The Car Thread ... !

[LightBulbFun]

guess i'll reveal now what im buying


this is the Car im buying

its an Invacar Model 70

a vehicle designed and built by AC Cars Ltd of Cobra fame, and also built by Invacar Ltd,

the Model 70, was a vehicle designed for people with disabilities which limited their mobility, and was primarily leased out to said people for free by the British government

commonly known in the UK as an "invalid carriage" they were designed to be very adaptable to the users needs, with over 56 different control scheme combinations, which meant even if you had 1 arm and no legs you could still drive one

the Model 70 was the last of the invalid carriage type vehicles, a class of motorised vehicles built specifically for the disabled, Model 70 was commissioned by the British government as a replacement of earlier invalid vehicles which people had deemed unsuitable, invalid vehicles before the Model 70, where very crude and basic machines with manual gearboxes, villiers motorcycle engines, or very simple electric drive trains

AC was given the contract to design develop and build the Model 70, AC carried out all the development work and built them themselves, although Invacar Ltd was a pioneer with invalid vehicles in the past, Invacar was only contracted to build the Model 70 and had no input on the design/spec of them, specs wise Invacar Model 70's are identical to AC Model 70's

(invacar is also a colloquial term for any sort of 3 wheeled vehicle built for the disabled in the UK, a bit like how some people call all vacuum cleaners "hoovers")

the Model 70 was a completely new design from the ground up compared to any previous machines mechanically, with a Fibreglass Body mounted to an all new strong steel chassis, with an automatic CVT Salsbury transmission coupled to an AC Made gearbox for selecting drive neutral and reverse, all powered by a 493cc Steyr puch flat twin engine, with Power sent to the wheels via a Fiat 500/126 Diff and drive shafts, suspension in the front was Leading arm Parallelogram suspension and a gas adjustable shock, with independent coil over suspension in the rear with gas adjustable shocks

(the overall body design was carried over from one ACs previous designs, however mechanically/under the skin the Model 70 was completely different than anything else)

the Model 70 was designed to carry the driver plus a folded wheelchair, with a sliding seat, and sliding doors for easy cabin access

Passenger carrying was forbidden

99% of all Model 70's where built for and leased out by the government, and sadly the government had a policy of destroying any and all invalid vehicles that where withdrawn from service, and in 2003, all Model 70's still in use where withdrawn from service and scrapped

as such out of about ~18,000 made, there are only 79 documented survivors across the globe, most of which were ones that managed to avoid scrappage by the government, (either by officially being donated to museums, or unofficially, by being saved from scrap yards and the like, or just having been flat out stolen!)

the one im buying, was one of about only 50 Model 70's that were sold privately to a individual rather than to the government (only about 4 or 5 private Model 70's are thought to still exist)

(anyone could outright buy a Model 70 new from AC or Invacar if they wanted to, but it made little sense when you could get one leased for free from the government)

the Model 70 was produced from 1971 to 1978, production finally ended as the government announced the end of the Invalid vehicle scheme in 1977 and the modern day motability scheme was introduced to help provide disabled people with regular cars adapted to suit their needs

the invalid vehicle contract AC had with the government is what provided a lot of the income that enabled AC to build their famous sports cars, and for Invacar Ltd to build their famous Greeves motorcycles

you might be asking yourself why am I getting one

well a Model 70 parked on the side of the road was one of the first cars that stood out to me at a very young age making me ask my mum "whats that and why does it only have 3 wheels?!" to which my mum responded "it was a car built for the disabled"

and I was rather fascinated by this strange small blue 3 wheeler

they also have a very fascinating history, and they have been very fascinating to research and learn about them

as such im very enthusiastic about them

there's VERY little information on the internet about them, and most what you do find on the internet is false (they were never banned from the road, none had 600cc engines from the factory, and and no they were not banned from Motorways, you could always drive a Model 70 on the motorway)

they were also a very important part of social history in the UK and invalid vehicles where once a common view on every street, but they sadly vanished overnight without much notice

but im hoping to change that I have been researching them intensely for the past year or so, as well as looking to buy one for about that long

with so very few survivors, its much easier said than done! but I have finally tracked one down and im very excited about it all

(My life situation is not really setup for owning a car, but at the same time due to being disabled myself I need a car to be able to leave the house, and if im going to go through all the effort blood sweat and tears of getting a car im going to make sure its one that I really want, and not just some cheap rubbish )

they may not look like much, but they are much quicker and handle much better than people expect them to, thanks to the fairly advanced suspension setup, and relatively wide track, with a low center of gravity and most of the weight on the rear wheels. (and with the driver sitting in the center of the car)

they only weigh about 410Kg, and as such even with only 20 horse power, they are rather rapid! with a reported top speed of 82Mph! while I have not had that confirmed, I have seen a Confirmed 70Mph out of one

and they will cruise comfortably at about 50-55Mph

here's a brochure for the Model 70 from Invacar

it gives a good overview of the 3 main control schemes that were available all control schemes could be fitted with either hand controls or foot controls, and ajusted for left or right hand preference

for example here is a an all hand controller tiller setup

and here is a Tiller control setup with some foot controls

here's a steering wheel control scheme with foot controls

and heres a steering wheel setup with hand controls (you can also see the dash mounted gear change, most had the gear change mounted on the floor beside the driver seat)

the most common type found and made was the handlebar type, with the tiller coming in second, and the steering wheel version being the rarest



here's a picture of a conventional control scheme setup (with unconventional floor mounted hand brake lever, the hand brake was normally a pull push T handle thing poking out the dash which you can see in the other pictures)

heres a picture of an AC Model 70

up until June/July 1974, Model 70's had 12 inch wheels, however after that date, production switched to 10 inch wheels and tyres borrowed from the Mini, which gave a lower ride height and better handling (via said lowering, and the wider 10 inch tyres)

heres an early Invacar Model 70 (1972) on 12 inch wheels and tyres

heres an engine bay shot of an Model 70

and heres what the gearbox and transmission looks like

and heres what the underside of a Model 70 looks like, minus its drive line

I hope this all makes sense to everyone! and if anyone has any questions feel free to ask and ill try my best to answer them

