GET YA MONEY OUT !

[HERMAN BIX]

https://www.lloydsonline.com.au/Auction ... =0&gv=True

Im certain freight could be a block to most

[c.rainford73]

You never know Herman

[RobW]

The Champ would dissolve before it got here.....

[jarndice]

Herman are you deliberately trying to get me going?
Austin Champs and Alvis Saracens, These are the very foundations of the early years of my adult life,
I could fill half a dozen Forum waxing lyrical about British Military Vehicles and Aircraft of the late 50s through to the late 70s as well as oddballs such as DKW Jeeps and FAUN Aircraft Refuellers,
Will somebody stop me please
Shaun.

[jarndice]

Rob I have never seen Rust on an Austin Champ,
The Army have a high tech devise that prevents dust, rust and dirt from accruing upon any piece of military equipment,
its called a Corporal,
They make house proud housewives look like slug a beds.
Shaun.

[RobW]

Shaun, isn't that because they dissolve so quickly you don't see them? Thought the British military tried them, and then went with the Land Rovers? OK, so they also rust but at least the body panels don't!

[jarndice]

Rob the Champ was mechanically superior to the Landie but it was incredibly expensive to buy at about £1,200 each in 1952,
Remember this vehicle first saw service in the early 50s and remained in service until the mid 60s, and yet it had a five speed all synchro gearbox and by using a central lever and pulling it backwards you then had a five speed reverse synchro gearbox it also had all round independent suspension at a time when it was almost unknown in any but the most expensive cars,
Four wheel drive was selected by moving a lever to the left of the clutch backwards No clutch selection needed and at any speed.
Keyless ignition,
one man foldaway convertible tilt roof and fold flat windscreen,
A 4 cylinder Rolls Royce designed engine (B40) which apart from the engine block every mechanical and electrical part including the Cylinder head/s was interchangeable with the B80 eight cylinder engine fitted to the Alvis Saladin and Saracen Armoured six wheelers,
It had an easily fitted fording system to cross deep water and converting a Champ to FFR was a doddle,
BUT
it had two major failings, even though extension's were fitted to the stub axles the y were still narrower than they were tall and had a high centre of gravity this meant being careful on turns when off road,
And they were short wheel base without any way of lengthening them whereas the cheap mass produced Landie came in long and short wheel base versions and was less inclined to fall over,
But they were a pain cross country with an over complicated four wheel drive system and cartspring suspension with a four speed stiff to engage gearbox and non synchro reverse which did nothing to encourage enthusiasm for the thing,
If one was being polite calling it Tinny would be the way to go.
Our Royal Engineer heavy drop detachment got a case of beer for getting 12 drops from a MK9 Landie on a heavy drop platform out of a Blackburn Beverly before the thing fell apart, the Landie that is, not the Beverly ,
Champs were driven on the platform Dropped and driven off, no one ever counted how often they just kept on going..
There was one other side issue about the Champ, every driver allocated a champ was also allocated a Parka,
No heater
Shaun.

[RobW]

I knew Champs were mechanically better, but more expensive. Didn't know they'd actually gone into service.

With 2 2a's I fully appreciate that the gear box is an acquired art, although they're currently both off the road.... The 4wd system is fairly simple, though I do tend to ignore the yellow button and either use 2wd high ratio or 4wd low ratio; given the opportunity to wind up the transmission in 4wd high ratio I avoid it!

[jarndice]

There were five of us in two Landies bombing down a jungle track in Borneo, around the curve we went straight into a sleeping water buffalo
The creature grunted, got up and walked into the jungle, The lead rover was a write off, all of the die cast transmission cover was lying shattered into a thousand pieces on the track. Don't talk to me about Land Rovers,
Southern Germany, I was on a recce with a lance corporal in a Champ,
While sitting looking through the maps a 2nd Lt came out of a nearby wood with mud upto his knees, Hallo I said whats up?
"we have got stuck in the wood in our Landie" Can you get us out.
I turned to my driver and asked what he thought, Well sir we have four BLR tyres on the champ but I will give it a go,
we drove into the wood and stopped short of the Landie, my Corporal told the driver that he would drive upto and then push the Rover free and all the Rover driver need do was steer, and that's what happened although the little 1/4 bumpers ended flat against the body both vehicles popped out of the wood like champagne corks.
We were disposing of a Champ and a 28 tonne Aircraft Refueller but the Tankers battery was flat so I connected a straight bar to the front hitch of the refueller and the tow hitch of the Champ and I revved and revved the engine then I let out the clutch,
The tyres pulled inside the rims and the RIMS gripped the concrete hard standing and blow me down it pulled the bowser and bump started it, I really expected the clutch to fail but all was well .
A master diversion Airfield Runway on a Sunday Morning, A champ, a driver, and me standing behind the Champ with a parachute spread out behind me,
OKAY I shouted, and away we went, me running like the clappers and then YES RESULT my first experience of Parascending,
I never saw that done with a Land Rover.
Shaun.