Practically Classics Forum

So the 107 is shortly moving on to pastures new. I'll really miss that little rollerskate. Anyone looking for a modern general purpose runaround, you can do far worse. Lovely little engine too, I'll really miss the soundtrack when it's being used hard. Closest thing to an actual flat six I've heard in ages.

So that's one out.

We've got one coming in too. That is taking the form of an absolute shed of a 1975 AC Model 70 (essentially an Invacar).

It's not seen the actual road since the 80s apparently, and has the bodywork massively hacked about while serving as a tug on a caravan park. It's got a floor made of rust, is missing the entire front third of the bodywork, has a totally hacked up wiring loom and no brakes whatsoever. Lovely!

The chassis however is sound and the aforementioned bodywork excepted, it's all there. It also already has a V5C as the faffing around getting it registered for the road has already been done. Should be fun. Tax free too... probably MOT exempt too by the time it's ready for one. Will still get one though!

First time I've ever bought a car that I've not had significant prior experience with! Even the 107 was bought on the strength of very positive experiences with the work pool cars.

So here's what's inbound...
Going to miss my little Pug though.

Interesting little project! I know the Invacar's were all recalled to be crushed and declared illegal, will this be exempt from that?

There is a Bond Minicar Mark F sitting in a field near my parents house. The owner won't let it go though as with most people in that area.."I'm going to fix it up one day"

Are you restoring it stock or with some mods? I like the big wheels

There were obviously a few which escaped the crusher. It's difficult to put a precise number on it, but the general consensus seems to be somewhere between 70 and 100 vehicles left.

The issue with legality has been resolved, as (I believe due to some hard work by the folks behind Invalid Carriage Register) it is now possible to change the taxation class to motor tricycle, which allows them to be driven on the public highway. I think with regards to actual ownership, I reckon that the powers that be decided that it was easier to just turn a blind eye to them than attempt to track down the few remaining examples to be squashed...Either that or someone actually managed to make them believe the "historic interest" angle.

This one will be going back to as close to standard as possible. While the large wheels, with the arches extended to match would look the part, they've been welded onto the original wheels under there and I wouldn't want to vouch for their precision with the welding beyond about 10mph - and I'd rather not have to deal with a wheel loss incident in a vehicle which already only has three!

Going to be quite a bit of work!

Yeah! Looks to be! I take it you are looking for a replacement front end?

Keep up posted, while I'm currently classic less this helps scratch my itch somewhat.

I'm definitely keeping my eyes peeled for a full replacement front body section (nose, bulkhead and windscreen surround are one casting), though given the situation with these cars where there are quite a few more rolling chassis than there are complete bodies, my odds of finding one (especially at a price I can afford) are pretty slim. More likely what will wind up being done is that we'll wind up taking casts from the wings and front section of an existing good body and making a new nose for it. Probably in several pieces.

Given the situation with panels and the fact that quite a lot of these cars have a fair number of bruises from being driven by Braille by former keepers, I'm hoping that once made that these moulds could prove to be a useful resource for other owners of Model 70s as well.

The good thing is that the front really is just a giant plastic box. It covers the front wheel, brake fluid reservoir, battery (and I think washer bottle - though that may be in the cabin) and holds the headlights in place. So it's a bit of a different kettle of fish to rebuilding the same structure on a standard car where it would be a major safety critical part of the crash structure.

Looks like all being well it will be arriving on Tuesday - so expect a whole load more photos then!

Due to health problems getting in the way, the seller hasn't been able to get the Invacar ready for transport yet. So will be into next week before we can do anything else there (I'm away this weekend).

In the meantime, I decided to actually investigate the giant box that arrived from Lada...Probably a couple of months ago...and then promptly got forgotten about.

Now in these days of one tiny little bit of plastic tending to cost hundreds of pounds...Let's have a look at what £500 will get you from Lada. Note that these are all current production (essentially dealer) items, not ancient NOS.
So, we've got...

[] Front engine mount (x2).
[] Rear engine (gearbox) mount.
[] Propshaft rotoflex coupling.
[] Clutch fluid reservoir.
[] Miscellaneous fuel system O-Rings.
[] Upper front suspension ball joints (x2).
[] Lower front suspension ball joints (x2).
[] Fuel tank to filler neck flexible coupling.
[] Fuel injection pump & Gauge sender assembly.
[] Reversing light switch.
[] Fuel filter bracket.
[] Assorted fuel injection hoses (the really long straight rigid pipes I'll need to make myself as they'd be utterly impractical to ship).

