80" Land Rovers in Korea

Mike Kelly · #1 04-09-07, 02:48

Does anyone know how widely the early Land Rovers were deployed in the Korean conflict ?

Information is scarce to say the least . Were they modified from the standard civilian made version ? Somebody said the implement draw bar wasn't fitted to the military version .

This pic depicts yanks with one in Nth Korea .

Mike

phoenix · #2 04-09-07, 04:21

Used by who Mike??

Australia had no large number of series 1's in service, although the RAAF and RAN appear to have had a couple. The Australian Army was still using jeeps at that time anyway.

Those Land Rovers that were there would have been british ones, and as far as I know were not much different from civilian vehicles, however EMLRA (www.emlra.org) would be able to give you more details.

Mike Kelly · #3 04-09-07, 05:42

Hi Richard

I was refering to the British .... thanks for the link . The British army took LR 's into their inventory very early on , some 1948 models apparently . You dont see many photo's of them in Korea , which may be because very few got there .

Talking of Australia ,there is evidence to suggest that the Aust. army trialled a 80" with a Holden grey motor in it , in the early 1950's . They tried one of the B40 engined ones too .

Mike

phoenix · #4 04-09-07, 06:03

Mile, there is more than evidence of it, I have recently been sent a copy of the army report on the trial of the vehicle.

Interestingly the B40 powered vehicle was actually one of the few 81 inch vehicles, because the engine size neccesitated moving the front axle forward to fit it.

A page on the holden powered series 1 will make it on to REMLR before too long.

Richard Coutts-Smith · #5 04-09-07, 11:43

heard a rumour of a B40 powered Landy in this area (North East Victoria) only last month. Had assumed that it was a civvy conversion, albeit an unusual one. Have to try and remember who I was talking to.
Cherrio
Rich.

cmperry4 · #6 05-09-07, 00:14

Lights behind the grille indicates a very early 80" Series 1 indeed. I didn't realize military had adopted them quite that soon. British Army was still sorting out the Champ then.

phoenix · #7 05-09-07, 01:20

Quote:

Originally posted by Richard Coutts-Smith
heard a rumour of a B40 powered Landy in this area (North East Victoria) only last month. Had assumed that it was a civvy conversion, albeit an unusual one. Have to try and remember who I was talking to.
Cherrio
Rich.

Might be worth chasing down as they are very rare in england, and the trials one is the only one I have heard of in australia. the 81 inch wheelbase would confirm it to be an original opposed to a conversion.

Les Freathy · #8 05-09-07, 11:09

I Have a few early 80" wheelbase photos around, not sure if any are in Korea the Brits used lots of Jeeps and a few Champs also made it to Korea. Here is a shot of two in the middle east in the early 1950s in company with a Standard Vanguard saloon, Morris MR A1 i tonners, Bedford RL and a Leyland Hippo MK2A

Les Freathy · #9 05-09-07, 11:29

Mike

Hereis another 80"MK1 with the second type of grille ie the headlamps exposed, is it just the very early models with the complete grille across or all the MK1 models you want photos of. A contract was issued in 1949 for around 2000 8o" and a few long wheelbase models so a few must have got to Korea
cheers
Les

Mike Kelly · #10 05-09-07, 13:45

Les

They are interesting pics .... the Vanguard brings back lots of memories as they were family cars when I was a kid ...

Not particulartly fussy about which models .. any of the 80" series in military use is of interest ....

This shot is from the movie ' village of the damned " I saw this movie at the drive in in the 1960's ! it was a second feature , the main movie was the TIME MACHINE with Rod Taylor ... this was at the old Clayton twin drive in , in Melbourne . Our car at the time was a Vanguard .

Mike

Mike Kelly · #11 05-09-07, 13:52

This is my 80" . I am working on it at the moment .. It's a 1950 chassis R06100809, but the grill is from a 51 . The engine is from a 1954 86" . 2 litre . It's a roughy .. the tub is banged up a lot , but I am using the old sneaky pop rivet trick , new panels over the old ones ....

They sold many 80" around this district .. the farmers loved them . Most of them are stuffed , rusted out chassis etc.

Mike

Mike Kelly · #12 05-09-07, 14:04

The same car as found , fitted with a Holden 161 red motor , they chop out the front crossmember to fit the Holden donk ... the fate of many series 1's around here , the Holden donk .

Heaps of go with over 100bhp .. put the foot down and whoa ... but one needs an engineering cert.

The truck top is from a 86" .

Mike

Mike Kelly · #13 05-09-07, 14:18

Forgot to mention :

A new forum is running for series 1 Land Rover owners in Australia and NZ

http://www.lrseries1online.no-ip.com/forum/index.php

Mike

phoenix · #14 06-09-07, 01:16

AULRO (www.aulro.com) also has recently had a series 1 area added Mike.

Richard Coutts-Smith · #15 06-09-07, 11:41

Mike
see you have the standard Landy handbrake, exactly the same model I had on my Series II,.... and series III for that matter...
Cheers
Rich.