The time had come for another big spend over at Jeeparts, so I fitted the roof to the old one and set off on a 200 mile round trip to get an engine, plus some other stuff. It would be the furthest I had been in it since visiting the Combo’s in Italy three years ago. I opted for Roman Roads all the way to Shrewsbury, taking the Fosse Way down to Hinckley, then Watling Street the rest of the way. The Romans didn’t piss about. They wanted good road links at any expense. Anyone gets in the way, throw them to the Lions. And here we are today, still using their road network. I had forgotten what a thrill it is to drive my 59 year old Land Rover. A delicate balance of gear changing, brake pumping and vague steering. Having to get a move on to catch Matt at the Overland Preparation Barn, before he went home, I found I had to spread the gate of my feet to maintain balance through the lovely bends between Utoxeter and Matlock. I felt very much like Mr Toad at the wheel. Great fun! I made it and deposited a new engine and various other bits for the next instalment.
12 comments:
Nice to see the 80" with its tilt up. Still freezing cold inside presumably. That new engine looks very shiny too; look forward to next installment.
What a joy - looks more like a trip to Lapland judging by the gifts for all the family in the back there. Engines in trunks eh - I once had a 120 horse Tigre in the boot of a CX - just about get a fag paper down each side. Not too sure about the tyres on the Series 1.
By the way there's absolutely no need to tie stuff down like that - way over the top - ask Peter.
Yes, ask me. Diplomat is the man who wouldn't tie down a filing cabinet in the back of his pick-up. "We're only going down the road, and in any case I've got a degree in loading." We were alright until he made a startling and unexpected turn for the pub and we stared open-mouthed as the cabinet flew out over the A43, distributing his VAT returns over the surrounding fields.
It's easily done. In this very Land Rover back in about 1975 I had not strapped the old Mk 1 wife in securely. We took a 90 degree right hander in a lane near Ticknall, with considerable aplomb, and out she flew! I've still not fixed the door, but its on the list.
Ms Raven-Hill's sister fell out onto a pavement in Stanwell and her absence, or the swinging door, wasn't noticed until Staines.
Once - lift sharing primary school run - we opened up the back of the Clubman we were travelling in and pushed a six year old out at speed, his mum was distraught when she realised he wasn't in the car when it came time to drop him at home - how we laughed !
I drove off with the tailgate up on my Mazda van and lost a perfectly good lump hammer. If only it had been attached to my (insert inappropriate gag here).
I remember once when I was driving 23 disadvantaged Somalis to a whelkfest in deepest Shropshire when the boot on my Bentley Continental suddenly sprang (?) open and they all fell out into a ditch full of silage run-off. We didn't laugh, I can tell you, because we were too busy being fatwahed. Live and learn, that's what I say.
I just thought I'd gone deaf....
And I once drove off for Scotland from Wibtoft in Warwickshire with Betjeman's Collected Poems on the faux leatherette roof of my biliously-coloured Hillman Avenger. I often wonder if it was picked up by some farm labourer hedging on the A5 who stared at it for weeks, trying to decipher the letters but disadvantaged by his holding the book upside down.
All of the above incidents could have been avoide by strict adherence to the rules firmly imbedded when studying for you CPC - a requirement, as you'll know, of your National O Licence. The incident with the trailer overtaking me on the way to the tip, hurdling the ditch and fence and coming to rest, wheels still spinning, 40 yds into a winter wheat crop, was before I took my CPC.
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