Overland BY4x4 in 1955

[amun1000]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xy460_de-londres-a-singapour-en-land-rove

"In 1955, six young adventurers fresh out of Cambridge and Oxford University decided to drive from London to Singapore. This wasn't a quick journey from point A to point B, because guess what? This had never been done before! Land Rover 4x4s were required for this incredible trek, which took them through Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Persia, Asia and South East Asia. Some of the routes were thought to be impassable, such as the famous Stilwell Road in Burma, which had not been used since World War II. The video above shows never before seen footage in color"

[amun1000]

brilliant footage

[strang]

For a much better version, that includes interviews with nearly all of the original team, and with all the footage, you can purchase your own copy of the dvd from http://www.teeafit.co.uk/firstoverland/index.htm well worth the money in my view!

[dsj1979]

Well worth watching, brilliant! I would love to do something like that! :)

[tony109]

That does capture the spirit of things.
There were a number of exciting Overland epics taking place during the 50s and 60s.
My dad was working for an overland company in the late 60's, and done a couple of overland trips with them as a driver/Mechanic. For the third or forth trip out he had to find clients for the company. Which he did.
When he went back to the company, he was brought into the office and told, he wasn't quite the person they were looking for afteral and they showed him the door...
But he still had 10 people and all of their money who wanted to go on this overland trip via Afganistan, Napal, India...
This was 1970, so he now had to buy himself a land rover for the job. He found an ideal vehicle. A 1957 series 1 station wagon with a trailer on tow for the tents and equiptment.. After a clean up, a coat of paint and all the galvanised sections shone up he arrived at kings cross station to collect all the passengers for the departure. His old company also collected passengers from the same point and time. The company used the latest brand New, Series 2A's.
A line of series 2a's and opposite my dads rogue series 1 which may have caused a reaction from his old, Now rival company. It was their passengers he was effectively taking.

Dispite a few problems, a 3 day engine rebuild in the Afgan dessert.. (No spare valves so the burnt out one needed to be ground down by hand to make it seal and seat). The chassis also broke in half and needed fixing at the nearest bazaar. The rear axel problems, finding and making new bearings and much, much more.
With 10 people onboard a series 1 station wagon, it must have been cossy, but everyone mucked together and had a task, be it cooking cleaning, making fires, and this just shows how rather more Hardy people and their attitudes used to be.

[dsj1979]

That's fantastic, must have been soooo much fun! Now that's an adventure! Breaking the chassis in half must have been difficult though, shows what a tough climate he was facing! He must have some great stories to tell, and have seen some fantastic sites! Now that's a holiday, sure beats 2 weeks sun and sand..... one day I'll try and do something like that............ :rolleyes: Interesting in the London to Singapore trip how they say this can never be done again due to war, revolutions, politics and the state of disrepair of the Burma road. What an adventure!

[dsj1979]

And 6 people in two SWB landys, impressive they had enough space!

[toppa]

Very interesting,,, half way through watching it now...


Cheers

[jepaton]

And 6 people in two SWB landys, impressive they had enough space!There is scarcely enough space for the driver in a Series. Perhaps people were much smaller when the world was in black and white.

Jonathan Paton

[tony109]

I did a couple of overland trips myself.. the first was back in 2000. I drove to Kazan in Russia.. A long way east of moscow..
I had advertised the trip in wanderlust magazine, advertising for people who wanted to join me and contribute towards expenses.
the land rover I took was my 1964 series 2a.
We drove from Cornwall, through france the Netherlands and via the artic circle... we had to wait for our visas to arrive. By this time the 6 passengers I had left England with had decided that travelling in an old Land Rover wasn't for them and i was left with just one passenger.. It was his girlfriend in Kazan who had given us the invitations to visit her..
We finally got into Russia and we took the scenic drive to moscow via Volugda, smolensk, etc. the western part of the drive is on large motorway type of roads, so we kept off them and took the smaller roads.. Russia is densely forested and many of these small roads double a forestry tracks, driven by large Zil, Kraz. Gaz, etc trucks..
Miles of road are quickly turned into bogs, with ruts feet deep. Driving theses tracks was tricky but my 900 bar grips clawed their way through..
and the capstan winch was there when needed.
When the temperature dropped it got even more exciting, with roads covered in ice and snow.. The lowest temperatures we saw dropped to -40c.
Throughout the trip, I had to make constant stops to check the oil which was being blown out the engine thanks to crankcase compression.. I had made a catch pot so it didn't just blow the oil on the ground.. I needed that oil and every 50 miles, I'd have to stop and pour the oil blown out, back into the engine. Ok the engine wasn't brilliant when I left England, infact it had a cracked block too, and I had sealed the crack with silicon sealent.
We ate well on the trip cooking on open fires food we bought from local markets and shops.. All went very well in Russia. But in Belarus we were sold fake visas at the boarder and arrested a few days later..
and spent 7 days in a Belarussian prison.

[RPGreg2600]

Cool pictures tony.

Why is there a red series 2a in the video?

