Camp Rover

From WalesTo WestfordThis is a picture of us at a place called Hay Bluff. We had wonthe Welsh heat of the “Search for a Legend” competition. bot -tom left; John Mathews - the original owner, bottom right;myself, top left; Lynne, my partner, top right; Chris Lake -Land Rover dealership in this area, middle right; AdrianMorris - Land Rover management.By James Powell[James Powell lives in Crickhowell, Powys,South Wales, UK. In a “coals to Newcastle”measure, he has become a Rovers North cus -tomer to find parts for his Series LandRovers. We asked him to tell us about hisLand Rovers - ed].This has been a difficult year for farmers inthe United Kingdom, but then, I’m genuinelyattached to our farm and our animals. With mypartner, Lynne, Iown and operateLlwyncelyn Farm,where we also dobed and breakfast.Our’s is a typicalhill farm; I keep400 ewes and afew cows. I used tobe an intensivefarmer, but I’ve cutback and now Ienjoy it more. The Godley House Bus as it is today .Not surprisingly,we have many old Land Rovers which seemto go perfectly with our 16th century farmhouse.All my Land Rovers are Series II’s andII-A’s, although I did pick up a FC 101, too.I’m embarrassed to say how many I own.Some are used for spares and some I hope torestore. I’ve always liked them and used them.The basic reasons are the nuts and bolts, andthey have character. In America, you haveHarleys - in England, we have Land Rovers!I always look for a Land Rover in eitherunusual or original condition. We found thislatest addition, an 88” Regular Land RoverStation Wagon built in December, 1962, at alocal antique dealer’s yard. Everything lookedfine but we had a bit of a job finding the originalback door. The antique dealer was lessthan honest about the previous owner butdid say that the back door was in a farm inStanton. He didn’t knowthe name of the last ownerand all we had to go onwas the name on the origi -nal log-book, which wasJohn Matthews. Weassumed that John lived inStanton and that we couldfind him.When we arrived inStanton, we found that thedirections the dealer gaveus were impossible to follow,so we asked a fewlocals if they knew a “JohnMatthews.” No one everheard of him, not surprising,as he had never livedthere. We drew a blank, butthen met an agriculturalcontractor and describedthe Land Rover to him. Hethen remembered seeing itlocally and gave us directionsto get to the farmerwho had once owned it. Wefound the farm and,although the farmer knewnothing of its history that hecould tell us, he did still havethe back door.He said that the LandRover had belonged to hisgrandfather and that he hadsold the Land Rover withsome other vehicles as a jobcar to “Danny the BangerMan” [“Banger Men” buyand sell cheap or scrapcars]. We decided to try our luck and write toJohn Matthews at the address in the old logbook, not knowing if he was still there, oreven still alive. Some time later, we received aletter from John’s sister, who said that Johnwas abroad.Upon hisreturn, he thenwrote to us,expressing surpriseand delightthat the LandRover was stillaround! He wasable to give us itshistory for the first five years of its life, whichwas spent in Pakistan. He had ordered itdirectly from the factory in Solihull, withoptional extras such as 16” wheels and anaccompanying speedometer, fuel filler locks, asecond windscreen wiper, and twin jerrycanholders on the front bumper. At £785, it wasover £200 more than the small sedan of itsera, but its export to a former colony meant areduction in tariffs and a reduced cost. Thecolor was “Mid Grey;” the same color it holdstoday.John was a geography lecturer at AitchisonCollege, the “Eton” of Pakistan, between 1962-1967. He flew over to Pakistan but had theLand Rover shipped over from the factory. Ahired driver then had to take it from the coastto the college, but the seats were all packed upin boxes. So he found a concrete block and saton that for the entire trip. As John served asthe master of a student boarding house at thecollege, it quickly became known as “TheGodley House Bus.”He drove the Land Rover all over Pakistan,Kashmir and Afghanistan. From a photoarchive provided by John, we know it followedcamel caravans in Afghanistan and tackled thesnows of Salang Pass in Hindu Kush. It crossedthe Thar Desert. Near the border of Kashmir, itpassed another camel caravan on a narrowtrack where a load fell off one camel andcrushed part of the safari roof. In Punjab, itneeded a team of water buffalo to pull it outfrom a failed fording of the Cherab River. Neara huge poppy field, John stepped out of the carto take photographs and heard a warning shotfired at him; he returned to the car and droveaway.In one memorable trip through centralAfghanistan, the engine froze solid [antifreezewas an expensive luxury -ed.] and strandedhim. John had to abandon the vehicle in themountains and walk for three days to the nearestroad to get out. He hiked to Kabul, wherehe knew the Deputy Prime Minister. Thisfriend’s considerable clout resulted in anarmed guard surrounding the vehicle andarranging for a tow to Kabul for repairs. Someweeks later, John picked the car up at theAfghan Consulate in Peshawar.Petrol was a problem; fillingstations were few and farbetween and there was only oneHighest road in Asia. Salang Pass,Hindu Kush Mtns.grade. If you found a station, therewas no guarantee that it wouldhave petrol there. Spare partswere also a problem. Once, a localcraftsmen also repaired thedynamo with a bit of copper wire.At another point, the Land Roverdeveloped gearbox trouble and, inthe absence of qualified mechanics,John received advice to take it totwo old brothers who had a reputa -tion for being able to fix suchthings. He called on them a fewdays after leaving the vehicle withthem and was horrified to see hisgear box in pieces, all over thepath in front of their house. Oncereassembled, the box worked perfectlyand continues going strongtoday.Fording a river, Punjab. Minutes after this photo wastaken, we were pulled out by water buffalo.When John returned to this country, hetraded the vehicle in for a Range Rover, preferringthe speed and comfort of this new model.Since then, it seems to have spent the next 30years in the farm in Stanton, before being soldto Danny the Banger man where it was therebought by our antique dealer. To complete theCoals to Newcastle or...Wales To Westfordcircle of the car’s history, we now have theoriginal registration number -557 EUE- whichis the one it had coming from the factory. Johneven gave us the original jerry cans.Not long ago, when I was coming backfrom a trip to London, I stopped at a servicestation and a gentleman from Pakistan cameover to see me. He had recognized the Arabicscript on the side of the car and knew it said“Godley House Bus”. His children are in collegeand are boarding the Godley House. It’s asmall world.Until the recent quarantine because of footand mouth disease, I had continued on page 18© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m