.303fan

have had that problem at the land-rover show at Northampton. last night we loaded up and i sat outside to prevent theft. they slashed tents, robbed the neighbors kids from their bikes and my ale. in the end i decided to check a show that costs a lot more in fuel to get there. now it is happening there too. shame

that's why i have a pig skin wallet on a spot where it sticks to skin by sweat. if somebody tries you will feel it.

i started with a 1965 109 diesel, a 88lw and a 101fc. all three where in a bad state with engine, electrics and chassis. i bought a 1500 pounds 109 petrol from 1962 ish ( stated on the paper work like that) and it went on and on with heavy loads, played offroad with it and when i tried to sell it my dad thought it was shamefull to get rid of it. he got it for his birthday and is still the best and hardest working vehicle we got. the 90 that had four major faults in a year, its a 300tdi with zf22 autobox. two oilseals replaced, driveplate broke and internal box fault as something went bang. could be something as simple as a bent cranckshaft from offroad action, so i don't class it as unriliable. it is a 1993 defender.

we own 3 101's , 2 109 2a's a 109 s3 .. a 88lw and a 90. owned a 109 s3 6pot, a 88s2 disco1 and a disco 3 the worst land-rover was the discovery3 hse. after it came out of warranty it had electric faults, suspention faults and how to get a mastiff and a wheelchair in it when the tail gate cables break..a vehicle that was not even 4 years old it's tragic. she sold it, to buy the defender 90, who had 4 major faults in a year BUT it was a toy. it had been used hard as offroader so no complaints here. my fiance now drives the series 3 ex raf, currently sitting with a head gasket problem. thats just maintenance i guess.

and with refueling? or does the drive home after make up for that. (i got a wheel limit but tracks aint wheels so i thinking of getting a tank)

my civvy 109 gets restored to the day i got it. it has a ex military rear axle and tub. all the plates rivited to it stay, same as dents. it has wood interiour made from a dark mahogany.. i like it, and it stays that way as i got it. the 101fc we restore till the point we know how it was. cab been sand blasted, the rear we could copy the last camo paint work. tags and other military info was gone, only the small cross remained on the air intake on top. as for restorations, like the dennis, bolts can be used to show whats old and whats newer. there are many way's to restore a vehicle, including upgrades for safety. we all do what we can live with. the rest of my vehicles are kept on the road using all i can get my hands on. would a ex raf series3 be a bad thing as it has auto clutch fitted?

it did seemed like a good idea at the time, things just escalated from there on. it did not help that my girlfriend has military landies, and i got my dad involved by giving him a 101fc and a series 2a ex rhine army for birthday's ... my mom still don't like it that much.

not mine military vehicles but here goes. i have had a saturday job to work on vehicles to afford parts needed. we fetched a military 109 from denmark what had live ammo behind the dash. another vehicle we picked up in the uk had a machette behind the seats. a few other vehicles carried blanks and i was given the lot, including the live ones. i knew a friend that shot large caliber weapons and he made shure i could shoot the fmj's on the range. it did help that i had a fire arms licence for a .38 and a .22 enfield. had some fun that day.

as it has been sold to me as a jeep hitch. i have not seen a vehicle fitted with one and it does not fit a jeep trailer. i am only used to nato hitches used on landrovers, thats why i ask. cheers, Arjan

I found some blank rounds , plastic stamped DAG 89 and a 88 lw maintenance book 1 + 2 that covered fixing light bulbs and in case of destruction where to place the charges.

i had a job as restoration brick layer working on a 1882 coastal fortress in holland. it was used and modified by the germands as part of festung ijmuiden. we dug a lot for our work and i was happy with the small stuff like buttons and coins. till some one found a field telephone in a box, and ran over it... with inspection it was a box of stick hand grenades in grease paper. i also found loads of decent quality rifle ammo that i took home to have deact, and plenty of rusted stuff i dumped in the sea. we got a machine on the island like the one on the photo, to munch the blocks of rubble that used to be bunkers. some blocks had wires sticking out of them, some wanted to put a car battery on it, not knowing it was dynamite with picrine acid used from grenades they found in the 1970's. the machine broke as it tried to get through a external vent hole and hot oil was everywhere. i also remember a meter long tube, with a spring inside that leaked a fluid. a guy was grinding nearby and the fluid did catch fire (don't know what it was, tall boy bombs where used in the region... a part of it?) and the bomb squad took it with a mortar bomb and a few handgrenades that came rolling in a pit after some sand gave way. i loved that job, the best place a 17 to 22 year old could wish and it fired up my intrest in guns + ammo and family history. i shal look for some pictures of the old fortress. cheers, Arjan

from a felow sankey owner, welcome.

if i see that in real life, i am out of there. recovery aint a game and can kill, mutilate when gear fails. i been thought that the first rule of safety is knowing what your doing.. time for military recovery field day? i like to learn new tricks and skills from people who know.

