From Land Rover, With Love…
Classic.
Some of us Land Rover owners in Alaska wouldn’t mind a little attention. Maybe just a break on the freight. After all, those guys gave up on their Rover. Why not reward the ones still having a go at it? Something to think about, Land Rover… something to think about.
The new Rover radiator & hoses arrived just before Christmas. A few weeks ago, after taking the Rover out to bid a job, an oncoming tricked out Ford with mudders launched a projectile at my Rover. I saw the incoming missile, then heard it strike and bounce around under the bonnet before detonation. By the time I arrived home, there was a fine, green mist flowing out of my radiator. The impressive odds of such a precise strike without a guiding system, not withstanding, I was kind of ticked off.
My intention was to fire up the torpedo heater in the Rover Hut and get to work on the truck today. Unfortunately, I was rudely surprised to find the temp hovering around -20 this morning, which destroyed the minimal motivation that I had.
We had five inches or so of snow fall from Christmas night on, so I pulled the snowblower out of the Rover Hut, and quickly found that it needed to be dragged into the cabin for a pre-start warm up. By the time the drive was plowed, and firewood hauled into the cabin for the week, I realized that the new radiator could wait until at least -10.
“A Land Rover is less of a car than a state of mind.”
— Car & Driver, 1964 Land Rover Review
Our snowless November came to a crushing end under an avalanche of two entire inches of snow yesterday. I was kind of hoping for that Snow Free Record, but it’s nice to have the snow too.
We do have a new neighbor this week, as a grizzly has been leaving sign not far from the cabin. It’s not unusual to see bear sign in the valley, but this is the first time I’ve come across it this close to the cabin. Other than the neighbor’s sled dogs, there is nothing edible outside. Assuming the griz doesn’t have a hankering for Genuine Land Rover parts.
It sounds like there have been quite a few bears late to hibernation, due to the unseasonably warm weather we have had here in the Interior so far this winter. The last grizzly that I remember in the area making house calls this late in the year, turned out to be a very old bruin who had not put on enough weight to hibernate. He developed an appetite for stored dog food, which ended up being an addiction that cost him dearly.
Photo courtesy of Land Rover
The video is a time-lapse of the restoration of Bob Marley’s Series III Land Rover. ATL Automotive of Montego Bay is undertaking the frame up rebuild.
Lucas – Inventor of the first intermittent wiper…
When I made the Rover Run into Mexico, the passenger side wiper worked just fine. At some date since then, it stopped working. Since I rarely, i.e. never, bother to turn on the passenger side, it is hard to say how long it has been on the fritz. With the new windscreens. I figured I might as well open the unit up and re-grease it, and do anything else it may need to operate again.
Getting the interior side cover off was a breeze. The electrical brushes looked fairly good, but I’ll attempt to find a new set and replace them since I’ve gone this far. The plate that blocks the exterior side cover has been a little less cooperative.
The driver’s side motor works, but I’d like to refurbish that one as well. I figured I’d practice on the passenger side first. This way, I also have a complete unit intact, for re-assembly purposes.
