Mission Accomplished
When two brothers were reunited with their old Series I, it was destined for one path only – a painstaking resto
After parting company having played a major part in the lives of two brothers, when the pair were reunited with the Series I some years later, a painstaking restoration began
As an avid LRM reader, you have of course kept every copy ever printed and can glance back three years to when we first covered this story. You can’t? Okay let’s go back to the beginning of this remarkable tale. Back in 1965 brothers Robert and Roger Borley set up in business on the site of their former blacksmith dad Jim’s old forge in the village of Teversham, on the outskirts of Cambridge. Robert, then 27, had previously worked for the Marshall Motor Group nearby and Roger, at that time 22, for Cambridge engineering firm Mackays. So, knowing a bit about working with cars and metal, they thought for a few moments before deciding to repair cars – or more particularly treasured but pranged sports models.
Money was tight, so instead of splashing out on a purpose-made pick-up truck, the brothers bought a 1956 88-inch SWB Series I, PER 834, for £20 from an insurance company, and spent a further £5 bolting on a home-made crane. Hold that figure of £25 in your head, while you absorb the cost of the restoration.
Back in 1965, all went swimmingly. The Series I was brilliant at doing everything and anything, which included hauling around enough pre-mixed concrete – using a specially-made bucket slotted into the rear tub – to construct a new 40-foot apron in front of the forge, and even acting as a ladder platform.
However, after a few years, they moved on to bigger and better things, including heavy lifting of items such as aircraft – often hanging them in a very skilful way from the roofs of museums like the one at Duxford. They gave PER 834 to a local farmer and butcher Michael Beaumont to use on his farm, and lost touch with it.
Now fast forward 50 years to 2014 and the Borley brothers began to think about how they might celebrate having been in business together for half a century the following year. PER 834 had been so heavily associated with them in the early days, it was like a mascot. But they assumed she’d long since died and gone to Land Rover Heaven. So they decided to find and restore a similar Series I, then make it look as close as possible to the original.
They put the word out and imagine their delight at hearing that PER 834 still existed! It had simply, as readers of this magazine have heard many times before, ended up in the corner of a barn and forgotten about. Michael the farmer (who sadly passed away last year after a brave fight against cancer) was only too happy to let them have the vehicle back. That’s when I and LRM first arrived on the scene, towards the end of 2014.
The poor vehicle’s pale blue paintwork, which Robert had brushed on back in 1965, was now faded and had more flakes than a Kellogg’s factory. The seats were missing, and she was in a desperately sad state – as the pictures on the oppsoite page show.
On October 15, 2014, the Borley Bros workshops started to strip her down. Roger freely admits at this point things could have been more organised. But being a busy workshop, PER 834 often had to be put to one side. And bits were not kept in one place.
“The lads used to start on it, and of course there would be a more urgent problem to attend to, so the tools were put down, and it could have been a day or even weeks before they
started again,” Roger recalls. “Another thing I should have told them was ‘everything you take off, you put in that box and keep it’.”
The original idea as far as LRM was concerned, was to do a follow-up piece, post-restoration. But years had passed and I’d forgotten about the project, until the phone rang a few weeks back. It was Roger. PER 834 was now pristine and would we like to come and take a look? We sped to Teversham, and to make our visit even more delightful, it happened to be senior brother Robert’s 81st birthday that very day.
The cost of bringing the vehicle back to fresh-out-of-thefactory condition? An eye-watering 1189 hours had been spent on it, which in theory to an outside customer would have cost £60,000. Roger recalled: “I used to get the time sheets coming over to the office, and they totted up £1000, £2000 – and then suddenly the cost had gone past £20,000, £40,000 and was still climbing – even though she wasn’t yet finished.”
Had they ever thought of giving up? “No. Whenever Robert and I start a project, we always see it through, and we’re thrilled at the result. Had we found and restored another Series I it would have been good, but not the same. As soon as Michael knew what we were up to, he insisted we had the vehicle back. We lent or gave it to him, we can’t remember which, in the late 80s or early 90s.
“Looking back, perhaps not the best decision, but then
“PER 834’s motor fired up first time when they recovered her in the barn”
there are all kinds of things we should have kept, like Jim’s old rotary sharpening stone – which probably got smashed up with other rubble. The same goes for his lovely old bellows, but then when we were younger, we didn’t know the value of some of these things.”
