Many years ago, when our SWB 88" ran a pickup cab along with a tilt (3/4) and like ours, others were using their series Landys in their line of work, hardtops to combat the rise in thefts suddenly became a very expensive security upgrade. Over the years we must have scrapped (I know, I know...) a dozen or more Landys, selling parts to keep others & ours on the road. One particular component sticks in my memory. A complete STEEL 88" hardtop. Yup, as far as I can remember, It looked pretty much identical to the regular alloy hardtops apart from the rust spots! The new owner went away happy having sorted his security issues, but I often wondered how long went by before it looked liked a mobile boat anchor as we live near the coast! Anybody heard of these?
Steel hardtops.
- Thread starter rubix101
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tottot
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Where are you @rubix101? All over the World there have been local adaptions to meet local needs. The Land Rover being a bolt together box lent itself well to this.
CKD kits were exported where the basic chassis running gear was supplied to be assembled in local works. Often body parts were made locally because of government rules requiring some of the vehicle to be produced at home.
I have seen a hardtop on a series one 80, It was of galvanized sheet, tidy job too. The owner told me these hard tops were produced by a sheet metal firm in north England. This was before Land Rover started producing hardtops themselves.
CKD kits were exported where the basic chassis running gear was supplied to be assembled in local works. Often body parts were made locally because of government rules requiring some of the vehicle to be produced at home.
I have seen a hardtop on a series one 80, It was of galvanized sheet, tidy job too. The owner told me these hard tops were produced by a sheet metal firm in north England. This was before Land Rover started producing hardtops themselves.
A good point. I'm in Cornwall. Unlike the galvanized sheet series 1 hardtop produced as you mentioned in the north of England, this was just plain sheet steel with most of the rust spots on the inside from condensation I'm guessing. Yup, heavy. It was certainly a well crafted hardtop & from memory identical to the alloy one. I know there were a number of series 1's produced with alloy bulkheads (I'd love to see one of them!) when the jig broke down & couldn't help but draw a similar comparison here - did Landrover suddenly become short of alloy? Not so methinks now, & as you suggested, it was probably made locally, perhaps coz of some obscure government ruling - & not necessarily in this country of course & possibly linked to the CKD kits at the time. I am left wondering by what convoluted route did this particular Landy take for it to find its way to us, sadly nobody bothered with log books back then when scrapping vehicles so no details on it. I'd still like to hear of anybody else coming across anything like this.
tottot
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It could be the company ordered a number of pickup Landy's and then found security an issue. Having locally made tops was likely cheaper and quicker. Sort of a pre Ivor Williams top.
The so called alloy bulkhead was made when the big press for the basic bulkhead sheet broke down. To keep production going a jig was used to hand build some bulkheads. What is not understood is the main frame was still steel to which alloy panels were attached. Given that doubt many if any survive unless someone knows better.
The so called alloy bulkhead was made when the big press for the basic bulkhead sheet broke down. To keep production going a jig was used to hand build some bulkheads. What is not understood is the main frame was still steel to which alloy panels were attached. Given that doubt many if any survive unless someone knows better.
Hmmmnn, very interesting! It would make sense I guess for the 'alloy' bulkhead to have an interior steel bracing as like stainless steel, aluminium work-hardens & looking at what some individuals put on roof racks back then the loading may have risked a pure alloy bulkhead tearing/splitting at some point. Still, nice to have alloy footwells, etc. Ta for the info.
