Our 88" Series III Land Rover 'Frank the Tank'

Hello again,

I thought it was time to write about our wonderful truck, Frank.

For a couple of years now I have been driving a small, Ford Fiesta named Filbert.

This is Filbert. A 1998, Mark 5 Fiesta. 1.3 petrol engine and 60BHP..... 
We bought him after some idiot crashed into our Citroen Berlingo 'Bernie'. 
I like purple, and Filbert was perfect. We had a few teething troubles to start with due to him not being looked after very well by his previous owner and the dealer we bought him from being a total douche bag, but generally, he's a good boy and he's never let me down. 

 .... this is 'Frank'. A 1977 88" Land Rover Series III. I'd been on the lookout for a small 4x4 for work and I saw this little guy at a farm shop whilst buying chicken feed. It was love at first sight. He needs a paint job, but aside from that he's immaculate.








Now Filbert has done a good job. I've driven him in all weathers and road conditions. He even kept me mobile in the deep snow.... once it started to get above a 1ft however, I could hear it scraping along the bottom of the car. So I begun looking, we looked into the Vitaras, Explorers and other such, but none seemed right.

Then, one day whilst shopping for chicken feed at a farm near to a yard I work at, I saw Frank for sale. I looked him over and couldn't find anything wrong, the underside was rust free and had been treated in the past, but needed doing again and there were no horrible leaks anywhere (for an old Landie).

I spoke to the owner and found out the truck had been owned by a former employee who could no longer afford to keep it as she split from her husband. She had to sell her horses, car, everything. Very sad. So Frank had been doing odd jobs round the farm. He'd been MOT'd a few times, but not every year and as there was a garage on site, I guess he'd been kept in pretty good shape. Aside from a few dents and scratches, there was nothing I could see that raised alarm.

I asked my knowledgeable friend to come and take a look at Frank to see what he thought, and he was very impressed and at the price they were asking, I couldn't say no. So I agreed to buy him. I told my husband, who didn't actually get to see Frank until I picked him up and paid for him a couple of days later!

My husband has always loved Land Rovers. He'd had an A reg Range Rover a few years previously and loved it. But due to his commuting needs, a Land Rover just wouldn't be viable. He does over 100 miles a day up and down the M3, so he has an old Audi A4 that manages to do 60MPG. Frank is averaging about 18-22MPG, so you can see the problem.

Anyway, I tend to work close to home, due to Alex being so young and occasionally being called back to school to pick him up, so Frank is ideal for me. I don't like new cars, I can't handle electrical and complicated things, so again, Frank is ideal!

We've had Frank for just over a month now, and are slowly doing little bits to tidy him up and make him run at his best. My husband and our knowledgeable friend have started to service Frank. He's had new HT leads, plugs, a new ignition coil and he's just about to get his points done too. See the post 'busy day' LOL!

We plan to have Frank re-painted too and replace or bang out the front wings as they have 'farm dents' on them. As Frank has less than 6,000 miles on his clock, due to sitting around twiddling his thumbs, he is in very good condition, still has all the factory plates in the cab and engine bay, and you can read them!! The engine bay itself is very tidy and was just a bit grubby, but after a clean, it shows his low mileage.

Here is Frank from the front. Gorgeous! His spare tyre was removed at this point, as we had no way to lock it onto the bonnet. This has since been resolved as he looks a bit odd without it in it's proper place! We also had to remove the AA badge too, as I know someone would nick it. But as you can see, he's in excellent condition for his age. 






I shall write about Frank as we do bits on him. Refer to our main blog for technical stuff, as that's more my husbands area.... I'm learning but still very very novice!!

So that's Frank and little Filbert. Both lovely cars, there is no reason why both their names begin with 'F' that's just how it turned out.

Thanks for reading again.