1967 SERIES IIA SWB

DAVE PUZEY, COVENTRY, SENIOR ENGINEER JLR

Tell us a little about your project It was previously owned by the widow of a work friend. It stood in her back garden in Ashome, Warwickshire, for over 10 years. I then purchased it from her on January 29, 2016, which as you know is a very important day in Land Rover history... this was the official last day of Defender production.

What did it cost you? I paid £500 for it. Who said that you cannot find a decent Series Land Rover for under a grand these days?

How is its petrol engine running? It is currently not running at all.

Are you planning on replacing it? No, that would be the easy option. The plan is to fully rebuild the engine. I am looking forward to that part of the project.

What are your plans with it? It most definitely needs a whole new chassis. Then I will restore the bulkhead. This will be followed by a total rebuild of the engine, gearbox and axles. The high ratio transfer box also needs a bit of attention. Once that is done I will repaint it in mid grey, which I think will look just great. Finally, it will be time for some new seats and a soft top conversion o replace the hard top.

Which jobs have have you done so far? I removed and sold the old hard top, removed the doors, front wings, screen and front panel. The dash was also removed and has already been restored.

What are the next jobs you will be doing on it? I have to finish stripping the bulkhead.

What is the hardest part of this project? Undoing all the corroded nuts and bolts has been a lot tougher than I thought it would be.

When will it be finished? I expect to finish it in a couple of years. It takes time to do something properly. Who is helping you with the project? Will Malkin who runs Malkin Motorsport has done some aluminium repair work. I store my Land Rover in Keith Horne’s unit and he has helped by holding various spanners as my arms are not long enough. So it really has been a team effort so far.

Any other projects on the go? I own a Frogeye Sprite and a Sunbeam Tiger and they too keep me busy.

Tell us about some of the other Land Rovers you have owned? I work for Jaguar Land Rover but this is the first Land Rover I have owned.

Anything to add? When I was a teenager many, many years ago I used to sell petrol at a local Land Rover garage. The owner of the garage also had a farm, so occasionally I got the chance to drive a Land Rover. It was usually a battered Series III that they used for odd jobs on the farm. This was too good an opportunity to miss.