Rikki Chequer, Biglorryblog's chum and community manager at www.TruckNetUK.com has kindly provided me with this welcome update on the restoration of Bertha the beloved Land Rover shared with his wife Lucy. "Hi Brian, anyone who spends any time around old Landrovers soon learns the beauty of them is their simplicity, with a couple of spanners anything can be replaced, the other thing about them is that there is a huge archive/knowledge available through various websites."
"So it should be no surprise that Bertha has thrown a few 'spanners' in the works! The first surprise was that once stripped down and we got a close look at the running gear, was that the gear box wasn't from 1967, not even close. Someone at some point has replaced the original, but not with a newer version. Bertha's box is 1959 vintage!!. Then we came to check the VIN against the records, it appears the extremely sound 2.25 petrol engine that takes the wife to work each week, isnt the original either, its from the right year, just a small technical difference from what she left the factory with, Yes, I have to admit Bertha was an oil burner, originally fitted with a diesel."
"The chassis we were always going to replace, taking the body off has shown that it was probably a good decision to do it now, hidden on top of the chassis were a few, holes, not that bad I hear you say, well , yes actually that bad, the rear shock absorbers were firmly nestled into thin air, and the driver's side front leaf spring sat on a point of the chassis that had a split that would put the Grand Canyon to shame."
So .. we now have the correct new chassis on order, and we think, that despite being rarer than an honest politician, we have sourced a decent front bulkhead, the old one as can be seen in the photos is a little worse for wear...."
And yes that IS a big hole Rikki! Now click through here for more....
And here's a shot of Bertha before she slipped into something less comfortable! Rikki concludes: "Restoring an old Landrover, even if it's with someone who knows what they are doing is doing the actual mechanics, is all about learning their history, magical mystery tours for parts, and all about the surprises that as we take her apart we find. It's a journey that is frustrating, expensive, probably not cost effective and damn good fun." And we look for more Project Bertha Updates soon...after all Andrew Cooper has almost finished his Peterbilt!
You can see why Jerry calls these machines "LONG REPAIRS", can't you! As you say though, not cost effective, but fun. Best of luck with the restoration.
Hi Brian, Just a reminder so we dont choke up your blog every couple days with updates, you can follow Bertha's progress (or otherwise) at
http://projectbertha.blogspot.com/
We are at the point where things slow down a bit, the new chassis wont arrive for about another month, and refurbing diff's/gearbox's etc doesnt make for great photo's