Once the Landy bug bites, you’ll find them popping up in life more often than you might think.
You’ll spot them on the roads.
“Ooh, nice classic Rangie.”
You’ll spot them on TV programs.
“Ooh look, Rosemary and Thyme drive a Series 3. Nice.”
And you’ll probably find yourself talking about them to anyone who’ll put up with your droning on about the pros and cons of owning a geriatric Landy.
Take, for example, the other night… Dick and I were having a chinwag about The Beast (his classic V8 Rangie).
See, The Beast was acquired from another family member who’s also a Landy nut. Although not any more.
And he was also an engineer-of-sorts by trade. Which means The Beast had all sorts of extras made up for it.
For example… it’s got handmade grills / vents in the front wings to help with a spot of cooling.
A custom fabricated front bumper that would likely demolish a small block of flats if you happened to hurtle into them.
“Sorry about destroying your home. I think I might’ve scratched the paint on my bumper a little.”
And one of the other additions was binning the viscous cooling fan and inserting electric fans instead.
For the uninitiated… it gives you a bit more oomph, among other things, because the engine isn’t having to drive a dirty great cooling fan.
But fitting the fan wasn’t enough. He went a step further and fitted an ‘on/off’ switch so you can override the thermostat and switch the fan permanently on.
But when Dick acquired The Beast, he had his own ideas of what that switch should do.
Specifically… he kinda reversed the switch so the fans could be completely switched off.
Why?
If you’ve ever waded deep water with cooling fans running, you’ll already know. For those that dont…
At best, it’ll splash water over your burbling V8. Water and petrol engines don’t play nicely (unless the engine’s been waterproofed). And you’ll end up silently bobbing around, water splashing up the side.
At worse… the force of the water will sheer the blades off the fans and they’ll become about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
So now, when The Beast goes swimming, we flick the switch, kill the fans, and breaststroke our way across the stream knowing the fans are safe from damage. Reach the other side, flick the switch, and everything goes back to normal.
Nice.
But that’s not the only way. Take, for example, if you’ve still got a regular fan. As found in Dorothy the Series 3.
It’s not even a viscous unit – the fan permanently runs. And while she’s a diesel – so splashing water around under the bonnet shouldn’t be a problem – you might still want to stop the fan from turning while you’re wading across.
And how you do that is on page 33 of a book I’ve just started reading called “The Impossible Takes A Little Longer”.
It’s about an overland journey in the 1950’s of a Brit, and his overland buddies, travelling from Blighty, overland to Singapore and then onto Australia for some ‘outback shenanigans’, before turning around and heading back home to Blighty again.
I’d heard of this book, but having already read The Last Overland, I thought – mistakenly – this was just another perspective on that expedition.
I was wrong.
And, in fact, if you’ve read The Last Overland, you’ll find The Impossible Takes A Little Longer an easier read. (I struggled a bit with the wording of TLO)
There’s nothing wrong with The Last Overland. I’d recommend a read. But, for me, The Impossible Takes A Little Longer is (so far) an easier and more enjoyable digest.
And of course there’s these little tips and tricks that keep popping up, like this one…
Remove the fan belt before wading deep water.
No fan belt, no working fan.
No working fan, no snapped blades or water jetted around under the bonnet.
Simple yet damn effective. (just be sure to not run it for any longer than you need to until the belt’s been refitted).
And of course its a piece of cake in an old Landy. Try doing that on a later Landy?!
We like this book so much (it’s Dick’s favourite Landy based book) we’re going to get some in to sell. But in the mean time…
…check out some of the photos from the book, here: https://www.lrsoc.com/web/portfolio-items/photos-from-the-impossible-takes-takes-a-little-longer/
I’m only 33 pages in so far, but I already know this book’s a good’un.
I’d suggest you mosey on over to your favourite book seller and pick up a copy.
Old Landys Rule!
Cheers, Phil.