She's Lump

Gentlemen, meet Lump.

Lump is our 1963 Land Rover Series IIA, Long Wheel Base, 4 wheel drive, 5 door Station Wagon. Lump has a 2.25 L diesel engine (63HP) and can be a bit slow in a stiff headwind or up a steep hill, hence the name, but is fine around town.

 

We purchased Lump on December 08, 1995 from a guy who lived outside of Albany, NY. The 150 mile drive home was nerve wracking, the mantra all the way back was, "One more exit, Just one more exit". We arrived home about 4:30PM, made the rounds introducing Lump to family and friends and capped the day off by opening a bottle of 1963 Offley Boa Vista Vintage Port. Three days later and perhaps 8 more miles, Lump stopped due to a clutch issue. My first major repair. After that, all the other repairs were a breeze. Normally, we have the spare on the hood of the truck, but this photo makes it is easier to compare it to the Matchbox Land Rover below.

 

One day while the whole family was at the Bryson Homestead, some matchbox cars were found in the attic. I talked my nephew out of this small blue rover. That was before we had found our Rover, so when the seller told me his Rover was blue, I knew it was the one. Always wanted a Land Rover, they seemed rugged and adventurous and tough, nothing like me at all. I envisioned myself going on expeditions with my Land Rover or out into the wilds of Africa like on PBS nature shows or Daktari. Hunting for the rare perfect blue spruce was nearer to the truth.

In the Catskills with Lump, on one of our yearly camping trips.

 

Here is Lump on an RTV (Road Taxed Vehicle) trials course. An RTV trial consists of an off road course having 12 gates which you need to get through without touching either of the two poles that make up a gate. You hit a gate and you score that gate's number. Gates are scored from 12 down, a low score is what you want.

 

Lump in the wilds of Pennsynvania. Didn't get stuck all day, just at camp, should have had the chains on.

 

We have Lump configured to hold 6 people, 2 in front, three across the middle bench and one in a jump seat in the back. The station wagon can fit 2 folding bench seats in the back, but we were never going to transport 10 people. The leaf springs were changed over to softer riding medium duty parabolic springs in April 1998, it did help, but still rides like a truck. Other changes from standard on Lump are; spin on oil filter, spin on fuel filter, Fairey Overdrive, superwinch X9 on a separate bumper and an upgraded alternator/battery for the winch. Other than that, Lump is a basic vehicle. We have taken it on vacations, ROVERS club events, camping, moving appliances, taking junk to the dump and picking up building materials. Very useful indeed.

In May 1996, five months after changing the clutch in Lump, we added Ort to our stable. Ort was a 1971 Series IIA 88" wheelbase 3 door model with a petrol engine. Ort was the younger, peppier sibling of Lump. We put a forward facing Defender 90 bench seat in the back for the kids. Here is Ort with one of the neighborhood urchins. I think she has a brother Sean. We sold Ort in late 1999 for about double of what we paid. That even covered most of the parts we bought for it.

 

A few years later we purchased a 1988 Range Rover. Here it is high centered in the Pine Barrens, behind it is Ort and behind Ort is my Dad. That was a great day out. We had the Range Rover from February 2000 to March of 2007. We did not do as well when we sold the Range Rover.

 

Rovers can become a habit, at one point we had the 2 series Rovers, the Range Rover and a 1997 Land Rover Discovery and only 2 drivers. We've been cutting back lately, now we only have 3 vehicles and 2 full-time drivers.

Saw some recent Land Rover blog postings at The Sporting Life and A Trip Down South which prompted me to ramble on about our Land Rovers.