Possible ex Army Series 1

[back_in]

Hi Diana
reading this has got me on my old Band Wagon
You have meet my 1958 88" at Paxina about 3 year ago
When I bought it, I was told it had been sold at auction, by State Supply around 62/63 in S.A. This was told to the buyer (the father-in-law of the owner) by the auctioneer it had been used by the Army to trial before the Series 2 arrived.
Is there anyone out there that has any info that can confirm if was so.
The Chassis no is 113800938 engine not org.
cheers
Ian

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Ian there are very few Land Rovers allocated from the NSW Grenville Motors books to the Army and yours is not among them.

The chassis number of your vehicle also does not appear in the Grenville motors books so your belief may still be true.

The reason is most likely related to the location of the Army Design Engineering or Army Testing Establishments in Melbourne, therefore sourcing vehicles from the Victoria and Tasmanian Land Rover distributor Regent Motors. Melbourne. The books of this company are currently lost or no longer existent.

The only resources for information will be the Australian War Memorial or the National Archives of Australia (in Melbourne). The second location may hold some information as I remember some references to the Army evaluation of later Land Rovers around the time of the release of the series 2. Even if the Test Instructions and reports still exist at the NAA they are likely not to include identifying information to the vehicle itself.

Sorry I can not be more help.

Diana

[series1buff]

I think a few examples of the BRITISH ARMY SERIES 1'S ended up out here during the nuclear bomb tests in South and West Aust. during the 1950's. Can anyone confirm this theory ? If you find one , your garage may have that 'glow in the dark' look to it . Woomera Maralinga Monte Bello are three multi national projects I can think of .

Mike

[back_in]

Diana
thanks for the info
I was told a number you can ring the U.K. and they will tell you the date your car was built, when sent, to who it was sent in Aus.
I did it for my 80" and promptly lost misplace it.
If my memory serves right only waited for about a minute and the chap came back with the info.
If you have it could you send it to the old fellow, I see what they can tell me
cheers
Ian

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Ian

There is the Heritage Centre at Gaydon UK. They used to provide the details over the telephone if you got a helpful archivist. I'm not sure it still happens.

Mike Bishop has good contacts with Gaydon so perhaps it may be worthwhile dropping him a line.

Then there is the Heritage Certificates (http://archive.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/exhibitions_heritage_certificates.html) which are basically a birth certificate for your car. The problem with the export models is that they often only list the destination distributor and not the end customer.

Given that it was going for Army trials, it may be that it was one sent out for the purpose so give them a try.

Diana

[Phoenix]

The only arm y series 1's tat I can find close to that chassis number are 113800031 and 113800059 which are ceremonial conversions originally from the commonwealth fleet for royal visits.

The series 1 that was trialed by the army was a B40 engined 81" with chassis number R06104333 and another was trialed with land rover and holden motors, and was R862994

[Lotz-A-Landies]

Phoenix

There was most definitely trials of the series 2's or late series 1s prior to the first series 2 contract. I remember coming across the references to them in the search for the TI1515 Holden and B40 but never accessed them because they weren't of interest. Also the test of the Freighter was also amongst the group.

I wonder if I kept the references????

This is for someone in Melbourne to research as the records are held in that NAA office.

Diana

[Phoenix]

chassis number 142800001 was a regular series 2 provided for trials and comparison.

more info and pics of the unit can be seen on this page of remlr Series 2 88 Recon 1958-59 -REMLR.com (http://www.remlr.com/2_88.html) (forgive the inforrect title, needs to be fixed)

I would like to get copies of that report and the B40 one however. The freighter one would also be interesting, but it's not something I feel the need for REMLR to chase.