British Invasion 2013

The engine started ticking and popping as soon as he shut off the ignition.  He looked up to see the police car with its blue lights flashing in his rearview mirror.  The cop car’s door swung open.  A lawman emerged, a solid three hundred pounds of Vermont’s finest.  He straightened up carefully, then reached into the cruiser, and set a felt hat carefully on his head. When he turned this way his Ray-Ban sunglasses glittered dark under the overcast sky.

He approached the Jaguar.

“I been waitin’ for you,” he said, looking down at the out of state sticker.

“I know.  You see I was comin’ here as fast as I could.”

Back at the British Invasion the Master of Ceremonies had said, “Drive far, and drive fast,” but he wasn’t here now, to pay the ticket.  It was a good thing the guns and the liquor were safely out of sight, and the car was basically legal.  

Three hundred seventy two dollars.  The cop didn't want to take cash, either.  "You gotta pay it at the court."  Sometimes a few hundred more dollars changed their mind, and it was a good deal, to keep the record clean.  Other times they figured to arrest you for a bribe, and things got bad.  It's always dicey, figuring which way to go in a situation like that.  Andrew says it's easier in Russia or Mexico, where you always know where you stand.

“You coulda gone to jail,” he said, “but I gave you a break because you was coming to see me, after all.”

Five miles later, the speedometer was back on the far side of 100.  New Yorkers used to be able to speed right at home, but the cops down there got airplanes, and cameras.  Vermont is like the last frontier, for now.

British Invasion 23 happened the weekend of September 21 in Stowe, Vermont.  Six hundred fifty British motorcars and a thousand-plus owners converged on the Stoweflake Resort, two miles out of town on Route 108.  The public gates opened at nine, and they flooded in too, a tide of seething humanity, shouting and jostling as they waited for the Blood Sport to begin.  They didn't have to wait long.

Land Rover Polo is always popular, and they play the six-truck style up there.  Spikes and battering rams were outlawed years ago at Vermont state fair, but the Invasion still allows them.  It’s the British version of Demolition Derby.  Much more genteel, yet satisfyingly brutal.  Then there is the jousting, and the halberd competition.  I like that the best.

The only hard part is trying to sleep.  The revelry goes on late into the night, with the sounds of metal on metal ringing in the chill air as modern-day knights in armor fight with swords, axes, and spears.  The occasional siren breaks up the rhythm for the ones that go to the hospital, or jail.  Amazingly, the cars themselves are untouched the next morning.   Nothing but a little blood spatter, to wipe off with the dew.  Cars are sacred here.

And some of the best action of the show happens at night.  Bobby Stuart from the Jensen Club set up an impromptu drag race on a deserted stretch of Mountain Road, and they whupped the Aston Martin cretins hard.  There was no sign of the fun the next day - a flatbed hauled the wreckage to Canada before dawn - but two guys in a red Interceptor were boasting of their victory to anyone who would listen, next day on the show field.

The real high point of the night was when the MG club outlaws raced through Smuggler's Notch at 2AM.  They close the road up there this time of year but proper British car enthusiasts always have bolt cutters in their ever-present tool bags, and some have torches. Those little cars went through the hairpins faster than I'd have thought possible, and most of them made it out alive.

As all that unfolded, the Land Rover guys were replicating Gleason's famous night time crossing of Siberia up on the Mansfield ski slopes.  They'd tried to rent daytime access to the mountain, and been rebuffed, but a night raid was more fun anyway.  The mountain maintenance crews are probably still cleaning up the mess.  

It was two and a half days of gasoline-fueled debauchery.  There was something for everyone.  Solid Land Rover diesels.  Bangers and mash.  Elegant prewar Jaguars.  Drunkards with flagons of stout.  Rare Aston Martins.  Vicious Manchester United fans.  Whatever you wanted, as long as it was British, was there for the finding.

Whether you could do anything with it when you found it . . . now, that was another matter.  It was only seven o’clock, but already the bartender was out of ale.  “Ten casks,” he said, looking with wonder at the singing and carousing patrons. Two supine revelers blocked the road back to the hotel.  I stepped out of the car and dragged them out of the roadway.  Better that, than to leave them to be run over by the next sods, who might not be so considerate.

The next morning I heard one woke up, and the other was eaten by animals.  Bertrand says he heard him screaming, but I couldn't tell . . . the yelling all runs together after midnight.

Our Jaguars didn’t win any prizes this year, but they didn’t sustain any damage either, and sometimes that is prize enough.  But you never know.  I have no idea where the six thousand dollars in my glove box came from.  All I can say for sure is, it’s not there now.  Any car show where you return home a few grand richer is a good one, I say!

We made it home on Sunday.  Here are a few pictures of the spectacle . . . .

Land Rover Defender restorations at Robison Service

As we near the end of another extensive Defender restoration, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on what makes a quality restoration, and what it takes to achieve that result.

Looking at the photo of the near-finished truck, it does not look very different from any other new Defender.  Except that this Defender is 19 years old!  And the fact is, with the work we did, it would not matter if the Land Rover we started with was 20, 30, or 40 years old.  The end result would look essentially the same, with the exception of period details.

You can go to any car show and see beautiful paint jobs.  But a paint job does not make a restoration.   Sometimes, all it makes is a mess.

When you paint a modern car, you are repairing damage on a vehicle that’s basically complete and serviceable.  So you can paint a scratch or repair a dent, blend the repair to the existing paint, and you’re fine. 

You can’t do that on an older vehicle like this.  In most cases, vehicles that are 20 years old have started to corrode on the seals and joints.  That’s usually where corrosion begins – there, and the places water is trapped under or inside.

