Thread: The restoration of Wombat

I don't have a Series 1 parts book, but as far aas I recall, there is no difference between the dashboard from 53-57 and Series 2, although there will be very minor evolutionary changes that do not happen with model changes.

John

Owner's manual for Series one shows 4 separate instruments.
Further digging in the workshop manual, shows the above arrangement.
Just the poms messing with my brain

Originally Posted by crackers

Just discovered that Wombat has the Series II dashboard? This common for a 1956 Landy?

It's the same as my Series I instrument panel (OK mine has a couple of extra switches added).

Colin

Going from what John said, I reckon they changed them in about 1953.

It's friday night.
I have a set of brand new Whitworth sockets that fit my half inch drive.
This weekend will witness scenes of continuing Landy destruction

I even have a workshop manual so I'll know what it is I'm breaking

If I'm lucky, I'll get to tear out electrics

Close enough to pulling the motor to need to worry about buying an engine stand (a sheet of cardboard on the floor is looking good at the moment )

Just looking at my speedo shown above, how high a cliff do you need to get your Series 1 up to 70 mph?

Originally Posted by crackers

Going from what John said, I reckon they changed them in about 1953.

Yes. There was a major change to the dash in 1953. Before that, separate gauges in a row, after that large speedo and combined cluster that remained essentially unchanged for almost twenty years to the end of Series 2a production, and the same speedo and cluster moved into a binnacle in front of the driver for Series 3.

There were a lot of other changes in 1953, most notably an increase in wheelbase from 80" to 86" - in fact, the 1953 change was probably as great as the change from Series 2a to Series 3, and certainly greater than the change from Series 2 to Series 2a. (And throughout Series production, there were progressive changes that cumulatively added up to bigger changes than the Series changes.)

And worth noting that Series 1 was not named as Series 1 until it was retrospectively named after the introduction of the Series 2 in 1958. Before that, they were just Landrovers, with either swb/lwb or the wheelbase specified if a distinction was needed.

John

Thanks for that John. Funny about how some people get all twisted about absolute originality with old vehicles when the reality tended to be more evolutionary. You've picked up on a major thing but you can bet there were lots of minor changes that just crept in over time. The fun is working out what to pay attention to and what to let slip - I'm not wedded to absolute originality but would like to be as true to history as practical.

I'm reminded of a photo of the CEO of the MG Car Company's personal MGB GT. It had V8 wheels fitted and had been the subject of some criticism by 'rivet counters' over the years. The reality was, his MGB was as delivered from the factory but they had a shortage of steel wheels at the time and the GTs were being supplied with V8 wheels. MG was guilty of many similar but less dramatic 'crimes against originality' over the decades and I'm betting Land Rover was no different - ya built the buggas out of what ya had in the bins at the time... and that's without considering design creep.

Aussie assembled vehicles would be even more susceptible to this because the CKD kits relied on a large local component (the whole point of the exercise) and goodness knows what was available at any given time.

I'm lucky. Wombat comes with a later motor so I claim any number of 'sensible' modifications to get me around this. I won't win any concours but then again, I'm not willing to polish under the mudguards so I won't win anyway (and yes, I HAVE seen this done and points awarded for it, my cynicism has a firm basis).