7mm Airfix Land Rover Series 1 107" pickup
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- Start date
Osgood
Western Thunderer
My most recent Glass's went up to end March 63, so well done!
simond
Western Thunderer
Well, yes, except it suggests the vehicle hasn’t yet has its first MOT….
Now, I owned it from 1985/6 to around 1998 or so, and I definitely MOT’d it, every year. It’s been SORNED for many years, probably since 1998, when I sold it to my pal, Mike. At least when he does finish the job, he won’t have to pay road tax…
simond
Western Thunderer
Vehicle makeLAND ROVER
Date of first registrationApril 1963
Year of manufacture1963
Cylinder capacity3500 cc
CO₂ emissionsNot available
Fuel typePETROL
Euro statusNot available
Real Driving Emissions (RDE)Not available
Export markerNo
Vehicle statusSORN
Vehicle colourGREEN
Vehicle type approvalNot available
Wheelplan2 AXLE RIGID BODY
Revenue weight3499 kg
Date of last V5C (logbook) issued23 August 2023
I’m pretty sure it was built in 1952, though I don’t have any documents any more: it‘s a S1A 80” chassis which were built between 1948 and 1954, and given it didn’t have the “grille over the lights”, it’s post 1950. The engine and gearbox (and axles etc) were as far from standard as possible, so they offer no help in dating it. It’s clear that the DVLA date is not the date of manufacture.
RDE…. It had/has a Rover 3.5 litre V8 with a rudimentary exhaust, basic pancake intake filters, and SU carbs…. On one memorable day hauling boats on and off the beach at Balnakiel in softish sand, I realised that I had actually achieved only 10 miles in the day, ie 1mpg, when I filled the tank. “Off the scale” would be more accurate than “not available”
This has nothing at all to do with building the model. Sorry for the distraction, I hope the photo is useful for weathering or something…
Date of first registrationApril 1963
Year of manufacture1963
Cylinder capacity3500 cc
CO₂ emissionsNot available
Fuel typePETROL
Euro statusNot available
Real Driving Emissions (RDE)Not available
Export markerNo
Vehicle statusSORN
Vehicle colourGREEN
Vehicle type approvalNot available
Wheelplan2 AXLE RIGID BODY
Revenue weight3499 kg
Date of last V5C (logbook) issued23 August 2023
I’m pretty sure it was built in 1952, though I don’t have any documents any more: it‘s a S1A 80” chassis which were built between 1948 and 1954, and given it didn’t have the “grille over the lights”, it’s post 1950. The engine and gearbox (and axles etc) were as far from standard as possible, so they offer no help in dating it. It’s clear that the DVLA date is not the date of manufacture.
RDE…. It had/has a Rover 3.5 litre V8 with a rudimentary exhaust, basic pancake intake filters, and SU carbs…. On one memorable day hauling boats on and off the beach at Balnakiel in softish sand, I realised that I had actually achieved only 10 miles in the day, ie 1mpg, when I filled the tank. “Off the scale” would be more accurate than “not available”
This has nothing at all to do with building the model. Sorry for the distraction, I hope the photo is useful for weathering or something…
At the tender age of 14 I started my first holiday job in the Gloucester County Council Vehicle and Driving Licensing Office. The appointment was in no doubt assisted by my mother being the secretary to the head honcho! The office contained card references to every vehicle that had been first registered in the county, ie having a registration mark where the final two letters were AD, DD, DF or DG. The system was that these marks were specific to the licensing authority which would keep a record of the area in which the vehicle was last taxed.
So we had large files that contained the history of ownership and recent registration information on both 'home' - ie vehicles with AD, DD, DF or DG marks - and 'foreign' cars - ie those that were originally registered outside the county. When ownership of a vehicle transferred outside our area - for example to Gloucester City (FH) - the file would be sent to the new owning authority. If the vehicle was a home number, the main card index would be updated to show where the car was now registered.
At that time there was no police national computer, so police forces around the country would ring and ask for details about vehicles. If the car was last taxed in our area we would no the name and address of the last person who had taxed it. If not, then for home numbers we could tell them who should have the details.
Prior to 1963 marks were always 2 letters followed by up to 4 numbers. Once the two letter combinations were used up then we started again from AAD 1 to AAD999, then ADD1-999, ADF1-999. ADG1-999 then BAD 1 etc. Some combinations were not used. the letter I and I think O were omitted as was Q. Anything that could be construed as naughty was omitted. I think this included the Romanian word for lesbian but that might be an urban myth.
By about 1963 many councils had run out of registrations, so 'Reverse' registrations were issued where the number preceded the letters. Glos CC certainly issued these. Even so some councils still had insufficient allocation so the year letter suffix was introduced by a few councils who issued A suffixes. Most issue B plates and I think it was universal by C. This caused a rush of work over the Christmas period so letter E was for part year with F issued in September(?) which was a quiet month.
One of my last jobs there was taking details from the files and transferring to forms that were used to input information to DVLA's computer and stripping down and packing the paper copies which went to some airfield in South Wales for storage.
I am not aware of any instance where an owning mark was lent to another authority. It would have caused difficulties with traceability if it had.
Glos CC had a policy of reserving the first 99 numbers for motorcycle registrations but the ratio was such that this resulted in a glut of 1-99 numbers. When this happened a batch would be released for general use. I remember being on the phones one day answering police calls and issuing numbers when a very small garage - in Yate if memory serves me correct - rang requesting a number, to be told it was their lucky day and I issued XDD 1 H (or whatever) to the garage, resulting first in stunned silence followed by an admonishment for issuing the wrong type of number. Having carefully explained that I did actually know what I was doing, the garage rang off. There must then have been a hasty conference at the other end as they quickly rang back and demanded another 8 numbers! They would have known that these numbers would have been seen by some as a status symbol.
