Remember these?

[Welly]

The AC Invacar.......

These were common place when I was a kid, they used to be given to disabled drivers by the Ministry of Health (DSS) this was before the Motabilty scheme. Apparently they were withdrawn over concerns of safety, most were brought in and squashed but some survived.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110866601725? ... 3D1&_rdc=1

[steve_earwig]

Oooh, a pencil sharpener I do indeed remember those (us old farts eh?). AC, Weber, Puch Steyr - who'd have thought it? Shame it's variomatic but I'm sure a motorcycle gearbox would be easy to fit in it... Hmm, motorcycle, flat twin - endless possibilities

[Welly]

I remember, I must have been about 8, a neighbour with a DAFF Variomatic car and was fascinated with the noise it made (although I was probably too young to realise the lack of forward progress it made also )

I think it would be bloody frightening to pilot that Invacar in today's traffic

[sirwiggum]

I recall the invacar from the 80s. Seemed to be halfway between a motorised 'chair and a small car.

They should bring back similar today, though it would have to be bigger to avoid being runover by muppets in SUVs.
The fraudsters would be less inclined to get something like an invacar on a relative's DLA than a brand new motability car.

[rapport25]

The AC Invacar.......

These were common place when I was a kid, they used to be given to disabled drivers by the Ministry of Health (DSS) this was before the Motabilty scheme. Apparently they were withdrawn over concerns of safety, most were brought in and squashed but some survived.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110866601725? ... 3D1&_rdc=1

Yes I sure do. Was that the only colour they did? I remember when I was kid a guy over the road his disabled son would visit and he drove one. Never really knew what they were.

Thanks Welly :-)

[puggy]

I remeber those , looks like it's going to fetch a reasonable price , are
you putting a bid in welly ?? or to powerful for you

[Welly]

are you putting a bid in welly ??

Might be

I could take it down to the Post Office on Thursday's........bounce it off the rev limiter and drop the clutch into a fantastic swirling donut of noise and tyre smoke

[Doggy]

I remeber those , looks like it's going to fetch a reasonable price , are
you putting a bid in welly ?? or to powerful for you

I reckon he'll go for it, puggy - after all, it's not an 'over-complicated' diesel.

[leestudd30]

Remember reading about the old Daf's once, didn't they have some kind of CVT gearbox that used a belt like a big elastic band?

[sirwiggum]

How does accleration work then? Does it just make a continuous noise and it goes faster?

Why isn't it set to a high mpg rev like 1500, and just go from there?

[lozz]

irember an old man that had one of them invalid cars,
iused to feel sorry for him, not for him driving one but, somedays id see it on its side or on its roof,
the local skum wouid turn it over on him, they seen it as a joke

[Welly]

How does accleration work then? Does it just make a continuous noise and it goes faster?

Why isn't it set to a high mpg rev like 1500, and just go from there?

Behold...........http://www.ritzsite.demon.nl/DAF/DAF_cars_intro.htm

Click about 3 pages to the right and it's all explained there

[sirwiggum]

I see, so they aren't really continuously variable if they have gear ratios?

Just a fancy automatic gearbox setup?

[highlander]

No, it is continuously variable. It is essentially a gearbox; it does the same thing, but in a different way - so you will still have gear ratios - the difference is that the gear ratio changes constantly, anywhere between 14.87:1 and 3.73:1 (according to this page).

The idea is that the Variomatic CVT system always produces the optimum torque.

Unfortunately, they were pretty much always connected to underpowered engines, and marketed in countries where nobody wanted automatic transmission. Hence, they were never as popular as they should have been. Given more development, I reckon they could have reduced the size and increased the reliability of the box. And they'd have been a damn-sight cheaper than any complex automatic gearbox you'd find in any modern car.

[scotty73]

up until a few years ago a scrappy still had loads of these near me i used to see them when passing on the train... they may well be still there...

@lozz was it the yobs or was it on it's side due to the driver being drunk?... I notice these days a few wheelchairs with canopies are always parked outside my local... Surely the cops realise their drink driving?