"SvartaDamen"

So, with Plutten in parts and still in the need of a second car, I had to start looking again for a cheap car that could serve as this. And, again, I ended up with a Rover that had some 'just have to fix before the MOT'. The plan was to keep the Rangie for a year until Plutten was working. But since the Plutten-project grew into a major restauration, SvartaDamen have stayed in the family.

The first year it was all about passing MOT, which she did after a few weeks, and then keeping her running. The more I drover her, the more I started liking the car and the special feeling of driving a Range Rover. So, now she is staying, and also she is now slowly becoming more and more tuned.

I'm not afraid of bringing her out in the forest, so she has suffered a lot too. I have no plans though of building an extreme off roader of her. I like the idea of driveing a standard vehicle through really bad terrain, and get through. (Well, at least most of the time...)

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"Plutten"

When we were selling Primadonnan I knew that I had to have another LR, regardless if it was working or not. I had now become a LR addict and wanted a series, no interest what so ever in the anonymous SUV that started my car interest.

So, I ended up paying a little too much for a wreck that I couldn't even bring home without help. I had learnt a lot from fixing with Primadonnan, but this project would be needing much more experience and knowledge than I could gather by my self. So before buying I had asked my uncle if he could assist me in bringing the car alive again.

My uncle came all the way from Norway with a friend (650km) to bring "Plutten", as I named her, to his garage. We had some problems with the custom, but eventually Plutten ended up among a bunch of other LR-projects where the car was resting for a year until we had time to start working at her.

It's a slow project since I can't spend so much time in the garage, but the project is slowly progressing. Here are some movieclips from our work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygO5I984cpI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTI8rdEAmvk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXm_wmSwXng

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"Primadonnan" Part Two

Primadonnan was running all right and the frame was ok. Some new parts like springs and a new exhaust pipe was mounted, otherwise I could go straight for the looks. A good cleansing inside, new skin on the front seats and a nicer switchboard over the radio console was some of the few things that was made.

Then it was time for stripping exterior parts and cover the windows. I spent three nice summer days painting Primadonnan in my brothers field.

A new set of tires, and she looked like this.

By this time I had met som off-road enthusiasts from SLRK, so a few dents was starting to show, but she was always keps decent for family trips. Other people noticed it too, so at a Classic Car Show she was honoured the Peoples Choice as the best off-road vehicle.

Sadly, you can't eat a Land Rover, so we took the deciscion to sell her as we were students at the time. At the time we were selling Primadonnan, a friend from SLRK called and said that he had found a Series/II for me. This car was a wreck but quite cheap (to expensive to be honest). Even if I couldn't drive it, I would at least not be out of LR. But that's another story...

"Primadonnan" Part One

My wife and I enjoy the Norwegian mountains. Once or twice a year we try to take a trip to a cabin not far from where my mother grew up. The mountain roads are sometimes bad -not that bad as the used to be when I was a child- but worse than you can drive with a standard family car. We love to drive around on the moutain roads, but had to keep to the better parts where the off-road level was good wheel place planning, scratching the exhaust pipe now and then and at its worst a little digging. After the second summer trip I started to think of buying a SUV, but since I had loved my old Beetle the thought of a good veteran grew. Since my uncle was into Land Rover I started to look for a decent Range Rover Classic (a car I had read about in a magazine in the cabin, and that I knew my wife liked).

After a time of searching I found a Series/III stw at a bankrupt company that I bought. Sadly it didn't start, so I had to go home without it. Next week I head out for the 500km journey again with a friend that knew more about cars than me. It showed to be the diesel pump that didn't work, so no car this time either. the week after we brought it home on a trailer.

It took me some time and phone calls to my Norwegian uncle to get the car running. Once on the road the car became a she, after some driving a personality and pretty soon a name, "Primadonnan" since she danced from side to side and had to be fawn with to work properly.

At this time I thought it be a good idea to become a member of the Swedish Land Rover Club (SLRK), which I have been since.

Eventually I wanted to get Primadonnan to look as beautiful as I knew she was worth, so a small refurbishing became a high post at my to do list. But more of that another day.

So long! /Kirefiel

"Åtteåttin"

In the middle of the sixties the 80" had done its service at the farm when my grandfather bought a 1962 Series/II regular hard top. this car was my first Land Rover experience. As a kid I often played behind the steering wheel, I was at great adventures. Since it is a rugged car, my grandfather had no problems with me playing inside, utside or on the car. I was sure that the car was capable of anything, I knew it could drive through water and I also thought that the hard top roof could serve as a small boat if needed!

When my grandfather passed away in the eighties, my uncle inherited the 88" along with the farm. As a teenager I didn't care about the car, I had other interests, but it served on the farm all along. Of course there are a lot of stories about this car too, I like the one when my cousin hang out from the window when the door flung open in a curve and she was still hanging out from the open door. When my uncle straightened up, the door flung back and my cousin was back on her seat again.

The 88" is today running perfectly and is still in everyday use. It is kept and serviced in its original, not many parts are new since it has always been perfectly maintained. I have to say that this is by far the best Series I have driven!

In the picture to the left the car is dressed in summer clothes.

Below a picture of my son sitting on the hood. He is a six year old Land Rover fanatic who often urges his father to drive over bigger rocks ant through deeper mud. Sometimes we call him G4 (generation four).

Pre History

How did my life become a land rover life? Before I bought my first Land Rover I had no interest in cars, had no mechanical experience and would hardly think that I gladly would spend time trying to get a car through a mud hole.

Looking back I can see how things have lead me here, and that they retrospectively perhaps are more obvious than to many other land rover fanatics. I could say that my interest didn't start with me really, it actually came in years before I was born.

My grandfather bought a Land Rover in 1952. In those days there was only the 80" to choose from and he used it as it was meant to, namely as a tractor for plowing and harrowing or as a power plant for a saw. He also helped the local doctor to get around to difficult places, and as a taxi to drive people up in the mountains. It also served as the family car.

This was the car my mother grew up in. I have heard a lot of stories about the car and events connected to it. They are fun as the one when my ant fell out from it during a ride when the door suddenly opened, or shows how life was in the old days when it was used as a hearse to get my great grandfather home for his funeral.



In the picture to the left my grandfather and my uncle is maintaining the car. To my grandfather there couldn't be a better brand. This he passed down to the next generation (my mother excluded:) ) My uncle inherited the interest for the make and cultivated it further and is now a leading person in the Norwegian Land Rover Club. He is also my mentor when it comes to Land Rovers. I couldn't have kept this interest for a week if it wasn't for him!


The 80" Land Rover stayed in the family until the sixties when my grandfather bought a Series/II. What has become of it since then we don't know. But it was with this car it started, nearly twenty years before I was born.

Nystart

Eftersom min före denna blog lagts ner, gör jag en nystart här. Denna sidan var den första blogportalen jag surfade in på, och när jag nu skriver mitt första inlägg här har jag inte ens sett mig runt i menyerna. Det får komma när jag skrivit klart det här inlägget. Jag kommer inte ta med mig det gamla innehållet hit, men en och annan tillbakablick kommer det kanske ändå att bli. Sådärja, nu är vi i gång igen!