Scruffy old Land Rover UPD@TE with failed Wayne Carini attempt and H&H auction chod

[scruff]

Now then!

 

No it's still sat here, but he says he's going to go to RJs and get a load of bits this week, so we shall see. The clutch slave has also shat itself now. I'm not gettin involved!

[scruff]

[Lankytim]

Ha! I'm going to Britpart tomorrow morning.

[Skoze]

WEAPON!

Great to see it back together mate, bloody excited for the meal at the Ace.

[DS20]

Don't blame you for holding off on the condenser. I can't stand Britpart; after Experiences of their quality* products on my Range Rover, I now go for Land Rover / OE stuff / Allmakes, or live with the borked item. The last Br****rt thing I bought was an idle control valve which snapped in two when I was fitting it - by hand, an' all - I hadn't even taken a spanner to it.

[scruff]

Oh don't get me started...!!

 

The most aggravating was a clutch cover where the adjusting bolts on the levers had not been peened over. After 150 miles or so you'd slowly lose the ability to disengage the fucking clutch, which was brilliant fun when negotiating German villages. Did wonders for my clutchless shifting technique though to be fair.  

[scruff]

Well I have been enjoying petrol power, I'd forgotten that it's an awful lot quieter than the Prima! Here I am getting a Christmas tree:

 

 

 

[DVee8]

That is fecking great you have won at everything and more

The Landy just suites looking so old and battered

[purplebargeken]

Did you go to The Ace then?

[scruff]

I did but gayed out taking it as, among other things, I wanted to have a jar or two - and a poorly Mrs Scruff won't drive it in the dark. So I lost man points but enjoyed quite a lot of Guinness.

 

A few of us bundled into one motor, Skozeyington took his which is in the middle

 

 

It's been there before though.

 

[anonymous user]

Every time I see this I want another Series 1, hell I'm not proud, I'd settle for any proper Land Rover.

[hazzalandy]

I hae got to get mine back on the road now. I have set aside tomorrow for all work it needs ( possible updates with piccys)

[Jon]

My Uncle has a S1 which he's restored but not overly. Sports a quite nice satin green coat but plenty of dents and a few bits uprated here and there, as he wants to take it on a road trip to the Balkans with my Dad at some point in the future. That and your brill specimen have really got me switched on for one of these and I really liked the look of this one, especially as it's roadworthy,not too original (Holden straight 6 motor, for starters!), so would be a guilt free bit of fun to bound about in:

 

 

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/land-rover/auction-821091786.htm

 

Turns out the auction ended today, just as I was arising from bed after a night shift. I reckon someone's done well to bag it for £1982.58 at the current exchange rate. Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about the arguments buying it would have caused.....

[scruff]

That's a steal!! They have gone bonkers over here. I paid more than that for mine nearly 6 years ago and it had a seized engine and a knackered bulkhead. I'd never afford one now, if i was looking I would either buy a minerva (Belgian built 80 with steel body but damned cool) and import it or seriously look at bringing one back from NZ or Oz.

[scruff]

Here it is when I bought it. It was a genuine two owner, 47000 mile barn find, but I didn't find the barn unfortunately! I had been looking for one for a while and viewed some right dogs, this one ticked all my boxes being complete, not messed about with and having the buff log book, old MOT and tax disc etc.

 

It was new to a chap at the BBC in Bristol (one Desmond Hawkins, who was one of the leading lights in the formation of the Natural History unit) who kept it until 1959 when it passed to the Unwins also of Bristol. They ran two caravan parks at Kewstoke, and used the Landy for shifting static vans about and general running around. When we picked it up it had boxes of 1970s hand towels in the back, ring folders of campsite plumbing plans and stuff like that, plus a load of John Player packets and Green Shield stamps.

 

The engine conked out in 1976 so it was parked in a shed and stayed there until 2007. I bought it from the dealer who was lucky enough to get the call saying it needed shifting.

 

It had been put on eBay and I got a call from a friend along the lines of, "You need to buy this". At the time I was in Sussex, about to set off to drop my wife-to-be at work in Peterborough and then carry on to my work. Two calls later saw a change of plan, dropped Bec at work and booted the emap Discovery to Kidderminster.

 

 

 

 

There were a couple of bits missing but nothing serious so I paid the man a deposit and headed home to arrange transport.