 

[vipergts2207]

guess i'll reveal now what im buying


this is the Car im buying

View attachment 845986

its an Invacar Model 70

a vehicle designed and built by AC Cars Ltd of Cobra fame, and also built by Invacar Ltd,

the Model 70, was a vehicle designed for people with disabilities which limited their mobility, and was primarily leased out to said people for free by the British government

commonly known in the UK as an "invalid carriage" they were designed to be very adaptable to the users needs, with over 56 different control scheme combinations, which meant even if you had 1 arm and no legs you could still drive one

the Model 70 was the last of the invalid carriage type vehicles, a class of motorised vehicles built specifically for the disabled, Model 70 was commissioned by the British government as a replacement of earlier invalid vehicles which people had deemed unsuitable, invalid vehicles before the Model 70, where very crude and basic machines with manual gearboxes, villiers motorcycle engines, or very simple electric drive trains

AC was given the contract to design develop and build the Model 70, AC carried out all the development work and built them themselves, although Invacar Ltd was a pioneer with invalid vehicles in the past, Invacar was only contracted to build the Model 70 and had no input on the design/spec of them, specs wise Invacar Model 70's are identical to AC Model 70's

(invacar is also a colloquial term for any sort of 3 wheeled vehicle built for the disabled in the UK, a bit like how some people call all vacuum cleaners "hoovers")

the Model 70 was a completely new design from the ground up compared to any previous machines mechanically, with a Fibreglass Body mounted to an all new strong steel chassis, with an automatic CVT Salsbury transmission coupled to an AC Made gearbox for selecting drive neutral and reverse, all powered by a 493cc Steyr puch flat twin engine, with Power sent to the wheels via a Fiat 500/126 Diff and drive shafts, suspension in the front was Leading arm Parallelogram suspension and a gas adjustable shock, with independent coil over suspension in the rear with gas adjustable shocks

(the overall body design was carried over from one ACs previous designs, however mechanically/under the skin the Model 70 was completely different than anything else)

the Model 70 was designed to carry the driver plus a folded wheelchair, with a sliding seat, and sliding doors for easy cabin access

Passenger carrying was forbidden

99% of all Model 70's where built for and leased out by the government, and sadly the government had a policy of destroying any and all invalid vehicles that where withdrawn from service, and in 2003, all Model 70's still in use where withdrawn from service and scrapped

as such out of about ~18,000 made, there are only 79 documented survivors across the globe, most of which were ones that managed to avoid scrappage by the government, (either by officially being donated to museums, or unofficially, by being saved from scrap yards and the like, or just having been flat out stolen!)

the one im buying, was one of about only 50 Model 70's that were sold privately to a individual rather than to the government (only about 4 or 5 private Model 70's are thought to still exist)

(anyone could outright buy a Model 70 new from AC or Invacar if they wanted to, but it made little sense when you could get one leased for free from the government)

the Model 70 was produced from 1971 to 1978, production finally ended as the government announced the end of the Invalid vehicle scheme in 1977 and the modern day motability scheme was introduced to help provide disabled people with regular cars adapted to suit their needs

the invalid vehicle contract AC had with the government is what provided a lot of the income that enabled AC to build their famous sports cars, and for Invacar Ltd to build their famous Greeves motorcycles

you might be asking yourself why am I getting one

well a Model 70 parked on the side of the road was one of the first cars that stood out to me at a very young age making me ask my mum "whats that and why does it only have 3 wheels?!" to which my mum responded "it was a car built for the disabled"

and I was rather fascinated by this strange small blue 3 wheeler

they also have a very fascinating history, and they have been very fascinating to research and learn about them

as such im very enthusiastic about them

there's VERY little information on the internet about them, and most what you do find on the internet is false (they were never banned from the road, none had 600cc engines from the factory, and and no they were not banned from Motorways, you could always drive a Model 70 on the motorway)

they were also a very important part of social history in the UK and invalid vehicles where once a common view on every street, but they sadly vanished overnight without much notice

but im hoping to change that I have been researching them intensely for the past year or so, as well as looking to buy one for about that long

with so very few survivors, its much easier said than done! but I have finally tracked one down and im very excited about it all

(My life situation is not really setup for owning a car, but at the same time due to being disabled myself I need a car to be able to leave the house, and if im going to go through all the effort blood sweat and tears of getting a car im going to make sure its one that I really want, and not just some cheap rubbish )

they may not look like much, but they are much quicker and handle much better than people expect them to, thanks to the fairly advanced suspension setup, and relatively wide track, with a low center of gravity and most of the weight on the rear wheels. (and with the driver sitting in the center of the car)

they only weigh about 410Kg, and as such even with only 20 horse power, they are rather rapid! with a reported top speed of 82Mph! while I have not had that confirmed, I have seen a Confirmed 70Mph out of one

and they will cruise comfortably at about 50-55Mph

here's a brochure for the Model 70 from Invacar



View attachment 845992

it gives a good overview of the 3 main control schemes that were available all control schemes could be fitted with either hand controls or foot controls, and ajusted for left or right hand preference

for example here is a an all hand controller tiller setup

and here is a Tiller control setup with some foot controls

View attachment 845994

here's a steering wheel control scheme with foot controls

and heres a steering wheel setup with hand controls (you can also see the dash mounted gear change, most had the gear change mounted on the floor beside the driver seat)

the most common type found and made was the handlebar type, with the tiller coming in second, and the steering wheel version being the rarest



here's a picture of a conventional control scheme setup (with unconventional floor mounted hand brake lever, the hand brake was normally a pull push T handle thing poking out the dash which you can see in the other pictures)

View attachment 845997

heres a picture of an AC Model 70

View attachment 845998

up until June/July 1974, Model 70's had 12 inch wheels, however after that date, production switched to 10 inch wheels and tyres borrowed from the Mini, which gave a lower ride height and better handling (via said lowering, and the wider 10 inch tyres)

heres an early Invacar Model 70 (1972) on 12 inch wheels and tyres

View attachment 845999


heres an engine bay shot of an Model 70

View attachment 846001

and heres what the gearbox and transmission looks like

View attachment 846004

and heres what the underside of a Model 70 looks like, minus its drive line

View attachment 846005

I hope this all makes sense to everyone! and if anyone has any questions feel free to ask and ill try my best to answer them

Don't get in a wreck in that thing; it may be the end of you!

