Raison d'etre

Degsy's raison d'etre or at least my reason for having Degsy was to have a vehicle to do my horitcultural and apicultral pastimes. I have an arrangement with a stables to collect horse muck. I keep bees on farmland. I have an allotment. I used to have just a Vauxhall Zafira which doubled as car, client taxi, Dad's taxi, refuse wagon, delivery van, towing vehicle and all of the above. I suppose the trigger to get a specific vehicle for all the rough stuff was varied:

1. Finding that the bloke that cleans the cars at work would not touch it except for an increased charge. No wonder, I found a small potato that had rolled into quiet spot under the seats had starting growing.
2. Having Bees on the far side of a farm. It being a half mile off road trip.
3. Constantly transferring things to the car to the shed to car to the garage
4. The car in regular need of cleaning
5. Wear and tear
   

Now that I have run Degsy for a few months and discovered what I really use it for together with coming to the understanding that the current government scrappage scheme means Degsy is worth twice what I paid for it without doing anything. On the other hand there has been the fun of ownership like re-learning how to maintain the tuning and driving. The bit I over looked is that I really bought another hobby. I did not understand the cult status and following the Land Rover has. I seem to accidental bought an iconic symbol of the British automobile industry. So Degsy does exactly what I bought it for with some unexpected benefits.

The fact the MOT is due in June 2010 means I will have to some work to Degsy to get it to pass and creates a deadline. The main issue is the chassis and that leads me to a dilemma. Cash in for the scrappage or keep Degsy! I have to come a decision. The resolution of the chassis problem will seal Degsy's fate. The repairs will be quite expensive but the repairs will make Degsy last another 30 years. The choice is to repair the rust damage by welding new plates or just get a new chassis. Both cost about the same but there is more work in the re-chassis job but it is a longer lasting solution. However, even a average condition, re-chassied Series III is worth more than £3000. In nutshell the choices are:

1. Take the Chancellor's shilling, well £2000
2. Restore a piece of motoring heritage

If the decision is not to scrap then a new chassis is required, will it be:

1. welded
2. new

A decision has to be made and I think I have nearly made it. It will largely depend on what happens in February 2010. Once committed to the restoration I will have to deal with the unknowns that are certain to arise as soon as the body comes off else the pile of bits will have no value at all. Oh happy day.

Timber and Tools

In a quieter moments over the summer, I pondered the idea of creating a raised floor in the tub. The tub is the area behind the seats, the van part of Degsy. The raised floor would be level with the top of the wheel arches creating a flat area from one side of the van to the other. The wheel arches run the length of the back and are seven inches deep. I spotted some 20mm square PAR timber on offer a few weeks ago so I bought it up. I have not really had time to mess about on the little project so the timber has been lying in the garage. After the lotttie and bees a window of opportunity revealed itself today. The weather was kind and H was out, leaving the drive clear.

I emptied the tub and got the timber and tools out of the garage. From this timber I made a frame to line the well between the arches. The framing created a place to support the floor. The floor was some 10mm plywood I had left over from another job. I had made the framing 10mm short of the top of the arches so that when the floor was fitted it was flush with the top surface of the wheel arches. The lip also had the effect of creating an edge to keep the floor in place. It was a small matter to cut the ply sheets to size, place on the framing and screw them down. What the framing also created was a space as wide and long as the tub and seven inches deep. Much like a deep drawer. This under floor space is big enough to take the forks and spades. It also takes the oil and Jerry can. I put the plastic boxes, in which keep all my allotment hand tools and bits and pieces, on top of the near side wheel arch. This is to be their new home. I cut a piece of the 20mm PAR to length and screwed it to the new floor as a fiddle to stop the boxes careening about the tub.

The tub is all neat and tidy now. I even have a small area to perch on when having a brew. I might see if I can get a bit of lino to cover the floor. I found a couple of unused bungee cords and with them I have been able to strap up the rake and hoe. The plan has come together nicely an for a few quid and for an hour or so of effort.

Landy, Landys everwhere

This an entry from my allotment blog about a trip out to see Degsy's relations.

