RattlesnakeBob Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Whilst mooching the web came across this interesting bit of info........apparantly the last massive clear out of Austin Gipsys only happened in 1997...... .....click this link and scroll about halfway down the page...there's a few good photos of the sale too...did anyone on here maybe acquire one of these trucks?.... http://www.austingipsy.net/exmod.htm The Austin Gipsy was never my cup of tea but then again... the chance to get one 'brand new' out of storage would have been quite an opportunity I guess..... ...just goes to show how much kit was/still is(?) possibly lying about in MoD /Home Office warehouses.............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.O.S. Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 All or many of these were sold through Withams - lovely looking condition!! What else do you reckon (or hope) theyve still got hidden away then? :cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiomike7 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 What else do you reckon (or hope) theyve still got hidden away then? :cool2: The steam locos from that tunnel in the west country??:whistle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.O.S. Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I hear they've recently all been secretly scrapped to make room for a load of tanks :whistle: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
croc Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 All or many of these were sold through Withams - lovely looking condition!! What else do you reckon (or hope) theyve still got hidden away then? :cool2: Withams only got six of the Home Office Gipsys. The sale in '97 was through British Car Auctions at Measham. I have one from the sale in my 'collection' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 All or many of these were sold through Withams - lovely looking condition!! What else do you reckon (or hope) theyve still got hidden away then? :cool2: hahah I dunno!... ...mind you if someone had asked me did I think the Government would still have had any Austin Gipsys 'in stock' in 96 or 97 I'd have had to have answered "no way mate !" ....and I'd have been well wrong! .I really don't know.... the mind boggles at the possibilities... ....maybe a coupe of hundred Series One Landrovers? or if you want to get really dreamy:) .....does anyone know when actually (officially!) did the UK Government dispose of its last Jeeps?.. After all..........there's some proper seriously deep ex-ammunition dumps/depots around the west country such as Corsham and Box and Monkton Farleigh ....now...think about it..:-|.. .we all know about those places ....but... ...it's not too imaginative is it, to think there could be some other massive underground storage depots that we don't know about ????.....yet??????????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbrook Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 The MOD purchased 20 DUKW carburettors a year till 1987....................... I know because when I was in the vehicle trials team the contracts branch asked us whether we still needed that many. Sadly I think that the really tasty MOD stuff has long since gone to the pawnbrokers. The home office is another matter though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooTallMike Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 The MOD purchased 20 DUKW carburettors a year till 1987....................... The army still have a couple of DUKWs in service. They appear every so often in the magazines and on line. Someone with a quicker memory will no doubt be along with the full details. Regarding the Gypsy auction, I was there too with a group of friends. None of us especially wanted one but we assumed that as a widely derided vehicle we would get a few cheap ones and have some fun with them. We turned up and paid our refundable deposit and then the first vehicle went to bid and fetched some stupid amount of money like £4.5k. A lot of people in the 'audience' rapidly got very pee'd off because only then did we realise that a) they were not going to go for £500 a pop as they should have and b) we could only get our deposit back once the entire auction had run. There was some quite vocal annoyance registered! I think a lot of the vehicles were bought speculatively and even now they appear for sale quite frequently - some still being sold as 'never registered', 'low mileage' etc. etc. They were in good condition but with effectively zero interesting history they were only worth what a good-condition Gypsy should be worth, which was about half what people were paying. - MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted February 20, 2012 Author Share Posted February 20, 2012 a) .......... they were only worth what a good-condition Gypsy should be worth, which was about half what people were paying. - MG hahaha I'm gonna upset the Gipsy fans on here now cos half of whatever people were paying, would have been way too much to pay for a Gipsy! ...hahahah.. I'm only having a laugh but I do have to say......... I came across a few Gipsys now and then in my days back in the 80s and 90s messing about with the AWDC and also in normal road use and I gotta say I thought they were awful vehicles...heavy , slow , not particularly good looking.....pretty rubbish off road.....and ....they rotted for fun.... ...in fact.... ....about the same as an Austin Champ! (ooooer! christ! thats gone and done it now! :-X) mind you..........I am a an absolute died in the wool Jeep and Series One Landrover fanatic so I'm honour bound to fuel the old Landrover v Jeep v Gipsy v Champ debate .... and..having said all of that.... ..... we can't all like the same things and life would be pretty dull if we did so its nice to see them surviving so .....where d'you all reckon they've got the brand new Jeeps stashed then ?? hahah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbrook Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 The in-service DUKW are with the RM at ATTURM (Instow) and they have long since been deiselised. (Amphibious Trials and Training Unit Royal Marines) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbrook Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Oh and for shedloads of early Indian built Cj3bs and almost as many Dodge WC series try Serbia........... I was going to say try Kosovo but I have had all those Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
