Restoration or transfer: Land Rover
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Hi all,
Writing from Zurich and seeking experienced views on the tradeoff between Land Rover Dormobile restoration and transfer of the Dormobile to a different vehicle.
I recently bought an original 2-owner 1969 Land Rover SIIA Dormobile, RHD. The Martin Walter portion is nicely restorable. The rest is “typically english” as they say here.
My original electrics and 4-cyl drivetrain are great (12.5 liter or 21mpg with overdrive), but the chassis, bulkhead, doors, breakfast, tub frame, 6 tires and tubes, b-posts and sills are rotten. Brakes are weak, springs rusted together. Who knows what would be found on disassembly.
It passed all its MOTS until 2004 when it was SORN’D and passed its German inspection in 2006. I drove it 755 km here on the Autobahn at 90-110km/h. But I learned it will fail inspection here because of the bulkhead/sill rust, steering play, and the sheer number and poor quality of the chassis welds.
I have no experience welding and limited experience with major maintenance on old 4×4’s. I am looking for a space to work on this vehicle and a network of people here to help, but this process is slow.
Transfer:
An affordable rust-free 1974 SIII will be available shortly for transferring the Walter Martin parts over. Has anyone done this who could estimate the time and tricks involved?Restoration:
A rolling SIII galvanized chassis with rust-free bulkhead, restored body, and motor mounts for 6-cyl is available for less money. In theory I could move my motor-gearbox, number plate, the dash panel and door hinges to make a pseudo-original SIIA (servo brake, etc. would not be original). Even without the SIIA modification, this would require much work, including welding in 4-cyl motor mounts and switching the parking brake to LHD. Any experience on cost and time of such maneuvers?Can anyone critically compare and contrast the options? How much devaluation (and shame) is caused by separating the original Land Rover from the Walter Martin conversion (even if there’s hardly anything left of the original Land Rover)?
I have only one point of view of a local expert as to time and money-cost, and it is very sobering.
Thanks
Jeremyjust off the phone with Marsland. They say the 6-cylinder frame is too different and won’t take the 4-cylinder motor/gearbox without great effort to modify the frame crossmembers as well as motormounts. Clearly outside my competence.
Hello Jeremy,
I think you are close to answering your initial question yourself. What ever you do will involve a lot of work, time and money but having done two and being well into a third I have to say it is worthwhile.This was originally a 6 pot Station Wagon which I converted using a selection of Dormobile bits acquired from a variety of sources (Jabbawoky, ebay, Tim at Dormobile, scrap vehicles etc)….
The base vehicle was rebuilt from the chassis up over a winter then using it for two seasons of family camping holidays before replacing it with ‘Bea’ …
Bea is very original and is probably the oldest surviving Land Rover Dormobile she is still used for family camping holidays, but has required a substantial amount of remedial work to the chassis, engine, brakes and suspension to get to this state.
Restoration of these fine beasts is not for the faint hearted and it has cost me a fortune in time and money, the cost of restoring any Land Rover will never be repaid by a selling value, you can buy a new chassis, have Mr Morris build you a new galvanised bulkhead and spend many thousands of pounds, but the finished Dormobile is still only going to be worth what someone will pay for it. I have mine insured for a reasonable sum as an agreed value but I would not realistically expect to acheive that sum on selling.
If you decide to go ahead with a restoration I suggest you speak with Richards Chassis they will build a correct to year export chassis but will adapt to your personal requirements regarding engine mounts, handbrake position etc.
Maybe I am a sucker for punishment but I am now in the process of turning a 1982 Series 3 109 V9 Stage 1 into a Dormobile. I am using a roof that I am restoring using new reproduction bits from Tim DeBrues at Dormobile and new reproduction furniture units also from Tim. One of the wonders of the Land Rover Dormobile conversions is that they are still being produced (to order) but also that just about all the ‘genuine’ dormobile bits are still produced.
Hope thats some help, if you want any more information or photos of whats involved in a chassis up rebuild drop us an email.
Regards
PhilHi Phil,
Hm, I clearly made a mistake. Anyway, the gist of the message was that I am still undecided which way to preserve my Dormobile: practical (transfer of furniture to a good station wagon) or idealistic (preserve the historic vehicle by expensive and time-consuming restoration). I lean either way depending on the day. I’d appreciate it if you could send me details about your experience transferring Dormobile roof and furniture to a station wagon and cost/time considerations of the chassis-up restoration? Email might be best unless you think it’s of interest to others (my email should be in my profile, if not: jkhackneyATyahoo.com where AT is replaced by @ ).Thanks much for the pictures, my wife “ooohed” and “aaahed”, which is a good sign no matter what I decide.
-Jeremy
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