Another Treasure Trove

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Richard Coutts-Smith

Bob, never heard of an Austin Gypsy refered to as "Treasure" before. Are you mellowing?
Rich.

Rich,

By some over here, they are regarded as superior to a Land Rover, but never having had direct experience of the Gypsy, I cannot comment. A lot of survivors here were those released from Civil Defence Corps storage, with very low mileage on them. The hood on the one shown must be homemade, never seen one like that on a Gypsy before.

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Richard,
Have looked at a few over the years, and been offered a few as well, but for some reason there is just no spark of interest for me whatsoever. They would be one of the hardest vehicles to get rid of in Australia (Without going the scrap route), one just up the road was for sale at least 4 years.
That being said, I am sure there is a small group of fanatics that just love them....very small.
rich.

[aj.lec]

They have the strangest, worst engineered steering arrangement in the Gypsy . Prone to wear without provocation. Was offered 2 a few months ago

[Mike K]

The early models used the weird rubber FLEXITOR suspension system . But BMC woke up to the errors of their ways and later changed over to conventional suspension mode . Made from 1958 to 68 . I believe some were used in Malaysia by Police or similar. Highly prone to rust , as the salesmans pics show. Here in OZ , consisdered to be a dud . MIKE

[Keith Webb]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

The early models used the weird rubber FLEXITOR suspension system . But BMC woke up to the errors of their ways and later changed over to conventional suspension mode . Made from 1958 to 68 . I believe some were used in Malaysia by Police or similar. Highly prone to rust , as the salesmans pics show. Here in OZ , consisdered to be a dud . MIKE

I was looking at Andrew's pic and it made me think of it in the same class as the dreaded Trabant. It looks like something they would have designed!

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

The Snowy Mountain Authority was well known for their early use of Land Rovers (715 between 1949 and 1966), they also trialled at least one Austin Gypsy in about 1958 for a 6 month evaluation.
"The Gypsy was a failure and was dropped by BMC"
Source: Mud Sweat and Snow, by Noel Gough
Would have been a pretty thorough test I imagine.
Rich.

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Well Bob, maybe Gypsy parts are worth more than we thought.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Remains-Au...item5647fc9650
No motor, squashed under a tree and very rusty, 250 of those British pounds.
"He's Dreaming"
Rich.