croc Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I bought one with 1300 miles on it at the auction. It cost me more than I had intended spending but the opertunity to get one in that condition was not going to be repeated. I have since done about 25000 miles with it, on and off road. LameRovers never managed to match the ride quality or performance of a Gipsy without extensive modifications. The only real problem is that Gipsy bodywork rusts almost as fast as a LameRover chassis. It is a great shame that when BMC bought Rover they didn't use the best features of the Gipsy and Series 2 LR to produce a replacement, rather than the piece of $#!* that was the Series 3. As it was, the Series 3 was a British Leyland cost cutting special and the Gipsy was replaced with the RangeRover. Not much can do better off road than the original Jeep, thats what LameRover started with and spent the years since spoiling it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted February 21, 2012 Author Share Posted February 21, 2012 I bought one with 1300 miles on it at the auction. It cost me more than I had intended spending but the opertunity to get one in that condition was not going to be repeated. I have since done about 25000 miles with it, on and off road. LameRovers never managed to match the ride quality or performance of a Gipsy without extensive modifications. The only real problem is that Gipsy bodywork rusts almost as fast as a LameRover chassis.It is a great shame that when BMC bought Rover they didn't use the best features of the Gipsy and Series 2 LR to produce a replacement, rather than the piece of $#!* that was the Series 3. As it was, the Series 3 was a British Leyland cost cutting special and the Gipsy was replaced with the RangeRover. Not much can do better off road than the original Jeep, thats what LameRover started with and spent the years since spoiling it. ...agree with your appraisal of the original Jeep but I also gotta say that a series one LR with the standard 2 litre petrol in...on good tyres and with the right person behind the wheel will keep up with a Jeep in 99% of territory..... ..only thing lets a LR down is its lack of full axle articulation and that can be cured by a good set of springs ( I had what was known as Brambers on mine...single leaf jobbers that were very flexable) and then all you need do is put rear shockers on the front as well as the back so that the front springs can move as much as they need to and I'd say from experience that a Series One LR is equally as good as a Jeep ..........IMHO :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The Gipsy was a lovley vehicle to drive. The best bit was a near indistructable gearbox, far superior to any Land Rover has ever produced. That and the reliable 2.2 BMC series C engines. The Disiel version was real workman's tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwardle Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 We all know about the Green Goddesses RL Bedfords Commer Q4and Austin Gipsys that the Home Office Had, but what happened to the BSA B40s that they had? I have heard stories about hangars full of crated B40s, but they never came on to the open market. I know that the army disposed of their B40s around 1975/6 but where are the home office ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted angus Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 The AFS/CD had far more B31s than B40s. The Scottish Office sold alltheir B40s all with CYY***C reg numbers through auction at Kinross Motor auctions in November 77 - there were approx 40 in that batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degsy Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Friends of mine bought two of these Gypsy's at the auction, both were complete with unused Coventry Climax pumps in the back. They were both resold at a handsome profit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jolly Jeeper Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I went to that sale of Austin Gipsys - did a story for OR&4WD magazine. Many of the Brockhouse trailers lso sold that day were in demand by members of the Land Rover Series one Club. I like the Gipsy - apart from the rust problem - they seem to have been well regarded and, it is said, were only discontinued because of the mergers within the car industry that led to Austin and Rover being part of the same conglomerate. A couple of asides; an MP (David Steel?) used one of the Home Office Gipsys for one of those competitive historic rallies soon after its release. Author Anthony Smith used a Gipsy during a ballooning exped to Africa which was the subject of a book entitled Throw Out Two Hands. Smith had also written Blind White Fist in Persia which may be more familiar to those on here as it used an ex-mil Bedford truck. Finally, years and years ago Classic Bike featured an AFS-liveried bike (I want to say Matchless but can't be sure...) Cheers, JC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 My dad has been having a tidy in his office today and came across the attached which I thought would be of interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted April 8, 2012 Share Posted April 8, 2012 My dad has been having a tidy in his office today and came across the attached which I thought would be of interest. we have still got ours! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 we have still got ours! Mark Damn, there I was thinking it might be rare and worth something in the future :-D Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 Damn, there I was thinking it might be rare and worth something in the future :-D Scott I thibk my dad still has the catalogue as well, will have to ask him, he started writing down the prices in it! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 I thibk my dad still has the catalogue as well, will have to ask him, he started writing down the prices in it! Mark That will be good if you could find that out Mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
croc Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 That will be good if you could find that out Mark. Scott, we printed the sale prices in the June '97 club newsletter (#38) When you look back at the actual sales prices they are not as high as folklore remembers, the LWB were around £2000 and the SWB around £3000 the most expensive was a leaf sprung SWB at £4000. (buyers premium and VAT were added though) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted April 9, 2012 Share Posted April 9, 2012 ahh but what you have got to remember is that £3000 in 1997 is a lot different than £3000 in 2012, still a hell of a lot more than folks were expecting though! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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