Thread: Bundalenes '51 Restoration

Taken on board Arthur - possibly someone's future project, I will leave it intact and use the mechanical bits I need at this stage

I wonder how a vehicle destined for the UK home market finished up in Australia?





VIN R06107939





A few mechanical tweeks and a good tune up should get it going










Erich

Originally Posted by Bundalene

Taken on board Arthur - possibly someone's future project, I will leave it intact and use the mechanical bits I need at this stage

I wonder how a vehicle destined for the UK home market finished up in Australia?
VIN R06107939
Erich

Hi Erich

You have your models mixed up.

The 1950 model was a single continuous sequence. (Apart from Welders and Tickfords)

The only difference is that the early ones were prefixed with R for RHD or L for LHD. The L & R were dropped before the end of the year.

Diana

I have learn't 2 things this morning - the 50 model numbering sequence and not to trust calVIN entirely, which gave me the following info




"CalVIN, the Land Rover VIN CALculator

06107939

0 Model year: 1950
6 Model: Land Rover, Series I, 80in, petrol
1 Body type: Basic
0 Destination: Right-hand drive (RHD), home market
7939 Serial number"

I figured the 4th digit meant UK and not export.

Also, it probably didn't come out with a hard top?


Erich

CalVIN is incorrect on a number of aspects but is the best online resource we have.

The Classic Land Rover site from Norway was more accurate in respect to 109/110 forward control suffix numbers but they closed up a couple of years ago.

In regard to the roof, the first mention of a "Metal Top" in the Grenville Motors books is January 1951, prior to that they were listed as STD (soft top) or PTO or Winch (Capstan) sometimes "PTO/winch" meaning both. (see following)

The first mention of a PTO was June 1949 on R861164 and interestingly is that R861132 is noted as 3 seats, so everything before that had only the two outer seats. R861306 is also listed as F/Hood and 3 seats, but I'm unsure if the F/Hood is the truck cab hood. (3 seats is also a notation on later vehicles)

R8666133 (December 1949) is the first mention of spare wheel bracket on bonnet, which means that vehicles before this one all had the spare behind the transom.

R06200076 (April 1950) mentions centre PTO which makes sense for a Welder and indicates that all the "PTO" before probably had the output on the gearbox and on the rear cross member)

The first mention of "winch" was on R06108669 in June 1950, so likely all the 1948s and 1949s we now see with winches were all retrofits. (Remember the mounting plate for the Aeroparts capstans wont fit on the early chassis without modification.)

According to the parts catalogue that Chassis no of 061 07939 should have lights behind grill and 5 inch headlights. After chassis no 061 11547 was when 7 inch headlights began....

My Series 1 0610 7967 has lights behind grill.......

The vehicle looks to have had a hard life maybe someone in its 65 year history changed to a later radiator support panel.......

One more question about the numbers. On the photo above there is a VIN tag at the upper left of the firewall. I saw a similar tag on 2 other 51's recently. Yet the 51 which I am restoring and the other 53 in our workshop don't have this tag and there are no screw holes - never had one in this position. The VIN tags are near the steering wheel on the others and are not stamped but printed on a plate which has faded.




Erich

Originally Posted by Bundalene

One more question about the numbers. On the photo above there is a VIN tag at the upper left of the firewall. I saw a similar tag on 2 other 51's recently. Yet the 51 which I am restoring and the other 53 in our workshop don't have this tag and there are no screw holes - never had one in this position. The VIN tags are near the steering wheel on the others and are not stamped but printed on a plate which has faded.




Erich

hi the tags are correct for the 52 and 53 under the dash but you must also remember that can be cut shut over the years this is why when you find a orignal all matching numbers it will come at premium and are getting harder to find you just have to look at classiic si in uk regards jim

Hi Erich

The tag in the engine bay is correct for a 1950 model and the early 1951 models.

In the 1951 after about the first 2000 vehicles produced (16660787 in Oz), they changed to the 2WD/4WD transfer box and at the same time, the transfer box instructions next to the steering column changed into a combined instruction and VIN plate.

All matching numbers Chassis/axles/gearbox is a myth or fraud in a Land Rover. It is true of marques like Jaguar, but not in Land Rover.

The reason is that the major assemblies are all stamped as they are made before being fitted to a vehicle, often in a different factory building to the assembly factory.

In the 1951 model for example, there are multiple prefix sequences.
1610 = Home market
1616 = RHD Export market
1666 = RHD CKD
all vehicles in those three sequences will have the 1610 prefix for engine, gearbox and front axle

1613 = LHD export market
1663 = LHD CKD
These two sequences use 1613 prefix for their engine, front axle and gearbox

All five of the above models use the same 1610 prefix for their rear axle.

Diana