Real Desert Truck.

You may spot that this is not a Jeep and has no tangible links with a Jeep, but it is a true desert truck, so there’s the link. This is my pal Mohammed. Mohammed, with his pal Sulliman, cooks for us in Germa, Libya, where I shall be for January. Germa is a dusty little breeze block shithole in the middle of bumfucknowhere about 700 miles south of Tripoli. Mohammed has had his Datsun pick up for at least ten years to my knowledge and it’s always looked exactly like this. He did point out, with great pride, that he had bought a NEW brake master cylinder recently and for the first time in a few years revelled in having brakes. They have a sort of M.O.T. type test in Libya, but they only test the lights and do it every two years. To get round this most Libyans in the desert towns share a set of lights to be fitted for the test, then removed and passed on for someone else. One headlight and one rear light is, obviously, quite enough for any car.

All the bits.

A visit to the Overland Preparation Barn in Matlock yesterday confirmed that we now have virtually all the bits required to build a 1943 Jeep. All that is needed is some warmer weather and a bit of time. The chassis is fine, but all the hub oil seals will be replaced and all the brake pipes. The new spring shackles are now done! the body tub is welded and spot on. In the numerous boxes are all the rather prosaic bits and sitting on a pallet is the new engine. Well. Not new, new, but rebuilt by skilled French technicians (no laughing at the back) about 20 years ago. Graham, at Jeeparts, checked it over and confirmed it appeared to be ‘a good one’ and was ‘20 thou over’. The whole project is now 2 thou over, but I’m sure the end result will be worth it.

The Roman Way.

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.

My Aunt's Jeep

I went up to Matlock yesterday and did a tour of inspection. The completed body tub is standing to attention on it’s rear panel in a corner of the workshop and the rolling chassis is being wheeled in and out to make way for real work. Hopefully, before Christmas, we shall formulate a second list of parts for me to collect, no, buy, from Jeeparts UK. It will include a new engine. Gulp! Meanwhile I found this lovely picture of my Aunt Rosemary taken, probably, at the end of the war. She was a bit of a James Bond in her day and talks little of what she actually did in the war to this day. It was all a secret. However, she has clearly wooed a couple of chaps to change a wheel here, whilst her and an officer watch on. I shall email her and ask if she can remember any other details. She would not, for one moment, have been interested in the Jeeps, or the fact that the one at the front has a trailer in tow, but you never know, she may just say that the officer lives down the road and still has the Jeep covered in dust in his shed.

Light me up Giulio.

Sorry for the gap in transmissions Peter, but truth be told, there hasn’t been a lot of activity to report on. The boys in Matlock have had a ‘real’ job come in and that had to take priority. I did have a very encouraging picture emailed to me from none other than Ron Combo, in Italy. Ron has a good pal, Giulio, a singer of note and enthusiastic dancer any time after midnight. The picture shows Giulio, first opening the tenth bottle of wine that evening and secondly, livening up a quiet village main street near where they live. I can’t imagine why the other villager's didn’t come out and join in. They must have heard the music roaring out of the Jag. And it was Giulio on the tape. Great voice! Anyway, Giulio has a yard and in that yard is an old trailer with two Jeep rear lights. My aim is to ask Ron to persuade Giulio to remove them and bring them over to Blighty when they come over to see the Italy v Wales 6 Nations Rugby match next February. If it all works out I shall buy Giulio a pint in Cardiff, if they have beer there. It may be a Sunday. I’ll have to check. I’m worried now. Maybe he’ll settle for a lamb chop.

A Lick of Paint

With the first coat of paint now on, the great thrill is to actually tick things off the list as finished! With the body tub welded and repainted, Matt and the chaps are moving on to the chassis. There are a few, small, welding jobs to do, then the fitting of all new brake pipes and fittings. The brakes it came with, were judged to be serviceable anyway and some parts even look new. My role has been minimal, but I fear I shall be doing what I do best, and heading back to Jeeparts, with another shopping list before too long.

Nice new floor.

Piece by piece it’s taking shape. The rusty old floor is in the skip and this lovely new one is now in place, Matt went to great lengths to point out that it would be far better to get the whole tub sand blasted and weld to bare metal, but I wanted to retain the patina of old paint underneath the new paint I shall apply next Spring. Therefore, it was out with the grinder to clean up the metal for welding. With the new floor now in, the body is not far off being complete and the next task is to get the chassis and all it’s components up to scratch before refitting the body.