[Lightweight]

Now thats what I call an adventure tony, sounds like great fun, aprt from the prison bit, but it all adds to the experience I guess!!

How come you leave blighty on such a long journy, with a dodgy engine with a cracked block??????

[alex]

Excellent pics Tony. That`s the terrain that a Series is for. Makes you determined to get your vehicle even better prepared for next time with a big list of "must haves"

Alex

[tony109]

As for why I left with a poor engine.. The engine had always ran very well, it didn't use much oil. It held water - with a bit of silicon, and sounded fine.. There are also always reasons why you cant do something, but I figured that any problems should be fixable on route. I had a departure schedule to meet and an engine rebuild, that didn't appear necessary wasn't really high on my list of things to do..

As for my list of must haves.. I had all the essentuals on the vehicle to start with, which was why I felt more than comfident. I had lower gearing, near bullet proof rear axel, spare front diff, my re-routed exhaust, etc. I didn't expect to have problems with the engine.. The crack in the block was only in the external water jacket, so was not really a problem.
Ok officially it would have been written off, but it was fine.

The following year, after a full engine rebuild in a new block I was asked to join an overland trip to Tanzania.. With the engine rebuilt and the vehicle well tested we set off from Southampton in 2001.. It was a sponsored charity run to raise money for Leukimia busters.

[C-one]

Great stuff Tony!,one of the French Land Rover magazines did an article on that Singapore expedition not so long ago..

[Lightweight]

Sounds good Tony, you got any more charity expeditions planned??

[dsj1979]

For a much better version, that includes interviews with nearly all of the original team, and with all the footage, you can purchase your own copy of the dvd from http://www.teeafit.co.uk/firstoverland/index.htm well worth the money in my view!

How much more footage is there? I've seen it for 18.00 but seems a lot if there isn't that much more to see?

[Ruski73]

Overland BY4x4 in 1955

I just picked up a second hand hard cover of the 1959 edition and will be living under it for the next few days.

[dsj1979]

Ooh, tell me what it's like and worth buying. And for those who have bought the DVD, is it worth the extra money compared to the free clip above?

Thanks! :)

[Ruski73]

Refer to attached for an idea of their trip.
Most should be able to pick London.
Singapore is at the bottom of the Malay Peninsular at about 104 deg E and 2deg N.

[Ruski73]

The same pic in ortho projection.

* edit * Oops. Will need to rotate 90 deg counterclockwise.

[Ruski73]

A little better.

Although the Caspian looks shallow enough to ford. Will need to investigate.

[Ruski73]

and ...

[dsj1979]

That must have been an amazing trip! One day.... one day...

I take it you're enjoying the book then? :)

[tony109]

I have the book, 'the first overland' and it is a good read..
But in terms of overland travel, nothing gets close to Ben Carlins, "Half-Safe" Around the world by amphibious jeep
Its a true story about a guy who drove his jeep competly around the world. He crossed the Atlantic ocean with his wife in the jeep, through storms and Hurricans. And eventually arrived in England, where he caried out further upgrades, before continuing around the world.
He drove through Asia, reached the Pacific and then crossed that Vast ocean.. This was in a small 80" wheelbase amphibious Jeep, with no back up.. That trip makes anything overland look a piece of cake. An amazing read...Better than any fiction.

[dsj1979]

I have the book, 'the first overland' and it is a good read..
But in terms of overland travel, nothing gets close to Ben Carlins, "Half-Safe" Around the world by amphibious jeep
Its a true story about a guy who drove his jeep competly around the world. He crossed the Atlantic ocean with his wife in the jeep, through storms and Hurricans. And eventually arrived in England, where he caried out further upgrades, before continuing around the world.
He drove through Asia, reached the Pacific and then crossed that Vast ocean.. This was in a small 80" wheelbase amphibious Jeep, with no back up.. That trip makes anything overland look a piece of cake. An amazing read...Better than any fiction.

It's amazing some of the things people have done! I'll have to try and get that!

[Ruski73]

That must have been an amazing trip! One day.... one day...

I take it you're enjoying the book then? :)

Loving it. So much so that, upon realising I left it at the office tonight, I proceeded to drive back and get it. Although only 10 minutes away, this involved a return trip across a toll bridge.

[dsj1979]

Overland BY4x4 in 1955

I just picked up a second hand hard cover of the 1959 edition and will be living under it for the next few days.

I just got a second hand 1958 edition ( as I'm tight ;) ) That'll be fun reading. Then I've just got to find tonys suggestion! :)

[tony109]

A little better.

Although the Caspian looks shallow enough to ford. Will need to investigate.
================================================

I just saw your comment.. Did you mean fording the Caspian Sea? The largest inland sea in the world.. Check out the Caspian sea monsters
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IgtaeRZ/WHc

Make sure you bring your water wings.

[tony109]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?=LWbmIT3zxOK

Incase the last link didn't.
If this dosn't work just look up Caspian sea monster or Ekranoplanes, Ground effect flying ships