One of the engineers, Lewis Burton, remembers PER 834 running around nearby Fulbourn village after it left the Borley fleet, and was given no warning it was going to turn up in 2014 on a trailer, with him taking charge of the resto. “After he stopped crying, we allowed him to go off for a few pints to get used to the idea,” grinned Robert.
“Having said that, compared to working on modern cars, it was very enjoyable,” said Lewis. “Some modern vehicles’ electronics are extremely difficult to fix, but this SI would probably survive a nuclear war and still be running, because it’s so simple.
“The main bits I’ve undertaken were stripping the chassis and rebuilding the front suspension, while one of the other lads was responsible for putting it back together.”
“The biggest part that needed replacing was the original bulkhead, which had simply fallen to bits. In all, 319 items had to be sourced. Those bits in themselves cost about £14,000,” said Roger. “Then there was the painting done by nearby Marshall Motor Group which set us back £2605, and we had her sign-written at a further cost of £260.”
News spread about the project and the hunt for spares. Two parts which couldn’t be found anywhere, according to Lewis, were the vents under the screen, so these were made from scratch in the Borley’s workshop.
“There were plenty of Series II flaps but not Series I,” said another engineer, Tony Carr. He and colleague James Lewis became heavily involved in the project. Tony took over responsibility for building the vehicle up from the bare chassis, and James found himself in charge of finding all the elusive missing bits.
“Certain suppliers like John Craddock and Holden, were very helpful,” recalled James. “For some parts, like sills for example, we went to Dunsfold DLR. Everyone was extremely helpful and a mine of information.”
So, after being stripped and rebuilt, is there anything the original LR assembly line in 1956 wouldn’t recognise? “We couldn’t find the actual type of indicator stalk,” said Tony. “So we put in another from the same period.”
However, many parts, such as the wiper motor, which now looks brand-new, could be restored. “All we had to do was strip it down, clean it and test it. A lot of this stuff is bulletproof. Likewise the handbrake mechanism, which was seized solid, yet we managed to clean it, free it off and reassemble it.”
Apparently PER 834’s motor fired up first time when they rediscovered her in the barn. All they had to do to the old Rover 1968cc unit was fit a new set of gaskets and regrind the valves. Nothing else needed replacing.
However, one of the parts which did need attention to get her running sweetly was the Weber carb. Experts from the manufacturer helpfully came on site to get it sorted.
“We also had to get completely new lights,” said Tony. “We just couldn’t restore the old ones due to things like corrosion and previous attempts at repairs somebody had made. Other all-new but period parts fitted include everything to do with suspension and the exhaust system. We also bought four secondhand hubs.”
Interestingly, the original rear leaf springs had been modified by the brothers’ father, Jim, who had inserted extra leaves so they could withstand carrying really heavy loads (like concrete!). These ultra-heavy-duty springs have been
kept, and will no doubt become treasured artefacts.
Tony recalled how he became involved: “I made the mistake at my job interview of innocently asking: ‘Is that a Land Rover chassis over there’?
“There was a gap of about 18 months after the project started before I became involved. But working on the Series I was an excellent way to introduce myself to everybody, because I was going round the workshop constantly asking people: ‘Is that a Land Rover part?’. I became very good at spotting them.
“You also start to recognise which parts Land Rover purloined from outside the motor industry in the post-war years. For instance, in the engine bay is a type of junction box I remember seeing in my grandparents’ kitchen! At first I thought somebody had bodged it up – then I realised it was a proper Land Rover part. This is part of the appeal of early Land Rovers.”
A whole new wiring loom had to be fitted as the original was simply unusable. Part of it had been eaten by wildlife, while other bits had been previously badly repaired.
“The front wings were the bane of my life,” grimaced Tony. “They’d been left under a machine and got squashed. We tried to source alternative ones but they just weren’t available, and so we ended up straightening out the old ones. Fortunately, we have the skills and the machinery here to do that.
“It was also suggested at one time that the old crane could be put back, but this would have made the vehicle impractical for day-to-day use. However, the crane’s original mountings – which are a part of this remarkable vehicle’s history – are still there.
“We also had a scare on the air filter,” added Tony. “They don’t make them any more. Then by a stroke of luck we found one of the originals, dating from before the vehicle went to Michael, which had been sitting elsewhere in the workshop for 20 years!”
All I can say personally is welcome back PER 834. Like a butterfly risen from a chrysalis, you’re once again a thing of beauty. But please, Robert and Roger, don’t be tempted to pile yet more liquid concrete in the back. You might just have a few of your own engineers to answer to!