Hi, new owner intro

[pitchrollyaw]

Hi all,

New owner here in Central Massachusetts, 4 mos or so into this. Long time British/European car addict, I wanted one of these since I was a kid and the stars finally aligned. Had a Jeep Wrangler as my outdoors fun car for years.

'72 S III 88" Station Wagon She was originally a Southern car that was partially amateur restored and I am finishing it. The project is turning out to be a bit more than I scoped out (aren't they always?) I knew she had some electrical and relatively minor mechanical issues ('creative' emissions plumbing, ancient hoses, etc.) but the frame and bulkhead are solid as is the drivetrain. I reversed some of the prior 'improvements', replaced all the lighting, some conservative upgrades (Pertronix, IG door panels, seatbelts) and replaced the reverse lockout...that was fun..almost as much fun as driving without it. Great driving truck now.

Pleasure dealing w/ the seller too, that is always a plus.

Still have to neaten up the wiring, etc., but she has a sticker and is just on the road. Looking forward to enjoying her.

here are some pics:


sellers pic

[jumpmaster54]

Hey there

Great looking rig. I'd be proud to have that one in my drive way.

Stan

[RNZack]

Very true, that's a beautiful truck! One of the few Series trucks I've seen with wing panel chequer plating.

[Skookumchuck]

Welcome to the club, very nice looking 88.

[pitchrollyaw]

thanks all.

w

[primerib]

Very nice! I am new too. Your truck is more fancy than mine though! Speaking of cool toys, Is that you fling in the photo? If so, what is it? Is it a yak?

[TedW]

It looks like you have Fairey locking hubs - the Genuine option offered by Land-Rover. Very nice!

You might want to grab a rebuild kit if you can find one - they show up occasionally on ebay UK if unavailable from our hosts or another domestic supplier.

Just something to keep handy for down the road.

Ted

[pitchrollyaw]

thanks.

Primerib, I'm flying a friend's North American AT-6 "Texan" an exciting but humbling bird, especially for me stepping from a tricycle gear Piper. It is a 650hp radial engine taildragger...pretty much vintage aviation nirvana outside of the true fighters. Nice airplane to have a friend own.

The hubs were one of this vehicle's features that caught my eye. It also came w/ the original bench seats in good shape, some original trim and what appears to be a period if not original type accessory ladder....not completely sure on that but it looks the part.

Jury is still out on the front over-riders. I do not see much value to them day to day, though they may help protect against the park by Braille types.. I swapped the running lights and signals so the signals were on top and not partially obscured. There is no real downside apart from obscuring the running lights so they'll probably stay and I do have bigger issues to spend time on.

[SafeAirOne]

I swapped the running lights and signals so the signals were on top and not partially obscured. There is no real downside apart from obscuring the running lights so they'll probably stay ...

I wonder why the front turn signals were moved down from their original location in the first place.?

Oh wait--Was it to accomodate some enormous, original-equipment NADA lights/lenses?

[pitchrollyaw]

yes, the NA spec ones have these huge ~4" or so signal lights fore and aft. Those are pretty much NLA and remaining nice NOS ones are large $. For this vehicle, I am not doing any kind of Concurs resto, but I am staying close to original and want functional, so I went w/ the ROW Series and NA Defender lights.

Due to the size, up front the originals were mounted quite a bit lower then the ROW signals, so low that they may interfere w/ the typical wire lamp guards. The PO had replaced the fixtures w/ aftermarket smaller ROW Defender types in the same location on the front. I replaced those w/ OEM (same size, better quality fixtures) when I swapped running and signal light positions.

Since we're on lighting, for the rear, I replaced the original NA spec ones with the NA Defender units. The size is close and they look good. I also went for LED 'bulbs' all around...not for the look, but for their very low current draw and durability. I searched for LED's that were as bright if not brighter than original bulbs, but that also had a similar pattern; minimal points of light, etc. For the clear lenses, I found some 'warm' white units that look very close to incandescent. Slathered everything in dielectric grease and hopefully won't be dealing w/ them for quite a while.

I am second guessing my rear brake and signal setup. Once the big items are done, I may swap the signal and brake lights, essentially buy new lenses and swap wires, so that the large units are the running/stop lamps...my thinking is that large signals are nice but bigger stop lamps are a real plus.

current setup w/ the Defender lighting:

(excuse mess in a garage..having work done, had a circuit off..resorted to extension cords for lighting)



w

[Partsman]

Nice sIII, you say you're in Central Mass, so am I, Southern Worcester Co. Dudley, MA.

[pitchrollyaw]

I'm in The Hopper.....Hopkinton