 

At the time I also had a series 2a in bits and no other tow vehicle, so I roped in a pal with a Discovery and a borrowed trailer.

 

 

 

I had to promise to finish the 2a before touching this one so for a few months it went to live in a friend's garage in downtown Peterborough.

 

 

I then finished off the 2a, rebuilt bulkhead, new wiring loom and few other bits and bobs. It had a 3.5 V8 from a ex London Ambulance Service LDV in it, was ace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scruff]

With the 80 home I decided to investigate the seized engine.

 

 

It wasn't good, the oil looked like it had never been changed and after trying every trick in the book to try and free it off I decided to file it under "will sort when I'm retired" and looked for another donk.

 

One of the other attractions was the Dulux 1970s light green paint was peeling off to reveal the original factory paint, very easily as i soon found with a few minutes steam cleaning! To go any further on structural repairs the home made roof needed to come off.

 

 

It was a timber frame with thick galvanised sheeting cladding it and took six of us to lift off!! The suspension heaved an audable sigh of relief.

 

Then I started to look at the bulkhead.

 

 

 

 

As I am not bo11ox or Minimad I decided not to delude myself with ideas of mending it and sourced a replacement. I did a deal on a repaired and galvanised bulkhead for a 1950, part-exchanging my knackered one and two other ropey ones I managed to find through some chumrades.

 

The arrival of the bulkhead coincided with moving house, so the trial fit doubled up as a 'throw it together and get it moving' exercise!!

 

 

 

 

 

[scruff]

Once settled in the new place I got stuck in again. 

 

Ebay threw up an engine just a few miles away for £82, which seemed too good to be true. Turned out it was, but it lasted a few months.

 

 

Bulkhead was primed and painted.

 

 

All new brake pipes, a new tank outrigger and a lick of green for the chassis.

 

 

 

 

Engine in and new Autosparks wiring loom.

 

 

By now it was early 2012 and we had moved house yet again. We set a deadline for that summer to go to the Swiss Series Meeting, so I got my arse in gear and moved the 80 to my friend's yard for the final push.

 

Unfortunately during this move I broke the steering box! 

[scruff]

Rover in their wisdom decided after 1951 to produce the steering boxes in aluminium, this breaks down with age and the 80 design isn't the best in that the box is simply bolted straight to the footwell with virtually no support. Turning the wheel at standstill you can see the bulkhead flex so that is to be avoided. Anyway what happens is this:

 

 

 

This was potentially a very expensive mistake but I lucked on an earlier steel box, complete and in good nick, for £100 and bit his arm off.

 

 

 

New front dumbirons:

 

 

Replacing the steering relay:

 

 

New track rod ends etc etc

 

 

 

Three weeks before we set off I finally drove it for the first time!!

 

 

It was running like a bag of shit and diagnosed a blown head gasket, I had a gasket so just changed it qithout skimming the head or owt. Luckily it held up for our europe adventure!

 

 

 

[the judge]

Fantastic write up!!!

[scruff]

The engine lasted the rest of the summer but was very noisy, drank oil and then while at a show on the August bank holiday it blew another gasket. It came home in disgrace on the ERF squeezed in behind the steam engine.

 

I had visions of being able to use it every day, having sold the 2a seen above. I'd ditched the V8 in that for a 200Tdi which was great, but I thought not very well suited to the 80, plus it would have needed a few mods that would have been irreversible without a lot of work. I decided to go for a diesel and do it with as few changes as possible so that a petrol engine could go back in at any time in the future.

 

I happened to have a 2.25 diesel which was a good runner. Unfortunately after fucking around fitting it, it blew up in rather spectacular fashion just up the road from Skoze's place in Essex.

 

I then got the idea to fit a Perkins Prima, as they fit well and are very economical.

 

Hoisting out the dead 2.25:

 

 

Prima with a Landrover adapter plate and clutch.

 

 

 

After getting BUM RAPED for a injector pump overhaul it was on the road and went really well, 40mpg!! We went to Czech in it as detailed a few pages back and I used it every day for about a year, often doing a 85 mile round trip.

 

Then I went self employed and a week later it dropped a valve in the middle of Bourne... the 80 sat in disgrace until I decided to get sorted and put the proper engine back in. And there we are! 

