Spring into action

If your classic Land Rover has been laid up over the winter, Alisdair Cusick has a plan to ease it back onto the road safely and reliably

Winter’s over: it’s time for Alisdair Cusick’s classics to come out of hibernation

SPRING EACH year sees the start of the season for many prized Land Rovers that have been safely stored away during the winter. Now is the time when the damaging winter road salt is being washed away, the sun has increased in strength, and cherished vehicles come out onto the roads again, back into fair weather use.

Apart from winter lay-ups, Land Rovers are often taken out of service for other reasons. Some vehicles may be left for a week or two, others, like mine, are laid up over winter each year to avoid corrosive road salt, and some end up in long-term storage. So what’s the best way to get these vehicles back on the road with the minimum of issues?

Technically, thanks to the 40-year-mot test exemption in the UK, there is nothing to stop you from taking even a barn-find vehicle that last turned a wheel half a century ago, straight out onto the road. But that would be madness and almost certainly illegal, due to deterioration of parts during storage. Brake and fuel pipes, steering joints and cracked tyres can all be ready to fail, and they do.

Such neglected cars are out of the scope of this feature but, for an otherwise wellmaintained vehicle that has been laid up over the winter or a similar short-term period, a couple of hours checking and preparation can ensure a clean engine start and safe, reliable running from the off.

Rather than rashly jumping in and driving off, spend a little time going over the car with a methodical plan, and a minimum of tools, checking each item in turn. That way, we will be able to spot any item that could cause a problem well before it does. Think of it as a pre-mot test but, unlike the MOT, we’ll have time to adjust anything we spot not performing as intended. After a methodical inspection, we can be confident the car has the best chance of starting quickly, that major components are at their best, and the vehicle will be driving as it should from the off.

While checking around the vehicle any major problems will be noted for immediate attention before driving. You’re also likely to come across a few other jobs that aren’t currently affecting safety and reliability. Make a list of these jobs as you work around the vehicle to ensure they aren’t forgotten and, importantly, add a date to sort them out and mark up their order of urgency.

The following pictures and captions can be used as a checklist, but this assumes the vehicle has a sound chassis, was in use before storage, has a current MOT, or was in a fit state for the road if Mot-exempt. This feature doesn’t relate to vehicles that haven’t been used for very long periods of time, say over a couple of years without running the car. If in doubt, it’s best to trailer the car to a specialist, or book an MOT test.

The MOT test is a valuable safety check, so we advise that even MOT exempt vehicles are periodically tested, or at least submitted to a garage for a checkover, unless the owner is fully competent to self-inspect.