How many of the Original 1958 100+ Exist

[bulletproof]

In Feb of 1958 about 100+ series 2s were dispatched from Solihul for Australia. They were the 1st ones to be dispatched

Do any of these still exist ?

They will probably have some of the earliest unit numbers in the world

Cheers Richard

[wagoo]

In Feb of 1958 about 100+ series 2s were dispatched from Solihul for Australia. They were the 1st ones to be dispatched

Do any of these still exist ?

They will probably have some of the earliest unit numbers in the world

Cheers Richard

Would these be the ones that were powered by the Series One 2 litre F head engine? i've only seen one of those in my career.
Wagoo.

[bulletproof]

Would these be the ones that were powered by the Series One 2 litre F head engine? i've only seen one of those in my career.
Wagoo.
Yes that is correct. All the 1438.....s from 1958 should have had the 2 litre F head.

At the present time there doesn't seem to be a survivor of the original 100 with the earliest I have come across being 143800259

Thanks Richard

[wagoo]

A significant factor in the survival rates of series Landrovers in Australia is that many hundreds from the non rust belt regions were sold on to the Island of Nauru .Queensland and NSW specimans tended to rust away due to the more corrosive humid environment up there.
From memory the 2 litre powered s11 I knew about was one of about a dozen LandRovers I drove down to Port Melbourne Docks about 12-15 years ago to be shipped to Nauru. With the phosphate and salt air they'd all be well dissolved by now.:(
Wagoo.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

142800001 was the first SII trialled by the Army Testing Establishment in 1958, it was transferred from the Dept of Supply to the Army. The date of disposal was 5/6/1963. Interestingly the vehicle was fitted with an early 1958 109" engine (151800031) which may have have actually been a 2 1/4 litre as it is unlikely that such an early 1958 engine would have been available from the Army supply chain for later retrofit. AFAIK it's current location is unknown.

107-671 88 1958 - Series 2 S2 Series 2 'Regular' 151800031 142800001 - Vic. APR photo 'C?67999'; supplied by manufacturer for appraisal, UK 'tilt'. Truck, 1/4 Ton, Rece 05.06.63

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/09/83.jpghttps://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/09/84.jpg
Images and data courtesy REMLR & Maj Paul Handel Armour Museum Puckapunyl

The Grenville Motors Allocations Books are unhelpful in this instance. The 88" book includes a notation that the 1418 engines were the "small motor" and the first "big motor" was in the 1519 sequence. The 109 book of the same period is missing the first pages where the notations in other books are written.

Diana

[wrinklearthur]

Hi All

Tasmania did have two 'f' motor Series 2's, that I am aware of.
Our local series guru, Frank Sharp, did own one of them, that he sold on to a local welding business Owner, who did install a Holden grey motor into it, it was to run the pto driven Lincon welder.
The Holden didn't last twelve months, so the Owner put the original 2 litre Land Rover motor back in and it went on, lasting for years. The owner never went back to using Holdens and he went on to buy another with the same size 2 Litre motor as they were so successful at their work.

If I am lucky enough to hunt down the records to show, I will.
The Tasmanian Hydro Electricity Commission did buy a lot of Series one Land Rover's, then the series two's, as they became available.
The HEC then went on and placed the biggest order for Land Rovers ever, in Australia, at that time.

I will verify these stories with Frank when he returns from warmer climes in NSW in about a months time.

Cheers Arthur

[Lotz-A-Landies]

O.K. it seems that just around 800 1958 88" were built in Sydney with a significant proportion of the late production going from Grenville Motors stock to Faulls in WA. possibly around 200, I'll count them on another day. The 1438 sequence vehicles with the 1418 sequence engines were still being sold in June 1959. The first two 1959 vehicles through Grenville's were 1429 (export "built up") sequence vehicles that were supplied to the Royal Agricultural Society in January 1959. About 300 1948 model 88" appear in the allocations books after the two to the RAS.

None of the 1438 vehicles appear to have 1518 engine numbers.

