ran into some pommies today.

[Texas f-150]

so im underneath a freightliner replacing the output seal on the rear diff and i look out the door and see a landrover defender 130 right hand drive (obviously this wasnt their nieghborhood) and out jumps 4 17 yr old kids, and a tiny old englishman who looked like the guy from jurassic park in what appear to be pommie boy scouts uniforms. I was at this point curious to see this crew and of course see their d 130 as its probably the only one in texas, any way the are some type of private youth organization that trains young kids how to do water and off road rescue, and they shipped their 85 land rover to texas, to drive all the way to california hitting all the off road parks to do their off road training, and the first stop was hidden falls adventure park here in texas and they ripped out their rear drive-shaft, and came to us to build them one. You will notice the pile of tools on the ground in the pick, not exactly what i would bring on a round the world expedition, but after about 2 hours they got the drive line in.

[Peuty]

Heh, that's pretty cool

[outback_ute]

Thanks for sharing that, something out of the norm. What a great experience for the 17 year olds

[Texas f-150]

yeah i asked one of the kids while we were under the rover who was trying to get the flange bolts in, (i think we confused them by giving them a 3/8 bolt) If this was part of their training, and he said no this wasnt on the shed-jewel.
Nice to see they are flying the Texas flag on the "bonnet"

[Texas f-150]

they are called "the league of venturers" actually it seems pretty cool, looks like that old land rover has been all over the world. heres one from their website, stuck on the dunes in death valley california.

[mik]

lucky young blokes, treking it is great fun.

[Texas f-150]

indeed, wrenching on a 25 yr old rover in death valley (or our parking lot) will make a man out of ya way faster than an I phone and a justin bieber album.

[FTE72]

Originally Posted by Texas f-150

indeed, wrenching on a 25 yr old rover in death valley (or our parking lot) will make a man out of ya way faster than an I phone and a justin bieber album.

/\/\/\ That has to be quote of the year dude.

[snowcone]

After serving my apprenticeship on Landrovers back in the 70's, I wouldn't feel comfortable going to the corner shop in one now as the milk would be spoilt before I got back

[Gman_86_xr6]

Reminds me of something a few months back.

I was driving along in Altona (Melbourne) and saw a dirty looking Land Rover 110, the first thing I noticed was that it was covered in stickers, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Russia, and plenty of others

Next I noticed that it had German license plates. then of course I noticed that it was left hand drive.

It was a couple from Germany, they were taking their Landie all over the world, and they were about 40% complete.

[Texas f-150]

well all you ever hear about british cars over here is that the wires are insulated with newspaper, and parts always fall off em, but this defender looked pretty stout, the fully boxed galvanized frame was interesting.

[mik]

actually now i think about it , i remember tracking it in to the dargo high plains during winter in a series one 1 landy about 40 something years ago, sitting in the middle seat, those early models had suspension like a rock and a foam cushion for the 3rd person about as thick as cd( i can still feel the back pain) .the defender would be like a rolls royce in comparison i think.

[TC200six]

Originally Posted by mik

actually now i think about it , i remember tracking it in to the dargo high plains during winter in a series one 1 landy about 40 something years ago, sitting in the middle seat, those early models had suspension like a rock and a foam cushion for the 3rd person about as thick as cd( i can still feel the back pain) .the defender would be like a rolls royce in comparison i think.

Yes those early Land Rovers were very rough to ride in. That reminded me of when a guy said the 3 ribs in the roof are there to stop your head from going through the roof, LOL.

[flappist]

Ah not what I thought......

Usually "ran into some pommies today" is followed by "how do I get the smell of my car".....

[gtfpv]

a pommie fixing something !!!! not a genuine pommie , sorry dont believe it .
usually they watch someone else do whilst whinging. .HE HE HE .

[Texas f-150]

i know this thread is old now but had to add, i was talking to one of my co-workers who was under the rover with the limey kids, and he asked one of them for a 9/16ths wrench and he looked at him like he had horns growing out of his head

[RAREV8]

Originally Posted by Texas f-150

i know this thread is old now but had to add, i was talking to one of my co-workers who was under the rover with the limey kids, and he asked one of them for a 9/16ths wrench and he looked at him like he had horns growing out of his head

Thats bizarre- the UK is one of the only countries that still uses imperial measurements- gallons, miles, inches etc.......love the Landies- thanks for the pic!

[2011G6E]

Those wandering travellers are out and about aren't they...and making the rest of us feel like lazy buggers by comparison...

Back just before 2000, I was riding from Bundaberg to Gympie, and just outside Bundy saw a small woman trying to kick start a massive dirt bike loaded down with gear. I could see her kneel down and start to fiddle with the carb, and so I stopped to see if she needed a hand.
It turned out to be a tiny Japanese woman, just stunningly beautiful, with a long pigtail down to her bum. The problem seemed to be a bit of crap in the carby bowl, and luckily it was easy enough to repair with the comprehensive tool kit she had unrolled. I kicked the huge bike to life, and she told me in halting English how she was riding around Australia and then down through the red center to Ayers Rock and beyond. I was a little skeptical, but she showed me a couple of news clippings from southern newspapers, and it turned out she was a damn top-level off road racer overseas.
She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and spun the big bike to roost off drifting nicely in the loose dirt by the side of the road before blasting off into the distance...

[shedcoupe]

Ahhhh ........ British engineering.

Did they have any packets of this in their toolbox and pares kit ? -

[2011G6E]

I've got some of those for my Morris Minor...

Named after the man who started the company, Lord Lucas...the Prince of Darkness...

[shedcoupe]

There was an electrical component used in those appalling TR7 things that would regularly fail, and in the Triumph box it was about a squillion dollars - the identical item in a Lucas box was about $35.
Still overpriced as it was a piece of junk.

typo in previous post - 'pares' should be 'spares'.

[dave351cid]

bloody poms... their everywhere ...lol

just last week there was a clean white defender dual cab getting around here with british number plates and a couple of grey nomads inside.

its the regular thing here for retirees to trip around the country but these guys were going one better and driving around the world i guess.

[XDV800]

Keep your eyes peeled for a couple of northern euros riding a pair of identical late model BMW 1200 GSs i think. Spied them a couple of weeks ago across from a building site at Wilston at about 7am tinkering away.
Had another glance at about 10 clock and they had the front wheels off and were systematically cleaning bits and pieces.
By 12pm they had those 2 bikes just about completely dismantled save for the engines themselves, and were washing scrubbing preening every last component!