Original Model 70 Brochure. Thanks to Dan Vitaletti Arvada, Colorado, USA.

Dan Vitaletti: "Hi, Invacar Instruction Manual which I recently bought on E-Bay. It is for the Greeves Invacar Mark 12E Invalid Car (1969-70). Though it primarily provides operating instructions, there is info on maintenance and repairs, including a wiring diagram. I can provide copies if anyone is interested. Thanks Dan Vitaletti, proud owner of the "Only Legally Owned Invacar in the World" Arvada, Colorado".

There were still around 200 Invacars in daily use around Britain prior to the March 2003 recall and scrapping program. It is now illegal to drive one on the British highway. They were all owned by the Government and leased to disabled drivers as part of their disability benefit, if they so wished. The earlier models took the Villiers motorcycle engine but in the early '70's after their production halted, the Invacar utilised the Steyr-Puch 500cc & 600cc units.

.....

the easy access on this 'handlebar' model......and..........a nightmare view for the 70's drivers

A sight only a handful of people have ever experienced

.............

...............................Half a dozen awaiting the crusher........and..................faded 'steering wheel' version

..........................

.................more for the baler................................................a well-used 'tiller bar' version

Phased out by April 2003, Gov't service agents crushed and scrapped the remaining Invacars until they were all (?) tragically gone. They were perceived as a liability with their outdated mechanics and coachwork and the push was on for 100% Mobility vehicle scheme usage.

Steyr-Puch 500cc or markedly nippier 600cc 2cyl. 4-stroke aircooled. With 19.3 h.p. for the 500cc at 5000rpm, the book top speed is 60mph. However (as the Go-Karters will tell you), a bit of know-how and a bigger Weber carb will have you pushing 80mph with a prevailing wind on a downhill stretch if the doors don't blow off. By all accounts, steering and the drum brakes are purely ornamental at speeds above 45mph but don't forget though, with the variable stop-go Salsbury transmission pulley system, the electrically started Invacar can achieve this warp speed in reverse as well !

FOR SALE

1976 Invacar

Handlebar version finished in 'Ice Blue'

58,000 genuine miles, recent full respray and recon. 600cc engine

First to see will buy - but it was never allowed !

Left or right access to house a wheelchair either side, the Invacar uses parts from Fiat for suspension, exterior lighting and various items inside the cab from 1960's Austin & Morris vans and cars. The Invacar is 9'9" long, 4'6" wide, weighs nearly 900lb and has a turning circle of 23 feet.

The New Breed

On 31st March 2003 it became illegal to drive an Invacar on the British Highway. With the highly successful 'Mobility' scheme well in place (whereby disabled drivers can opt for a conventional car with modified options), the passing of this classic mode of transport for disabled drivers may, in part, be replaced by the likes of the Citroen Aixam and 'Canta' invalid carriage on the scheme. The Canta is a 4-wheeled super-compact buggy which takes a full wheelchair if necessary.

Made in the Netherlands by Waaijenberg Mobility, the 398kg (877 lbs) vehicle is infinitely configurable - handlebars, steering wheel, single or double seating, side access, rear ramp, centre steering, rotating seat, hoist, foot or hand control etc.

The body is recyclable ABS plastic and the power comes from a single-cylinder 4-stroke 340cc Honda plant engine running on unleaded petrol, which can achieve 45mph via a variable automatic centrifugal gearbox. The Canta returns up to 60mpg.

Invacar Stories

• The only non-blue 70's Invacar ever known was a British Racing Green one with its roof chopped off and was briefly known as the 'INVACAB'.

• An Invacar service agent in the Midlands had to remove the 600cc engine from a lady owner's Invacar and replace it with the more sedate 500cc as the driver insisted on trying to intimidate police cars with the extra power!

Dan Vitaletti: "Here's a scan of a sales brochure for a Mark 12C Invacar to post on your great website.Thanks Dan Vitaletti Colorado USA".(2005)

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Daniel Rodd: "My friend Stuart Cyphus runs the 'Invaliud Carriage Register', which is a special register/page for Invacars and owners in the Register of Unusual Microcars magazine. He would be very grateful to hear from anyone who owns a surviving invalid carriage, or anyone who has any recollections, photos etc. on them. To join the Register of unusual microcars write to: Jean Hammond, School House Farm, Boarden Lane, Hawkenbury, Staplehurst, Kent, TN12 OEB. As a member you'll get a quarterly full colour magazine dedicated to the more unusual microcars, including seperate pages for different makes in the registers which have their own registrars, including the Invalid Carriage register. Stuart has on his register a grand total of 128 surviving road going invalid carriages (from the 1930's onwards). So the government didnt get them all!! Many were donated to museums, owned privately (ie were never government owned in the first place, as up till the mid 60's you could buy invacars yourself) were not on DSS books, or were"obtained" by other means, and there are many more out there, I know personally of someone with 10 in his garden, which have been there 30 odd years. Basically this means that there are surviving invacars out there and long may there be, but if you could put the above info on your invacar site that would be great, and a plea for anyone who owns or knows of any invas to contact Stuart. All the best, Daniel Rodd (2005). His Contact details are:"

The Invalid Carriage Register,

Stuart Cyphus,

6, Mirfield Road,

Witney,

Oxfordshire,

OX28 5BA

Tel 01993 709452.

