Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[pigtin]

OK! I have at last given in and bought one of the damn things. The heart failure, added to the osteo-arthritis has made walking any distance a painful and exhausting experience.

The beast sits curled up in the boot of the car, all flimsy with shiny mouldings and stickers warning me against doing anything inane: like giving friends a lift in the basket (yes it has a shopping basket) or casting my battery pack into a furnace.
It is a cheap pre-used vehicle: a sort of Reliant Robin of the mobility scooter world designed for round trips of up to 12 miles—providing the rider weighs no more than 6 stone and it is downhill all the way. I can’t help wondering if anyone has ever done the full 12 miles and lived to tell the tale?

The memsahib had dragged me, whimpering and complaining, to the mobility buggy emporium. The establishment was hidden in the depths of a scruffy industrial estate far enough out of town to make it unlikely that dissatisfied customers could drive a faulty buggy back to complain.

The memsahib decreed the vehicle should be of the ‘fold up’ variety, so as to fit in the car boot. I looked along the row of vehicles on offer. Most were large and heavy with huge battery packs to take an elderly porker some 30 miles or more. Ideal to get down to the town pubs if one were still allowed to drink.

Right at the back were two spidery little buggies with tiny wheels. One of them was of tricycle aspect: needing just ‘Trotters Independent Traders’ emblazoned on the side to make it ideal for short trips around Peckham by a disabled wide boy. I expressed an interest in the other one because it had a wheel at each corner and a jaunty air about it.

Within a few minutes, after doing a lap around the yard, the memsahib was being shown how the dismantle and stow it in the boot while I was tapping in my credit card pin number.
We were now the proud owners of a sixth vehicle to grace the stately portals of my shed… but disaster. We were home before I realized it wasn’t fitted with a fishing-rod rack.

The vehicle needed a name… ‘Boanerges’ (Son of Thunder) sprung immediately to mind. Being the name TE Lawrence gave to his Brough Superior… (The one he fell off and died.) Well perhaps not… on second thoughts I shall name it Arnold.

We spend some of our time on Romney Marsh, ‘chillin out’ in a caravan with no mains electricity. A solar panel and spare battery will usually supply us with enough power for a week, but the buggy will need to be charged. Running the buggy off free sunlight appeals to me (even though it is scarce at the moment) so a larger solar panel is needed with a suitable charger/regulator system.

While sourcing the components on the computer I came across a news report which alarmed me. A Hungarian pensioner had been dragged from is mobility scooter and savaged to death by donkeys. This is a danger I had not anticipated. As far as I’m aware there are no delinquent donkey infestations in East Kent but to be on the safe side, I shall carry a couple of carrots in the basket to appease any muggers of the equine variety—should they be waiting down a dark alley for me.

Meanwhile a few of the plastic bits have dropped off and there are some missing nuts and bolts to replace. I’m sure the vendor would do it under guarantee, but I’d rather do it my way…
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Due to the onset of my mid eighties I'm no longer sprightly and rarely seen in my Austin special. I have written a book though. https://amzn.eu/d/7rwRRqL

[Rick]

Will it be decorated with pre-war appendages, to give it the feel of, say, your chrome-rad 10/4?

RJ
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Rick - Admin
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[pigtin]

I have one of those Eee-AAgh! Klaxon thingies in the garage. The mind boggles at how loud it would be on 24v, if it would work. Wouldn't it be fascinating to discover how high the average pedestrian can jump?
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Due to the onset of my mid eighties I'm no longer sprightly and rarely seen in my Austin special. I have written a book though. https://amzn.eu/d/7rwRRqL

[Rick]

[D4B]

Pigtin you made me chuckle, great story, and relevant too as we have
just bought one secondhand £100 for my mother to whizz round Tescos on
she's unstoppable now (well until it breaks down anyway)

[peter scott]

Visions of Earl on his hoverboard!

Peter


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https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Peter_L]

..... ok,,we get all the technical stuff, but how many cup holders !! ???

[Penman]

Hi
You know how a motor can become a dynamo if spun without power input (KERS like), so I wonder if you could rigid tow it instead of folding it and putting it in the boot, another soiurce of cheaper electricity for it.
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Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[peppiB]

Must admit I went for power wheelchair rather than scooter so I can take it on the bus!
When i go to classic car shows I put it on a trailer, although now I am finding attaching the trailer to the hitch is becoming difficult.

I get 16 miles from a full charge, but find coming down the hill from the city centre does a brilliant job of recharging the batteries.

At least I have regained my freedom to go where I want, when I want to and I certainly wouldn't be without it

[ukdave2002]

Well I have encountered 2 of you today......

First was a chap who bought something from Halfords as I arrived at the retail park in Crewe this morning... there are speed bumps on the retail park, I swear he had fresh air between his cart and the bumps as he flew over them
because I was working on the MGA , the Z van was parked outside in the turning circle opposite our house, as I went to bring it in , a chap on a chariot was circling ... that's an old GPO van he declared ! we then had a 1/2 hour conversation and a couple of beers

Dave

[pigtin]

Every time I have a chance to use it the rain starts. I think it must have once been a Rain God's Chariot. I shall try driving it while holding my fishing umberella...
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Due to the onset of my mid eighties I'm no longer sprightly and rarely seen in my Austin special. I have written a book though. https://amzn.eu/d/7rwRRqL

[clan chieftain]

Good story pigtin but sorry to hear that you need one of these.
At the moment I can hardly walk. I have a bone spur on my left heel and when I put my foot down its agony as this loose bone digs into the tendon on my foot.Even when I am sitting its painful all the time and it will be at least another 6 weeks before I get a hospital appointment.
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The Clan Chieftain

[Roger-hatchy]

Pigtin

Will you be comeing to Manston on the 22nd.

Also keep an eye out for the arrival of the Vulcan to Manston on the 15th approx. 16.30hr.

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

Rick, I do not understand! you get away with owning a classic about the size of the Isle of Man but you are not allowed to connect a Klaxon to the door bell???????

[Penman]

Hi
I asked, earlier, if they could have a KERS type system fitted.
Apparently this one did, back in the 1930s.

http://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/account/3328/object/1688/Nelco_Solocar

I also found this source of info about various types of invacars, didn't know there had been so many.

http://invalidcarriageregister.wordpress.com/2-ac-cars-ltd/
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10