'77 Leyland Terrier

[Eddy]

This is my baby. a 1977 Leyland Terrier, 4.4 litre petrol V8, 5 spd Turner box.
http://www.truckandbusforum.com/gall...atid=newimages
Aquired it sometime in about 2001-02 (?)

Used it for a few months in my business, transporting the weed spray units around, Then it sat for a while, after my neighbor borrowed it and it dropped a piston. Not his fault of course, but he was a bit guilty about it for a while.

I then bought a second-hand engine and dropped into her, which lasted about 2 months before it blew both head gaskets. Both heads had been previously repaired, obviously not well.
I then sent the first motor in for a rebuild, which turned into a bit of a saga as well - 3 months after a promise of 4 weeks!

My goal from the start, had been to build a replica of one I'd seen as a young fella ... the one entered by Leyland and Coca Cola in the 1977 London to Sydney Rally.
http://www.truckandbusforum.com/gall...atid=newimages
They'd entered a Moke and since the truck was to be the back-up vehicle for parts and service etc, they decided to enter the truck as well.
This then became possibly the first Truck entered in competition motor sport, thus the fore runner to all the Dakar racers etc.
I began to search for information, and finally discovered the whereabouts of the crew members, although attempts at contact proved unsuccessful.
That is until the day I discovered just how small the world could be. I was at a local Riverfront picnic area, and a bloke on an old BSA motorcycle stopped, and called out to me.
"heard you were building a replica of this truck?" says he
"sure am"
"My father was one of the crew" he says. !!!

This bloke is a local school teacher, hockey player, who I'd known for 25 years, and lives about 700 metres away!

So now I have a stack of photos, and lots of info ... and no idea how to put pix in the thread ...

[coastie]

What a lovely story, Eddy. Good luck with your transformation and a very warm welcome from the sunny isle of Anglesey!

[hilifta]

Fantastic Ed, great story.
Photos are easy put up here 3 at a time, just go to gallery and click on "Upload Photos" on the top right hand side of the screen.
Click on the shot you want to upload, up to 3 at a time. Type in a description etc, click on submit.
You can then alter any description if you wish before finally uploading them.