When we purchased Castrol in early 1992 it was a long way from parade condition. As the 50th Anniversary of the release of Land-Rover (Easter 1998) approached, we were motivated to improve the paintwork, fittings and livery of Castrol and to get it back into "Parade Condition".

Just what is achievable was shown in an article by owner/author Stephen Stansfield about the Series 2A Australian Army model variants and restoration of his Ex-Army 1965 R.A.A.M.C. Ambulance. In brief, his effort was inspirational and has led to bigger things such as R.E.M.L.R., but that's jumping ahead of things...

We brought Castrol, in February 3rd 1992. It had obviously passed thru many hands since 1976 before we purchased it...

• it had one month of road registration remaining, but it was nowhere near roadworthy.
• paint was old english white, tyres were 15x8, canvas was new, firewall and headlight sections were mostly iron oxide, rear chassis had recently been thru rust surgery, the wiring was a real mess.
• we decided not to let the registration lapse, so after John Smythe Esq overhauled Castrol's running gear, a pink slip was issued.
• the firewall was removed and a new one from a Bushfire Brigade 109" fitted after galvanizing.
• rewiring and some other jobs such as slave clutch done.
• Castrol was ready for the next registration renewal and went back onroad in March 1993, not "fully restored" by any means, but at least it was roadworthy...

At this early stage Castrol was missing a lot of the Army fittings and CES. All the info we had when we started was the photos of Harry in our Photo Album. Now its a few years down the track and we have organised a heap of info and keep on finding more. We have made a heap of friends as well...

The job of collecting details and know-how for Castrol's fittings and finish was made easier thru Q.M.V.G., the Mil-Veh list and the Land-Rover Owner list. A helpful visit to the Australian War Memorial library and conversations with some other owner/restorers such as Stephen Stansfield (Series 2A Ambulance), Kevin Hicks (Series 2A 109 G.S.) [both members of the Queensland Military Vehicle Group], and Alan Logue (Series 2A & Series 3 models) [a member of The South Australian Land-Rover Register] filled in some big grey areas for me. The new fangled things such as email and digital pictures brought home to us how the internet can be a worthwhile accessory for Land-Rover restorers on the hunt for accurate details of fittings etc...

Castrol attended the Aussie 50th Anniversary Celebrations and had a wonderful time. Everything went well and we photographed many and varied Ex-Military Landys from five States BUT (drum roll) on the way home (by a tangled coincidence) we found a near perfect original condition 'brother' of Castrol's - made and delivered to the Army in the same month in fact. It confirmed much of what we knew and surprised us with some new things as well.