Hi to all and welcome to my blogger site. After many years of the wife getting onto me to create a blog, I thought I would and show and help other people who also own Land Rovers across the world.
It all starts somewhere and with me it was when my father who when I was five had his own logging business back in the UK. He bought an ex-forestry 1965 Land Rover series 2 Diesel.
It was cold in the winter, and drafty too, but I loved it. We would go to places that no other vehicle could get to, and some of the places were scary, especially at five.
I would go with my dad in the Land Rover when ever I could and I really enjoyed the lack of comfort, but having the ability of being able to go any where.
A few years later the desire for myself to have a Land Rover took a turn for the better, when a heavy goods vehicle ran up the back of the Landy, and the Police stated if he was in any other vehicle, he wouldn't be here today.
So I started to work getting a paper round and any other job I could to earn money and start saving for my dream.
I would work very hard and it paid off when I was fourteen years old and I was offered a 1958 Series 2 Land Rover with a perkins 4203 engine in it. I was over the moon and without looking at it I bought it.
The vehicle was rotten and I started to strip it down, however this was found to be beyond repair, however, it had good tires, and a good engine and Gearbox, actually the body work was good too. The things wrong, was a rotten Bulkhead and the chassis was shot.
So I started to strip it down, and then a Land Rover owner who knew my dad came by and offered me a good price for the engine and adapter plate. I snapped at this chance as it was more that what I had paid for it.
We then moved onto a small holding and the vehicle still, partially complete was towed to the new home in a barn, where it stood for about 1 year, not being touched.
I was at this stage in the Army Cadets and went away for two weeks when I was sixteen. I then returned and dad stated he had just bought a new tractor and wanted me to get it from the top paddock.
He gave me the key and as I walked into the paddock I saw a green beaten LWB Series 2 ex army Land Rover, it was brilliant, I was so pleased with it and drove it.
I loved it, it had a BMC 2.2 diesel engine in it, how ever it smoked as the vehicle was used on a farm, and was run on heating oil.
I started to trip it down as it needed a little welding on the chassis and the body was battered, but this is where my previous buy helped, I could use the body parts from that!.
Work started and then my dada said he had located an old London Taxi with a BMC 2.2 in it, he stated it had been rebuild, however as the bus company closed down, it just sat at the rear of a large bus shed. They wanted fifty pounds for it, so I snapped at the chance.
The taxi was then brought home and I removed the engine and at this stage the Landy was nearing completion.
It was now already to go and then by chance I sold the old London Taxi as scrap for fifty pounds, so the engine didn't cost a penny.
It was resprayed and I then took my driving test and passed. Yeah! i can drive on the road, taxed and MOT'd.
I then got offered an ex army series 2a 24 volt FFR, it had been taken to a friends place and shown as a demo, but the demonstrator had a crash into the owners car, an it just stood in the woods, where it lie for about six years.
One hundred pounds and I bought it. Emptied the carb of stale petrol, and cleaned the points, and it fired up after the third turn of the engine. Bloody good for 6 years sitting in a wood covered by brambles I'd say.
This was stored and kept for spares in the paddock.
I again went away with the army two years later and came back and dad had now bought me an ex-army Series 3 with a diesel engine with a damaged engine block as the previous owner had not put anti freeze in for the cold winter.
Dad got the engine welded and I drove this around for another two years, where I had saved enough money to by another one.
I went to Foley Land Rovers who were at this time at Sible Hedingham and looked around. They still deal in Land Rovers, but are now closer to London. I spoke to the owner who showed me his ex army vehicles and I fell in Love with a 1984 Series 3 FFR vehicle that had just come back from the first gulf camapaign in the early 90's.
It cost me one thousand two hundred pounds on the road, what a great deal, and I continued to use Foley until they closed the Sible Hedingham depot.
A year later the gearbox broke and I took it to RST in West Mersea Essex, to get it rebuilt, They did a fab job and it cost three hundred pounds and it was again on the road.
I then got married and then bought two other land rovers with the intention of rebuilding and then selling them on, but this didn't work and these were sold for export to Cypress, i think I lost a bit of money, but oh well.
A family then came along and I had to sell the FFR as I needed money to pay for the family. It was a real sad moment in my life, and I always felt something missing.
The family an I then moved to Australia and love it here, but there was that missing feeling, so when we arrived I bought a 1996 300 Tdi Discovery. It was okay for the first three months, then things went wrong until it died and we Part exchanged for a new car. The Discovery was very unreliable and the wife stated she did not want another Land Rover.
It took me two years to convert her, to which she said yes. I then bought a 1993 Land Rover defender 200 Tdi. The engine had just had $4000-00 spent on it and it was up for $5000-00. I knocked the owner down to $4000-00 and spent $900-00 to get it on the road.
I have been gradually upgrading stuff, like Discovery 2 front seats, re upholster the rear seats, Side steps and now central Locking. I would drive this any day over the brand new car and will keep this for a long while yet. The only way I would get rid of it is if I get a new one. But I can dream.
That's enough about me feel free to look and enjoy and thank you for taking time to look at my blog.
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