Dan Vitaletti: "I recently restored and sold my '63 Invacar to a Disability Museum in New York (only museum of its kind in the USA). I can provide a short story and photos if you want for the website. Thanks Dan Vitaletti Colorado USA".(2005)[great Dan, looking forward to it]...

Ian Bingle:"Here's a question for you! There was a recording about the Thundersley Invacar. TRUE!! I remember it well, but no-one else seems to! (and I am NOT going round the bend!) I have tried to trace it without success! Have you heard of it? Best wishes, Ian (2004)[Well, we didn't, but we do now, thanks Ian !...3mb of Collapsed Lung's finest moment...]*if the link doesn't work, email me for the .mp3 or search p2p for "Collapsed Lung - Thundersley Invacar".

Ian Bingle: "I have a "street-legal" Tippen Delta electric. I have owned it for about 10 years and I think it may have been part of the manufacturer's batch allocated to the British Legion. My Tippen was manufactured in 1974 and the chassis plate states this. 'Manufactured by Frank Tippen & Sons 1974' plus serial number etc. The problem with all invalid vehicles (and indeed with London Transport buses) is that the year shown may not be the original year as these vehicles frequently get refurbished and re-registered with different bodies etc. This would certainly be true of the later Thundersleys. I believe, however, that my Tippen was genuinely made in '74. Another weird thing is that the fibreglass body appears to be self-coloured in the Ministry blue. And yet it has been re-sprayed a very slightly different shade, which is now peeling off to reveal the original colour! Ian (2004)

John Benson: "Hey there Virtualgaz, You set a hard task (of tracking down a rogue IC he saw in June 2004)... but today I saw our target... after a wild goose chase around Hove (UK) today (spotted the car, but didn't have the camera!) dashed home and went back to Sainsbury's... possibly the first Invacar being tailed too? Anyhow here are some photos, it's taxed too till next year so will prob be with us for a while... Regards John" (July 2004) (brought to you by www.crosscurve.com -making your ideas into reality)... PIC#1 PIC#2

Ian Campbell: Hi, back in the 70's I worked for a company "Hatherlys" in Footscray, Kent (UK) who had a Ministry contract to service invalid carriages. In the trade they were known as "Cruds". Recovery of broken-down carriages were made with a van towing a two wheeled ambulance, you just picked up the front and dropped wheel into the channel on the ambulance. It was not unusual to be hooted at and told "eer mate it's fallen over". As mechanic's testing carriages, we all had to pass a test - a man from the ministry came, we drove round the pumps on the forecourt and that was it! We had one client who had an AC spinal special (like a stretched limo), he drove it from a prone position. It had a red flashing light fitted incase he got into difficulties. There were still a few electric open (Stanley?) carts around with the tiller steering. Party trick by us naughty lads was to reverse back couple of feet then slam it into full forward. If nothing broke the resulting wheelie was most impressive!!! Best Regards, Ian Campbell (2004)

Dave Price: " I heard there was to be a reunion with all the surviving Thundersley workers this year. Does anyone know anything about it?" Dave Price, ex Thundersley lorry-driver / packer. (2003)

Graham Walker: "HI THERE,I USED TO OWN A MODERN AC INVACAR,TO WHICH I REMOVED THE ROOF,ADDED WIDE ALLOY MINI ALLOYS WITH LOW PROFILE TYRES, ADDED 2 HUGE SPOTLAMPS, PAINTED IT BRIGHT RED, AND WAS EVEN SEEN ON BBC 'TOP GEAR', BEATING A MESSERSCHMITT TIGER IN A SIDE BY SIDE SLALOM RACE!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT I EVEN OUTCORNERED HIM, AND I HAVE THIS ON VIDEO....A GREAT CAR...CHEERS, GRAHAM"(2003).