 

[LightBulbFun]

Don't get in a wreck in that thing; it may be the end of you!

oh im well aware LOL

but on that note

they were actually crash tested by MIRA in 1974 and with only few modifications actually passed the european crash test standards of the time

all from the factory came fitted with seatbelts and a fire extinguisher, ones built from 1975 and onwards where also fitted with a rollover bar to placate any rollover concerns

(although despite being a 3 wheeler the Model 70 is very hard to turn over, the main issue was because the front end was very light, they get blown around easily in strong winds)

 

[Apple fanboy]

guess i'll reveal now what im buying


this is the Car im buying

View attachment 845986

its an Invacar Model 70

a vehicle designed and built by AC Cars Ltd of Cobra fame, and also built by Invacar Ltd,

the Model 70, was a vehicle designed for people with disabilities which limited their mobility, and was primarily leased out to said people for free by the British government

commonly known in the UK as an "invalid carriage" they were designed to be very adaptable to the users needs, with over 56 different control scheme combinations, which meant even if you had 1 arm and no legs you could still drive one

the Model 70 was the last of the invalid carriage type vehicles, a class of motorised vehicles built specifically for the disabled, Model 70 was commissioned by the British government as a replacement of earlier invalid vehicles which people had deemed unsuitable, invalid vehicles before the Model 70, where very crude and basic machines with manual gearboxes, villiers motorcycle engines, or very simple electric drive trains

AC was given the contract to design develop and build the Model 70, AC carried out all the development work and built them themselves, although Invacar Ltd was a pioneer with invalid vehicles in the past, Invacar was only contracted to build the Model 70 and had no input on the design/spec of them, specs wise Invacar Model 70's are identical to AC Model 70's

(invacar is also a colloquial term for any sort of 3 wheeled vehicle built for the disabled in the UK, a bit like how some people call all vacuum cleaners "hoovers")

the Model 70 was a completely new design from the ground up compared to any previous machines mechanically, with a Fibreglass Body mounted to an all new strong steel chassis, with an automatic CVT Salsbury transmission coupled to an AC Made gearbox for selecting drive neutral and reverse, all powered by a 493cc Steyr puch flat twin engine, with Power sent to the wheels via a Fiat 500/126 Diff and drive shafts, suspension in the front was Leading arm Parallelogram suspension and a gas adjustable shock, with independent coil over suspension in the rear with gas adjustable shocks

(the overall body design was carried over from one ACs previous designs, however mechanically/under the skin the Model 70 was completely different than anything else)

the Model 70 was designed to carry the driver plus a folded wheelchair, with a sliding seat, and sliding doors for easy cabin access

Passenger carrying was forbidden

99% of all Model 70's where built for and leased out by the government, and sadly the government had a policy of destroying any and all invalid vehicles that where withdrawn from service, and in 2003, all Model 70's still in use where withdrawn from service and scrapped

as such out of about ~18,000 made, there are only 79 documented survivors across the globe, most of which were ones that managed to avoid scrappage by the government, (either by officially being donated to museums, or unofficially, by being saved from scrap yards and the like, or just having been flat out stolen!)

the one im buying, was one of about only 50 Model 70's that were sold privately to a individual rather than to the government (only about 4 or 5 private Model 70's are thought to still exist)

(anyone could outright buy a Model 70 new from AC or Invacar if they wanted to, but it made little sense when you could get one leased for free from the government)

the Model 70 was produced from 1971 to 1978, production finally ended as the government announced the end of the Invalid vehicle scheme in 1977 and the modern day motability scheme was introduced to help provide disabled people with regular cars adapted to suit their needs

the invalid vehicle contract AC had with the government is what provided a lot of the income that enabled AC to build their famous sports cars, and for Invacar Ltd to build their famous Greeves motorcycles

you might be asking yourself why am I getting one

well a Model 70 parked on the side of the road was one of the first cars that stood out to me at a very young age making me ask my mum "whats that and why does it only have 3 wheels?!" to which my mum responded "it was a car built for the disabled"

and I was rather fascinated by this strange small blue 3 wheeler

they also have a very fascinating history, and they have been very fascinating to research and learn about them

as such im very enthusiastic about them

there's VERY little information on the internet about them, and most what you do find on the internet is false (they were never banned from the road, none had 600cc engines from the factory, and and no they were not banned from Motorways, you could always drive a Model 70 on the motorway)

they were also a very important part of social history in the UK and invalid vehicles where once a common view on every street, but they sadly vanished overnight without much notice

but im hoping to change that I have been researching them intensely for the past year or so, as well as looking to buy one for about that long

with so very few survivors, its much easier said than done! but I have finally tracked one down and im very excited about it all

