1973 AC Model 70 Invacar, Visitors & Occasional Distractions

There's a full set of NOS bodywork for this on ebay now - currently at £100!

It's a lot more entertaining - and not terrible - to drive than it's got any right to be given their reputation. Granted I probably get a few additional comfort points with the replacement seat...but it's nowhere near as terrifying, slow, tippy or blatantly unsafe to even walk past as I was expecting.



Thanks for the heads up. I actually bid on this last time it came up, but apparently eBay's software can't always keep up with the inevitable sniping in the last seconds as I apparently didn't win it, despite the end bid being a good £30 below the max bid I put in (about two days before the end of the auction... I've not the patience for sniping...if I want something I'll just bid what I'm willing to pay...if it costs me a few quid more then so be it). I'll keep my eyes on this, but I think there are a lot more people interested in these things out there than there were when it came up last time round...so I suspect it'll go for quite a substantial price.

Given it went for £75 odd last time round that's quite a jump!

Last time I was out in the Invacar I got caught in a moderately heavy rain shower which did a really good job of demonstrating how laughably lacking the weatherproofing was. Especially around the windscreen...which is a pain as due to the driving position being quite far forward the water from there drips right on your knees. The main issue here being that the seals have both perished and shrunk. As a result of that the water seeps in between the glass and the seal, there doesn't seem to be much that actually gets in around between the seal and bodywork.



The rear windscreen doesn't seem to be so bad - most likely due to the reverse rake of it keeping it mostly dry and any water that does get in tending to just run down the bulkhead. There was however a big gap where I assume there should be a plug at the end of the seal.



This gap looks far bigger from inside.



The long term solution of course will be to get a new set of seals. However I don't have those on hand currently and I'd like to be able to use the car this week given that I seem to have a lot of cars with gremlins this week...so I can see the Invacar getting a bit more use than it's been used to up to now. Being weatherproof is likely to make it rather more attractive to drive. So I'd like to do something quick.

Sikaflex to the rescue I think!

I got out some (decent) masking tape to keep the stuff where I wanted it, and set about giving the seals all a good coating to fill all the cracks in the rubber and about a millimetre overlap with the glass and the bodywork...so it should hopefully both keep the water out and the windows in.





The windscreen used to have a gap similar to the one I pictured earlier on the rear one, but it was halfway up the offside of the screen - that's now covered up as well. So that should be one less ingress point.



Likewise the rear windscreen is now gap-free.



While I'm thinking about it, here's a better shot of the interior as it appears now I've got the freshly painted panel above the screen in place and the pillar trims also painted. Think it looks period appropriate and the black is a nice contrast to the light blue.



Yes, there are some paint runs in there I need to get tidied up. The switches you can see sitting on the dash are these...



These will be for the electric fan I intend to add to the heating system (demister switch seemed suitable for that, and this one will match those already on the dash), and in future to provide me with a low brake fluid warning light (the switch provides a test feature for the lamp itself). Haven't 100% decided exactly where I'll put them on the dash yet, but probably over by the handbrake most likely.

Masking tape was removed when the sealant was about 75% cured to leave a nice clean edge without leaving streamers of gooey sealant or tearing half of it off with the tape.







Will attack it with the hose tomorrow if it's not raining and see what the results are like...Fingers crossed my knees will remain dry next time I have the car out in the rain.

The sealant itself can be removed easily from the paintwork so long as it's not fully set by using those wipes intended to go over a panel with immediately prior to painting. Also useful for getting it off your hand when you hadn't spotted there was a hole in your glove, so you ended up with a glove finger entirely full of sealant. Note to self: Use sturdier gloves next time...

Any windscreen fitter worth his salt will carry or at least have that seal in stock to cut to Length. My local tame glass man does anyway. I need to get him to do my Romini caravan for the same issue. Gap at the top of the seal where it’s shrank over time.

Oddly, I think it’s general practice to put the seal join at the top, and the filler strip join at the bottom. Normally you’d cut the seal at least 2” longer than it looks like it needs to be, and that both compresses it to ensure a good seal, and allows for future shrinkage as it weathers. The screen seals on my Austin have also shrunk, but not quite as dramatically.

Useful to know it's a seal type used in the marine world... I've got friends back up north who work in the offshore engineering field too, so they might well have a supplier they know...

Having done a bit of testing it does appear that both front and rear windscreens are now waterproof. Haven't actually subjected it to sustained rain yet, so we'll just have to see how it goes.



Finally had a chance to do a bit more bodywork reconstruction this afternoon.

The foam based corner now looks like this.







Obviously some serious sanding action needed, but definitely heading in the right direction now. Reckon I'll need to take a bit off the outer radius of the bumper, but I've kind of done that deliberately as it's far easier to take a bit extra off than to add extra material.

This stuff is *way* nicer to work with than what I was using before.



Will see how it sands, but in terms of application it's streets ahead of the stuff I've been used before...it actually holds its shape when upside down which was really handy when forming the lip along the bottom of the body. This is definitely getting bought again in larger quantities as I get a feeling it's going to be a useful addition to the toolbox.

Have given the underneath of the service cover a skim over as well, hoping that will help strengthen it a little as it's suffered from being quite bendy so far due to the old damage.



Covered over a lot of the pits in the top surface too...have to see how it looks after sanding.

Just spotted this for the man who has the car and everything


www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CQUCJUK/ref=asc_df_B01CQUCJUK1560643200000/?tag=lion0d29-21&creative=22374&creativeASIN=B01CQUCJUK&linkCode=df0

not sure if this thread has been linked up before??

forum.retro-rides.org/thread/55890/invalid-cars?page=1

a couple of different pics of them in there.