I used to frequent FTE quite regularly when I was living in the UK a few years ago. Long story short (well short'ish), I relocated out to the PNW just about 40 minutes East of Seattle about 3 1/2 years ago.

I brought my Project 1956 Effie and my 1969 Lightweight LandRover with me. During the move my Effie was dropped in Seattle Docks doing Approx. $6K of damage. This really set me back, not only with the fight that I had to go through with the shipping company and the port of Seattle to try and get some recompense for all the damage. But I was actually told I had to pay Seattle Port authorities another $2K in Storage fees as the shipping company screwed up and did not pick the vehicles up when they should have too, just to add insult to injury.

I got it back, got some money back (But still way out of pocket) and started to repair all the damage. I got it pretty much back to the condition it was in before it was shipped but then my enthusiasm for working on the Effie went down to Zero and it has sat in the garage since..

Just over this Christmas /New Year break, my wife pushed me into getting out in the garage and get back working on the truck. It was just what I needed. I have spent about 6 or 7 days out with the truck since and now am full on with getting the jobs I need to get done done. I fitted the Hood Front tilt hinge, Fitted a Radiator and Overflow and am now looking at sorting out the running boards.

Happy new Year to all and looking forward to a much more productive 2014.

Lee

 

Welcome back, I do remember reading your story some time back, and it is good to hear that you have been able to move forward, if not as successfully as you would have liked. Good luck with things in the future.

ps, what is a lightweight Land Rover? I drove Land Rovers for a while in the Army, they did a good job. Driving through axle deep mud with perhaps ten blokes in back with all their gear, or on the highway flat out at 55mph whether empty, or towing a trailer full of 44 gallon drums of fuel, even downhill.

I did get to drive in a convoy of mechanics vehicles some years later when I was in the Army reserve, and their Rovers flew. All had the governors disconnected and they hammered along on our trip from the top of Australia back to camp after an exercise. The trip was about a week long and a great experience.

 

Welcome back
Sorry to hear about your shipping woes.

I'm glad that you have found time to get back to work on your project

Bobby

 

Thanks Neville, Bobby,

Good to see some familiar names too (Bobby) from years past.

To your question Neville, a Lightweight Land Rover (Also known as an Air portable or military Land Rover) is a military only manufactured version of a Land Rover. It is essentially the same as a standard short wheelbase but a lot narrower and thus lighter. It was required to be deployed by the aircraft and helicopters of the day so the need to be lighter and narrower.

If I can remember how to post pictures here I will, otherwise just search for lightweight land rover on any search engine and you will see what they look like, although I have modified my one considerably from standard.

Cheers
Lee

 

There you go Neville:

Series II Lightweight



Mine looks like this now though:

 

Nice looking Rover. Sounds like you have a good woman there too.

 

Welcome back Lee, and thanks for the Rover pics. I like seeing specialty vehicles like that. My ex neighbor had a aluminum jeep that was made for the army during the Vietnam war, so it could be airlifted I think by helicopter but I'm not sure.

 

Thanks for the pics, that Rover looks great, real sweetl. I often used to daydream about hot rodding the Rovers I drove in the Army.