Diana

[bulletproof]

142800001 was the first SII trialled by the Army Testing Establishment in 1958, it was transferred from the Dept of Supply to the Army. The date of disposal was 5/6/1963. Interestingly the vehicle was fitted with an early 1958 109" engine (151800031) which may have have actually been a 2 1/4 litre as it is unlikely that such an early 1958 engine would have been available from the Army supply chain for later retrofit.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/09/83.jpghttps://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/09/84.jpg
Images and data courtesy REMLR & Maj Paul Handel Armour Museum Puckapunyl
Diana

142800001 was assembled at Solihul . It was the first in the "Sales Book" with Label No1. 142800002 was No 2 in the book and they both had the 2.25 engines. All the 88s after that had the 2 litre engine until Sept 58

According to the factory minutes at Gaydon the first series 2s appeared in Feb 58. My guess is that #1 and #2 would have both been built in Feb for the Australian Army trials.

Because such an important contract hinged on their performance it would seem reasonable that Rover would have thoroughly tested them and then only sent the best one. Only a theory

They both went into the "dispatch dept " on March 24 1958 and 142800001 was secretly rushed to Melbourne for the army trials because the Series 2 was not going to be released to the world for another 3 weeks on April 16.

142800002 still exists in the UK with the original 2.25 engine but it has a new mid 1960s body.

Cheers Richard

[wrinklearthur]

Hi All

Less obvious was the change from the narrow track, axle assemblies to the wider wheel track, as the 'F' motor ones still had the narrow assemblies.

Where did the term 'F' motor come from? was it a term used with some early yank motor?

I can remember these motors being refered to as 'F' motors back in the 50's when there were only the series ones about.

Cheers Arthur

[bobslandies]

Hi All

Less obvious was the change from the narrow track, axle assemblies to the wider wheel track, as the 'F' motor ones still had the narrow assemblies.

Where did the term 'F' motor come from? was it a term used with some early yank motor?

I can remember these motors being refered to as 'F' motors back in the 50's when there were only the series ones about.

Cheers Arthur

An F-Head has one valve is in the block and one in the head supposedly forming a letter F in relation to the cylinder bore. Both valves in the Block is a L-Head (Side Valve) forming the letter L or in the Head is an I-Head (Overhead Valve) forming the letter I.

See here:
Automotive Dictionary - "FH" (http://www.motorera.com/dictionary/fh.htm)

Bob

[JDNSW]

As far as I know, the term 'F' head is a purely American one. Overhead inlet, side exhaust engines were very common in the early uears of motoring, where this layout (and T or L side valve) allowed easy access to valves in an engine with non-detachable heads.

The Rover setup, however, is so different from this early setup that it is not certain that it really an appropriate use of the term. Rover used a variation of that introduced about 1930 by Bentley, and the inclined top to the block with the combustion chamber entirely in the block and piston enables a very nearly hemispherical combustion chamber, with a large intake valve on the flat surface not having the size limited by the small bore dictated by the UK horsepower and tax rules.

Compare for example the Willys effort, which, unlike Rover, was a simple conversion of a side valve engine to IOE, by providing a new head with overhead inlet valves. This enabled a higher compression ratio by making the combustion chamber smaller, and larger intake and exhaust valves, but still with a not very attractive combustion chamber shape.

John

[bulletproof]

We have now established that only 6 were sent on Feb 28 1958 and these are the Chassis Nos

Ship - - - - - - Chassis No -- Engine No


Geelong Star 143800006 - 141800066
Geelong Star 143800001 – 141800070
Geelong Star 143800004 – 141800164 Feb 28
Geelong Star 143800005 - 141800167
Geelong Star 143800002 – 141800169
Geelong Star 143800003 - 141800170


another 12 were sent on the Mar 14 1958

Westmeath- 143800007 – 141800654
Westmeath- 143800008 - 141800652
Westmeath- 143800009 – 141800665
Westmeath- 143800010 – 141800557 Mar 14
Westmeath- 143800011 – 141800662
Westmeath- 143800012 – 141800653

Westmeath- 143800013- 141800370
Westmeath-- 143800014 – 141800371
Westmeath- 143800015 – 141800556
Westmeath- 143800016 – 141800496 Mar 14 ?
Westmeath-- 143800017 - 141800366
Westmeath- 143800018 - 141800375


So if any one comes across any of these numbers they will be worth restoring because they will have very early unit numbers

Cheers Richard