(My life situation is not really setup for owning a car, but at the same time due to being disabled myself I need a car to be able to leave the house, and if im going to go through all the effort blood sweat and tears of getting a car im going to make sure its one that I really want, and not just some cheap rubbish )

they may not look like much, but they are much quicker and handle much better than people expect them to, thanks to the fairly advanced suspension setup, and relatively wide track, with a low center of gravity and most of the weight on the rear wheels. (and with the driver sitting in the center of the car)

they only weigh about 410Kg, and as such even with only 20 horse power, they are rather rapid! with a reported top speed of 82Mph! while I have not had that confirmed, I have seen a Confirmed 70Mph out of one

and they will cruise comfortably at about 50-55Mph

here's a brochure for the Model 70 from Invacar



View attachment 845992

it gives a good overview of the 3 main control schemes that were available all control schemes could be fitted with either hand controls or foot controls, and ajusted for left or right hand preference

for example here is a an all hand controller tiller setup

and here is a Tiller control setup with some foot controls

View attachment 845994

here's a steering wheel control scheme with foot controls

and heres a steering wheel setup with hand controls (you can also see the dash mounted gear change, most had the gear change mounted on the floor beside the driver seat)

the most common type found and made was the handlebar type, with the tiller coming in second, and the steering wheel version being the rarest



here's a picture of a conventional control scheme setup (with unconventional floor mounted hand brake lever, the hand brake was normally a pull push T handle thing poking out the dash which you can see in the other pictures)

View attachment 845997

heres a picture of an AC Model 70

View attachment 845998

up until June/July 1974, Model 70's had 12 inch wheels, however after that date, production switched to 10 inch wheels and tyres borrowed from the Mini, which gave a lower ride height and better handling (via said lowering, and the wider 10 inch tyres)

heres an early Invacar Model 70 (1972) on 12 inch wheels and tyres

View attachment 845999


heres an engine bay shot of an Model 70

View attachment 846001

and heres what the gearbox and transmission looks like

View attachment 846004

and heres what the underside of a Model 70 looks like, minus its drive line

View attachment 846005

I hope this all makes sense to everyone! and if anyone has any questions feel free to ask and ill try my best to answer them

Thanks for putting us out of our misery.
I’d never have got that.

Enjoy your new 2/3rds of a car!

 

[LightBulbFun]

Thanks for putting us out of our misery.
I’d never have got that.

Enjoy your new 2/3rds of a car!

haha thanks I was wondering if you would get it based on your location

I will say you where actually the closest out of anyone when you said Fiat 500, given the Fiat 500 mechanical components it uses

(Model 70 Prototype 6 Had the entire engine and transaxle etc out of a Fiat 500, its said they wanted to use a Fiat 500 engine, but that fiat refused to supply engines, so they went to Steyr puch instead, which was a better engine anyway )

 

[2298754]

Tesla's build? seeing as how they get a perfect safety rating by consumer reports, I'm thinking you just have a bias against Tesla that doesn't allow you to appreciate how safe they truly are.

Consumer Reports doesn't do safety ratings. They do satisfaction and reliability ratings.

You really don't know what you're talking about, do you?


[doublepost=1562026153][/doublepost]

The updated S uses the battery cells from the Model 3, so I’m not sure if it uses the same cooling system as the Model 3 or if they stuck with the previous system.

Not yet. The updated "Raven" Model S and Xs use the newer motors with some suspension changes. Battery packs are still the same as before.

 

[raqball]

Pics or it didn’t happen...

Here ya go....

Aero's:

Aero's off:

I’m not a fan of the aero wheels. Apparently they’re basically hubcaps and underneath are wheels that look a lot like the the 19” wheels.

As above here are the wheels that are underneath the Aero's..

 

[44267547]

Here ya go....

Aero's:

Aero's off:

As above here are the wheels that are underneath the Aero's..

Definitely prefer with the aeros off. Nice car. Do enjoy.

 

[A.Goldberg]

Not yet. The updated "Raven" Model S and Xs use the newer motors with some suspension changes. Battery packs are still the same as before.

Ahh you’re right. I believe air suspension is now standard in the Model S. I’m curious to know how Tesla’s air suspension fares... manufacturers tend to hit or miss when it comes to relatively reliability of these systems. Relative considering as AS is inherently less reliable than a coil spring.

It’s kind of unfortunate they’re not offering regular coil springs. Air suspension tends to kill the longevity of cars due to repair costs (and oftentimes resale). I suppose coil spring conversions could potentially become available.
[doublepost=1562029723][/doublepost]

Here ya go....

Aero's:

Aero's off:

As above here are the wheels that are underneath the Aero's..

Yes, those look far better. The aero wheels looks atrocious and give a Prius-like look on what’s supposed to be more of a sports sedan. It’s kinda silly they presumably trick some people into buying the 19 inch wheels just to get away from the ugly aero wheels. I’d just hope that finish is designed to bear the wear and tear of the road.

All that aside I do question why, especially when money is tight, they use such a complex design only to cover it up with a hubcap. I’m not saying they had to use steel wheels, but the design seems rather intricate only to be covered up.

 

[A.Goldberg]

guess i'll reveal now what im buying


this is the Car im buying

View attachment 845986

its an Invacar Model 70

a vehicle designed and built by AC Cars Ltd of Cobra fame, and also built by Invacar Ltd,

the Model 70, was a vehicle designed for people with disabilities which limited their mobility, and was primarily leased out to said people for free by the British government

commonly known in the UK as an "invalid carriage" they were designed to be very adaptable to the users needs, with over 56 different control scheme combinations, which meant even if you had 1 arm and no legs you could still drive one

the Model 70 was the last of the invalid carriage type vehicles, a class of motorised vehicles built specifically for the disabled, Model 70 was commissioned by the British government as a replacement of earlier invalid vehicles which people had deemed unsuitable, invalid vehicles before the Model 70, where very crude and basic machines with manual gearboxes, villiers motorcycle engines, or very simple electric drive trains

AC was given the contract to design develop and build the Model 70, AC carried out all the development work and built them themselves, although Invacar Ltd was a pioneer with invalid vehicles in the past, Invacar was only contracted to build the Model 70 and had no input on the design/spec of them, specs wise Invacar Model 70's are identical to AC Model 70's