Dave Price: "I drove the the lorry and trailer delivering Invacars and the Greeves motorcycles for fourteen years. Derry Preston-Cobb (MD) had his own special invalid car with a Greeves racing engine, side mounted. It was a very fast machine and we regulary had to go and rescue Derry when he turned it over trying to corner too fast. When he had to give up this machine, he gave me the engine to fit in my Bond mini-car. The Bond went so fast it frightened me, because the brakes were not efficient enough to stop it quickly. The lorry and trailer carried four cars, two on the truck and two on the trailer. To load the lorry, I had to drive up the lowered trailer tailboard and fast up a steeper ramp onto the back of the truck. The first car was easy enough, but with the second one, I had to brake sharply after speeding up the ramp, so as not to smash into the first one. I had some great times there and still have freinds I worked with". Dave Price (Hedgehog) (2003)

Gerard Lundergan: "I used to work with the Invacars back in 1993 when I used to order the spare parts and send them out to places like Tippens and many other garages around the country. I had many happy times driving these about site and the number of models is unbelievable. I have seen the majority of the early models, the black carriages were really weird to look at and had some cracking number plates. The later cars were all catalogued by hand and mainframe computer and we use to have massive metal ledgers full of the part numbers, stock etc. One carriage I remember was about 6ft tall as the person driving it had problems sitting down due to a spinal injury. The Steyr Puch engines were always in demand although never sold for some bizarre reason - a lot of motorbike fanatics use to get hold of our number and ask if they could buy the engines out of the scrapped cars but we obviously had to disappoint. There was talk too of not scrapping any of the vehicles but selling them to countries in Africa who could use them. They debated the subject for a while and scrapped it because they thought that it would be too risky if the cars broke down, as they didn’t want to get in trouble for selling cars that weren’t of good quality. This never made any sense to us as we knew that they were possibly the best maintained cars on the road. Parts were abundant and they were serviced very regularly. I think a lot of people stopped using them when they realised that they could get money to buy a conventional car although I do remember some die-hards who would not give up there beloved Invacar. The site was based (and still is) in Heywood, Greater Manchester where a full aircraft hangar was used to stock the cars. They were five crates high and visitors to the site used to have to havetheir jaws closed by us when they saw the Invacars. It was an unbelievable experience, honestly…"(2001)

Ian Longman: on his recent finding..."It has two wheels (not three) and no number plate. No one knew who the owner was so I do not know how to go about buying it. I think with a full restoration (using the parts off of Invacars that are going to be crushed) it will make a nice weird car to drive around in. The Essex Invacar site is now called the 'Manor Trading Estate'. There's still a shell of a vehicle within the grounds but it's in a sorry state. The car is a steering wheel version which has no doors, a dash with all the clocks and switches missing, a seat which is all ripped and the little engine was also incomplete. It had a "Goverment Property" sticker under the bonnet and a sticker over the badge stating it is not to be moved. It looks like an ex-test model but I am not sure. Most of the Invacar factory buildings have now been demolished although there are some 'sheds' with the faded 'Invacar Ltd' signs on them. From what my Dad tells me, back in the late '60's and early 70's they used to test the Invacars down a big hill near the trading estate called Church Hill. The brake testing circuit had a brick wall at the end of it! As I live in Essex they are locally know as 'Blue Lungs' or 'Blue Bungs' - I've never found out why they were called this and there are still 3 of them in daily use around the Essex area." (2002)

Invacar FAQ's

Q. Has there ever been an instance of a stolen Invacar? A. Yes, one of John Curley's customers has had hers stolen twice!

Q. Did you have to be 'disabled' to drive one? A. In the UK, it was the only lawful way.

Q. Is it true that you couldn't legally own an Invacar? A. All Invacars were Government/Council owned.

Q. Is 82mph the absolute maximum aerodynamic speed of an Invacar? A. No, 85mph is the reputed record!

Q. Do they really do 97 mpg? A. No, more like 35mpg in reality.

This is Ian in his 19?? Argson with Jon Heasman who runs a project called GAP (Garnet Access Project) which provides access to the countryside for disabled people. The Argson is being used by Jon to promote the project.

Possibly the only Greeves Invacar in North America? Dan Vitaletti of Colorado, collector of Greeves motorcycles, just had to have an Invacar - so when he saw this one for sale he paid a king's ransom and drove a 2,000 mile round trip to pick it up. It was the only Greeves Invacar imported by the Greeves Motorcycle west coast distributor, Nick Nicholson and is a 1963 Mk.12A (Ser. no. 81618) with a Villiers 11E (617D 2739) having covered a mere 2,219 miles.

This superb 1968 Tippen Delta belonging to A.M. of Massachusetts was originally taken to Nova Scotia by a war veteran. He would like to find out more about the number of surviving TD's and is currently searching for location of the serial number. Any thoughts anyone?

Special thanks to Jon Curley for his help in constructing this tribute to the Invacar with his invaluable expertise, contacts and information.

Jon Curley Vehicle Services

Automotive & Commercial. Invacar and Canta service, maintenance and sales.

Borg and Beck Clutch Centre - Lucas Fuel Injection repairs.

50 Selly Hill, Selly Oak, Birmingham, England. +44 (0)121 471 1630 or 07771 916414

*Research carried out using a variety of information including Jon Curley's personal documentation and 'A Brief Pictorial History of the Invalid Tricycle' by Fred Nailer (1985).

LINKS

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