Greetings from Stamford
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April 10, 2009 at 6:39 pm #449
Hi to all-
Mike here from Stamford. I have been the proud owner of ‘Moby’ the Landcruiser for about ten days now, and cannot get the grin off my face, or the grime out of my fingers. Ive been looking for a Landcruiser on and off for about seven years now, but couldnt resist the ‘buy it now’ button on ebay and bought on impulse. The best money Ive ever spent!
Im a Design and Technology teacher (boys, 11-18) and reckon that the Landcruiser must be one of the most beautiful and well thought out motor caravans of it’s time.
My opinion is based on a family trip to Iceland 25 years ago (before someone showed them what Tarmac was). My dad bought a P reg Landcruiser, which drew doubtful stares from the mutlitudes of 4×4 & 6×6 drivers waiting for the ferry. 😕 “You’ll not get round in that”, they said, “the roads are terrible”
2 months later, after faultless performance, we watched with great amusement as the ATVs were painfully dragged onto the ferry at Seydisfordur. 😆 We got within 5 miles of home in Lancashire, when the nearside front wheel fell off as we turned into our local garage. My dad just emailed me telling me that the Landcruiser was bought and sold for a mere £38.50p!
Im recently separated, and have two girls, Briony, 8, and Lois, 6. Lois has autism, so holidaying has been a challenge in the past but I think that the enthusiasm these little sisters have shown for Moby is going to get even better once we have got out and about.
Thats all to come- at the moment Im throwing everything I have at getting all the mechanicals & upholstery & bodywork done so that we have the first of many brilliant summers (and other seasons) in our new Dormobile
Moby (MBY 372 L) has been in the club before- perhaps some of you might remember? I hope that I shall be able to meet many of you in the near future.
Best wishes,
Mike (and Briony, Lois and Moby)April 11, 2009 at 6:58 pm #2227Welcome! 😀
It would be great if you can show us some photos as there are not many Landcruiser on the forum. 😉April 11, 2009 at 7:22 pm #2228Hi Phil-
Will post photos as soon as I can work out how to upload them- not having much luck following FAQ section- suspect I need an administrator to enable this. I’ll also try & find one of the P reg I enjoyed 25 years ago- if its still around, Id love to see it again!
MikeApril 12, 2009 at 8:19 am #2229Hi Mike and welcome to the forum.
You should be able to upload attachments, as this is enabled. Try the following:
To add an attachment, find the Upload attachment section of the posting page ( just below the Save Preview Submit buttons when posting you should see Options Upload attachment ). Click on “Upload attachment” and then to select your files click the Browse button. A comment may be placed in the File comment text box. Clicking Add the file will upload and attach the file to the post. To upload multiple files, repeat the process.
To delete an attachment, find the Posted attachments section of the posting page and click the Delete file button for the desired attachment.
Attachments can be displayed within the post text by clicking the Place inline button for the desired attachment. When an attachment is placed inline, text similar to a BBCode is inserted into the post text so that it may be moved. If an attachment is not placed inline, it will be displayed at the end of the post.
Attachments are controlled by a set of restrictions, namely file size and file type.
File Size: The maximum file size for uploaded files is set by the Administrator. The default is 256KiB.
File Type: The types of files allowed for upload are restricted by their file extension. The allowed extensions are set by the Administrator.
Let me know if you still have problems.
Admin
April 13, 2009 at 8:58 am #2230Here we go! Thanks for the destructions!
April 13, 2009 at 9:01 pm #2231Hi Mike, welcome to the forum, I’m pretty new here myself. Their a friendly bunch on here, and if they can help with anything, they will, including myself. Looking forward to seeing some photo’s of your Landcruiser, as I can’t say I’ve seen one converted. 😀
April 14, 2009 at 7:12 am #2232Nice Camper.
Seems in good shape.
What colour will you spray it?April 14, 2009 at 8:54 pm #2233Hi Phil,
Im sticking with the original cream colour, I’m trying to keep it as retro as possible, though am on an orangey brown theme- I know the previous one my dad had had a ‘mustard orange’ stripe on the fat band, but I’m looking at film wrap for that as I’m planning on a few ‘upgrades’ which I wouldn’t want to make permanent.
Did a cunning ‘mod’ today- remembering how wet the carpet gets in the cab when filling the water tank if things go wrong, Ive plumbed in a hosepipe directly to the front of the tank using a brass fitting (walls are about 1/4 ” thick!). There’s a rubber grommet in the floor next to the passenger seat, which is just the right size for a hose (cut out the middle of the grommet). The hose then fits neatly under the seat base of the passenger seat, allowing a good length of hose to be stored under the seat.
Because Moby has had swivel seat fitted, I had to cut a hole in the door side of the seat base, which I have put some U section trim on, so filling the tank will be much easier! An ‘O’ ring around the hosepipe 2′ from the tap connector will hopefully reduce the drip problem, though the tap connector is held upright by a standard hose connector which I screwed to the top of the seat base. A little box inside has a plethora of tap connectors for all possibilities I can imagine.
I’m also fitting a 7″ TV/ DVD MP3/ radio unit into the dash with USB/ smartcard slots and a range of AV connectors so I can do the video camera through it.
I’m hoping to ‘bury’ a laptop somewhere in the dash and a big hard drive- both for work and pleasure purposes; though this is some way down the line.
I’m removing all the curtain rails (my autistic daughter has a habit of swinging on curtains and will be making some press stud- attached insulated ‘blinds’ which will make better use of the windows in the daytime.
I’m planning to tint the windows with metallic gold film (again removable), which will create quite a striking effect. I know its not everyone’s taste, but there are practical reasons for it, between my daughter’s needs and a bit of security. I’m not going to get rid of any of the original parts, though I have a feeling I’ll have to store them for a long time!
All the interior hardboard panels will be renewed as they are looking rather tatty and will take the opportunity to improve the insulation behind them, whilst getting all the new cabling tidied away. (the batteries are wired rather oddly- one of them is in the passenger footwell, which I’m planning to move as its unsightly.
Finally, I will be adding central locking with an immobiliser, and have already started designing shrouds for the locking system which will prevent ‘coat hanger’ break ins.
Moby will be having the few rust patches cut out and new plates welded in before the respray, though the bodywork is in excellent condition anyway. The respray is really needed because some previous owner has done a few ‘quick jobs’ involving filler, paint stripper and canned spray paint, which doesn’t match very well (though Moby looks remarkably good in the photos).
All the cushions are getting recovered in the brown ‘flock’ material that came with the van when I bought it- obviously the intention was there, though I’m going to have to get them done professionally- I had a go the other night and did a reasonable job, but I found it so difficult to think ‘inside out’ and have to concede defeat!
Moby’s going away tomorrow for new clutch plates and the rear springs re-tempering, but then Ill know that all the mechanicals are truly sorted!
Will post some new pics soon, once the cushions have been done.
Money wise, its nerve wracking, though some of the kit I already have, though I’m reassured that Ive already been offered 3 times what I paid for Moby but after 7 years of searching, I’m not letting go that quickly!
Cheers
MikeApril 14, 2009 at 8:57 pm #2234Gaz, thanks for the welcome; Ill be posting more pics soon!
Mike -
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