“Missing since the 1950s, this is one of the first Land Rover’s ever shown to the world in 1948. Recently rediscovered just a few miles from its Solihull birthplace in the UK, this is the world’s most historically significant unrestored Land Rover. As part of Land Rover’s 70th jubilee, the Land Rover Classic team is now beginning a sympathetic restoration to preserve it.”
Thanks to Andrew Lear.
There is a YouTube video showing how to do just about any task or repair. Some of these are very well done and some are not. Because it is so easy to record a video and upload it to YouTube, there are some really bad ones. The two videos below are excellent and all the more so because they are first time videos. The two-part video demonstrates how to rebuild the diesel injector for a Ford 7.3 liter engine.
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George Tergin is a local auto mechanic and businessman. He’s a regular at the coffee shop where I hang out and has been advising me on matters Land Rover related.
The production values in these videos are really good. The sound is perfect; lighting very good considering the video was recorded at a workbench in his shop; George’s presentation was clear, concise and easy-to-follow. Really hard to believe he has never done one of these. There were some nice small touches like speeding up screw tightening.
Rebuilding a diesel fuel injector seems pretty technical to me. Lots of little springs and rings and everything has to be put together just so. Making this seem simple in a how-to video is a very good trick. Especially on your first try. Bravo George. (And those who helped you)
Gonna be 2018 before I get to try stuff like this. Making do with YouTube video. The video above confirms my decision to move the spare from the bonnet to the tub.Too distracting.
This will be my first experience with a diesel engine. Looks like all it takes is a little patience.
Mr. Wolf has had the truck for less than a week but has already logged 200 km and spotted (and fixed?) a problem with the brakes. It was a little chilly in the Bay Area today so he had the heater on.
“How cold does it get in your area in the winter? The heater in the truck is working properly, and it is keeping me toasty in the oh-so-cold 40 degree California winter, but a blowtorch it is not. The defrost function is especially wimpy, but I think of my Westfalia: the defroster in the Westy doesn’t even have a blower motor, it just sort of wafts vaguely warm air in the general direction of the windshield, and you know what? It kind of works! Would it be acceptable if you were a punctual business man on an icy morning, and you needed your windshield defrosted RIGHT NOW? Absolutely not. But if you’re living life at Westfalia/Series Rover pace… Yeah, sure, it’ll do.”
“So… How hearty do you feel? Do you want to stick with the stock heater, don gloves and a hat, squeegee in hand for the drive to the coffee shop, or have you gone soft on me?”
Mr. Wolf said he could replace my heater with a better after-market heater for about $1,000 and I was considering it until he questioned my manhood. I’m sticking with heater we got.
I’ve struggled to explain the appeal this old (1979) Land Rover has for me, given that I’ve only driven one once, for about 5 minutes. Mr. Wolf clearly understands the zen-like pull I feel but cannot articulate.
“I love fast cars, but slow ones are good for the soul sometimes. Driving the Rover is like driving my Volkswagen Westfalia: you will get there when you get there, you have time to look at the scenery and the sky, lots of waves, smiles, and thumbs up, and you never get stuck behind that slow asshole when you are in a hurry because you are that slow asshole! It is relaxing in a way.”
YES! I am that slow asshole. Exactly!
UPDATE: “Transmission very good, clutch needs adjustment. Engine running good but still hard to start when cold and very smoky. Both could just be it needing lots of break in miles, diesels tend to take a while to break in.”
This was my first auto auction so I didn’t know what to expect. I really enjoyed looking at all of the cars but was surprised by how entertaining I found the bidding. It was a hell of a production, carried live on one of the NBC cable channels (and online, of course). This video runs less than 2 minutes. Here are some stills.
It’s been a few weeks since I got my first look at what I’ve started thinking of as “the Eldon truck.” It’s sitting outside the garage of a local mechanic who one day hopes to find the time to bring it back to life. In a bizarre example of cosmic coincidence, it’s the same year (’79) and model (Series III) as my Land Rover. While I’ve yet to get my hands on my truck, I have been allowed to poke around inside the Eldon truck.
The the owner of the truck (now deceased) reportedly bought it new in 1979 and wasn’t bashful about “enhancing” it over the years, the flyswatter and fan being to of my favorite mods.
As a general rule I tend to be clutter-averse. I like things tidy. But sitting in the driver’s seat of this old truck, it’s hard not to get a sense of performance art. There’s a Rube Goldberg Machine quality to all his little tweaks.
In the photo above, note the Mystery Knob. I don’t think this was merely decorative. It had some purpose but the old man took that with him when he went.
My truck will arrive in pristine condition. Seems unlikely I’ll live long enough to give it the character of this beauty. I’ll do my best.
A couple of weeks back I posted about an old Land Rover (spotted by one of my coffee shop buds) wasting away in Eldon, MO, a small town about 30 miles southwest of Jefferson City. Since then another coffee shop pal purchased the the truck and it’s now sitting in the garage of another coffee shop friend who has the task of bringing the truck back to life.
She needs some work but that’s a good thing. This is the exact year and model as my truck, right down to the 2.25 litre diesel engine. As pal #3 (a talented mechanic) works his magic, I’m hoping to watch (quietly) from a corner of the garage. (I assume I’ll have to pay for the privilege)
There has also been some question as to whether my truck would fit through my garage door. I kept hearing different measurements from the guys in San Diego. This is important because we don’t want a diesel engine sitting outside during mid-Missouri winters. I now know it will pass easily into my garage (84 in clearance).
My truck scheduled to be transported from SoCal to NoCal this week.
“Since early October, autonomous trucks built and operated by the startup Embark have been hauling Frigidaire refrigerators 650 miles along the I-10 freeway, from a warehouse in El Paso, Texas, to a distribution center in Palm Springs, California.”
“For now, the Embark milk runs are designed to test logistics as well as the safety of the technology. On each trip, a human driver working for Ryder (a major trucking company and Embark’s partner on this venture) heads over to the Frigidaire lot in El Paso, picks up a load of refrigerators, hauls them to the rest stop right off the highway, and unhitches the trailer. Then, a driver working for Embark hooks that trailer up to the robotruck, cruises onto the interstate, pops it into autonomous mode, and lets it do its thing. The truck mostly sticks to the right lane and always follows the speed limit. Once in Palm Springs, the human pulls off the highway, unhitches the trailer, and passes the load to another Ryder driver, who takes it the last few miles to Frigidaire’s SoCal distribution center.”