Another update, followed by a perceived moral dilemma...
We'll start with the update.
With a little bit of fiddling, the engine came out yesterday. I'm getting nice and close to being able to start painting, repairing and reassembling now, which is really nice. I've really enjoyed the project so far, and I'm sure the next part will be even more enjoyable.
The engine, gearbox and transfer case were all removed as one piece before being lowered onto a wheeled pallet for extra convenience. Dad insisted I should use a drip tray under it too, I can't really blame him for that!
There's not much left on the chassis now! The stuff down the back is just resting there as storage space is limited.
Now for the dilemma...
I've been speaking to David Benson in regards to purchasing a replacement bulkhead as mine is terrible. He has suggested that I would be better off buying another vehicle which has got a sound bulkhead and chassis in it, as I would probably end up spending a lot less money on it in the long run, plus it would be far easier to source as the good ones are becoming rare these days. As I suspect some of you would have already noticed, he's got an ex-mil IIA ambulance for sale at the moment. He also mentioned he has another ex-mil engineers car(?) for sale which will be listed in the coming days. He said they're probably just a good service and possibly changing a few seals away from being registerable.
A quick and easy solution to get a working Landy appeals to me, as I'm dying to get to drive one of my Landies, but at the same time I'm torn for a number of reasons. Firstly, I'm kind of attached to Serenity, and I'm really enjoying working on her. To give up the project now would be difficult. That being said, if I do stop working on Serenity, I would still be able to move onto Kaylee, my 80" (or Dad's '27 Chev truck, it would be a race!), which honestly has a little more appeal to me than Serenity. Not that Serenity is unappealing!
The second problem is that I would then own an ex-military vehicle. While that's kind of a dream for me, it's also a big responsibility in my eyes. If I've got a civvy one, if I accidentally do something stupid and break it, while it is the loss of another great old Landy, it's not a loss of part of our nation's military history. I bought Serenity with the intention of using her to tour both the state and potentially the nation in the future, using her off road as she was originally intended. While I'm not the sort of person who thinks bogging a vehicle for kicks is a good plan - I prefer to go places than just play in puddles all day, I would potentially modify Serenity in the future with bigger wheels, lockers, a dual battery system and a winch. I would probably feel a bit bad about making similar modifications to an ex-mil vehicle, and potentially also feel bad every time I hit the undercarriage on a rock off road.
Basically, I'm wondering what other Landy enthusiasts think. Would it be wrong to buy an ex-mil given what I want to do, or would using them for their originally intended purpose, driving off the beaten track, rather than mothballing it, be a fitting tribute to the vehicle? I see this has thread has a lot of views but not too many comments, but I'd really appreciate some input on this one. I'm really not sure what to do.
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