easttn4x4

Glad to have ya tell us a little about yourself. and your ride.

Howdy!


I'm Leslie, live in Kingsport. I'm a geologist, work in Big Stone Gap. I hike, camp, am learnin' to fly fish, and beat on Rovers.....


I used to have a couple of Jeeps, an XJ and a FSJ, but when I went lookin' for a CJ or a Jeepster, I ended up gettin' into old Rovers.

I've got a '72 Series III Land Rover I've recently gotten back on the road. 88" wheelbase, "station wagon" hard-top.

I also have a '95 Discovery, but it's parked w/ an engine in need of a rebuild or a replacement. It's a 'round 'tuit project.



Anything else curious about, ask! I'm a pretty affable fella......



Thanks for the welcome!

Any pics of the 72? 88" sounds like a jeep or FJ40 type thing

I can't fault anyone for calling it a "British Jeep"....... Yeah, Series Rovers and CJs and FJ40s are kindred spirits......


Actually, the wife describes me as having a thing for "ugly old 4x4s". FJ's, CJ's and Jeepsters, 1stgen Broncos, cornbinders, old Patrols, FSJ's........ I like 'em all, but, I can't have 'em all, so, I kinda became a Rover guy.....


FYI.... the way Land Rovers got started, was after WWII, an engineer at the Rover car company had gotten a surplus Willys MB (may have been a Ford one, though), and had to keep repairing it. He realized he needed a replacement, and there was nothing else made in England that would suit, so, the company started making the Land-Rover in '48.... originally dimensioned off of an MB, but revised to have front and rear PTO's, easy to make either LHD or RHD. Steel was expensive but aircraft aluminum was cheap, so the bodies were made of aluminum. Planned to export a lot of them, for Africa, India, for farmers, and military. Designed them to be easy to work on. In '58 they made a major revision to them, becoming the Series II. The Series III came in '72, then in '83 they became coil-sprung, the 90 and the 110, which later had the name Defender added to them. Anyway, I can go on and on, boringly so....

Cool, and thanks for the history.

lol.... as I said, I can be boring w/ that stuff..... I need to learn to listen more, type less.....

Atleast ya know the history behind the vehicle that you wheel.

Not to mention it makes for a cool conversation piece.

I get that a lot..... at a gas station, people come up, wanting to know what it is, etc.... so, I like to be well-versed w/ it.....


What's fun..... there's a hole in the front bumper, for the hand crank. Instead of just using the starter, when you're at WalMart, pull out the crank, go around to the front, and start it by hand.... you *really* get the looks then.....

That would be so cool. I just hope it doesn't back fire while using the hand crank.

2nd the back fire...welcome ...

Couple of tips w/ the hand-crank:

1) the started dog is spiraled, so that it *should* kick the handle forward instead of backward....

However, even w/ that safety bit added that older vehicles didn't have, there are other things to help:

2) keep the tip greased so that it will kick forward

3) Never "close" your hand.... don't wrap your thumb around the handle, instead, lay your thumb alongside the handle, so the handle is cupped in your hand... that way, if it does kick backward, it will jump out of your hand. (I'd say, this is the single most important rule.....)

4) pull the choke out a bit before trying this, so that it'll idle up a bit, you don't want it to die after every attempt....

and 5) make sure you turn the ignition to on before spinning it..... it's funny how many times I've seen other people tryin' to show theirs off, and they didn't have the key turned to ON...... (luckily, the only time I've done that myself, was in private, tryin' to figure out why it wasn't starting.... )

The most use I've had for the handle is for turning the engine when setting the timing. It comes in handy then.

it sounds like an old kick start harley ...hard but kinda neat to be able to do it ...

welcome