(invacar is also a colloquial term for any sort of 3 wheeled vehicle built for the disabled in the UK, a bit like how some people call all vacuum cleaners "hoovers")

the Model 70 was a completely new design from the ground up compared to any previous machines mechanically, with a Fibreglass Body mounted to an all new strong steel chassis, with an automatic CVT Salsbury transmission coupled to an AC Made gearbox for selecting drive neutral and reverse, all powered by a 493cc Steyr puch flat twin engine, with Power sent to the wheels via a Fiat 500/126 Diff and drive shafts, suspension in the front was Leading arm Parallelogram suspension and a gas adjustable shock, with independent coil over suspension in the rear with gas adjustable shocks

(the overall body design was carried over from one ACs previous designs, however mechanically/under the skin the Model 70 was completely different than anything else)

the Model 70 was designed to carry the driver plus a folded wheelchair, with a sliding seat, and sliding doors for easy cabin access

Passenger carrying was forbidden

99% of all Model 70's where built for and leased out by the government, and sadly the government had a policy of destroying any and all invalid vehicles that where withdrawn from service, and in 2003, all Model 70's still in use where withdrawn from service and scrapped

as such out of about ~18,000 made, there are only 79 documented survivors across the globe, most of which were ones that managed to avoid scrappage by the government, (either by officially being donated to museums, or unofficially, by being saved from scrap yards and the like, or just having been flat out stolen!)

the one im buying, was one of about only 50 Model 70's that were sold privately to a individual rather than to the government (only about 4 or 5 private Model 70's are thought to still exist)

(anyone could outright buy a Model 70 new from AC or Invacar if they wanted to, but it made little sense when you could get one leased for free from the government)

the Model 70 was produced from 1971 to 1978, production finally ended as the government announced the end of the Invalid vehicle scheme in 1977 and the modern day motability scheme was introduced to help provide disabled people with regular cars adapted to suit their needs

the invalid vehicle contract AC had with the government is what provided a lot of the income that enabled AC to build their famous sports cars, and for Invacar Ltd to build their famous Greeves motorcycles

you might be asking yourself why am I getting one

well a Model 70 parked on the side of the road was one of the first cars that stood out to me at a very young age making me ask my mum "whats that and why does it only have 3 wheels?!" to which my mum responded "it was a car built for the disabled"

and I was rather fascinated by this strange small blue 3 wheeler

they also have a very fascinating history, and they have been very fascinating to research and learn about them

as such im very enthusiastic about them

there's VERY little information on the internet about them, and most what you do find on the internet is false (they were never banned from the road, none had 600cc engines from the factory, and and no they were not banned from Motorways, you could always drive a Model 70 on the motorway)

they were also a very important part of social history in the UK and invalid vehicles where once a common view on every street, but they sadly vanished overnight without much notice

but im hoping to change that I have been researching them intensely for the past year or so, as well as looking to buy one for about that long

with so very few survivors, its much easier said than done! but I have finally tracked one down and im very excited about it all

(My life situation is not really setup for owning a car, but at the same time due to being disabled myself I need a car to be able to leave the house, and if im going to go through all the effort blood sweat and tears of getting a car im going to make sure its one that I really want, and not just some cheap rubbish )

they may not look like much, but they are much quicker and handle much better than people expect them to, thanks to the fairly advanced suspension setup, and relatively wide track, with a low center of gravity and most of the weight on the rear wheels. (and with the driver sitting in the center of the car)

they only weigh about 410Kg, and as such even with only 20 horse power, they are rather rapid! with a reported top speed of 82Mph! while I have not had that confirmed, I have seen a Confirmed 70Mph out of one

and they will cruise comfortably at about 50-55Mph

here's a brochure for the Model 70 from Invacar



View attachment 845992

it gives a good overview of the 3 main control schemes that were available all control schemes could be fitted with either hand controls or foot controls, and ajusted for left or right hand preference

for example here is a an all hand controller tiller setup

and here is a Tiller control setup with some foot controls

View attachment 845994

here's a steering wheel control scheme with foot controls

and heres a steering wheel setup with hand controls (you can also see the dash mounted gear change, most had the gear change mounted on the floor beside the driver seat)

the most common type found and made was the handlebar type, with the tiller coming in second, and the steering wheel version being the rarest



here's a picture of a conventional control scheme setup (with unconventional floor mounted hand brake lever, the hand brake was normally a pull push T handle thing poking out the dash which you can see in the other pictures)

View attachment 845997

heres a picture of an AC Model 70

View attachment 845998

up until June/July 1974, Model 70's had 12 inch wheels, however after that date, production switched to 10 inch wheels and tyres borrowed from the Mini, which gave a lower ride height and better handling (via said lowering, and the wider 10 inch tyres)

heres an early Invacar Model 70 (1972) on 12 inch wheels and tyres

View attachment 845999


heres an engine bay shot of an Model 70

View attachment 846001

and heres what the gearbox and transmission looks like

View attachment 846004

and heres what the underside of a Model 70 looks like, minus its drive line

View attachment 846005

I hope this all makes sense to everyone! and if anyone has any questions feel free to ask and ill try my best to answer them

Wow. That’s an interesting vehicle. Reminds me of the Russian “invalidkas” (SMZ cycle-car)- basically the same concept as the Invacar only from the Soviet Union.

I find it strange they’d use a Steyr Puch engine in that thing being what sounds like a product commissioned by the British government.

It seems like a bit of a death trap but I supposed if you don’t drive it much and just around town you might be okay. It’s definitely cool you’re going to maintain such an obscure part of automotive (and perhaps political) history.

What’s the parts availability for these things? It doesn’t sound like there were many made to begin with. Does it share parts with other vehicles?

