the factory headlining looked like this  
 
post-25614-0-58647900-1556024821.jpg
 
post-25614-0-33674700-1556024797.jpg

1684fecc3697c64ee42a472bee7b4a0e.jpg it is at the top here from what i have seen they are Robin rear lights on later ones and mini pickup rear lights on earlier ones
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12 minutes ago, OliD-E said:


1684fecc3697c64ee42a472bee7b4a0e.jpg it is at the top here from what i have seen they are Robin rear lights on later ones and mini pickup rear lights on earlier ones

ahh dont think thats a headliner i think its just part of the whole sunvior setup

I think you got your rear lights mixed up?

AFAIK, (and certainly from what I have seen) all production Model 70s from 1971 to 1978, had Reliant Regal rear lights like the one on the right in this photo

then sometime after Model 70 production ended, as the original rear lights broke or whatever, they fitted britax/Mini pickup rear lights like the one on the left in this photo :)

 

invacarrear.jpg

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ahh dont think thats a headliner i think its just part of the whole sunvior setup
I think you got your rear lights mixed up?
AFAIK, (and certainly from what I have seen) all production Model 70s from 1971 to 1978, had Reliant Regal rear lights like the one on the right in this photo
then sometime after production ended, as the original rear lights broke or whatever, they fitted britax/Mini pickup rear lights like the one on the left on this photo
 
post-25614-0-85151600-1548066130.jpg

Thats a Robin light 327bfc1ab70ba41023f281bbf31b7ca2.jpg
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ahh dont think thats a headliner i think its just part of the whole sunvior setup
I think you got your rear lights mixed up?
AFAIK, (and certainly from what I have seen) all production Model 70s from 1971 to 1978, had Reliant Regal rear lights like the one on the right in this photo
then sometime after Model 70 production ended, as the original rear lights broke or whatever, they fitted britax/Mini pickup rear lights like the one on the left in this photo
 
post-25614-0-85151600-1548066130.jpg

97e7c51e43f192e3ede456d68ac7043b.jpg here is a Regal
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heres a 72 regal which I believe showed up before the Robin :)

Tamworth6.JPG

(its worth noting that the rear light mouldings on the Model 70, is borrowed from the Model 67 which itself uses another style of rear lights, I think also borrowed from an earlier model of Regal)

20560478204_3d8c71e3f1_o.thumb.jpg.b401c2b6d73f0bb377bc11b1f3cfc53e.jpg

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heres a 72 regal which I believe showed up before the Robin
Tamworth6.JPG
(its worth noting that the rear light mouldings on the Model 70, is borrowed from the Model 67 which itself uses another style of rear lights, I think also borrowed from an earlier model of Regal)
20560478204_3d8c71e3f1_o.thumb.jpg.b401c2b6d73f0bb377bc11b1f3cfc53e.jpg

Ah yes i doubt they are reliant lights anyway they will be of something else but they are easy enough to find
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You're seeing there basically why I decided to transfer the drivetrain to TPA.  Restoring KPL was eminently doable, bit was going to cost more than I could really justify.  With a bit of patience though you can probably shave a fair chunk off the bottom line...and you seem to have more working space than I do and know the Reliant bits better than me.

 

There was no headliner in KPL, but the sun visor panel was originally fabric covered.  I've stripped this off on TP and painted the panel black, this both got rid of the rotten fabric and I think looks more in keeping with the look of the interior.

IMG_20190522_171220.thumb.jpg.a3192e9fc4a9cb7d494b2eb641f2b5ca.jpg

Pretty sure I remember it being said that Rover used that fabric at some point, so if you're looking for a match that might be a worthwhile starting point.

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You're seeing there basically why I decided to transfer the drivetrain to TPA.  Restoring KPL was eminently doable, bit was going to cost more than I could really justify.  With a bit of patience though you can probably shave a fair chunk off the bottom line...and you seem to have more working space than I do and know the Reliant bits better than me.
 
