Some readers will have heard of
Land Rover Reborn which is a service offered by Jaguar Land Rover and something that the SWLRC team visited back in 2016 and was written up
HERE at the time
Well it's not just JLR who can do a wonderful job in bringing a piece of history back to life in a totally wonderful manner
Back in 2015 I came across a set of photographs that had been taken by a team who had found what remained of a Series 1 Ambulance rotting in a junk pile.
At the time a brief comment was made in the Series 1 club forum part of which is paraphrased here
This is a Bonalack and Sons ambulance bodied 1956 series one Land Rover 107". It is believed these ambulances were built to fill three RAF contracts totaling 35 vehicles and this is the second one ever built being serial No. 870600013 (the run started at 00012) and is believed to be the only surviving example certainly in the UK, but possibly the world, so is a very rare vehicle.
It has been standing since 1969.. Due to this long period of standing, all the steel work is in very poor condition/non existent.
The chassis (a 107" station wagon chassis) is completely gone from the seat box forward and what is left under the body is fairly thin. The bulkhead I think was removed as the only parts I have from it are the vent flaps and the VIN plate (luckily).
The main ambulance body, which is really the rare bit, is of aluminium construction so has largely survived, it's not without it's knocks and scrapes, but is certainly savable, which is why I think this could be a worthwhile project. Also included are the original front doors, front wings, single piece floor/gearbox tunnel, windscreen and bonnet. The engine and gearbox had, unfortunately, been removed long ago, and despite my best efforts, could not be located anywhere on the property. The back axle is still fitted, and amazingly still turns freely, so moving it around and loading it on and off of trailers is relatively easy, the front axle, however, is not present.
Paperwork wise, there is the original Buff log book, stating date of first registration as 10 July 1963, There is also an original MOT certificate dated 1969,
I heard little more until June 2019 when I was contacted by Mike, one of the project team who had come across the
Land Rover Katy Ambulance Pages and had contacted me to see if I had more pictures that could help the project.
I shared what I had, but I think that they had already found most of them through the links provided or elsewhere and wished them well. We discussed a visit, but I was not able to join them at the time due to my work commitments so I wished them well ...
The team were clearly very busy and it was not until October when Mike got in contact again saying that they had completed the bulk of the work and they would now be happy to share some pictures of their finished and really wonderfully looking vehicle
(Pictures reproduced with permission)
I am sure that there will still be the odd job that they find needs doing for some time to come, just like any Land Rover maintenance jobs "just occur".
There is an in depth article in the December 2019 issue of Land Rover Monthly which is a wonderful story of discovery and dedication. I won't repeat it here, but would recommend it as a good read. and to say that it beat the new Defender in space on the cover is something to shout about!
I've not managed to see it in person yet, but for me the nicest part of the discussions with the team was the wonderful comment from Mike which I really appreciated: -
Thank you for your help along the way, your blog was the first point of reference we came across and helped a lot! And gave us some leads! we are grateful for people like yourself who spend time researching and writing about history.
Kind regards
Michael Tokley
I'm grateful that there are excellent mechanics who can do such good work out there keeping history alive!
