Saving a Series I: Part Four

Removing any rear body is usually simple and quick, but repairing the chassis damage underneath takes time, patience and skill. Alisdair Cussick reports

The rear body of this 59-year-old field-find is removed in order to begin chassis repairs

We are now a good few weeks into the Series I project and we’re past the milestone of actually driving the car about. Thoughts are now forced to the serious stuff – starting the repairs to the chassis. As you would guess, to get to the point we’re at now has taken slightly longer than I’d planned. That is the nature of restoration work, and more so in a car that had been stood up for a few years, like mine.

The head scratching involved in getting the car to run well (LRM July issue) was a very useful exercise. It not only beat into me the importance of making proper notes of how components come apart, but also the fact that lengthy research and investigation in how a component works is sometimes necessary.

In summary, what Land Rover specialist James Holmes and I basically got to the bottom of in the last issue was the probable cause of the vehicle being laid up all those years ago. That faulty spring on the carb pump would have definitely have been enough to stop proper use of the car.

However, with that problem now sorted, we can press on with the next problem, and we need to get to the chassis to start repairs. The rear tub has now been lifted off, so the exposed underpinnings could then be cleaned back and corrosion cut out. To save disturbing as many fixings as possible, James suggested we left the seat boxes fixed to the tub, and removed the whole as one unit. Principally, this meant fewer aged fixings would need replacing, so the original, aged look of the car would remain where possible. Now we’ve exposed the chassis, we’re on to the nitty gritty of the first repair work.