Fife’s Finest
Good condition Series IIS are highly sought after by enthusiasts, Bob Weir travels to Fife to meet Alan Stewart and his fine example
Nestled among an enviable car collection, Bob Weir uncovers a Series II SWB that’s undergone a full resto
Alan is a keen off-roader, and luckily has the Fife countryside on his doorstep
Fife used to be home to one of the biggest coalfields in the UK, but these days it has got another claim to fame. It is the only surviving Kingdom in Britain. “It is widely held to have been one of the major Pictish Kingdoms known as Fib,” revealed Alan Stewart, who has lived in the area all of his life.
Now that the coalfields are a distant memory, the Kingdom of Fife has reverted back to agriculture and tourism. The seaside town of St Andrews, where Alan lived as a child, is one of the main attractions, and is the headquarters of the Royal & Ancient, the spiritual home of golf.
Alan is an avid car collector, and over the years has put together an impressive stable of classic vehicles. Apart from several Land Rovers he owns a coachbuilt Bentley Type R that was custom-made by Rolls-royce for his father, and an early off-road pioneer, the Citroen Kegresse.
“The half-track was the brainchild of Adolphe Kegresse, who was a technical manager for Tsar Nicholas of Russia,” Alan explained. “One of his jobs was to convert the Tsar’s small fleet of luxury vehicles to cope with the harsh Russian winters. The system he invented was adopted by Citroen, and vehicles like the Kegresse were used on the first Trans-sahara expeditions during the 1920s.”
Alan caught the Land Rover bug comparatively late on in life, but admits the 4x4s are ideal for exploring the Fife countryside. They also come in handy for running his game bird shooting business.
He said: “Although I was brought up in St Andrews, the family moved to Wellfield House at Strathmiglo in the 1930s. My father owned a construction company, and actually built part of St Andrews University. He bought Wellfield for £12,000 when fire gutted the main house, and the previous owners decided to sell up.
“Wellfield also came with some land, and my father used this to rear his own pheasants. When he passed away in 1969, I decided to follow in his footsteps. The estate covers 1000 acres, and we run several shoots each year. We have our top beat with nine drives and our home beat with seven so we can alternate which beat we shoot on. Our top beat has great views across to the Lomond Hills and over to Perthshire. We like to do four drives in the morning and one after lunch. A typical day for us is 100 to 120 birds. These are mainly pheasant, with a few duck and partridge.”
When he was a young man Alan also got the shooting bug, and in his prime won a gold medal for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games. He was also the first Scot to win the English Open Championship.
He said: “I still shoot on a regular basis although my knee played me up last year, so I didn’t do a lot of trap work. In hindsight, this was a mistake, because I really struggled with my game shooting. I suppose it’s like any other pastime if you don’t practice regularly.”
Alan leads a hectic life, but still has time for one of his favourite passions, collecting Land Rovers: “I’ve had HJS 301 for over ten years now,” he explained. “The vehicle used to belong to my close friend, and fellow Land Rover enthusiast, Francis Kinloch. I was even on hand all those years ago, the day when Francis acquired the vehicle himself. I can still recall hitching a trailer to my Discovery, and helping him transport the station wagon back to his home near Glasgow.
“The previous owner was a farmer who lived near Haddington in East Lothian. He was the father of one of Francis’ oldest friends. Although he had owned the Land Rover from new back in 1960, he suddenly decided to put it up for sale. As I recall, this was around the time of the millennium.
“In hindsight, the vehicle was in a sorry state. I remember him saying that he’d hardly spent a penny on repairs in 40 years. The only exception was a new set of tyres, which had recently been fitted to allow the Land Rover to be moved.
“As he was looking for a quick disposal, he agreed to accept reimbursement of the cost of the tyres in lieu of a purchase price. This meant that Francis got HJS 301 (serial no: 141003540) for only £70. However, we were both well aware that the SWB was going to
need a lot of work to get it through its MOT.”
Mr Kinloch had intended to carry out the Land Rover’s restoration himself, before a dose of reality set in.
Alan said: “Francis always liked doing his own mechanics, but he soon realised he had bitten off more than he could chew. The bodywork was the biggest problem, and it wasn’t long before he came to the conclusion that he needed to hire the services of a specialist. In the end he chose Crow Engineering Limited, based at Auchterarder, near Perth.
“According to Crow Engineering the mechanics were in surprisingly good condition, taking into account the age of the vehicle. The engine, gearbox, clutch and transmission were still in working order and were given a complete overhaul. Unfortunately, the bodywork was a different matter. Francis decided to take a long-term view, and fit a new galvanised chassis. He also gave the go-ahead for new floor pans, doors and post, outer front wings, and one of the rear panels. I believe in the end, the final bill came to about £5000.”
Alan remembers that the Land Rover was in Crow Engineering’s workshop for seven weeks. Mr Kinloch visited Auchterarder on a regular basis to take photographs of the restoration. It was during this period, that he also gave some thought to refurbishing the interior trim.
“Apparently Francis was leafing through a copy of Landrovermonthly when he spotted an advert for Exmoor Trim,” Alan recalled. “After a few phone calls, he decided to put in an order. Within a couple of weeks he received a full set of trim and seats in the original elephant grey hide. He told me later that the Series II looked as if it had just come off the assembly line.
“Now that he had restored the Land Rover, Francis was over the moon. He drove it for about a year, and took it to several classic vehicle rallies. The SII was a big hit, and won a few rosettes. Luckily for me he then decided to sell it, as he had commitments elsewhere. I was so keen I almost bit his hand off.”
Assuming you haven’t got the time or expertise to do the work yourself, one of the keys to keeping an old Land Rover in tip-top condition is to find yourself a good mechanic.
Alan said: “I’ve been using Mike Aitken’s 4x4 workshop for many years now, although he’s since moved from Ladybank to Blairgowrie. Mike is a specialist with Land Rovers, and has helped me out a lot in the past. He even put me onto an 80in Series I, that I still take to shows on a regular basis. Fortunately, apart from routine servicing the Series II hasn’t needed a lot of work. The bodywork has also held up well, although I recently had an issue with a bit of paint blistering on the back door.
“The clutch has also started playing up, so I’ll soon be paying him another visit.”
Alan is always on the look-out for more Land Rovers. Apart from HJS 301 and his 1949 Series I, he also owns a 2012 Model 110 and a couple of Discoverys.
“My gamekeeper also has a three-year-old Defender twin cab,” he explained. “There’s a bit of a story behind that, because the first one he was using slipped off the handbrake and ran down a hill! Unfortunately, the vehicle had to be written off, and he is now driving a replacement. I’ve also got a 2012 Range Rover Westminster TDV8, which I acquired from a VIP dealer down in Birmingham. I had just sold my Jaguar E-type, and was looking for something different. The car has got very little mileage on the clock, and I’ve stored it away for the winter. The 4.4-litre is very quick and there is a lot of kit on board including a TV. I’m not too keen on the 20-inch tyres, however, and prefer to use the Discovery 3 whenever I go shooting. I’ve had that vehicle over ten years now, and the mileage is over 200,000.
“I’ve also still got the old Disco that I used to tow HJS 301 from Haddington to Francis’ home in Glasgow all those years ago. It’s tucked away in a shed at the back of the house. Unfortunately the chassis has finally gone, so the vehicle is used only for off-roading. I happened to look at the odometer the other day, and it was showing 268,000 miles. That’s not bad going for a 20-year-plus car.”
Impressive indeed. What a collection...
“One of the keys to keeping an old Land Rover tip-top is to find a good mechanic”