SHORT ERIC my S2A Project

Hi this is my new project "short Eric" , short as it's a SWB and Eric because of the reg plate .Eric is a 1693 Series 2a petrol, one owner from new and best of all it was free as It was my girlfriends dad's.

I'm sort of new to Land rovers certainly bringing old ones back from the dead, but I've rebuilt a VW camper and worked "in the trade" for 30 years.
This is what greeted me when I went to see it today, the good news is that it's only been outside for about 4-5 years. Before that it was garaged all or at least most of it's life, according to the DVLA website the last MOT was in 1990

And the 50k on the clock is genuine!

After a look around it appears to be better than I first thought, even the baulk head looks to be surprisingly good however I'm under no illusions this is going to be simple.


So the plan is for a sympathetic restoration, keeping as much of the original car as possible repairing rather that replacing but being sensible. Making a couple of "sensible" modifications to make it more fun and easier to drive. That's my girlfriends request and as it was her dad's it the least I can do

After a couple of hours messing around I didn't manage to get it going ( it's got no spark at the plugs and the fuel tank wants draining, flushing etc) but I did get it cleared ready to bring it home



Any advice, constructive criticism or p£%s taking welcome

Very nice i restored a 1961 model a few years back but looking at yours and going off the reg plate it could be older than you think as mine was an A reg, think your type of reg ended in 1960 but i could be wrong

The log book shows the reg date as July '63, I believe A reg was August '63 so this must have been just before the A suffix was released. Sharon's dad has had it from new so there's nothing dodgy about the reg etc. But ....... I could be wrong

Mr knuckles said:

The log book shows the reg date as July '63, I believe A reg was August '63 so this must have been just before the A suffix was released. Sharon's dad has had it from new so there's nothing dodgy about the reg etc. But ....... I could be wrong

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Are right ok

Hello & welcome!
I assume the date is 1963, and not much earlier as per your first post (read it again! )
"A" reg was January to December 1963, could it be slightly older?

DVLA check says 25th July '63. Some registrations up until 165 didn't have a year identifier letter.
http://www.cvpg.co.uk/REG.pdf

Nice!
Keep the winch on it

That looks a great project have fun with it.

cornish rattler said:

Very nice i restored a 1961 model a few years back but looking at yours and going off the reg plate it could be older than you think as mine was an A reg, think your type of reg ended in 1960 but i could be wrong

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That series you sold to my old man. Its now stood in my back yard still going strong it now has a age related plate on it.

I applied for the log book and waited until I had it in my possession before going any further.
It was my girlfriends dads so I know it's not stolen etc, but he's not seen it for years and it's not been used on the road for 25 years

Nice one i woundered how it was still doing

In the days when that Land Rover was built, registrations were issues by local authorities and not all of them adopted an age related letter suffix at first, especially if they hadn't 'run out' of the older style numbers. It's an E so probably originated in Essex.

It was registered in Reading / Newbury area, RX was the area code for reading in the old system before the new system was bought in around Sept 2001

Finally got the old boy home,
After a weekend spent draining the fuel/ flushing the tank out, replacing plugs, coil and leads he ran.
Not smoothly but enough to drive out of his resting place where he'd been sat for the last 4 or 5 years. Now he's at home i can start working my way through the list of jobs, hopefully in time for summer
Whilst on the trailer i had a better look at the chassis and even the outriggers look good but it has been garaged most it's life. Not going to hold my breath though

Cool project. watching this one too..
there is something truly inspiring about series land rovers ... a beautiful simplicity...

Think he needs a good wash though

Yeah I plan to get the pressure washer out over the weekend. That bits easy and doesn't cost much

Mr knuckles said:

Yeah I plan to get the pressure washer out over the weekend. That bits easy and doesn't cost much

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Looking at it doesn't look like it will cost much anyhow to get it back to being roadworthy! even the canvas looks good!

Might need some new wipers though

Your very lucky with that one, 2A's are my fav and I will be looking for one once I have finished the current project. I hope I can fine one as good as yours.

Money and time permitting I'm hoping to replace the all the brake shoes, cyl's and hoses. Change all the oils, replace leaking seals etc basically give it a full service.
Then at a later date make a few minor "enhancements" but keeping it true to what it is