AC/Invacar sales orders recieved

[Big Al]

The great Llandudno Invalid Carriage clearance initiative nears a partial conclusion as two, possibly three, of the rescued cars are to now move on to their new owners in a few months subject to works carried out to the required specification in each case. So far one is to be made road worthy and probably a second will join it. The third, the worst and incomplete after robbing for the others, is being supplied on as a spares resource to another project owner in Essex. This means there are likely to be only two spare machines left from the clearance despite Stuart opting for a bought in road ready car. Given I am doing work on the Llandudno cars sold together it would be handy to add any further sales demanding work to the projects now in hand saving time and effort. If not I expect I will have to pop the remaining cars into deep storage (I need to carry on with other restorations and clearance work in hand over the rest of the year prior to hopefully beginning the building works at last. Using the funds liberated from clearing stuff to create the habitable annex to the barn. This leads to an option to open up the storage/workshop on that site as it will be populated much of the time with services on line etc. rather then an empty derelict property. It is worth modifying the door into a cunning design I hope will defeat most intruders. That will increase my storage or remove the need to rent my shed of 16 years. A saving of some £1,800 a year overall, (That's a restored Schmitt given away every 8 years!) so not to be sniffed at. Who said having cars was cheap? From there I can enact my plan of building using cars restored via the workshop to pay for the build next door being on site to manage works - unless I get a good offer for the entire plot as my preferred option is a similar project in Oxfordshire. Done I can get back to actually using the cars in the collection and attend things as a hobby).
So if there is interest in one of these cars then better to say so now or they might be unobtainable for a few years. Not a prob to me as they will probably be worth more as even Bob might have decided to have one!

[Bob Purton]

Do I sense you struggling to get shot of these cars? Could it be that you are asking too much money or is it that the tiny number of folk interested in them already have one?

[Big Al]

Why would you think that? I am not in need to hurry selling, unlike Stuart felt he was, and the market is moving to me as I knew it would. I only bought these machines to aid Stuart originally but I seem to have ended up owning them outright. Due to the low value I need to be efficient in turning the cars round like a business and merely point out that enough sales are in to now commence a restoration effort on those sold which can extend to a further example or two. If not they will probably be unavailable for a time as I will be busy elsewhere on higher value work I need to do for my own lifestyle.
As to their value it would seem the Llandudno clearance coincided with quite a few Type 70s surfacing and/or changing hands onto those who are interested in them. This to the extent several wheeler dealers have bought into stock for re sale. Telling in itself. I would suggest this has all the hallmarks of the start of an interest in the machines with the slack stock being taken up while they are cheap and a value plateau will probably be reached once the majority are flushed out into the open. I believe I know that figure and two people agree with me. This static price could hold for a reasonable period as the quality improves, offering the only real advance in value, before a slow general rise in value. This is totally normal. Remember in the late '70's Messerschmitts were classed in the same terms as invalid carriages are now. Stigmatised and unwelcome as cars, bikes, scooters or commercials. Look what happened! Not saying anything as dramatic will happen with Type 70s but even if they match Bonds they are a safe bet. As such I have feelers out for a few more if they come in at the right sort of deal, indeed in preference to several cars I now own which I am happy to part with as they do not interest me as much, mainly due to their enhanced value meaning they offer poor pound per fun hours available. Is this not why you are interested in Mopeds?
That said I think we are a little away from the ICR forum but I think it is coming. After all this was, I understood, one of RUMs functions. To foster and spin off interested groups into their own specialist activities. Very laudable too.

[Stuart Cyphus]

...and no justification is required from the ICR either, except to quote "Rational selfishness". (look it up)     The only reason I sold out on the Llandudno Haul was because all of a sudden the two cars I've spent half a lifetime chasing suddenly fell into my lap meaning money was needed quickly and with no messing about, and Alan was quick and didn't mess about, unlike most folk who were sniffing around the cars.

 Now, the question is, do we go knocking on the sixteen which have just came to light in Hertfordshire...  

[Bob Purton]

Hi Al. I hope an ICR forum IS set up and that those who are interested will enjoy it. Sorry but no, my interst in certain mopeds is not because of there low value, its a nostalgia thing, I rode them as a teenager, my father road one to work for about thirty years! If my father was an invalid and owned an IC then maybe I would hold a soft spot for them but he wasn't and didn't hence I'm not interested but accept that some people are, my point was that the customer base for them may always be small, comparing them with Messerschmitts and values rising to dizzy heights is in my view fanciful. I agree that the stigma will fade and it already is as a result of the fact that young people now just dint remember them on British roads. I wish Stuart all the best with the ICR but sorry no I still dont want one! Wouldn't mind a reliant though.  

[Big Al]

Now that is interesting. Will anyone buy a Type 70 from nostalgia? The common threads I find are because they offer a cheap toy and the social history - not quite the same as nostalgia. So Museums and collections figure as buyers. Stuart is partly responsible for this as he has made quite a bit of information available which mean they are a relatively simple exhibit to include in a display. It is a small market but then so many worthwhile activities are. That is the rebel in me coming out. If everyone is doing something or going somewhere I am very often the one headed in the opposite direction. This is a common thing amongst old time micronauts and evident within RUM. I like them for their eccentricity and awkwardness. I see this in the people who are into IC. Very firmly they are not people with the identicat set of what are seen as the collectors cars to have with not much reason for owning them. Pretty boring really. Bring on the nutters!

[Bob Purton]

"If everyone is doing something or going somewhere I am very often the one headed in the opposite direction. " [unless its the beer tent!]

All the more reason to expect you at Jeans open day then. It attracts a very select number of people that are quite frankly Balmy as badgers!