A true restoration won’t hide corrosion.  It will remove it.  And a good restorer will take steps to reduce the chances of corrosion happening again, to the extent possible.

A proper restoration usually requires disassembly of the body.  Not just stripping the paint off – but actual disassembly.  On a job like this, we begin by taking the vehicle apart. We take photos every step of the way, and bag and tag the fasteners and hardware as we go.  Even when we use new hardware – often the case – having the original stuff tells us what sizes we need.

On a Defender we lift the body off the frame, and dismantle each section.  In this photo you can see the rolling chassis – rusted framing and all – in the process of teardown.  

A little while later, we begin the process of assembly – in this case, with a new galvanized frame.  We can use the old frames over – we can even galvanize them – but they are often weakened and building them back up will cost more than a brand new part.  Since the look is the same, we usually go new for this core component on 1990s trucks.  With an older vehicle we may go either way but a restored original frame will almost always end up costing a good bit more and that’s always a consideration.

As soon as the vehicle is apart we begin the process of stripping and overhauling the components.  This is a more extensive process than what we do when a vehicle comes in for component overhaul in our service department.  The difference:  In a restoration, we take everything apart, have the metal tank cleaned and blasted, and then we re-plate or powder coat every part before it goes back on.  The result is a subassembly that’s finished far better than it ever was new, and will hopefully outlast the original version as well.

The body sections are also broken into their component parts, and depending on the job, are liquid painted or powder painted after being cleaned up and repaired as needed.  On this truck we saved almost all the exterior sheet metal, though a good bit of repair was needed on some sections.

Disassembly and paint removal often reveals corrosion you never knew was there!

When the vehicle goes back together we replace or rebuild just about everything we handle under the car.  In many cases, we install upgraded or improved parts.  You can’t see this work unless you look close, but this kind of detail separates a paint job and cleanup from a true restoration.

Many of the parts we plate or powder coat were bare metal when these vehicles left the factory.  That may have been fine a few decades ago, but we cannot let them continue to corrode – in 20 more years there would be nothing left, and no replacement parts to be had.

Here are some examples, all of which are visible in the images of this truck

• -       We replace the steel fuel lines with stainless
• -       Rubber brake hoses are swapped for performance braid hoses
• -       All bushings and joints are new, as are springs and shocks
• -       Brakes are totally rebuilt with all wear items replaced
• -       Exhaust is new, and assembled with non-corroding copper fasteners
• -       Extensive use of stainless hardware to reduce corrosion on the body
• -       Everything under the car is finished with the same care as the top

We often make subtle improvements.  For example, this vehicle has a custom Badger top.  You can buy cheaper tops from a catalog, but I have never seen a better piece of work than what we get from The Badger.  He’s slow and he’s finicky but if you want the best . . .

This Defender also has the Exmoor premium seating, which looks fairly original but is light-years better than what was supplied in this truck new.

The wheels are another area of change.  In America, these trucks came with allow wheels and BF Goodrich general purpose tires.  For this fellow’s use we installed military Michelin XZL tires on NATO steel wheels – which were also powder coated.  They are very different from original, but they are what armies use on these rigs all over the world, for good reason.

It’s no surprise that we installed a better stereo.  For a beach truck “better” means water resistant.  For that, we turn to marine radio and speaker components.  The original Rover stereo would be ruined in the first rain shower.  This system will shrug that off, and it has Bluetooth, ipod control, and a host of other features.

We’ve also swapped the non-secure wood console for a lockable steel Tuffy Box.  The vehicle is open all the time, and some secure storage is needed, even on a small island. 

A job like this will eat up at least 1,000 hours and require the skills of a number of different craftsmen.  This particular truck employed:

-       general Land Rover mechanics

-       two body men

-       a painter (liquid)

-       a powder coat specialist

-       several metal platers

-       a fabricator/welder

-       several upholstery men

-       a good detailer

-       a stereo/electronics installer

The list goes on . . . this kind of project is far from a one-man task.

We’ll be sending this truck to its summer home in a few more days.  Stay tuned for the finish photos and description . . .

Soft tops for Land Rovers

The iconic Land Rover Defender 90 was sold in the United States from 1994-1997.  If you own one of those trucks, or a grey market rig, or an older Series vehicle, you may be in the market for a new top.  Perhaps your top is just old and ratty, or maybe a jealous husband shot it full of holes as you fled down the street one night.  Whatever the reason, most original soft tops are due for replacement by now.  

In addition to folks with ratty soft tops, there are people with hard top trucks, who dream of fresh air and canvas. Finally there are a few of you who long for that musty smell of canvas, first experienced in Macedonia with the Foreign Legion.

Many good suppliers offer Defender and Series soft tops.  The best known are those from Rovers North and Atlantic British.  The best quality top, by a substantial margin, is made by a geek on the cape they call The Badger.  The Badger, or Chris Laws as it says on his mug shot, has been making Land Rover tops in a small shop out there since the beginning.  I have installed many of them over the years and cannot praise them highly enough.  Here's a link to his website.

His tops have resisted sun fading, tears from trees, intrusive children, marauding rodents, and much more while still looking great.  The top in the photo at the top is six years old!

Hard top trucks can be converted to soft top with the removal of the original top and fitment of a soft top frame and canvas.

Here are some details of the top showing how it's finished

The workmanship on these tops is really good, and the material is of significantly better quality that what's found on lesser products.  The Badger tops seem costly, but they are well worth the money if you're after the best, or in it for the long term.  I have found the original Land Rover canvas tatters in 6-7 years while the Badger material is still looking new.

See you on the trail!