Thread: Shonky's '58 Series II SWB

I spent 4 days up at the farm over this weekend-ish period, but unfortunately didn't get to so much as look at poor ol' Gus.

I did however get plenty more work done on the shed, which will house him for the most part of his resto!

New shed will have doors, space, benches, lights (thank god!) no pig crap, no trehcn running through the middle, and best of all, I found an ancient cast iron stove in a neighbour's gully, so that will be going in the corner for heating and tea making.

I put 'ol Blue to good use most of the weekend, carting trees, logs, rocks and anything else I was too weak or lazy to lift myself.

Pics to follow.

Dib dib dib - you're a regular boy scout.

Is that another vehicle in the background you're not telling us about; No8 SMILEY the racing Laser?

Hahaha! I was actually a Joey, Cub, Scout, Venturer, Rover... The shed is made entirely from timber cut from our property (with a teeny weeny 14" chainsaw! ) and is fixed with twined wire in the same fashion as the rest of the structures on the property (some of which are 80+ years old)

The other vehicle is Bailey's car (Bailey being the dog! ) He LOVES cars - if a car door is left open he will get in and go to sleep - stay there for hours he will! That particular one is a Paddock Basher known as "the Gnome" but it has "BAILEY" emblazoned on the side. No joke, I only put that on there because "CARNEGIE-SMITH" is too freakin long, and the dog happened to be sitting in the drivers seat while I was painting! Number 8? Thats the best number for a paddock basher. It is after all what they are best at!

Originally Posted by Shonky

I was actually a Joey, Cub, Scout, Venturer, Rover...

Why does that not surprise me?

Bah...

How's your driveway?

I have been focussing on Ambrose recently, with the intention of getting him ready for Motorfest on Australia Day. The other day though I had a bit more of a think about Gus.

At present, the plan was to do a full nuts and bolts restoration. That said, there were a few things which would have been not *quite* correct for the vehicle, namely the fact that it would have the wrong engine (2.25) wrong tub (military with twin fillers) wrong hardtop (extra windows) and radial tyres...

Recently I have been considering replacing my Fairmont with a Discovery II. This idea has pretty much been scrapped, mainly because we (Mrs Shonky too) can get an AUIII Fairmont Wagon for about a third of the price of a decent Disco (excluding mods!). So basically, Monty will be replaced with another Monty. That got me thinking that if the Mrs has a car she can drive, I could probably get a 300TDi Defender or something to go on trips in... But they are much the same price as a Disco. Truth be told, I don't actually drive that often. I catch public transport during the week and only really drive on the weekend.

With the above in mind I am thinking of changing tac with Gus' buildup. Instead of going for concourse, I think I will go for daily driver spec, and embrace his little dissents from originality.

I still intend to be thorough, and continue my focus on longevity through prevention.

I must admit, a lot of my thinking for this was inspired by reading trip reports on the LROCS website, and seeing how much fun Mark ("Larry" on here) has punting Larry (the 86") around the bush as intended.

As bad as this sounds also, he IS just another SWB Series II. Not exactly rare! I might focus my *restoration* efforts on rarer beasts like Ambrose, and the Fire Tender I will have one day, and the 107" SW I will have one day etc etc...

So we will continue as planned, however not being so anally retentive about using exact spec bolts, the pop rivets in the tub, the bullbar on the front etc.

Originally Posted by Shonky

he IS just another SWB Series II

Wash your mouth!

Good Idea Shonky! - Let GUS live! - you can always do a nut'n'bolt when you get a "round to-it."