Oh...and this too. Don't think I need to tell you what that is!
To be honest the only expensive parts were the tank and fuel pump (£250 and £120 respectively if I remember right), I don't think any other single item was far north of a tenner. Despite these prices though, I don't honestly think I've ever had a duff part from Lada, and I'm going back to 2003 here.

Ball joints are all generally okay on mine, but one of them is creaking in a maddening fashion, so once it's in for the MOT I'll probably throw it at the garage with the instruction of "stop it creaking" with the full set on the passenger seat.

Once this lot is all fitted the injection system will be very nearly as per factory spec. The only thing I'll still be missing is the speedo pickup, which I'm still keeping my eyes open for. Much better than my current fuel pump bodge...which while perfectly serviceable looks a mess and makes a racket.

All things being well, the Invacar should be arriving here mid-afternoon tomorrow.

Did one very important check in preparation for that given that my garage clear out is still very much a work-in-progress...
Yep! It will fit. The box drawn on the garage floor in yellow chalk is the maximum dimensions listed in the manual. Mine will be a slight amount more compact when it first arrives anyway as it will still be missing several bits of bodywork...

Hopefully this time tomorrow I'll have some more photos to share of a very, very shabby very small blue three wheeled motor...

So this arrived in my garage yesterday evening...

I've got rather a lot of work to do!
Of course it's now tipping it down outside!

Excellent! Let the restoring begin! I'd be wanting to find a way to keep the fat rear wheels and bond in some fat mudguards of the type seen on every other MK1 Escort back in the late seventies. Then maybe a nice A-series Citroen flat twin mated to a Fiat 126 transaxle, an interior borrowed from a Smart and a nice roof chop, nothing too drastic, just enough to keep the occupants' heads in place.


Don't mind me please, original condition is probably better for an historically significant motor..

I have to admit that the stance with those rear wheels does look the part! Those have however been welded onto the original rims...so I wouldn't really want to trust them anywhere north of 10mph.

This engine actually is a great little power unit, and has a major plus side in that Haflinger still offer support for it. It's good for 20bhp out of the box, and it's pretty easy to get a few more horses out of it just by fettling the carb. The CVT setup also works very well so it's really not worth messing with. The whole thing weighs 410kg, so given the gearing it should be more than up to the job in terms of get-up-and-go I think.

Funny you should mention a Fiat 126 transaxle...it's already got one!

The roof is actually a separate piece - so it wouldn't be that hard to turn it into a convertible.

As it is though, they're rare enough and of enough historical interest now that it will be getting returned to as close to original condition as is practical. It will retain its battle scars as they're all part of its story.

Of course today it decided to tip it down all day...

However not one to be discouraged, I figured that I could still get something useful done even within the confines of the garage.

First up was the fact that the front tyre was utterly destroyed and the wheel was just as bad.
Much better. The tyre will still need to be replaced before the car goes anywhere near the public highway, but at least it's now round and holds air. As such it's far far easier to move the car around now.

I also had a look at the (wrecked) brake master cylinder. I'd been alerted to the fact that this was an "annoying" job. This is simply down to the fact that when they built the car, to save a few pence on the bill of materials they decided not to use captive nuts securing the master cylinder. It's really hard to get at the other side of the thing it makes it really fiddly to remove. I may well simply introduce these bolts to my good friend Mr. Angle Grinder and replace them along with the cylinder itself.

Then turned my attention to the power unit. I'd established yesterday that the engine did at least turn over. Today I had a closer look and confirmed that it turns over smoothly, easily and appears to have compression.

Whipping the distributor cap off showed things to be surprisingly clean...
It also showed that the points appear to be opening and closing nicely, and while I've not got the feeler gauges out yet, the gap looks to be at least in the right sort of ballpark.

There was way, way too much oil in the engine, so that was drained off. What came out didn't look too gross and I've definitely had running cars with worse looking oil in. It was refilled (okay, not quite the right grade - but it will only be in there for the sake of a few minutes running before it's drained off again), and a new filter was fitted.
Oh...and I refitted the windscreen wiper.
Fingers crossed that tomorrow we'll see better weather tomorrow so I might be able to get something more done.