Hi
Finally got round to posting a build thread for my latest project. It starts with a eBay impulse purchase of a 1975 6x6 Range rover classic ice cream truck. The conversion was done in the 80's and was originally a Carmichael commando fire tender, unusually for one of these it has a drive through centre axle where most where 6x4, I am unsure as to when the drive through was fitted weather it was original or fitted later when the conversion was done. But from the look of it it uses mostly standard parts which is a nice bonus. As you can Imagen after 30 years on a welsh beach the the rot was deep and extensive in the body but amazingly the chassis is 95% solid it, this is probably due to the 1/2” of wax-oil coating everting underneath , that stuff really does work.
So the plan for the project is to fit a defender double cab 4 door body keeping the 100” wheelbase to the middle axle and hopefully ending up with a full length 2 door 110 rear tub as the pick up bed.
first off stripping down the ice cream truck and seeing what is there.
Perkins monstrosity under the bonnet, Really good runner but massively heavy (it was sitting on the bump stops at the front) and don't think it revs much past 2500rpm.
Handy having access to a fork lift for this part.
spring hangers are gone but generally the chassis is very good
still drivable, had to give it a bit of a run about in the yard lol
back on the drive to finish the strip down, hardly had to undo a bolt to get the front clip off, was a probably a total of 6" of good steel holding it on, cut that it it all just lifted away in pieces
all stripped down and off to a local company to be grit blasted and etch primed. want to get it all properly de mucked and de rusted before starting the modifications to take the body
Bit of a bonus, it has an lt95 with its pto still in there have got to be pretty rare. good chance it has only done the 30k on the ode too. no use to me as will be going for a different engine/ box combination.
with the chassis and axles off to be blasted its time to think about accumulating parts for the body. after contacting a load of breakers and scouring the bay it became pretty apparent buying individual body parts is going to be insanely expensive, especially after buying all the soppy little bits of trim etc that 20-50quid you to death on these projects. So i found a complete 110 station waggon with straight panelling, good bulkead fairly decent interior and a rotten chassis. probably over paid for it but this will provide 90% of the parts i need to get er done. Shame its a smoky 19j but can't have everything i suppose. and before anyone says it, i do feel bad about cutting up a fairly decent 110 for this but at the same time it would take months far more money to collect individual bits so is what it is
That's as far as i have got so far, away working for a couple of weeks and starting to order parts to make it happen. to end for now a few pics of the look i am aiming for.
this is how i intend on handling the middle axle being 10" further forward compared to a 110"
for some reason i cant post the pic off this website but that is the general look i want to achieve
https://www.topspeed.com/cars/land_...black-mamba-by-classic-overland-ar186751.html
finally if anyone has a 2 door 110 and tape measure handy I could do with a measurement of the rear tub/wing from the door shut to the rear so in can work out if i am going to use a 90 or 110 rear crossmember. don't feel right going an measuring up some guys 110 in a carpark
far from my first green oval project but first time I have done anything with a defender, opinions and input always welcome.
And i know i need to tidy up and do some weeding, I get reminded of it by mission control daily
Jon
Finally got round to posting a build thread for my latest project. It starts with a eBay impulse purchase of a 1975 6x6 Range rover classic ice cream truck. The conversion was done in the 80's and was originally a Carmichael commando fire tender, unusually for one of these it has a drive through centre axle where most where 6x4, I am unsure as to when the drive through was fitted weather it was original or fitted later when the conversion was done. But from the look of it it uses mostly standard parts which is a nice bonus. As you can Imagen after 30 years on a welsh beach the the rot was deep and extensive in the body but amazingly the chassis is 95% solid it, this is probably due to the 1/2” of wax-oil coating everting underneath , that stuff really does work.
So the plan for the project is to fit a defender double cab 4 door body keeping the 100” wheelbase to the middle axle and hopefully ending up with a full length 2 door 110 rear tub as the pick up bed.
first off stripping down the ice cream truck and seeing what is there.
Perkins monstrosity under the bonnet, Really good runner but massively heavy (it was sitting on the bump stops at the front) and don't think it revs much past 2500rpm.
Handy having access to a fork lift for this part.
spring hangers are gone but generally the chassis is very good
still drivable, had to give it a bit of a run about in the yard lol
back on the drive to finish the strip down, hardly had to undo a bolt to get the front clip off, was a probably a total of 6" of good steel holding it on, cut that it it all just lifted away in pieces
all stripped down and off to a local company to be grit blasted and etch primed. want to get it all properly de mucked and de rusted before starting the modifications to take the body
Bit of a bonus, it has an lt95 with its pto still in there have got to be pretty rare. good chance it has only done the 30k on the ode too. no use to me as will be going for a different engine/ box combination.
with the chassis and axles off to be blasted its time to think about accumulating parts for the body. after contacting a load of breakers and scouring the bay it became pretty apparent buying individual body parts is going to be insanely expensive, especially after buying all the soppy little bits of trim etc that 20-50quid you to death on these projects. So i found a complete 110 station waggon with straight panelling, good bulkead fairly decent interior and a rotten chassis. probably over paid for it but this will provide 90% of the parts i need to get er done. Shame its a smoky 19j but can't have everything i suppose. and before anyone says it, i do feel bad about cutting up a fairly decent 110 for this but at the same time it would take months far more money to collect individual bits so is what it is
That's as far as i have got so far, away working for a couple of weeks and starting to order parts to make it happen. to end for now a few pics of the look i am aiming for.
this is how i intend on handling the middle axle being 10" further forward compared to a 110"
for some reason i cant post the pic off this website but that is the general look i want to achieve
https://www.topspeed.com/cars/land_...black-mamba-by-classic-overland-ar186751.html
finally if anyone has a 2 door 110 and tape measure handy I could do with a measurement of the rear tub/wing from the door shut to the rear so in can work out if i am going to use a 90 or 110 rear crossmember. don't feel right going an measuring up some guys 110 in a carpark
far from my first green oval project but first time I have done anything with a defender, opinions and input always welcome.
And i know i need to tidy up and do some weeding, I get reminded of it by mission control daily
Jon
Attachments
Last edited:
