Perth's hidden Land Rover Heaven.

I am still so excited that I can hardly sit still to write this post.

Last weekend I followed up on an advertisement on Gumtree for a "General Garage Sale" which included Land Rover parts.  Having missed that sale, I got in contact with the seller, a lovely guy called Joe, to see if I could come another time. We agreed to meet at 9:30am the following Sunday.  That was today.

I pulled up outside the suburban house and saw a huge pile of wheels and tyres outside, but nothing prepared me for what I found inside the gates!

Joe told me that his dad was a bit of a hoarder and loved Land Rovers.  Having recently passed away, Joe and his brothers were now clearing out the house, so bare in mind the following photographs are after a serious culling had already happened. God knows how excited I would have been if I had had first dibs on the parts.

 Wing skins and storage box covers

 Bonnets, Series through to Defender

 Doors

 Axles, drive shafts and who knows what

 Series 2 Radiator Grille (Yep that is mine, on hold waiting collection)

 Panels and stuff

Transmission covers, sun visors and sills 

 D- Rings, one on top is going on Leif

 SWB side panels and tail gates, oh and a lawn mower, non Land Rover haha

 Windscreens

 Fuel tanks

 I don't know what all is here but some of it is new

 Assorted hoses, new but don't know how old

 Wings and truck cab panels

 Rear tailgate returning to nature sadly, these are hard to find normally

Winches!!

I spent several hours looking through the parts, which must have included at least 10 dismantled Landy's but also brand new, still in packaging bits.  It was amongst that I found my most pleasing purchase; a brand new rear view mirror, complete in it's unopened Rover box!

Brand New, un-opened and mine!!!

There was so much stuff I didn't get to look at half of it, and not knowing what Leif actually is going to need, I didn't snap up any of the axles, prop shafts, bearings, gauges and god knows what else was hidden there.  I have a feeling I will regret that!

So with wifey's Volvo filled to capacity I took home:

Series 2 radiator panel
Two wing skins
Original gear knob still with numbers visible
Transmission tunnel
Front apron
Series 2 side skirts
Dash board cluster surround
Wiper motor cover
Passenger door which is near perfect
Passenger front door top
Rear door handle
D Ring
Rear view mirror

Leif's new parts

Leif didn't actually need some of these parts, but as her paintwork is so rubbish I figured if I could get good panels with a better paint finish then it would be less prep work later.

Anyway, if you are a Series Land Rover owner in Perth and need parts, please get in contact and I will pass on Joe's details.

Tyro Part Mart - Item 5: Grille

Series 1 Grille

This grille is in amazing condition and is complete with all of its chrome pieces.  It is straight and un-damaged with plenty of shine.  Rosette and star not included.

Suitable for W114, W115 250

Quantity - 1 only

Part number: N/A

SOLD

De-chromafication

With Jade's bumpers, grille and headlights removed, a phone call from a really nice chap on the other side of the country who needed some chrome for his car, motivated me to get moving with the next stage of Jade's de-chromafication.

I few of the hip line trim pieces were already damaged making these a good place to start to see how easily the parts would come off; after all I didn't want to damage parts that someone else was able to use.

To my I surprised the hip line and sill trim pieces all come off very easily.  All I used was a cloth covered large flat screwdriver, and worked my way along each piece popping the clips out of the holders.  Jade may have been an exceptions as the trim had already been removed one already when Jade changed colour, cars with original paint may not be so easy.

Starting with a damaged one.  

Here you can see the red fixings that hold all the trim pieces in place.  

It is a simple press fixing.

So much chrome, part of the /8's appeal

 

The quarter panel hip line trim is almost 2metres long!!!

The sill trim for some reason had had new fixings points drilled into the sill which, with little consideration for the old one that were left unfilled, potentially assisted with the spread of moisture and therefore rust within the sills.  Not a good example of "out of sight, out of mind".

WHY??!!!! Why would you add twice as many holes into the sill?

Most alarming was the amount of crud that I found under the rear window trim.  This is of corner to me as UGU already has a rust blister under her back window which I have been trying to ignore, but seeing this I realise that I need to deal with it before winter arrives in June.

It is easy to see how rusting under the back window is so common 

when this much crud gets trapped under the trim.

Thankfully the clever folk at Mercedes-Benz in the late '60's must have know the day would come when I would need to post parts across Australia, so the rear window surround breaks down into several pieces thanks to these corner backing plates.

 Rear window trim as we would see it installed on the car

Rear window trim seen from the back with helpful backing plate holding the trim together 

A few of us have had lengthy discussions on W(A)114/115 debating a topic that gets a surprising amount of back lash from the purists: Chrome wheel-arch mouldings, WAM's for short.

Love them or hate them, WAM's appeal to a lot of people and are a common sight on many classic cars and, on the right body coloured car, I quite like them too, but being from the UK, I like many other people had concerns that they would trap moisture and lead to rust.  However, in our climate in Western Australia, we have busted this myth, it is simply not the case and Jade is another example of that.  Despite the huge amount of rust seemly everywhere in her body, the fenders and in near perfect, rust free condition.

WAM's removed and there is no evidence of rust on the 

fenders despite common misconception

Windscreen bottom lip trim and windscreen wiper cowl

So, with the chrome now all off, it's time to get them packed up and off to their new owner.

What's the next task you ask? hmmm, not sure yet so keep posted.

Tyro Part Mart- Item 4: Dinner plates, clocks or wheel trims

Four original 14" wheel trims.

Some gutter rash as you would expect after 43 years of parking.  Perfectly usable and are still a very tight fit to the wheel so little chance of them coming off if installed correctly.

These wheel trims have not yet been polished or cleaned but still have a lot of shine to them which is a great sign of the bling to come!

Suitable for W108, W109, W111, W112, W113, W114, W115, W116 & W123 vehicles

Quantity - 4 only

Part number: N/A

AUD $80 excluding postage. 

Tyro Part Mart - Item 1 Headlight Lens

Following the rebuild of my headlights, I now have a spare H4 Hella lens for sale.

This is the flat, series II lens, not the earlier bevelled type.
Suitable for all W114 & W115 RHD vehicles: 220, 250 & 280.
Fits both headlight units on left and right side
Quantity - 1 only
Part number 002-115096

In used condition with a few very minor stone chips but has no cracks and is very usable.

Open to offers around AUD $45 excluding postage.