There was no headliner in KPL, but the sun visor panel was originally fabric covered.  I've stripped this off on TP and painted the panel black, this both got rid of the rotten fabric and I think looks more in keeping with the look of the interior.
IMG_20190522_171220.thumb.jpg.a3192e9fc4a9cb7d494b2eb641f2b5ca.jpg
Pretty sure I remember it being said that Rover used that fabric at some point, so if you're looking for a match that might be a worthwhile starting point.

Yes i can see what you mean i think this may take some time but i am not trying to make KPL really nice just roadworthy and a few odd bits that don’t need doing but would bother me
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Ah sunvisors, oh for such luxury (MK12 owner)
I wonder how much big Al is going to want for that MK12 door by the time I ask him....
This is all good stuff Oli.

Looking at the number of MK12s he has had to clear out hopefully not too much
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8 minutes ago, OliD-E said:


Looking at the number of MK12s he has had to clear out hopefully not too much

he also has a small gaggle of Model 67s too :)

last I heard he wanted about £1K for one of the Mk12s, which I think is taking the piss slightly

and its also a bit sad, as its probably why they continue to sit in his garden? like that (since no one wants to pay that much for a sad invacar)

(if I won the lottery or something, id love to get one of his Model 67s back on the road, as I dont think theres a single road worthy example in the UK sadly)

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I think the whole situation is a bit confused by the fact that there's seemingly a lot of "it's a microcar...no it's not!" arguments going around.  While these prices might seem somewhat eye watering to us lot, if you look at what prices some utter basket cases of "well known" microcars and parts swap hands for they're pocket change.

DW and TWC's story has done a lot to raise the profile of these cars in recent months, and there's no doubt been a surge in interest and demand for parts as a result - I'm entirely guilty of jumping on that bandwagon myself, never having been aware of their existence until TWC was dragged out of that field.  I'm pretty sure the number of listings for Invacar bits on eBay etc have jumped a heck of a lot since then.

It will be interesting to see as time goes on if that level of public interest remains, or whether they will fade into the background again.  How that goes will obviously have a big impact on the value (perceived or otherwise) of the various stashes of parts that are out there.  The values for complete vehicles already seem to be all over the shop - very much being worth "what a buyer is willing to pay" rather than following any real rhyme or reason already.  Not sure if this will remain to be the case or if we might get to a paint where a more concrete price guide might be something we can expect to see someone write up one day.  No, I'm not volunteering.

It's hard to believe that the interest wouldn't remain though, even though some microcar groups seem to deem them not to be "real" examples of the genre.  They're really well designed compared to many microcars, are actually usable in the real world rather than a novelty you trailer to shows, and there seem to be surprisingly readily available spares out there...I can't see the cat being persuaded back into the bag.

 

My original plan had been to restore KPL to as near stock as was feasible, possibly even hacking together something using a Robin/Kitten/Rialto front end as a basis for the nose - obviously when TPA became available though, that left me with a far more sensible route to a working car - though I'd be lying if I didn't admit to feeling somewhat guilty for separating the original drivetrain from the car...I really wanted a working car though, and this was the best route I could see to one.

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indeed I think you hit the nail on the head pretty well there :) as you say they are sort of in a quantum flux atm, and im hoping like hell I can bag a Model 70 before they go Microcar money silly...

(sadly a lot of Model 70s have seemingly been bought to just show off at shows etc rather then being used sadly, but I have noticed on here recently at-least, that a good few people are starting to realise that the Model 70 is not as horrible/unusable as most people think, and that the Model 70 is actually still usable today, and that makes me happy :) )

the Invacar bits on ebay, has mostly just been 1 guy selling off his spare parts stash after selling off all his Model 70s I think

I noticed in my sleuthing that in 2012, a whole bunch of Model 70 parts showed up on ebay out of the blue, I imagine a similar thing happened then (someone coming across a large stash of parts somewhere)

Yeah I do sometimes think to myself, it would be cool to swap all the drive trains back round so all the Model 70s here have their original engines/drive trains but im not sure if TWCs original engine is reparable or not?

