Thread: 80in history

2Model year: 19526Model: Land Rover, Series I, 80in, petrol1Body type: Basic6Destination: Right-hand drive (RHD), export market1454 Serial number


according to calVIN


cheers,
D


p.s a vague memory of the model year details just popped into my head that it wasn't Jan 01 to Dec 31 - more like Sep to August - this may explain it?

That would make more sense, if the model years didn't run jan-dec..

mine is a 1951 model. According to Grenville Motors books it was sold to a Tamworth dealership on 8th December 1950. And yes the Land Rover year goes from September to August.

Mrs hh

I also had a 51 some twenty years ago. I even met the guy that took it on its delivery drive from Grenville to Bathurst where it spent most of its life until ending up at Pollard Motors at Colo Heights just out of Windsor (NSW) where I bought it in parts.


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Originally Posted by Summiitt

I have been trying to find out where my vehicle first landed,
I got this response from the Heritage motor museum..how does it bear this chassis number if it was built in 1951?
Dear Tim,

Thank you for using the Web Research Request service. Your Land Rover
261-61454 left the factory in December 1951 and the destination is recorded
as Grenville Motors Limited, Sydney, Australia.

kind regards

Hannah Sharp
BMIHT

Tim

That vehicle got a little lost, it should have arrived with vehicles built at the same time 26161453 and 26161455 on the ship Greystate Castle in around February/March 1952, however it was shipped on the Scottish Star arriving it seems in May 1952.

It was sent to L.C.S. William on the a/c Sparkes. Sorry I don't have a location of either, it is listed with Engine number 26104028, ignition key 11 probably (MRN11) and fitted with a PTO (which would usually be a rear PTO). Delivery date 29/5/52

Diana

Thanks Dianna,
I guess narrowing it down to nsw, and Grenville motors is a start, eng number and the pto do match.. Do you think it's Still a little odd that it was a UK built vehicle and not a ckd or was this not uncommon?

During Series 1, at the begining of each new production year a number of built up vehicles were shipped. The reason for this is that the production year system was developed so that the new model could be on the dealership showroom for 1st January each year. It took around 2 to 3 months for a ship to leave the UK and arrive in Australia, so having built up vehicles allowed early sales while the CKD kits which arrived on the same ship could be built up.

Built up vehicles didn't seem to arrive later in the year (your May arrival being an exception). As production at PMC ramped up particularly in SII and SIIa very few built up vehicles arrived in Oz, when they did they were usually special variants, like 88" station wagons, fire engines or forward controls.

So that would explain why CalVIN says my Wombat was not a CKD - she was sold in February so would have been one of the built up imports. Love this history stuff.