Hello from Melbourne Australia

[fightingtiger]

Hi Team

Great to be part of the Land Rover World.

Picture attached is of "Vera" as we call her.

1970 ExMilitary ExVietnam LR 2a 109 - In very good condition for her age - has been loved for 35 years after auction from the Australian Army and 20 years of Service to Australia :-)

We found a flyer for her at a Military Vehicle event in Aus , made the 500klm round trip to meet her, and were very happy to be allowed to become the new Custodians of the vehicle.

She only needed new tyres, showing the mechanic where the chassis number was, and a good set of new anti leak gaskets and washers etc. for the Roadworthy (MOT) :-)

As is the case with every Land Rover there is a list of projects - none of them major and her real Life now is all about getting out there, telling her Story, and introducing her back to Veterans, and to Young People who know very little about the Vietnam War.

Looking forward to learning, and sharing where I can add value.

I love the UK and have a brief trip coming up in September, but have been there many many times since 2004 :-)

All the best and please feel free to reachout if you have any questions or anything I can assist with :-)

Regards

Shane

[Neil Bymouth]

Welcome Shane. The weather in Oz is considerably better than a wet cold February here.
Original engine or did the military use Holden engines?

[Carlos Fandango]

welcome, I've always liked the the look of the Australian military land rovers.
They seem to have so.e better ideas especially the mounts for the pioneer tools ,clamped in place rather than canvas straps.

[UltimateWheelbase]

Welcome Shane,

Lovely looking truck! Any more pictures?

So jealous... just look at the lack of rust on it!!!!

Love the look too. Do you have any details about it's live in Vietnam? Would make a great article in a future edition of the Club Magazine if you did.

[fightingtiger]

Welcome Shane. The weather in Oz is considerably better than a wet cold February here.
Original engine or did the military use Holden engines?

Still has the original engine - although when I bought it the carb was an old Stromberg of an old Holden. It was leaking and thirsty so has been replaced by an Indian knock off Zenith while I plan for a Zenith rebuild of the original one or replace it with a Weber.

I am a firm believer that no car in the world runs better when use use Holden parts over original ones :-)

Keeping the car as original as possible - alongside reliability and usability replacements is my gig :-)

[fightingtiger]

welcome, I've always liked the the look of the Australian military land rovers.
They seem to have so.e better ideas especially the mounts for the pioneer tools ,clamped in place rather than canvas straps.

Yep they do look very cool - she looks beautiful out in the sun and up close has all the battle scars of 20 years of service in the Army :-)

[Neil Bymouth]

Fine looking beast.
Forget the Weber, just get the original Zenith rebuilt. The Weber is in reality far too small for the engine and you'll find a loss of power with very little, if any, worthwhile gain in fuell economy.

[fightingtiger]

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Welcome Shane,

Lovely looking truck! Any more pictures?

So jealous... just look at the lack of rust on it!!!!

Love the look too. Do you have any details about it's live in Vietnam? Would make a great article in a future edition of the Club Magazine if you did.

Thank you - I will pass on your comments to Vera today when I see her :-)

When we went to look at her the first time I said to my Wife - if this is a rust bucket we are out ( I already have one very rusty 1955 VW Beetle I am rebuilding) - the Owner had her for 35 years - bought her from the Army auction after her 20 years of service - and all of that time she was in a garage or out occasionally - did around 6,000 miles in 35 years and had her serviced basically every year - whether she did any miles or not :-)

He was hitting mid 80's and his Wife "encouraged" him to move her on - they only advertised her at a Military Vehicle event - which we go to every year, and the rest is history.

All she needed for the Roadworthy was new tyres - ouch - for the mechanic to be shown the chassis number (didn't know where that was at the time), and a power wash and leak reduction effort. Brakes, suspension, steering, lights etc. - everything was in perfect shape :-)

A few pickies attached from her recent gig at a fund raiser car show - great day chatting to Veterans - including an exRAF Harrier engineer - and also having kids jump around inside her for photos and giving them lessons on how the blackout lights work etc.

She was very popular :-)

Doing an article on her would be Awesome and pretty easy as I have a living document of her History and all the events she is doing since she has been "Returned to Service" :-)

Her next gig is Anzac Day 25th April - a Massive Military memorial day in Aus - she will be in a parade down the main street of a town called Seymour - near a large Army base where I am prety sure she served some of her time - so bit of a home coming :-)

Thanks again for the kind comments and BTW - yesterday I had a Lovely Ladn Rover Series Club sticker roll up so that will be going on Vera today :-)

All the best

Shane

[fightingtiger]

Fine looking beast.
Forget the Weber, just get the original Zenith rebuilt. The Weber is in reality far too small for the engine and you'll find a loss of power with very little, if any, worthwhile gain in fuell economy.

Thanks for the advice Neil. I had convinced myself that the Weber was a good option - only because I am originally an old Alfa Romeo Nut who has rebuilt many many Weber carbs - so a know quantity - but equally there are a bunch of people over here rebuilding original Zeniths - resleeving the shafts etc.

So I will take your advice - the last thing our Landy needs is less power :-)

Thanks Mate

[Neil Bymouth]

Another disastrous Land Rover carburettor was the twin choke Weber on the petrol 90/110's. It was a troublesome beast. The 90 from which my 2.5 came was always breaking down due to carburettor problems. The petrol engine found its way into my Series 3 after being swapped for a diesel. The 2.5 runs perfectly well on the Series 3 Zenith 36IV and manifolds.
Weber make good carburettor for performance cars but don't seem to be as good with ones for standard vehicles.