Now I
knew what I wanted and finally the vehicle has shown up. The price was a
little high but it was worthy an investigation. A few phone calls later,
e-mails and pictures , I was hooked, I wanted it.
The major points that were important with my decision to buy CHM
733V were ;
1. There was no
rust in the bulkhead, with a further explanation that there was rust, but it
was properly removed and then new metal was welded in.
2. The transmission did not jump out of any gears.
3. The vehicle had 88000 miles, that were original.
4. CHM 733V had just received a new MOT certificate.
5. Designa galvanized coil sprung chassis with 90 axels.
I gave the owner an offer that he accepted. I was so excited when I left on the airplane from Kalmar, Sweden. I can still remember my wife's last words " I hope that you won't be disappointed".
Later that day when I finally got to see CHM 733V, I could only think of
what the wife said earlier . Just looking at CHM 733V, there was not
a straight panel to be found, the exhaust was poorly welded together bits
and pieces, the rear shocks were weeping oil, the mileage read 98800 and
the rust in the bulkhead !
I then took CHM 733V for a test drive, the first time I took
my foot off the gas, in second gear, it jumped out of gear ! Damn, I
was disappointed! And the stupid explanations, " I didn't see
the rust there", " it never jumped out of gear before",
"I
read the mileage from the MOD certificate" - which also showed the
true mileage of 98800 miles-. But, I'm a man of my word and kept my part
of the deal. One way that I look at it, is that I stayed at the owners
house for 3 nights, this saved me a bundle of money with hotel/food
expenses and that I knew that I could repair CHM 733V to the condition
that I would eventually want it in.
This also allowed me some time to further inspect CHM 733V
and get it ready for the long trip home.
The trip involved a ferry crossing from Harwich England to
Esbjerg, Denmark. Then I drove through Denmark to the southern tip of
Sweden and up the eastern coastline to Nybro, Sweden. To be perfectly
honest the trip was totally uneventful. CHM 733V ran like a dream.
The coil suspension gave a wonderful ride, the engine never missed a
beat.
One decision that was made on the trip, the diff's
would be swapped for 3.54's.
The
engine rev's were too high, at a speedo reading of 85 k/mph, the rev's
were showing 3500rpm. If I got her up to 90 k/mph, it was showing
over
3800rpm. The speedometer was out ! At a steady 3500rpm, I was able
to keep up
to traffic and passing lorries all day long. - The picture to the
right shows the
approximate speed reading, I know that I was driving much faster-
Before reaching the final destination, I stopped in to the
summer cottage . It was
the middle of the night when I got there, so it was a interesting
conversation piece
at breakfast. My boys were thoroughly pleased - my oldest, Karl - gives it
a once
over and gives CHM 733V two thumbs up. On the other side of the
table, my
in-law, said that it was a piece of scrap! My wife didn't say too
much. I must
explain here, that my wife is a self professed Land Rover Hater ! She
knows that
I sold my Land Rover in Canada to finance our move to Sweden a few years
earlier and that I would again one day have another, maybe it was too
early for her?
Once back home in Nybro, bookings were made for vehicle
registration and import inspection. The Motor Vehicle Inspection
Department ( Bilprovning ) were not helpful in providing me with
information for the registration/inspection, so , I played it by
ear.
At the inspection, I tried to register CHM 733V as a passenger vehicle,
but they would not allow me so. CHM 733V had to be registered as a light
duty truck. As a light duty truck, the specifications were different than
a passenger vehicle. I was totally unprepared for this ! Once the
inspection was completed, CHM 733V never failed any points related to the
operation/defects of the vehicle.
But CHM 733V did fail the inspection due to not being
prepared as a light duty truck. the points that I failed for are ;
1. No load barrier between the load and passenger areas.
2. No anchor points ( 4 required ) on the load area floor.
3. The bullbar that I just bought at Paddocks did not meet EU regulations, therefore had to be removed. Apparently you cannot have anything that crosses over in front of the headlights. The bullbar was a wrap around unit with slats.
4. There was no chassis number stamped to the vehicle's frame.
5. The seat belts ( that were half-ass installed by the previous owner ) did not meet any safety standard. But a quick check of the books, showed that I did not require seatbelts, so, I just needed to remove them.
Finally after doing the required fixes, CHM 733V got a certificate of clean health from Bilprovning on the 25th October, 2000, and was now a registered vehicle in Sweden. The day after it was then "taken off road" for its restoration.
In this picture, the Vehicle Licensing Department ( Vägverket ) claimed
that this
license plate was the correct one for a series Land Rover. How can it be?
How would
I open the back door? Pictures had to be taken, mailed with an
explanation to Vägverket
in order to receive the correct size plate. Also, this is the time
that CHM 733V was
christened RUR 487.