Thank you for that Tony. next question is about gear: what did they carry, and where. i know in the cab there are hooks for something, could be a bit of gear to support leg fracture? how many syringes, boxes of bandage, the box in the cab with first aid kit, etc etc. i want it as close as possible for display purpose. cheers, Arjan

there was a large round sticker on it, red cross where the DK plated ambulance has got it, i did not check the grill yet. rear doors , the left had a sticker under the window, and the right had a number. i should have pictures of that too on my laptop. i take pictures a plenty as gone means gone. this way i can see between steps what it was. deployed in irak and bosnia. quite some history. is there a archive to find out about military history where vehicles got deployed? got 3 ambulances and a 109 2a to track down. cheers, arjan

it had it on both sides. it started to peel of now, after i measured it to preserve it. as stated, it's going to be a camper vehicle once she is stripped down. battery box is gone now and the lid placed on my dad's 101fc.

looking nice. i know some had the red cross sticker in that corner, seen them bigger too. i did have a question for ambulance owners, and thats if anyone did find IFOR markings on theirs and a number on the back door? it also have a chevron on the roof from dessert duty in gulf war 1. she is not being restored, as we used her remains for bits to restore my dads and i aim to preserve most of whats there marking and paint wise. cheers Arjan

for re enactment i can understand it. same as i can understand harsh feelings against it. how fun would a battle be when there aint a enemy there to fight against? germans told me if they would dress up in a ss uniform he would get shot in his country. i told him to get over it, the war was something of our grand dads. i even pointed out that of all hand guns i shot, the luger p08 was the nicest to shoot with. as for a uniform and me? well... my dad and me got a 101fc ambulance fairly kitted out as it left the army, he did service in canada and can have his uniform with two stripes like he had then, i never served and never will thanks to unable to go thanks of education, and now disability. i wont wear it as i don't deserve to wear it. we all do what we like to do and if someone that never did do service and dresses up like an officer, it aint offencive to me. (partly cous little details give it away he did not served) as for the war and peace, its not only living history, also for clubs i thought.

1700 euro they told me. i bump in to the same problems. C was given to me with code 95 for re education purpose as i battle disability, and i cant ever afford the E bit on my own. to keep my hobby of military vehicles i used what little i had to keep my storage. i just gave it as a tip. and you probably do not need the code 95 bit so its cheaper. cheers and hope you pass in one hit.

war ships..radioships..a lot of nice stuff was scrapped just because the scrap price was high enough. i wonder if those ships could have been given another life life appartments? outside preserved as much as possible, inside a minor upgrade. as a floating hotel if needed or for a company to house workers from abroad. just my two cents (all you cut away is gone forever)

joris, if you pass your C licence in holland, you get the C1 with it. i even have code 95 on both. i want to get my C+E aswell, as it is handy, then i should get C+E C1+E and B+E too. if you want your trailer licence with C keep in mind your theory certificates are valid for two years. cheers, Arjan

and for fun: our 101fc ambulance is 3500 combined, is allowed to tow 750kg unbraked and 3500kg braked. the fun starts with making your own hitch construction and it needs a test plate that states the safe operation weight. unless one pays a fortune, you cant ever legaly tow 3500kg even when stated on the vehicle documentation given out by the government we can. fun bit two. our load limits are also on that vehicle documentation aswell. if the plate states 750kg limit in the cab, and my dutch v5c states 1000kg for a series 2a land-rover, will they keep it 1000kg on the vehicle plate when i import it to the uk? i mean replate it as 1000kg.

http://assets.dft.gov.uk/publications/dft-information-sheets/hgv-maximum-weights-a-brief-guide.pdf max weight in holland is 40 tonnes before a permit is needed to go more heavy then 40 tonnes. it also requires a diffirent licence to be driving that. i am happy with my class 2 licence and when i am living in the uk, or driving my rig through the uk i need to apply to the max weight allowed on uk roads. uk rigs can't do 40 tonnes on dutch roads unless vehicle documentation states other wise, and only for cabotage in holland.

@Woody. i got my info 10 years back from a girl who lived at a sheep station. might be some did not know the dangers, like today with asbestos and lead chromate paint. i never figured out why the grill and window frame where heavy galvanized and chassis where not exept for the south africa models that where refurbed there and early series 1's.