I got up early on Sunday 12th September, which is unusual enough to report. I made a couple of bacon butties and a brew, one of me and one for H. The reason for this madness was a show that was staged at the East of England Showground in Peterborough. I was at the showground about quarter past nine. As I pulled into the vast, well organised and well appointed car park. The content of the car park was a clue to the reason for the event. Nine out of ten vehicles in the car park were Land Rovers of one sort or another. The event was the Land Rover Owners Magazine autumn show.

Having been mugged at the ticket office I went through the showground gates. I was very impressed with the facilities at the Showground. The event was quite small or was it that showground is so vast. In any case there must have been a thousand Land Rovers. I only saw four vehicles that were not an LR or one of the derivatives. There were stalls and clubs in attendance. Some of the stalls were more like an auto-jumble. You really have to know your stuff to identify one piece of grubby metal from another. It was all scrap to me. There were army surplus stalls. Lots of things you never knew you needed and all painted green. Then the specialist stalls, off road suspension and all the individual parts. Others stalls with special stainless steel panels and exhausts. Yet other suppliers of touring tents that fold into roof racks and yet others with storage solutions to fit out the back of the landy.

Then there were all the clubs. One for every marque and interest. Individual clubs; for Series 1, 2 and 3, Defenders, V8s, Forward control 101s, Paris Dakar, Lightweights, ex-military, Freelander, Range Rover, G4 and Camel rally and monster land rovers. Then clubs based on districts or geographical areas, off roading, green laning and over landing.

Later in the day, and on another part of the venue, there was a proper auto-jumble called the Sodbury Sortout. It was a bit of a disappointing turn out. However I did get a wheel brace for less than half price. I had a list of things to buy but it was as if the list was written upside down. The things I really needed, at the top of the list, were not to be had. The low priority items were found, a hasp for the filler cap, spring clips for the trailer and, of course, the wheel brace. I just need a length of scaffold tube to be a extension handle to the wheel brace.

In the main arena there was the usual parades, a bike stunt rider and bird of pray flying display. I went round lots of times, this way and that. Everything got a good coat of looking at......twice. Perhaps the best thing I got was not a Land Rover item. One of the stall sold tools. One of the gadgets was a "finger ratchet". Imagine a the ratchet that you use on sockets then saw off the handle. It is the handiest thing. There are lots of times when the room to swing the ratchet handle is restricted or you just need the spin a nut with a socket. the finger ratchet is just the job and cheap as chips. Coming across the finger ratchet just about clinched the day to justify the cost and getting early on a Sunday.

Starter for ten

I have always wanted a Land Rover. There was go good reason to have one when I lived in the city of Manchester. Old landies are not city cars. Since we have been living in semi-rural South Derbyshire and I have reason to go off-road. The time had come to fulfil a long held ambition. I spent about six months searching the Internet for the right land rover. I did not have the money to buy a fully restored machine, to be honest that is not what I wanted, so the hunt was on for one that had an MOT and was not restored. That was a very long search. The ones I came across that did not have an MOT were branded "projects". i.e. they were in bits and/or did not run. I not have the time or inclination for a project. Eventually I found a likely candidate in rural garage in Shropshire.

I had a chat with the bloke on the phone and went over to see it. It was not the prettiest thing but then it was the right money, even cheap, it started on the key and it ran without sounding like a bag of spanners. The test drive showed it changed gear and stopped reasonably well. Drum brakes all round and weighing in at just over two ton it was never going to stop on a dime. It was a bit tatty but it had a 12 month MOT which meant I could run it for a year before giving me time to figure out what was needed for the next MOT, which it would surely fail. We agreed a price and arranged to pick it up and hand over the cash at the weekend.

My daughter decided to come for the adventure. My wife dropped us at the train station in Burton. We bagged the train to Birmingham and then to Shrewsbury. It was fairly cheap on the train as we were travelling out of peak hours. My father in law, who just happens live in Shrewsbury, picked us up and drove us the twenty miles to the garage in the little village right on the Welsh border. The motor was MOT'd as promised and ready to go. Having done the legals and parted with the cash we jumped in and set off in search of a petrol station.