Scotland - Sussex

[scruff]

It appears I am going to be driving a 1954 Series One Landy from Broxburn down to Sussex this Wednesday. A friend of mine in the Czech Republic has bought it unseen and it's got a Rover V8 in it so it could be an interesting trip.

 

Any preferred routes gang - was going to stick to the M1 for familiarity but open to suggestions...

 

Pics from the trip will be posted if you are interested

[warren t claim]

It may be cheaper to engineer a simple fault and get the AA to relay you to you destination. Not as much fun though.

[scruff]

True - bit of a cheat though. And I'm hoping to use the trip as a small magazine story.

[Albert Ross]

M1 or A1 would be a fair idea, don't forget Dave in Wakey, I'm just down the road normally, depends what time you're around... I could rustle up a cuppa and a picture of a cheese sandwich. I'm sure there are other rest stops available. Kev in Leicester for instance. Harry Hedgehog a bit further? I know peeps won't recognise those names, but you will! Have a safe trip mate, and yes, pictures would be kinda good!

[Cavcraft]

Bloody hell, 450 odd miles, that'll be fun. I'd imagine a mixture of motorway and A-road is probably the best answer to save you going a bit radio. You could follow the M62 from Leeds and come via Manchester or for a bit of scenery. If you get to Stockport you could follow the Snake Pass and the rejoin the M1 again. It's a fair bit longer on the journey but definately more scenic.

 

Other options are M1 then Newark, Chesterfield, Bakewell, Matlock, Matlock Bath, Derby, Nottingham and back on to the M1. The scenery and roads are fantastic but once again it's a bloody long way round.

[andrew e]

Follow the west/east coastline all the way down? Or via Solihull?

[scruff]

Yo gang, I made it!!

 

Got the overnight train from Stamford and landed at my destination at 8.30am. The vendor was away on business so his local mechanic, a top fella called Alex and who looked a lot like Hagrid from Harry Potter, picked me up in this beauty -

 

 

At his yard I gave the S1 a quick check over to make sure it wasn't a rot trap, Alex checked the oil and water and tightened a breather pipe and off I went...

 

 

 

A few miles away it lost power and started running like a bag of shit, peeped under the bonnet and the tweaked-with breather pipe txist carb and rocker cover had come adrift.

 

 

 

Bodged it back together and carried on... After removing the airbox, which was fouling on the throttle linkage.

 

 

Sat at a steady 65mph all the way and blasted to 70+ for overtaking without a problem!

 

At Gretna Green we saw a friend

 

 

England!

 

 

And at Knutsford I met up with Stig to continue our journey (and eat Jaffa Cakes)

 

 

Traffic on the M5...

 

 

Yet more petrol

 

 

484 miles later and £153 in petrol I landed in Sussex and handed it over to my friend who the next morning boarded a ferry for the Czech Republic...

 

 

They are currently 300kms from Prague and about 3 hours from the final destination. The gearbox is dying but the old Landy has kept on going

[scruff]

They are 40 miles away and the box has let go - but still has forth, so they've kept going.