 

[LightBulbFun]

indeed very similar concept to the Soviet invalidka

compared to todays cars yeah they are a death trap, but when they where new in the 1970s, they were not any worse than any other vehicle on the road (infact how many cars can you name that came from the factory with a fire extinguisher? ) I think in 1974+ steering wheel models even incorporated a collapsible steering column (and there's the prior mentioned rollover bar)

on the engine side of things I think it was down to the fact no english company made a suitable engine, and on that note corrected my comment above, it was Prototype 6 with the fiat engine, Prototype 5, had a 400cc industrial engine)

I have read that 1 Model 70 was built with the 650cc version of the steyr puch engine to test the drive belt to destruction I bet whoever was tasked with ragging that around a track must of had fun (its also rumoured invacar built a 650cc one for Derry preston cob)

in theory you could drop in a 44 horse power 650cc TRII racing engine into one

as for parts availability well one of my favourite quotes from a close friend of mine who owns a Model 70 is "The whole car is essentially 400kgs of bits out of a whole plethora of parts bins from around the world flying in close formation."

indeed pretty much all of the car is just off the shelf british leyland or otherwise bits, so getting parts in general is not too bad

(theres also a nice stash of spare parts included in the one im buying )

 

[Matz]

guess i'll reveal now what im buying


this is the Car im buying

View attachment 845986

its an Invacar Model 70

a vehicle designed and built by AC Cars Ltd of Cobra fame, and also built by Invacar Ltd,

the Model 70, was a vehicle designed for people with disabilities which limited their mobility, and was primarily leased out to said people for free by the British government

commonly known in the UK as an "invalid carriage" they were designed to be very adaptable to the users needs, with over 56 different control scheme combinations, which meant even if you had 1 arm and no legs you could still drive one

the Model 70 was the last of the invalid carriage type vehicles, a class of motorised vehicles built specifically for the disabled, Model 70 was commissioned by the British government as a replacement of earlier invalid vehicles which people had deemed unsuitable, invalid vehicles before the Model 70, where very crude and basic machines with manual gearboxes, villiers motorcycle engines, or very simple electric drive trains

AC was given the contract to design develop and build the Model 70, AC carried out all the development work and built them themselves, although Invacar Ltd was a pioneer with invalid vehicles in the past, Invacar was only contracted to build the Model 70 and had no input on the design/spec of them, specs wise Invacar Model 70's are identical to AC Model 70's

(invacar is also a colloquial term for any sort of 3 wheeled vehicle built for the disabled in the UK, a bit like how some people call all vacuum cleaners "hoovers")

the Model 70 was a completely new design from the ground up compared to any previous machines mechanically, with a Fibreglass Body mounted to an all new strong steel chassis, with an automatic CVT Salsbury transmission coupled to an AC Made gearbox for selecting drive neutral and reverse, all powered by a 493cc Steyr puch flat twin engine, with Power sent to the wheels via a Fiat 500/126 Diff and drive shafts, suspension in the front was Leading arm Parallelogram suspension and a gas adjustable shock, with independent coil over suspension in the rear with gas adjustable shocks

(the overall body design was carried over from one ACs previous designs, however mechanically/under the skin the Model 70 was completely different than anything else)

the Model 70 was designed to carry the driver plus a folded wheelchair, with a sliding seat, and sliding doors for easy cabin access

Passenger carrying was forbidden

99% of all Model 70's where built for and leased out by the government, and sadly the government had a policy of destroying any and all invalid vehicles that where withdrawn from service, and in 2003, all Model 70's still in use where withdrawn from service and scrapped

as such out of about ~18,000 made, there are only 79 documented survivors across the globe, most of which were ones that managed to avoid scrappage by the government, (either by officially being donated to museums, or unofficially, by being saved from scrap yards and the like, or just having been flat out stolen!)

the one im buying, was one of about only 50 Model 70's that were sold privately to a individual rather than to the government (only about 4 or 5 private Model 70's are thought to still exist)

(anyone could outright buy a Model 70 new from AC or Invacar if they wanted to, but it made little sense when you could get one leased for free from the government)

the Model 70 was produced from 1971 to 1978, production finally ended as the government announced the end of the Invalid vehicle scheme in 1977 and the modern day motability scheme was introduced to help provide disabled people with regular cars adapted to suit their needs

the invalid vehicle contract AC had with the government is what provided a lot of the income that enabled AC to build their famous sports cars, and for Invacar Ltd to build their famous Greeves motorcycles

you might be asking yourself why am I getting one

well a Model 70 parked on the side of the road was one of the first cars that stood out to me at a very young age making me ask my mum "whats that and why does it only have 3 wheels?!" to which my mum responded "it was a car built for the disabled"

and I was rather fascinated by this strange small blue 3 wheeler

they also have a very fascinating history, and they have been very fascinating to research and learn about them

as such im very enthusiastic about them

there's VERY little information on the internet about them, and most what you do find on the internet is false (they were never banned from the road, none had 600cc engines from the factory, and and no they were not banned from Motorways, you could always drive a Model 70 on the motorway)

they were also a very important part of social history in the UK and invalid vehicles where once a common view on every street, but they sadly vanished overnight without much notice

but im hoping to change that I have been researching them intensely for the past year or so, as well as looking to buy one for about that long

with so very few survivors, its much easier said than done! but I have finally tracked one down and im very excited about it all

(My life situation is not really setup for owning a car, but at the same time due to being disabled myself I need a car to be able to leave the house, and if im going to go through all the effort blood sweat and tears of getting a car im going to make sure its one that I really want, and not just some cheap rubbish )

they may not look like much, but they are much quicker and handle much better than people expect them to, thanks to the fairly advanced suspension setup, and relatively wide track, with a low center of gravity and most of the weight on the rear wheels. (and with the driver sitting in the center of the car)

they only weigh about 410Kg, and as such even with only 20 horse power, they are rather rapid! with a reported top speed of 82Mph! while I have not had that confirmed, I have seen a Confirmed 70Mph out of one

and they will cruise comfortably at about 50-55Mph

here's a brochure for the Model 70 from Invacar



View attachment 845992

it gives a good overview of the 3 main control schemes that were available all control schemes could be fitted with either hand controls or foot controls, and ajusted for left or right hand preference

for example here is a an all hand controller tiller setup

and here is a Tiller control setup with some foot controls

View attachment 845994

here's a steering wheel control scheme with foot controls

and heres a steering wheel setup with hand controls (you can also see the dash mounted gear change, most had the gear change mounted on the floor beside the driver seat)

the most common type found and made was the handlebar type, with the tiller coming in second, and the steering wheel version being the rarest



here's a picture of a conventional control scheme setup (with unconventional floor mounted hand brake lever, the hand brake was normally a pull push T handle thing poking out the dash which you can see in the other pictures)

