110-850 came about after my son Kyle was up in the Nth West of NSW (Carinda) shooting with a few mates, he certainly knew of my interest in ex-mil
Land Rovers, he came home with a image or two of a wreck, the images were tantalizing to say the least, but I'm always wary of another persons
description of any vehicle, generally I like to look them over myself before committing to buy etc., but I took my son's word for it that it was OK,
so I paid the farmers son who lived in Singleton/working in the mining support roles the princely sum of $400.00, arrangements were made to go fetch.
what a mess, I asked my son did he not see the huge hole in the B/head and the way the windscreen was laying back because the bulkhead had rusted out
around the pivot/hinge point
the judge checking over the wreck, before we dragged it out using the 110, once outside in the sunlight the full extent of what I had paid $400.00 hit home
my initial thoughts were $300.00 too much not to count the cost of fuel n food etc., for trip up n back and the trailer cost me $350.00 because I had to buy 3
new tyres for it, to say I wasn't pleased is an understatement, anyway after 2 attempts by Graham and my son to get it on the trailer, I managed it in one go
my son tried to enthuse me into using the vehicle whilst we were there to go tripping around the property shooting in it, I declined ++ as it was held together
in some places with fencing wire and short lengths of chain around the spring hangers, it was as rough as gutz, it took a little of know how to get it running
and moving without a clutch, we headed for home the next day
we got about 60k's down the road, when I heard a rather loud sound like a big zipper being undone, it was very loud so I stopped to check, nothing seemed to
be amiss, then I spotted it, the tread had started to come off the tyre lhs front trailer, it flapped until it got caught under the rear lhs, then that was the ripping
sound I heard, that was the first incident, somewhere just past Jerry's Plains coming down a big hill, BOOM trailer swaying from side to side @ 80k'sph
scarey to say the least, managed to slow down n stop without incident, that was No2, we were just outside Broke about 30k's from home yes you guessed it BOOM
that meant we had no other spare tyres, we were stuck
some phone calls and much later my good wife turned up with 2 spares supposedly inflated, well they were flat, luckily I have a air pump fitted in the 110, what a trip
I was hoping against hope that the vehicle was worth the trouble.
It had to sit for a while as I was still working on 114-194 Bloodbox, and 112-655 came on the scene as well, so every now n then I would take a battery and start it and let it run for a period, even though
the engine was running rough, it sounded OK, but bodywise it was a mess 100%
I'm not exactly sure but I think it was July of 2004 that it made it's way down the street home, I drove it believe it or not
I made a start on straight away, I don't why I remove the left wing first but I always seem to LOL,
the strip down was a straightforward process, not difficult at all
despite it's rough appearances most nuts/bolts undid without too much effort and in no time I had it stripped to this
I parked it there and did the pressure wash removing years of red dirt and mud wasps nests, the gutter ran red for some time, the chassis was in reasonable condition
considering it had been used n abused as a shooting vehicle, by a group of blokes from Sydney, who just decided they didn't want to drive up n get when the property
was being sold.
I stripped it back to a bare chassis, this took me about 10 days work seems to get in the way sometimes anyway it was grit blasted and etch primed on the same day
then the long task of the rebuild began, springs were taken apart n cleaned/reassembled etc.,
and did you notice that the front section of chassis was missing, it had sustained some damage, I was lucky to get a section @ Modern mtrs Dungog for the sum of $0.00
it had a small section of rust which was cut out and replaced with new 1.6mm steel, it was suitably plated inside the chassis, all welded back up, chassis painted and
back as a rolling chassis in around 2/3 months after starting work on it
The hunt was on for a replacement B/head, this took me n Graham to many a destination only to be let down by people who had no idea about much of anything eg
this bulkhead and Land Rover the owner wanted $1,000.00 for it, it was a total rust bucket, the B/head was far worse than the one it was going to replace
needless to say I didn't buy it, one of my wifes brothers said he knew os some wrecks out @ Bylong, so off we went, I found them, most were complete vehicles
which the property owner wanted to sell as a complete unit, I only wanted a B/head, I showed one of my 'brag books' showing images of 112-587, he told me
after looking at the images that if I could do that to those vehicle and use them on Anzac Day, I could have the bulkhead off an old army one he had, which was
a Series 2 Comm/Recon (which I mistakedly included in the rebuild of 112-587 but I have rectified that issue in that story) here is the wreck with B/head off
my old mate the 'judge' always up for a trip somewhere LOL, at home after a quick wash
I had to make some small repairs to it
next was grit blast and paint/fit it up.
The engine needed to be looked at as it had a water leak and I couldn't get a tap to suit the thread, so I made one using a lump of steel
where there is a will there's a way anyway I later found 1' x 16tpi conduit taps fill the bill nicely
Much painting and repair work done to a tub that I bought from Ross C off a vehicle that came out of the collection housed in
Newcastle, it's nickname was 'Pickles' as it was a rust bucket +++ pickled LOL, the tub needed a lot of work
I replaced the floor as electrolysis had done it's evil work, the floor rivets were sourced from the United States
after which I was able to continue work, using my 'Metabo' orbital sander, it's dirty dusty work
but persistance paid off,
my old mate Graham used to drop by for a chat usually on a Saturday arvo
the guards were sourced from Graham he had a S2 wreck with good ones on it
and sometime later after a lot of work it started to look a lot like a S2 C/R
did you notice the 109 WKSP waiting in the background?? and after club rego
and parked up in the street with 112-587
and on it's first Anzac Day parade with an elderly gent who has since passed away with his great grand/daughter posing
well that covers the restoration, but not the saga, more to follow on this one, cheers Dennis
ps have you noticed I have come into the digital age with the last few images LOL
