OK we'll it's not really, but it is time for my annual round up, but this year I quite admit that it's been a bit boring
The reason - simply work a change in the ownership of the company I work for, and changes in responsibilities meant that I really needed to focus on that for a while so plans got put on hold
Incredibly this meant that I have spare parts here ready to be fitted since November 2012 and I still don't have them out of their boxes
OK so what have we done ..
Actually there has been little maintenance because of the lack of use, but i was not happy with the brakes even though they passed and MOT and therefore in February, with Help from Steve I changed the brake adjuster on one of the rear wheels
I took out the fridge I had fitted in June and isolated the electrics that were causing me problems
In July we dressed up and also dressed Katy up for the SWLRC Road run. I like the idea of putting these markings back on when she has a respray even if just ghosted in. Also that month we managed to get away for a week and had nice views through the new skylight and a nice time camping at Chatsworth House campsite, and visiting the house where we met a kindred spirit
Since then I've fitted some bonnet security in September before using her to visit the 2014 Hidden Earth Caving Conference where we managed to cause quite some chaos
Since then in early December I managed to meet up with an active service Pulse ambulance in the Brecon Beacons
For Christmas I had some more Land Rover information and amongst them was another copy of a picture that I have seen before, but this time in colour.
In the book Modern Military Land Rovers: In Colour, 1971-1994 by James Taylor & Bob Morrison there is a copy of a picture that I had only seen in Black and white as reported in January 2013 this time it is clearly printed and it it possible to see a number of details not visible in the B&W copy
So finally summary. Not much of a successful year, in terms of adventures, however plans are being made for more fun next year
And the Ice Cold in Alex reference
I had not seen it for many years, but this classic British WWII film was on again over Christmas
I had not realised that the ambulance in that Film is called Katy They apparently mounted a body off an Austin K2/Y ( Officially "Ambulance 4x2) and stuck it on a Canadian Military Pattern 4x4 chassis so it would be more capable during filming in the sandy conditions. These Austin Ambulances were known as Katies which is fairly obvious reading the K2/Y definition
Nice to know the name has some heritage as an ambulance. Harry Andrews claims in that film "Katy weighs two tons!" whereas the actual weight of the K2 exceeded three tons. Nice to know ours is a bit lighter
If you want to see the actual Ambulance used in that film it's in the hands of the Ambulance Heritage Society
As this is a Land Rover Blog this screen-grab I have found from the film shows a classic continuity error that a Series I Land Rover is parked up in the closing few seconds of the film. In the foreground is Anthony Quayle - a Lancastrian of Manx Heritage playing a German posing as a South African ...
If you want to see the Land Rover in moving pictures look at the last 15 seconds of this (about 7:13) HERE
The reason - simply work a change in the ownership of the company I work for, and changes in responsibilities meant that I really needed to focus on that for a while so plans got put on hold
Incredibly this meant that I have spare parts here ready to be fitted since November 2012 and I still don't have them out of their boxes
OK so what have we done ..
Actually there has been little maintenance because of the lack of use, but i was not happy with the brakes even though they passed and MOT and therefore in February, with Help from Steve I changed the brake adjuster on one of the rear wheels
I took out the fridge I had fitted in June and isolated the electrics that were causing me problems
In July we dressed up and also dressed Katy up for the SWLRC Road run. I like the idea of putting these markings back on when she has a respray even if just ghosted in. Also that month we managed to get away for a week and had nice views through the new skylight and a nice time camping at Chatsworth House campsite, and visiting the house where we met a kindred spirit
Since then I've fitted some bonnet security in September before using her to visit the 2014 Hidden Earth Caving Conference where we managed to cause quite some chaos
Since then in early December I managed to meet up with an active service Pulse ambulance in the Brecon Beacons
For Christmas I had some more Land Rover information and amongst them was another copy of a picture that I have seen before, but this time in colour.
In the book Modern Military Land Rovers: In Colour, 1971-1994 by James Taylor & Bob Morrison there is a copy of a picture that I had only seen in Black and white as reported in January 2013 this time it is clearly printed and it it possible to see a number of details not visible in the B&W copy
From this I can now be sure that Katy had a window on the drivers side and that the panel that has been riveted on that side is clearly a new panel added during the conversion to a camper as the camper window is a lot smaller than the original window would have been
So finally summary. Not much of a successful year, in terms of adventures, however plans are being made for more fun next year
And the Ice Cold in Alex reference
I had not seen it for many years, but this classic British WWII film was on again over Christmas
I had not realised that the ambulance in that Film is called Katy They apparently mounted a body off an Austin K2/Y ( Officially "Ambulance 4x2) and stuck it on a Canadian Military Pattern 4x4 chassis so it would be more capable during filming in the sandy conditions. These Austin Ambulances were known as Katies which is fairly obvious reading the K2/Y definition
Nice to know the name has some heritage as an ambulance. Harry Andrews claims in that film "Katy weighs two tons!" whereas the actual weight of the K2 exceeded three tons. Nice to know ours is a bit lighter
If you want to see the actual Ambulance used in that film it's in the hands of the Ambulance Heritage Society
As this is a Land Rover Blog this screen-grab I have found from the film shows a classic continuity error that a Series I Land Rover is parked up in the closing few seconds of the film. In the foreground is Anthony Quayle - a Lancastrian of Manx Heritage playing a German posing as a South African ...
If you want to see the Land Rover in moving pictures look at the last 15 seconds of this (about 7:13) HERE
