Groenie, Spikkels, White LR

I don't drive a Nomad because it's a 4x4. I drive a Nomad because it's a way of life. Driving a Chev Nomad is fun. Don't believe me, read this posting from the Land Rover Owner Mailing List. (This should also give you an idea of my definition of 'fun' :-)

My first Land-Rover (Spikkels, a 1959 SII 109", mostly)

My brother bought this Land Rover from a friend in Agulhas, a long time ago (It was grey then, with a red stripe down the side). I helped him strip it down, then he got kinda busy, and I took over the project. Pre-history: How I got the Landy Rebuilding a Land-Rover Rewiring a Land-Rover After the 50th Anniversary tour and in preparation for the Y2K trip, I replaced the very tired 2�1/4 engine with a Chev 2.5. Chev 2.5 engine conversion guide The definitive Chev 2.5 page

My other Land-Rover (Groenie, a 1955 SI 86", mostly)

After we got back from the 50th Anniversary tour, Elmari wanted a Land-Rover too. I guess it's contagious. :-) Soon afterwards, a friend told her about a Land-Rover for sale in Yzerfontein. "It's a series two something..." Got there, and saw this really nice looking, but obviously not concourse, Series I. It looked like the perfect restoration project (In other words, NOT the right Land-Rover for Elmari) but closer examination showed a late-model 2�1/4 engine and a SII steering box - in other words, there are better candidates for concourse restoration out there, and Groenie fits in perfectly with my Land-Rover philosophy. When we were divorced, Elmari kept the house and I kept Groenie... Fair exchange :-) Some pictures of Elmari with Groenie, taken shortly after we got her. (Groenie, not Elmari :-) 1999-03-17

The family Land-Rover (A ~1964 SIIa 109" diesel pickup)

Long ago, my grandfather needed a car, and for some reason he decided to buy this Land-Rover. I remember that it was cheap, and that they had to pull it with a tractor, a few times around the barn, to get it started. My father built the hard-top, making it high enough for him to stand up inside. As you can see, he's a bit of a shortshit :-) (I'm 6'2" and my brother is 6'4"-ish) This is probably my next large LR project - she needs to get a new firewall, be rewired, and the hardtop has to be stripped, welded, galvanised and reassembled.

My "new" Land-Rover

I woke up one morning and found that I had an instant family... yup, my girlfriend Tanya has two daughters. So, if we want to go anywhere, the yellow Rand-Lover is just not big enough any more.

I would have liked to have a 101 Forward Control, like my dutch friends Pim and Thandi Kielen who have a very nice ambulance or Neil Lawson who drove down to Cape Town in his radiobody, but 101s are bloody scarce in South Africa. I would have had to import one, and with the import duty for cars into South Africa at 100%, that's not really an option. I did consider stripping one and importing it as spares, again, not a cheap option.

So, I bought a SII 109 Forward Control from Mike Ilsley. It's still up in Johannesburg, I will have to go fetch it soon. 109 Forward Control Land-Rovers are not 101s, but I believe that a bit of careful thought can make it nearly equal for the kind of stuff that I like to do.

My 109 Forward Control page.

Land Rover trips and outings

The 50th anniversary tour of South Africa

(Click for larger image)

• Bonnievale weekend (CLRC)

  Land-Rovers need mascots too :-) From left to right: Hennie's boep, Hennie's beer, Elmari, Heimich (Hennie's kid). At the Gansbaai CLRC gathering I took some photographs of the showground, which I've assembled into a panorama (280K) using Visual Stitcher.

• 1999-03-19: We drove Groenie to Wupperthal via the Eselbank road. Parked there and hiked in to the Boontjieskloof hut in the Sederberg Nature Reserve. I'll definitely do this again.

• 1999-03-27: Klein Karoo Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn. We camped in Spikkels on Katot Meyer's property.

• 1999-08-06: Piet Fourie organised a weekend in Sutherland, at the Skurweberg 4x4 trial. We had great fun. Read what I have to say about the perversity of Lucas.

• 1999-09-11: Braaigrid at Hermanus. Met Paul Oxley and Gary Bauer. *burp*.

• 2000-06-07 to 2000-08-01: Y2K tour with lots of people.

• 2001-04-07: Klein Karoo Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn. We drove both Land-Rovers to Oudtshoorn and camped on Katot Meyer's property. Groenie's rear brake pipe broke on the way there, causing Elmari to take the corner (T junction) in Ladysmith really quickly. Clamped the rear flex hose with a vice grip, had it fixed in Oudtshoorn. We also drove a part of the Burchell's trail on Katot's farm, with Groenie.

What I'm planning to do...

• Repairs, as soon as the sun starts shining again...
  • Fix the oil leak and the engine mounts on the Chev conversion.
  • Swap the front springs left and right to see if the lean goes away :-)
• In the spirit of the 50th Anniversary Tour and the Y2K tour, Pim is organising a trip in 2004.

Technical articles

• Rewiring a Land-Rover: I had to redo the entire wiring of the yellow Rand-Lover, I'm pretty happy with the results.
• Overhauling a Chev 2.5 engine: Costing of a complete overhaul in 2002.
• Overhauling another Chev 2.5 engine: I gave up with the first Chev 2.5 engine, it runs on (I think the compression ratio is too high) and it leaks oil out the rear main seal. Rather than trying to fix it (again) I bought another engine which I am overhauling (2002).
• Choosing an engine for your series Land-Rover: Decisions decisions...

Resources:

I can be found on the following mailing lists:

• Land Rover Owner Mailing List (I'm also on the za-lro regional list)

• The Overland Forum - People wanting to overland (preferably, but not necessarily using Land-Rovers.

hits since 1999-05-26.

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(This page last modified 2002-12-05)