Invacar involvement part 2: the return of TP

It's now been over a year since I had the privilege of driving TWC, the famous HubNut Invacar. You might think that would have been my last encounter with such a rare car but you'd be wrong and I'm proud to have been involved in an awful lot that has happened on the Invacar front in the last 12 months. When I first wrote about them way back in 2015 and expressed a vague hope that one day I might happen to see one, I never would have believed how things would turn out: I have seen no fewer than three other Invacars at close quarters over the last couple of months and spent so much time around them that they're almost becoming unremarkable. Here's the story behind the first of them...

No, it's not TWC but another Model 70!

HubNut fans may remember that Ian actually bought two cars from that Sussex field, aiming to get TWC back on the road with the aid of a spares car registered TPA 621M, or 'TP' for short. Although identical to TWC, technically TP is not an Invacar but an AC Model 70. That's the same AC Cars who produced legendary sports cars like the Ace and Cobra but invalid carriages were their bread and butter. They designed the Model 70 to replace the similar-looking but Villiers-powered Model 67 and it was adopted by the DHSS as their standard invalid carriage, also being built by Invacar Ltd as a replacement for their Mark 12.

The same badge as a Cobra

Ian's exploits with TWC certainly had a dramatic effect on one viewer. Our mutual friend Zel had never even heard of an Invacar until then, but became so fascinated with them that he was determined to own one. Incredibly, he soon found one for sale locally: KPL 139P had been used for the very unlikely task of towing caravans at a holiday park, and had a good engine but the bodywork had been heavily hacked about. In the meantime Ian had to transplant TP's engine into TWC, but with the latter returned to the road he decided he had no further use for TP and Zel agreed to buy the engineless but otherwise sound car as a better basis for restoration than the mutilated KPL.

Bodywork of several different colours but it's all there

The first task was to fit the engine from KPL, and with that done he could set about returning TP to the road, something that could never have been anticipated after 15 years in the field followed by its use by Ian purely as a source of spare parts. After a lot of hard work and local test runs, Zel cautiously announced that TP's first public appearance would be at the Classic Stony show in Stony Stratford on June 2nd, an event that we regularly attend with the Maxi. It gave me great pleasure when I spotted the little invalid carriage parked in a prime position near the entrance, looking a bit scruffy but complete and roadworthy once more.

A rare quiet moment at its first public show

TP's bodywork had suffered a fair bit of damage in the field but was at least all there unlike KPL's, and repairs are ongoing. It's fair to say that even in a far from immaculate state TP was one of the stars of the show and soon drew the crowds, many of whom had no idea what it was and were excited to learn all about the invalid carriage scheme and even have a sit inside one. Children in particular were fascinated as no one under 16 could have ever seen one in service before their effective banning in 2003.

Everyone wants a good look at this odd little car

That was just a warm-up for the main event though. With Ian in France for the Citroen centenary there could be no repeat appearance for TWC at this year's Festival of the Unexceptional. The show wouldn't be devoid of invalid carriages though as TP was booked to attend, the furthest from home it has been so far. Sure enough it made its way to Claydon House without incident to take a well-deserved place in the classic parking, where once again it attracted a huge amount of attention, even among so many other extraordinary cars, and Zel was kept busy talking to fascinated onlookers for much of the day.

Taking TWC's place in the unexceptional parking

Interestingly, TP's control layout is largely a mirror image of TWC's with the gearlever, handbrake and switchgear all on the left but the throttle is still on the right handlebar. The majority of Model 70s including TWC were retrofitted with rearlights used on the Mini pickup but TP still has the original style that I believe were sourced from the Reliant Supervan. On the other hand, its 12-inch wheels have been replaced at some point with 10-inch Mini rims from a later car, which reportedly make it feel much more stable. One final modification made by Zel as he intends to take the car on long journeys was to install a more comfortable seat from a Citroen Xantia, which surprisingly fitted straight onto the existing framework.

A mirror image of TWC's dashboard

I recently watched the very first episode of HubNut's Project Invacar once again, in which Ian on several occasions looks at a sad TP languishing in the field and says it's very unlikely that it would ever see the road again. How wrong he was: less than two years on, TP is not only very much roadworthy but cosmetically is now actually in better condition than TWC and restoration work is continuing at a rapid pace. So that's the story of how another Model 70 was saved and returned to the road by an enthusiastic new owner, but is just the start of the Invacar adventures I've had this summer so stay turned for parts 3 and 4.

Not the original engine but it runs really well

And if you're wondering what happened to KPL, fear not as that story will hopefully have a happy ending too. Zel sold it to another enthusiast who hopes to obtain a replacement engine and body and return it to the road one day.