LAND-ROVER SERIES II
RUN BY Martin Port OWNED SINCE September 2016 PREVIOUS REPORT November
So far, life post-head-gasket failure has been okay. An irritating whistle that appeared at low revs and idling made itself known – loud enough for Mrs P to come out of the house and ask what on earth the noise was – but that seems to have subsided. Safe in the knowledge that it is probably down to a break in the carburettor spacer gasket, allowing air to be sucked in, I have new ones now on standby, ready to fit when I get a moment – although it’s not so bad as to affect the running.
The ‘endless’ summer had to end at some point, of course, but the Series II and I made the most of it with door-tops removed and plenty of trips around the Berkshire countryside. Conveniently, just as the break in the weather was about to appear, I locked up the 88in and disappeared off to Western Australia for a couple of weeks to do some photographic work. Regrettably, it was the other side of the country to where Philip Kohler (first owner of 267 HYP) grew up in Wallaroo, but it was nice to pay a visit to his homeland.
I soon discovered that although Land-rover exported all over the world, Australia in particular has its fair share of Solihull-built offroaders, the vehicles having been used in all walks of life – from agriculture to mining. As such, it’s not particularly difficult to stumble across a well-used or ripe-forrestoration Series One or II. Indeed, it took us literally hours to find a stunning ‘trayback’ parked at the back of a winery. Unfortunately it wasn’t for sale, but it will one day make excellent transport around the vineyard that is now its home.
Despite leaving Australia in his late teens, Philip Kohler was proud enough of his roots to paint the outline of his country – and of a kangaroo – on the doors of the Series II as he travelled around Africa. Those are now rather faded, and unfortunately the large ‘Australia’ plate on the tailgate was lost before I bought the Landrover. If anyone knows if this was a period item available to buy as opposed to something he had made, please let me know.
My visit to his homeland did help me to resolve one missing item – the stone-guard fashioned from woven mesh that remained fitted until his return to the UK in 1963.
Thanks to the efforts of our host, Andrew Rogers, I now have a section of suitable mesh on order that is about a quarter of the price of anything I have been able to source locally. Unfortunately they don’t ship to the UK, though, so I guess I’ll have to go and collect!