View attachment 845997

heres a picture of an AC Model 70

View attachment 845998

up until June/July 1974, Model 70's had 12 inch wheels, however after that date, production switched to 10 inch wheels and tyres borrowed from the Mini, which gave a lower ride height and better handling (via said lowering, and the wider 10 inch tyres)

heres an early Invacar Model 70 (1972) on 12 inch wheels and tyres

View attachment 845999


heres an engine bay shot of an Model 70

View attachment 846001

and heres what the gearbox and transmission looks like

View attachment 846004

and heres what the underside of a Model 70 looks like, minus its drive line

View attachment 846005

I hope this all makes sense to everyone! and if anyone has any questions feel free to ask and ill try my best to answer them

That’s awesome! Enjoy the project!

 

[bunnspecial]

Ahh you’re right. I believe air suspension is now standard in the Model S. I’m curious to know how Tesla’s air suspension fares... manufacturers tend to hit or miss when it comes to relatively reliability of these systems. Relative considering as AS is inherently less reliable than a coil spring.

It’s kind of unfortunate they’re not offering regular coil springs. Air suspension tends to kill the longevity of cars due to repair costs (and oftentimes resale). I suppose coil spring conversions could potentially become available.

Most of my experience with air suspension is with Ford Panther platform cars, and specifically the Town Car. My dad also had a couple of the 98-02 Continentals, which used "air struts" rather than the bags used on Town Cars.

At least as it pertains to the TC, from the end user's perspective, it tends to be reliable until it's not. What tends to happen over time is the air bags start developing pinholes, which causes them to leak slowly. The system can generally handle a small amount of leakage, but I've seen them get bad enough that the compressor will kick on every 10 minutes to maintain the height(a relatively fresh system is good enough that the compressor will need to run a few seconds maybe once every 8 hours or so). When the compressor runs that frequently, it's only a matter of time before it fails, and you get the ubiquitous rear end driving the ground look.

Town Cars have become cheap enough "hoopties" that at least I see a decent number driving around in not the best cosmetic condition with the rear ends dragging and bobbing up and down-the last thing the buyer of a $1K car is going to do is spend $2K on a suspension rebuild.

BTW, on one of my mom's-her '98-I started noticing the compressor running once an hour or so. I was proactive with it and went ahead and replaced both the air bags-it's not too terrible of a job-and it was still going strong when she got rid of it a few years later. I could definitely see a lot of dry rot and other issues with the ones I pulled off.

With that said, there are also a lot of coil spring kits floating around for those car. They have the advantage of platform sharing with a car that does use coils, so fitting them isn't a stretch. I've ridden in coil spring converted cars, and the ride is different, but it's only barely noticeable. The biggest thing is that you miss the "floating" feeling over larger bumps.

 

[LightBulbFun]

That’s awesome! Enjoy the project!

Thanks

it's going to be a very interesting experience for me, having never owned a car before! but I do have a good idea what im "up against" so to speak

im fortunate that the one im buying is in relatively good shape and is said to be road legal, but I suspect it will need some TLC before it hits the road

but at least access to all the mechanical components is pretty good (you can easily get to the CVT pulleys/belt via a large removal panel behind the driver's seat for those wondering)

and mechanically they are pretty simple, you do have the fun of a Metric european engine with a British build car, so half the bolts are Metric and the rest of it is imperial, with a few whitworth bolts thrown in for good measure LOL

 

[A.Goldberg]

Most of my experience with air suspension is with Ford Panther platform cars, and specifically the Town Car. My dad also had a couple of the 98-02 Continentals, which used "air struts" rather than the bags used on Town Cars.

At least as it pertains to the TC, from the end user's perspective, it tends to be reliable until it's not. What tends to happen over time is the air bags start developing pinholes, which causes them to leak slowly. The system can generally handle a small amount of leakage, but I've seen them get bad enough that the compressor will kick on every 10 minutes to maintain the height(a relatively fresh system is good enough that the compressor will need to run a few seconds maybe once every 8 hours or so). When the compressor runs that frequently, it's only a matter of time before it fails, and you get the ubiquitous rear end driving the ground look.

Town Cars have become cheap enough "hoopties" that at least I see a decent number driving around in not the best cosmetic condition with the rear ends dragging and bobbing up and down-the last thing the buyer of a $1K car is going to do is spend $2K on a suspension rebuild.

BTW, on one of my mom's-her '98-I started noticing the compressor running once an hour or so. I was proactive with it and went ahead and replaced both the air bags-it's not too terrible of a job-and it was still going strong when she got rid of it a few years later. I could definitely see a lot of dry rot and other issues with the ones I pulled off.

With that said, there are also a lot of coil spring kits floating around for those car. They have the advantage of platform sharing with a car that does use coils, so fitting them isn't a stretch. I've ridden in coil spring converted cars, and the ride is different, but it's only barely noticeable. The biggest thing is that you miss the "floating" feeling over larger bumps.

Yeah, my dad had a 2001 P38 Range Rover back in the day with a full air suspension using “air bags”. It was a nightmare. As you said, the system would leak and burn out the compressor. These also had chronic problems with its valve block. His 2012 Range Rover Sport seems to have a lot of kinks worked out but it has had its problems, as far as I know mostly with sensors. My mom also had a A6 Allroad with air suspension that was a nightmare like the P38.

It seems most modern systems have worked out a lot of the problems, especially with materials used in the air bags. That said, a lot of systems, particularly on sedans, don’t have the same level of adjustability found on Range Rovers and the Allroad (multiple inches). Mercedes/Chrysler (and I believe Tesla uses the same equipment) use compressed nitrogen in a closed system which theoretically should be more reliable by not allowing moisture and debris into the system. The Mercedes/Chrysler systems don’t seem to have an awful track record, but doesn’t seem stellar either.

