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Pre- Dormobile conversion pictures
Post- Dormobile conversion
exterior pictures | Dormobile
interior pictures | Snapshot
section | Stories & blogs
The
Green Rover is a 1960 Series II 109 that I purchased in 1978 for
US$350. She was completely worn out, had a broken rear diff. and
a broken transfer case. She had been sitting for about two years
when I purchased her. I towed her home with my first Land Rover,
a 1969 Series IIA 88 named The Red Rover after the children's
game "Red Rover, Red Rover, send TeriAnn right over". The Green
Rover was named for her colour and to differentiate between the
two Land Rovers. The Green Rover worked a decade and a half for
me as a farm Land Rover. Then
I converted The Green Rover into a full on long distance expedition
Land Rover and took her on long overland Land Rover travels.
Pictures on this page are from before the 1997 conversion
to a Dormobile. Links to post Dormobile conversion detail
pictures are above. The snapshot pages have pictures of The
Green Rover out on the trail as does the stories section.
The first set of pictures below were taken right after I towed
The Green Rover home. She is sitting in my driveway with
The Red Rover alongside. The exposed roll of film was lost
for about 4 years before it was found and developed so the pictures
are a little fuzzy.
The Green Rover March 1978
The pickup top appeared to have been on The Green Rover since new.
Traded it for a full top during the winter of 1980-81. Pickups
are not the best way to carry hay or livestock during a rainstorm. These
pictures are the only ones I have showing the pick up top and
the brush guard. When I bought The Green Rover the rear differential
and transfer case were broken. Since my drive way was on
a hill I used a chain connected to a tree to hold her in place
while I hade both diffs and the transfercase removed.
The base of the brush guard. had a jerry can mount in front of
each wing that stored a 5 gallon can on its back. I had
the winch hook attached to the top of the brush guard during
a heavy storm in 1980. Water shorted the switch turning
on the winch. The winch collapsed the brush guard. When
the hook was stopped by the roller the battery posts melted. I
replaced the battery and cut off the mangled brush guard.
Note that the tail lights have been moved and there are jerry
can mounts to the rear cross member. 2 jerry cans can be
mounted upright at the rear.
When I got her, The Green Rover
had 2 under seat fuel tanks, space to carry 4 jerry cans, a 5 gallon propane
tank built in and a 5 gallon custom made steel water tank in
each of the two rear tool boxes.
There were holes in the floor where a camper was bolted to the
bed behind the cab.
This picture was taken at the Palo Alto All British Field meet
around 1985. I had added the diamond plate over the side skirts
and The Green Rover was shod in white spokes that Scotty had
traded me. The brush bar was gone but the jerry can mounts
still on the front.
Between 1978 and 1992 The Green Rover was a farm vehicle. She
was loaded with 7 bales of hay & several bags of feed once a
week, frequently loaded to the roof line with manure when cleaning
out the barn and the winch was used mostly for stringing fence
and occasionally for getting my Ford 631 tractor unstuck. she
also carried livestock as needed. In this picture dairy
goats are coming home from the Santa Cruz County fair. Sept 1986.
Used to be The Green Rover often went topless during the summer
months. I had just installed an access door in the body next
to the built in propane tank.
Regulations do not allow for propane tanks to be filled from within the vehicle
cabin so I could not have it filled with the top on. Adding
the door allowed the tank to be filled from outside. Scotty
gave me a 109 toolbox lid to be used as an access door. Cutting
a hole in a perfectly good 109 side was a very traumatic
experience for me. This picture is from around 1988
1996 Palo Alto All British field meet. I picked up the Dormobile
kit right after the Portland all British Field meet the previous
weekend and had gotten home about two days before the Palo Alto
meet . I had not yet got help to remove the lifting roof. You
can just make out one of the tares in the fiber glass roof just
above the oval roof window. By this time I had replaced
old damaged front bumper, added my mod to the rear outrigger,
added the rear bumpers, converted to dual circuit power brakes,
installed the rear Salisbury and the Discovery I steel wheels
were brand new with new BFG Mud terrain tyres. The driver's
side under seat tank & filler was installed as was the rear fuel
tank.
Spring 1997 just a couple months before the Green Rover was painted
and the Dormobile kit installed.
You can see the Dormobile roof in the background. The second battery system
had just been installed, the snorkel had been installed and most
of the mechanical upgrades finished. The water tank and inlet
had yet to be built and installed. The rear lights have
been returned to their original location but I had not blocked
off the old holes yet. Not long after
this picture was taken I unbolted the front clip, took it to the body shop & had
the insides painted. Then the roof came off for the last time and the
topless Land Rover went to the body shop for some body work and new paint.
After coming back home the repaired Dormobile roof and interior was installed. The
paint was less than 3 weeks old when I took the newly converted Dormobile out
at the end of August for her first extended camping trip.
1998 exterior pictures (The
first complete set of pictures taken of the Dormobile conversion)
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