Thread: 4x4 in the 70's

Awesome old footage of Wirraba ridge mate. Loved watching it

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

...........Would love to catch up the person who filmed this....? If they are still around.......

It was filmed by Roy Sim, a long time family friend (probably the one to blame for me getting into Land Rovers).

He was a bit of a trail blazer in Land Rover circles in the late 60s through the 70s & 80s.
Unfortunately he passed away in 2009.

Pretty cool video, thanks for posting.
You talk to the young 4wheel drivers today about those days and they do not understand that you do not need 35"+ tires and dual lockers to have fun in the bush.
It is amazing when you think of where they use to take their 4w drives back then on bar tread, skinny tires. A lot more thought into wheel placement and lines taken then the current crowd would.
The original Rubicon trail use to be conquered with WWII jeeps on bar treads! and most likely no winch.

Great video, thank you. Another thing to remember is that in those days people were reluctant to reduce tyre pressure, the only way to inflate the tyres again was by hand with those T-handled pumps. Portable 12V compressors were not readily available. I remember reducing tyre pessure on the CREB track in the 70's, after a rain storm and I had to drive all the way to Cooktown before I could air up again. Look after that video! .W.

Originally Posted by B.S.F.

Great video, thank you. Another thing to remember is that in those days people were reluctant to reduce tyre pressure, the only way to inflate the tyres again was by hand with those T-handled pumps. Portable 12V compressors were not readily available. I remember reducing tyre pessure on the CREB track in the 70's, after a rain storm and I had to drive all the way to Cooktown before I could air up again. Look after that video! .W.

That is so true.....
It is not some thing I have ever though about recently as we are spoilt with good electric 12 volt compressors these days
The first 12 volt electric air compressor I had ever seen was was about 1975 and it used a windscreen wiper motor and was very slow.
The first way I ever had of pumping up tyres on that old jeep of mine was with a sparkplug replacement pump.( who remembers them)
My dad when I was small often used them on Landrovers.
They worked Ok but it was just a pain to fit and remove it, but still easier than a hand or foot pump and the old engines were easy to access sparkplug wise.
The sparkplug replacement pump was never used for pumping up tyres for off road work, but for puncture repairs or slow leaks the need to drop pressures for off road work with bias thick side wall tyres just wasnt there.
No snatch straps, just cable or chains.
Thick hemp rope was sometimes carried around the bumper for smaller 4wds for towing.
I remember the Tirfor was a heavy option for some people and still is if you are fit and have plenty of time on your hands.

Camping near the creek on that old video/super 8.
The fresh meat only lasted 3 days in summer as that was when the ice melted in the Esky.( unless you carried a .22, plenty of rabbits running around)
Sweetened condensed milk or Sunshine powdered milk.
Anyone one remember making a hot cup of Bonox in winter or drinking out of steel cans which you needed to pearce open.
They were the days, I remember the grown ups drinking KB, Dinner ale and Reschs Pilsner. .........I know I got the job to fetch the tinneys out of the creek that kept them cool.
What about the hessan water bags hanging on the front bumper of the Landy.
The water was cool enough, but always had that hessan and muddy creek water taste.
We had a twin burner Primus stove that folded flat, but still used a pressurised kero mantle lantern and the job of setting up the new mantle after a days of off roading in a leaf strung Landy usually broke the old one.
Cutting fallen trees across the tracks and fire wood with a axe.
The old square canvas tents with a pole in the centre and took more than one person along time to set up and were just generally heavy and bulky to handle.
Burn, bash and bury rubbish? ....
The fun we had.

Spark plug replacement pump was a menzle pump from memory. My father had one and would use it to pump up repaired flat tyres fixed on the side of the road with those vulcanising patches that you had to burn to patch the tubes. Would use the car to break the bead etc. Tyre levers and a rubber hammer. Joys of driving. Memories of some of the places we used to go in some of the cars we had. Dad towed a 27' 6" caravan from Perth to Derby in 1969 with an HR station wagon. Mostly dirt roads back then. We made it ok. Sensible driving is all it took. Anyway im not gonna bore everyone with my stories.

Cheers Rod

If I remember correctly Roy Sim was a member of the NSW Police Rescue Squad and President of the Land Rover club. I went on one of their trips in my 1971 swb Patrol having upgraded from an ex government series 2 lwb Land Rover which had previously been owned by "The Travelling Carpenter" emblazoned on the hardtop. The club had organised an XY Falcon 4x4 for evaluation, it went okay until it exploded a free wheeling hub. I guess it was Wirraba ridge that stopped everybody until a series 1 winched itself to the top and then winched the rest of us up. The hill was so steep that gear oil in the steering box of the patrol ran up the column and dripped into my crutch, Nissan apparently didn't see the necessity to fit a proper seal. Have to love the smell of gear oil in the morning. The good old days. My old Land Rover made it to the Jardine River in 1969 and half way across before it went onto 3 cylinders. Time to back out I figured. In 1969 I passed only one vehicle between Coen and the Jardine return, it was a Jeep and he was looking for some missing leaves from his rear springs.