Fort William.
Buzzer
Ashbourne.
Buzzer:
Buzzer
I believe that is an Austin Gypsy in he photo. Another BMC flop I am afraidā¦
Dipster:
Buzzer:
BuzzerI believe that is an Austin Gypsy in he photo. Another BMC flop I am afraidā¦
You could be right about that Dipster ā¦ I only speak as I find , but as a group of 20 year old lads , we stretched a gypsy , adding a trailing axle to the thing with a view to driving it to Baghdad and back .
Although we had obtained the necessary visas , we only made it halfway across Bulgaria before giving it up as a bad job , returning home by way of Venice , the Italian and French rivieras , then Marseille.
No one gave any thought to taking photographs unfortunately , nor recording the distance covered , although I donāt recall experiencing any mechanical problems en route . Guess we were just lucky eh ?
Eddie Heaton:
Dipster:
Buzzer:
BuzzerI believe that is an Austin Gypsy in he photo. Another BMC flop I am afraidā¦
You could be right about that Dipster ā¦ I only speak as I find , but as a group of 20 year old lads , we stretched a gypsy , adding a trailing axle to the thing with a view to driving it to Baghdad and back .
Although we had obtained the necessary visas , we only made it halfway across Bulgaria before giving it up as a bad job , returning home by way of Venice , the Italian and French rivieras , then Marseille.
No one gave any thought to taking photographs unfortunately , nor recording the distance covered , although I donāt recall experiencing any mechanical problems en route . Guess we were just lucky eh ?
Did yours have metal springs or Flexitor" rubber? I reckon you were taking a risk if you had need spares with a Gypsy! I have travelled fairly widely (with a Land Rover Defender) but have never seen a Gypsy outside the UK.
Buggered if I know to be honest Dipster , it was fifty odd years ago after all , but it did have six wheels ā¦ seven if you count the steering wheel. I may be able to get my hands on a photo of the thing , although Iāll have to dig deep .
Dipster:
Buzzer:
BuzzerI believe that is an Austin Gypsy in he photo. Another BMC flop I am afraidā¦
Not really a flop but when Land Rover came into the group they were dropped as there wasnāt a need for both. On tests the Gypsy out performed the LR in almost every way, it climbed steeper hills and was also far more comfortable to drive. We had a couple of the later ones as breakdown vehicles, one was left hand drive, and they had the 2.2 petrol engine from the LD van etc. Neither gave many problems plus the chassis didnāt rot as rapidly as the Rover! There was a shed full of them on Ashbourne airfield at one time, the Ministry stored them there and they were taken out for a run occasionally and then put back into store. A few pop up at vintage rallies as they auctioned them off with very little mileage on them and they look almost like new!
Pete.
dazcapri:
I think the MK3 Ford ā ā ā ā ā ā was launched in 1980 0r was it earlier in Holland.
Iād never noticed that ā ā ā ā ā ā in the corner of the picture youāre right they were launched in 1980 so that picture had to be taken later than that
[/quote]
I dunno if Iām looking at the same car, but thereās a Volvo 340 in a car park so itās no earlier than 1977.
Carl Williams:
Another photo sent to me through the power of the internet, and I have no clue where it was taken. Obviously our van is on the wrong side of the road passing through roadworks, but how was it taken, If it was today a drone would be the answer but the van is a Bedford with a Boalloy body and we had three of these G Reg but as the bodies built by Boalloy were very poor quality they were all gone by 1976 and there certainly were no drones in those days
I think you may have jumped a bit early there Carl - it looks to me that your wagon is in the right-hand lane of a two-lane junction.
Who/ how that photo was taken I couldnāt say - someone in a crane perhaps?
Suedehead:
0
Where was that Suedehead?
Layby on the A35 near Dorchester, 1991.
Thereās nothing remarkable about this (pretty average) photo, but itās one of a handful of prints Iāve still got, and most of all I wish Iād taken more photos back then.
Ashbourne.
windrush:
Dipster:
Buzzer:
BuzzerI believe that is an Austin Gypsy in he photo. Another BMC flop I am afraidā¦
Not really a flop but when Land Rover came into the group they were dropped as there wasnāt a need for both. On tests the Gypsy out performed the LR in almost every way, it climbed steeper hills and was also far more comfortable to drive. We had a couple of the later ones as breakdown vehicles, one was left hand drive, and they had the 2.2 petrol engine from the LD van etc. Neither gave many problems plus the chassis didnāt rot as rapidly as the Rover! There was a shed full of them on Ashbourne airfield at one time, the Ministry stored them there and they were taken out for a run occasionally and then put back into store. A few pop up at vintage rallies as they auctioned them off with very little mileage on them and they look almost like new!
Pete.
Thinking on this I wondered whether the British army ever took any on?
PS: I know they had the Champ, but the Gypsy?
windrush:
Dipster:
Buzzer:
BuzzerI believe that is an Austin Gypsy in he photo. Another BMC flop I am afraidā¦
Not really a flop but when Land Rover came into the group they were dropped as there wasnāt a need for both. On tests the Gypsy out performed the LR in almost every way, it climbed steeper hills and was also far more comfortable to drive. We had a couple of the later ones as breakdown vehicles, one was left hand drive, and they had the 2.2 petrol engine from the LD van etc. Neither gave many problems plus the chassis didnāt rot as rapidly as the Rover! There was a shed full of them on Ashbourne airfield at one time, the Ministry stored them there and they were taken out for a run occasionally and then put back into store. A few pop up at vintage rallies as they auctioned them off with very little mileage on them and they look almost like new!
Pete.
Interesting history Pete.
I used to borrow an Austin Gypsy to car kids to the swimming pool. They werenāt bad cars for pottering around the countryside with - much as the old Landies werenāt.
Dipster:
windrush:
Dipster:
Buzzer:
BuzzerI believe that is an Austin Gypsy in he photo. Another BMC flop I am afraidā¦
Not really a flop but when Land Rover came into the group they were dropped as there wasnāt a need for both. On tests the Gypsy out performed the LR in almost every way, it climbed steeper hills and was also far more comfortable to drive. We had a couple of the later ones as breakdown vehicles, one was left hand drive, and they had the 2.2 petrol engine from the LD van etc. Neither gave many problems plus the chassis didnāt rot as rapidly as the Rover! There was a shed full of them on Ashbourne airfield at one time, the Ministry stored them there and they were taken out for a run occasionally and then put back into store. A few pop up at vintage rallies as they auctioned them off with very little mileage on them and they look almost like new!
Pete.
Thinking on this I wondered whether the British army ever took any on?
PS: I know they had the Champ, but the Gypsy?
Donāt think the Army took any, but the Civil Defence Corps certainly had a large number of them.