(on that note I do wonder if the engine TWC came with from the field is even its original engine or not, I know DW still has her engine tucked away somewhere so it would be interesting to check :) )

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indeed I think you hit the nail on the head pretty well there  as you say they are sort of in a quantum flux atm, and im hoping like hell I can bag a Model 70 before they go Microcar money silly...
(sadly a lot of Model 70s have seemingly been bought to just show off at shows etc rather then being used sadly, but I have noticed on here recently at-least, that a good few people are starting to realise that the Model 70 is not as horrible/unusable as most people think, and that the Model 70 is actually still usable today, and that makes me happy  )
the Invacar bits on ebay, has mostly just been 1 guy selling off his spare parts stash after selling off all his Model 70s I think
I noticed in my sleuthing that in 2012, a whole bunch of Model 70 parts showed up on ebay out of the blue, I imagine a similar thing happened then (someone coming across a large stash of parts somewhere)
Yeah I do sometimes think to myself, it would be cool to swap all the drive trains back round so all the Model 70s here have their original engines/drive trains but im not sure if TWCs original engine is reparable or not?
(on that note I do wonder if the engine TWC came with from the field is even its original engine or not, I know DW still has her engine tucked away somewhere so it would be interesting to check  )

I did contact DW about TWCs original engine and possibly purchasing it but he says its only good for spares sadly
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I think the whole situation is a bit confused by the fact that there's seemingly a lot of "it's a microcar...no it's not!" arguments going around.  While these prices might seem somewhat eye watering to us lot, if you look at what prices some utter basket cases of "well known" microcars and parts swap hands for they're pocket change.
DW and TWC's story has done a lot to raise the profile of these cars in recent months, and there's no doubt been a surge in interest and demand for parts as a result - I'm entirely guilty of jumping on that bandwagon myself, never having been aware of their existence until TWC was dragged out of that field.  I'm pretty sure the number of listings for Invacar bits on eBay etc have jumped a heck of a lot since then.
It will be interesting to see as time goes on if that level of public interest remains, or whether they will fade into the background again.  How that goes will obviously have a big impact on the value (perceived or otherwise) of the various stashes of parts that are out there.  The values for complete vehicles already seem to be all over the shop - very much being worth "what a buyer is willing to pay" rather than following any real rhyme or reason already.  Not sure if this will remain to be the case or if we might get to a paint where a more concrete price guide might be something we can expect to see someone write up one day.  No, I'm not volunteering.
It's hard to believe that the interest wouldn't remain though, even though some microcar groups seem to deem them not to be "real" examples of the genre.  They're really well designed compared to many microcars, are actually usable in the real world rather than a novelty you trailer to shows, and there seem to be surprisingly readily available spares out there...I can't see the cat being persuaded back into the bag.
 
My original plan had been to restore KPL to as near stock as was feasible, possibly even hacking together something using a Robin/Kitten/Rialto front end as a basis for the nose - obviously when TPA became available though, that left me with a far more sensible route to a working car - though I'd be lying if I didn't admit to feeling somewhat guilty for separating the original drivetrain from the car...I really wanted a working car though, and this was the best route I could see to one.

My plan is similar to what yours was but i also want to leave KPL a bit patinated as thats what they all seems to have been like back in the day maybe one day we can swap the engines back round
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Just now, OliD-E said:


Im not sure but the guy who messaged me has VES 108S

Yeah Fraser, I know the chap pretty well, even if I dont agree with his thing of buying up Model 70s then selling them on for profit, I have been helping him out with properly IDing VES108S (XEV88S)

(and before anyone suspects anything, trust me if I wanted to scam someone I have over 550 Invacar pictures to chose from, I would not use one of such an identifiable Model 70 :mrgreen: )

 

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