Fun and games did exist. We had a colleague who wasn't the brightest button in the box. One day, when he was on phone duty, we rang in pretending to be plod and asking for ownership details of a vehicle MAF 1 A. We had made up a file showing the car to be a black and silver Cadillac owned to a Mr A Capone. Said fellow passed on the details in a straight face while we rolled around.
Happy Days!
David
So we had large files that contained the history of ownership and recent registration information on both 'home' - ie vehicles with AD, DD, DF or DG marks - and 'foreign' cars - ie those that were originally registered outside the county. When ownership of a vehicle transferred outside our area - for example to Gloucester City (FH) - the file would be sent to the new owning authority. If the vehicle was a home number, the main card index would be updated to show where the car was now registered.
At that time there was no police national computer, so police forces around the country would ring and ask for details about vehicles. If the car was last taxed in our area we would no the name and address of the last person who had taxed it. If not, then for home numbers we could tell them who should have the details.
Prior to 1963 marks were always 2 letters followed by up to 4 numbers. Once the two letter combinations were used up then we started again from AAD 1 to AAD999, then ADD1-999, ADF1-999. ADG1-999 then BAD 1 etc. Some combinations were not used. the letter I and I think O were omitted as was Q. Anything that could be construed as naughty was omitted. I think this included the Romanian word for lesbian but that might be an urban myth.
By about 1963 many councils had run out of registrations, so 'Reverse' registrations were issued where the number preceded the letters. Glos CC certainly issued these. Even so some councils still had insufficient allocation so the year letter suffix was introduced by a few councils who issued A suffixes. Most issue B plates and I think it was universal by C. This caused a rush of work over the Christmas period so letter E was for part year with F issued in September(?) which was a quiet month.
One of my last jobs there was taking details from the files and transferring to forms that were used to input information to DVLA's computer and stripping down and packing the paper copies which went to some airfield in South Wales for storage.
I am not aware of any instance where an owning mark was lent to another authority. It would have caused difficulties with traceability if it had.
Glos CC had a policy of reserving the first 99 numbers for motorcycle registrations but the ratio was such that this resulted in a glut of 1-99 numbers. When this happened a batch would be released for general use. I remember being on the phones one day answering police calls and issuing numbers when a very small garage - in Yate if memory serves me correct - rang requesting a number, to be told it was their lucky day and I issued XDD 1 H (or whatever) to the garage, resulting first in stunned silence followed by an admonishment for issuing the wrong type of number. Having carefully explained that I did actually know what I was doing, the garage rang off. There must then have been a hasty conference at the other end as they quickly rang back and demanded another 8 numbers! They would have known that these numbers would have been seen by some as a status symbol.
Fun and games did exist. We had a colleague who wasn't the brightest button in the box. One day, when he was on phone duty, we rang in pretending to be plod and asking for ownership details of a vehicle MAF 1 A. We had made up a file showing the car to be a black and silver Cadillac owned to a Mr A Capone. Said fellow passed on the details in a straight face while we rolled around.
Happy Days!
David
Richard Gawler
Western Thunderer
By August 1989, the DVLA were retaining numbers 1-20 for people prepared to pay for them, but I received a two-digit plate for my Honda NTV600. The arrangment G48 xxx (forgotten the other letters!) fitted onto a standard rectanglular plate. This was in Shropshire.
spikey faz
Western Thunderer
Apart from a little bit of mild weathering I'm about done.
Mike
Mike
PhilMortimer
Active Member
Very Nice!
P
P
Dave
Western Thunderer
I see that a lot of people here have had the disease at one time or another. I was always Series 2 and Series 3s. I once had 4 that were all taxed (free) and tested at the same time when the disease was at its worst.
The only one I have left now is the 1:43 die cast that I had on my old tar distillers layout. I can't find a photo that shows the rear end but I had cut the tailgate off and scratchbuilt a PTO-driven arc welding set to go in the back of it.
The only one I have left now is the 1:43 die cast that I had on my old tar distillers layout. I can't find a photo that shows the rear end but I had cut the tailgate off and scratchbuilt a PTO-driven arc welding set to go in the back of it.
spikey faz
Western Thunderer
Thanks Phil
spikey faz
Western Thunderer
I started with a Series II (5347UE), then a Series I (RPX787) followed by a Series IIA (FLX268J).
I'd love to see Airfix do something similar with a Range Rover Classic.
Mike
PhilMortimer
Active Member
Still have my Diesel SIII LWB SW - it’s followed me half way round the world (slowly……) and gets lots of comments when I’m on the road. Won’t part with it! Oh, and Canyon is trying to work out how 64 of his brethein will squeeze into the space under the hood……….
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Osgood
Western Thunderer
Just received
This means that, in conjunction with Glass's index, I can now make up the number plates for my fleet of Classic Commercial AEC 6 wheel tippers.
(Well - I have to start the kits somewhere
)
They arrived in the post today for me - thanks for the lead.
This means that, in conjunction with Glass's index, I can now make up the number plates for my fleet of Classic Commercial AEC 6 wheel tippers.
(Well - I have to start the kits somewhere
)
spikey faz
Western Thunderer
I've added a pair of wing mirrors. I cut off the etched arms and soldered on replacement brass rod arms as I was a bit worried about the etched ones bending.
Mike
Mike