It’s undoubtably a system that will fail with age. And when it does it’s extremely expensive to fix whether you fix the problem(s) that arise or do a coil spring conversion.

 

[Matz]

I'd forgotten about Whitworth...

 

[bunnspecial]

I'd forgotten about Whitworth...

I may be wrong about this, but I'd be surprised if there are actually any true Whitworth fasteners on the car. Most likely they're BSF(British Standard Fine). You can really have fun with that since the dimensions across the flats are the same for BSW(British Standard Whitworth) and BSF, but they're designated differently. A 3/16" Whitworth wrench, for example, fits a 1/4" BSF head perfectly. In fact, I've never personally seen wrenches marked BSF-the ones in my toolbox are marked Whitworth, even though they've never touched anything other than BSF fittings. Incidentally, depending on how how much torque is involved, you might get away with a 1/2" SAE or possibly a 12mm although both will be loose-the actual across the flats dimensions are .445"/11.3mm. Both BSW and BSF base on the size on the diameter of the shank bolt.

Another really fun one in British car land is the XPAG/XPEG engines used in T-type MGs. Before the war, BMC found the tooling used to make all the lovely OHC engines as used in the P-type and Y-type Midget worn out, so opted to buy a complete French engine factory and move the tooling over to the UK. They changed very little on it-the fasteners kept metric threads, but had BSW/BSF sized heads. The "official" reason was so that the mechanics wouldn't have to buy new tools to work on them, but I've also heard it speculated that it was more of an attitude of "We're British, and we'll be danged if the French are going to make us change our tools."

BTW, the MGB was built almost entirely with SAE fasteners. The main place I find Whitworth heads(but also why I keep a set of wrenches around) is on hydraulic fittings. Every once in a great while, I'll run across a metric faster that was obviously installed by someone grabbing whatever was available. I was a little unhappy when I took my car to my mechanic to have him helicoil the exhaust mainfold flanges, and after losing the studs I provided he fitted metric ones. Finding a metric fastener(especially where you can take probably 75% of the car apart with nothing but 1/2" SAE wrenches and sockets) where you're not expecting it is annoying both because it means a trip to the tool box and also many metric fasteners have threads so fine that I have to turn them forever and don't have a good feel for the torque on them.

 

[vipergts2207]

Looks like Lee Iacocca has passed away.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/02/...tion=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

 

[44267547]

Happy 4th! Nothing screams Merica like American muscle.

Meet the Scat. (A.k.A. Jane....yes, I name my cars.) I’ll give my updated impressions on the car later, but I thought today was a good day to share pictures. It finally stopped raining where I could photo some decent pictures, I wanted to share them before I leave on my vacation to Fort Myers in a week. The Scat has been nothing short of a blast to drive, it’s pretty intoxicating.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Happy 4th! Nothing screams Merica like American muscle.

Meet the Scat. (A.k.A. Jane....yes, I name my cars.) I’ll give my updated impressions on the car later, but I thought today was a good day to share pictures. It finally stopped raining where I could photo some decent pictures, I wanted to share them before I leave on my vacation to Fort Myers in a week. The Scat has been nothing short of a blast to drive, it’s pretty intoxicating.


View attachment 846628

View attachment 846629

View attachment 846627

View attachment 846631



View attachment 846626

That’s one clean engine bay!

 

[0388631]

That's one clean car in general. Very good detailing work, RP. Always respect a man who keeps his ride spick and span. Though in all honesty, that white brick building is something I'm more interested in since it looks very historic.


On the discussion of that three-wheeler: Yeah, because we would have figured that one out somehow... LOL

@ Ben: Thank you for the explanation.

 

[LightBulbFun]

That's one clean car in general. Very good detailing work, RP. Always respect a man who keeps his ride spick and span. Though in all honesty, that white brick building is something I'm more interested in since it looks very historic.


On the discussion of that three-wheeler: Yeah, because we would have figured that one out somehow... LOL

hey my clues where accurate were they not? tbh im quite surprised no one mentioned AC, I know the AC Shelby Cobra is pretty popular over in the states at least (and AFAIK are still holy british owned?)

if anyone's wondering what I mean by "technically a hard top convertible" the roof section is its own fibreglass moulding and literally unbolts from the rest of the car and can be lifted straight off, which results in fun things like such

the Model 70 is constructed of 2 main body sections (plus the roof and doors etc) that bolt to the main chassis, the body sections are not stressed in any way, its the chassis that is load bearing

here's a picture of a collection of mostly NOS, body sections/panels

 

[44267547]

That's one clean car in general. Very good detailing work, RP. Always respect a man who keeps his ride spick and span. Though in all honesty, that white brick building is something I'm more interested in since it looks very historic.

One of the buildings where I photoed (side profile of the Scat) the car was actually near a private college in my city, and the other location where the car is parked on the bridge, that’s actually an old brewery-distillery that’s over 150 years old, where they still brew beer today, and the river under the bridge actually helps generate power power to the plant. (I actually had to hurry with those photos near the Brewery, as that was technically ‘off-limits’ to the public, but I couldn’t help myself.)

 

[Apple fanboy]

One of the buildings where I photoed (side profile of the Scat) the car was actually near a private college in my city, and the other location where the car is parked on the bridge, that’s actually an old brewery-distillery that’s over 150 years old, where they still brew beer today, and the river under the bridge actually helps generate power power to the plant. (I actually had to hurry with those photos near the Brewery, as that was technically ‘off-limits’ to the public, but I couldn’t help myself.)

Rebel.

 

[tranceking26]

I was put off by modern car design for a few years, only liking a few. Seems now there's so many good looking cars coming out. Here's a few I liked from PistonHeads:

The newer versions of the R8 weren't to my liking but this one above changed my mind on them.