[Jon]

Great stuff! However, I'm slightly disheartened to hear that the one I had my eye on looked OK to someone who actually owns a S1, as it still smarts that I missed out at least on bidding on it. There was a roadworthy '57 station wagon on Trademe for months which was giving me the wink but that was too rich for me at around £3500 (!!). But it's good to know that owning one could actually lead to a bit of a profit in the future, so another levering tool to convince the missus with. 

[brickwall]

With the 80 home I decided to investigate the seized engine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's Tom Cruise doing there?

[Skoze]

There was a roadworthy '57 station wagon on Trademe for months which was giving me the wink but that was too rich for me at around £3500 (!!). 

 

That'd be gone in milliseconds over here! The price difference between us is unreal, really do wonder about importing a bunch of them one day in the not too distant future... 

[Jon]

Get in touch with me if you decide to then, Skoze. Would be sad to see some lovely motors leave these shores but at the same time, perhaps I could live vicariously with one or two in the mean time, while they awaited shipping.....

[scruff]

Here's a quote from a trade expert in one of the mags this month:

 

 

 

Series 1s are lovely and all, but they're the Land Rover equivalent of a model T Ford... you can't really use them for anything other than going to the odd show

[Minimad5]

Love stories like this !
Well done that man.

[HMC]

Brilliant! Nice you managed to find out a bit about its history, have you done any more digging since?

[scruff]

I've found out a little brookjm. I wrote to Richard Attenborough who worked with the original owner and got a lovely reply, while he could remember him well, he couldn't recall the LR in any detail. I also wrote to the local paper in Weston asking if anyone remembered it and got a response from a fella who used to play in it! 

 

 

 

Hi Kevin,
 
I refer to your letter below which I think you posted to the Weston Mercury at the end of last year.  I’m amazed you ended up with one of the land rovers.  Did you stay at one of the parks?  We (four generations of my family) stayed at Arjay for years until a couple of years ago when we called it a day there.  I spent a lot of time growing up there in the 80s and 90s, staying mainly with my grandparents who would stay there for weeks on end.  Nowadays I’m based in Malaysia, but I can still remember the land rovers.  There were two that I know of.  One was a light blue colour and was in regular use by Mike and Tony.  The other was, I think, a dark green colour and was always parked up in the garage adjoining the toilet block.  As a child if I ever ventured into the garage, which was always an interesting place with all the tools strewn all over the place, the smell of oil mixed with smoke from Mike and Tony’s continuous puffing, and the sheer quantity of cobwebs on the ceiling (no loft insulation needed!), I’d often jump into the land rover that was parked up there which was always good fun.  I’d also get frequent rides in the light blue one too, which was used as a working vehicle around the park.  I suppose you have the dark green one?
 
In its day, Arjay was a super park but I’m afraid most people who were there during Mike and Tony’s ownership (by far the best years of the park) are no longer with us so I’m not sure how many other replies you received.  I also know that Tony passed away in the 90s (I think) but not sure about Mike.  My dad (based in Chester) who is on copy may be able to shed more light on the land rover that was parked up by the time I was around.  By all means ask questions we may be able to help.
 
It would be good to hear how you ended up with the land rover and even some pics if you have some, as well as any info from others you heard from as a result of your letter.  
 
Cheers,
Jared
 
JARED CHECKLEY SDN BHD
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

[holbeck]

Get in touch with me if you decide to then, Skoze. Would be sad to see some lovely motors leave these shores but at the same time, perhaps I could live vicariously with one or two in the mean time, while they awaited shipping.....

Be careful what you wish for, you might end up knee deep in Land Rovers.

[scruff]

Throughly pleasant day messing around with some Solihull shitheaps today.

 

My mate Rob has an assorted collection of four wheel drive jalopies which mostly don't work, in order to get at least one of the bangers going some shunting was required.

 

Last night I knocked up a simple straight bar using some tube and two old shackles.

 

 

First one to move was this which is very shot but also quite rare and mega low mileage. 

 

 

But before that was dragged outside we decided to remove the engine (Rover 2.6 six cylinder inlet-over-exhaust job) so it can be fettled.

 

 

Then we shunted

 

 

In it's place went the digger, which was towed in by another Series 1 but needed a shunt...

 

 

Then we went to the pub.