Thread: Series 1 80"

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Further to my visit yesterday (see "Marketplace alerts") the 80" I found would appear from the material I have to be a 1950 model, about the middle of the production run.

John

and what a gem of an example it is, hardley a scratch or dent on it

Seriously though, what would be the purpose of getting a series 1 this far gone, for the chassis? Are the panels salvageable? Or would you only consider it if it had some significance?

Best regards
DarrenR

If it was free I would have it, it could join my ever expanding LR collection!

Looks very restorable to me, pending the condition of the bulkhead. If you think that ones tough you should see some of the restorations the Brits do. Finding the missing bits is half the fun.

Bulkhead has surface rust only, and this is probably the major attraction of it. Chassis a bit harder to see (as you can see) but what I could see did not look to have a lot of rust. It has the engine in place, radiator and front panel and grille (headlight behind grille type) are there as well. I asked about doors, he is going to see if he can find them, not sure whether they ever had them (It was acquired for spares about forty years ago). Panels are not in real good shape and some missing, but probably restorable compared to some of the ones I have seen pictures of being restored.

John

quick Q re Series 1's, did they all use a semi-floating rear end, or only the early ones ?
There is one for sale in town (pretty damn rough) and one quietly rusting away in a paddock beside our new house !

Interested in identifying approx. vintage.

Originally Posted by rick130

quick Q re Series 1's, did they all use a semi-floating rear end, or only the early ones ?
There is one for sale in town (pretty damn rough) and one quietly rusting away in a paddock beside our new house !

Interested in identifying approx. vintage.

All Series 1 had semifloating rear axle except for late (home market ?) station wagons. Some would have been converted to full floating, not a big job, although since the track is narrower than the S2/3 there are some problems.

So rear axle is not useful for vintage. Some identifiers:-
88/109 (1956-58) Only one aperture in the panel behind the grille - no openings behind the wings of the upside down Tee. (but cutaways in the bottom corners)

86/88/107/109 (1954 on) Doors square at the bottom.

80" (1948-54) Rear door pillar slopes

80" 2 litre (1951 - 54) External door handles

80" 1.6litre (1948-51) No external door handles - door top has flap of canvas in the lower back corner to get at the inside handle.

1951 - sidelights moved from bulkhead to mudguards. Around the same time the headlights came from behind the grille, initially with holes in the grille but then with the familiar inverted Tee.

Hope this helps.

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

All Series 1 had semifloating rear axle except for late (home market ?) station wagons. Some would have been converted to full floating, not a big job, although since the track is narrower than the S2/3 there are some problems.

Actually they were fitted to more than just the station wagons, as I knew a bloke that had one on a 109" ute.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

1951 - sidelights moved from bulkhead to mudguards. Around the same time the headlights came from behind the grille, initially with holes in the grille but then with the familiar inverted Tee.

Actually, in 1950 the head lights poked out from the grill, and in 1952 they changed to the upside down T grill. Also towards the end of 1950 they changed to part time four wheel drive, but it was in the 1951 manufacturing year, also somewhere around this time they changed to the wide front springs.

Originally Posted by cmurray

Actually they were fitted to more than just the station wagons, as I knew a bloke that had one on a 109" ute.


Actually, in 1950 the head lights poked out from the grill, and in 1952 they changed to the upside down T grill. Also towards the end of 1950 they changed to part time four wheel drive, but it was in the 1951 manufacturing year, also somewhere around this time they changed to the wide front springs.

I wasn't aware that the full floating axle appeared on anything except wagons - was it original? Wouldn't surprise me, it was probably an option by 1958. And you can fit later stub axles to the rear axle housing to convert to full floating.

Thanks for the details on the grille - I couldn't quickly find a reference on this. Same for the springs.

I was aware of the change to part time four wheel drive, but since the pull ring changed to the yellow knob before this, it is not an easy identification point.

An interesting point is that the changes within Series 1 were much greater than the changes between Series 2/2a/3.
The calender year vs "model year" causes all sorts of confusion!