land rovers

You obviously have never spent all day bouncing arround in a 11a, You could barely walk next day, even my fj40 was comfy in comparsion. LOL
Cheers Pete

I still know which I would try to fix in the bush, a broken throttle cable or a buggered accelerator potentiometer!

ROCKAPE

hahahahaha.......good to see ya have those memories!

what was the go with the cacky yellow interior paint work in them?

Mark,
it was probably the only house paint I had at the time, can't remember or I refuse to.

You are still a cruel, cruel man.

I must admit that I went a lot of places in them.

It must have been hot in the ute, as the photo shows the aircon is on.

Have a safe one Mark

ROCKAPE

you must have done some miles...........look at the 2 tyres on top!

ned new ones for rego me thinks!



cheers.

......................and i forgot to add that those seats looked way too comfy for their time.

Mate,

Sorry about the slicks, I had just returned from Surfers international dragstrip where the old girl took out top modified 4wd in the time of 2 days 14 hrs (had to rebuild the gearbox half way down the strip and I had replaced an axle at the 100 foot mark.

If you want to take the old girl on at the speedway, let me know so I can cut some grooves in those tyres. Then I can show you what Lantrover horsepower is all about.

ROCKAPE


thanx mate,i'll keep that in mind for future reference,cheers.

KEV

same as yours.......1/2 of this and 1/2 of something else,cheers.

Mate,
the TE20 fergy tractors were a gem and I still see them around.

Have a good one

Having lived in the Snowy in the early days, my old man worked for 'em, I remember SWB Landrovers with canvas canopies being used pretty well from the start. I know my father used one and because of his job he used to bring it home. These vehicles were all well maintained, but over time on the bush tracks got dinged about. The scenes in the video are pretty early in the scheme, Guthega (early 50's), and I think Tumut Ponds Dam (circa 1955), I saw some early shots of Geehi (not the dam) in the video too.

But folks remember this was when the sun never set on the Empire, and we had to buy British. Even the commentators had to use Pomspeak. I think Theiss started to import Toyota's in the late very 50's early 60's. I may be wrong.

The S.M.A. had so many fatal prangs in their vehicles that the boss cocky had seat belts fitted to all vehicles, and made is a sackable situation if you were caught driving without wearing it. The fatality rate on the roads dropped substantially, not on the job though.

Other 4 X 4 vehicles I recall were Dodge Power Wagons, they must have been made here as they were right hand drive jobs.

Had Series II, IIa & cream 6 cylinder, LWB & SWB, as work vehicles. The 6 cyclinder job would do 80MPH flat out. Also owned a 1949 P3 Rover Saloon. Parts were interchangeable with the early Landy's.

A no frills vehicle that went & went, I loved the aircon, open the windows or vents, and as all the grommets in the firewall used to fall out, at night, you could see a red hot exhaust manifold through the holes. This was excellent in the summer, added to the heat. No heater fitted & in winter they were bloody freezing and draughty.

The mob I worked for (NSWG) then went over to Toyota's. They had aircon installed in western NSW, as I recall it was a Smith manufactured, thing, but gees didn't it reduce the power.

I was younger then, words we often hear now, and a lot healthier. But iff you didn't have haemorroids after a couple of years in a SWB there was something wrong with ones nether region.

Incidently, they were assembled in Sydney by P.M.C. (Pressed Metal Corporation) and as such were nowhere as good as the fully imported models, eg. LWB Station Wagon.

I recall on one occasion I broke a fan belt, and on discovering that the spare was the wrong type, I was able to use my wife's panty hose as a temporary fan belt. It got me to the nearest property where I could borrow one. Do that with a new 4 x 4!

There was no point in installing a car radio, you couldn't hear it, the spare wheel would sometimes come off the bonnet if not frequently checked, and yet the seats were basic, and quite comfortable. The brakes were hopeless and the gearbox did most of the slowing down. No synchro on 1st to 2nd, yet if I could get one now in good nick at a reasonable price I would.

We had Austin Gypsies (wot are they), Jeeps, 4 x 4 F250's & Landy's. Give me the latter each time

I had a 63 series II; believed to be an ex Army model, biger brake drums, 4 cylinder,70 mph tops, easy start every time, short wheel base, and all canvas top, big tires, which looked a bit out of proportion, the nite of Cyclone Tracy had to abandon the caravan, the kombi van rocking too much, took refuge in the Lady until some object hit the laminated wind shield, yes, it had a laminated windshield, very unusual for that era, after that decided maybe safer in the old crown.
Austin Gipsies!! In W. A. I think was the same ones we use to call Austin Champ, Rolls Roys motor, all electrical double insulated, with snorkel, and extension on exhaust you could drive it under water without any worries, you could change gears in reverse, so you could go as fast in reverse as in forward, was I bit difficult to carry out any work on it because the double insulation, but hey, it was a lot easier than those new vehicles, remember been advertised, as a boat load arriving in Australia, all had a new battery and two Gerry cans, all for 560 pounds, the good old days

The Series II & IIA that the army used were modified a bit more than the model available through dealers. It was 'tropicalised', with a ten blade (I think) radiator fan, dual fan belts, mesh across the front vents, two 10 gallon fuel tanks underneath the seats, with a dip stick, a heavier generator, and the wheel wells were more open so you could clear the mud & other thrown up crap more easily.

You know I'de still go for one of these, provided a Holden motor hadn't been chucked in.

The Series III, and there are lots of these still about, had the six cylinder Rover motor, a revised dash, a heater, and were nowhere as good as the previous models.

That's why they went for the 110, which initially had an Isuzu diesel motor, and could go like hell. They were so different we had to do a short course on them & had our Army Licence's endorsed accordingly. This was called 'Project Parenti'. I don't know where Landrover came into the frame, but they certainly supplied the bodies. After the series III we throught that they were tops.

The Austin Gypsy was very similar in looks to a SWB Landrover, but they weren't anywhere near as good and had lots of mechanical problems. BMC at the time pulled them off the market P.D.Q. and concentrated on cars, eg. the mini. Don't get them confused with the Austin Champ, which had the 4 cylinder Rolls Royce (B40 I think) motor. They were capable of fording deep water without any preparation, except to extend the air snorkel. They were a bitch to work on as the motor & all of the electrics were sealed. It used to to take nearly all day to change the spark plugs. Yeah, they had a second gear box forward & reverse. You still see a few about with military vehicle enthusiasts. Another interesting thing that popped up at the same time was a 4 x 4 Humber 1.5 ton truck. They didn't appear to last very long, and I've only ever seen one on the road since. Spare parts would be a bitch!