Category: Poppy 1966 Series 2a 109″
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Sunshine, snow, & fresh tracks
In these parts, snowy days are often grey and overcast, the default setting for most of the winter. When the sky clears and the sun breaks through the snow takes on a whole new look. There may also have been some towing of snowskates behind the rover, though only rumors and legends remain from the…
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Snowy forest scenes
The contrast of the snow with the dark evergreen boughs and the reddish cedar bark is a unique feature of winter in the north. Even though the snow has stopped and the sky is turning blue the snow from the branches continues to fall in clumps under the forest canopy. The sound is muted and…
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First snow
A couple of weeks of relatively cold weather, some frost, and then the snow began. One morning it had arrived, the world had silently changed overnight. Everything suddenly looked different, felt different, and even sounded different. Snow is often short-lived in this area so we enjoy it while it lasts.
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Urushi & tea leaves
The incredibly excessive atmospheric moisture of this winter overwhelmed the painted finish on the steering wheel and it started flaking off. Series rover steering wheels are notorious for breaking down after about 50 years. The coating on the outside wears off over time and the composite material leaves black sludge on your hands when the…
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License to chill
A fun challenge creating a replica vintage Angolan license plate for a timeless look in photos. It was designed based on photos of examples from the time period, cut and formed from a rusty scrap of sheet steel using a few simple blacksmithing tools, and finished with traditional Japanese baked lacquer and tung oil. The…
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Cat flap handle
The original rear “cat flap” door handle broke off one dark and rainy night (see first photo below), and was quickly fashioned into an interior handle while waiting for the exterior replacement to arrive. Once the replacement arrived a few blacksmithing skills made quick work of modifying and installing it. Under the collar of the…
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Time for intense reflection
After decades of service the aftermarket rear corner reflectors had a diminished performance approximately on par with dots of red paint. A pair of nicely-designed Lucas reflectors was sourced along with the roof rivets and installation was relatively quick and easy. Some testing with a small flashlight shows quite a difference between the old and…
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The rivets have arrived
The long-awaited, hard-sought semi-tubular truss head rivets in a particular size and length for the roof to galvanized drip channel made their way across the pond at long last. First order of business was to remove all the bolts holding the roof to the windscreen and sides, then drill and punch out all of the…
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Outside to the inside
The original rear “cat flap” door handle broke off one dark and rainy night, likely due to a long-time stress crack in the collar. The break traveled through the retaining pin hole and across the base of the lock, leaving the handle and most of the collar intact. Being some sort of “pot metal” alloy…
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Forest and field
A few images from a photoshoot with QB Bookbinding for a limited edition hand crafted leather notebook project. Find out more about the project, the young craftsman, and check availability to support his work. “Each journal is carefully handcrafted from three materials: paper, leather, and sinew. The paper is given an organic patina by staining…
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Antique tool restoration
Now that this machine is moving well toward operational status it would be nice to have a few tools onboard permanently. The museum forge was donated some rusty old wrenches (aka spanners) and there were several usable ones in the leftovers after the other smiths picked them over. They appear to mainly come from antique…
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An overly optimistic ammeter
The ammeter was reading backwards, meaning when there was a current draw from headlights the meter would go up towards the positive end and when there should have been a charge from the dynamo/generator the meter would go down towards the negative end. This, among other things, was the cause of much research and pondering…
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Positive or negative earth
Most vehicles switched from positive earth to negative earth around the late 1950s. Series land rovers, however, remained positive earth until 1966, making the switch to negative earth in 1967 (originally indicated by a change to a black painted instrument panel and a warning plate on the radiator). Positive earth simply means the positive terminal…
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State of the engine
A series of photos of the current state of the engine, for posterity as well as a reference point for checking parts and configurations when it is too dark outside to see. The majority of things are still original (though the generator was made in Canada) and in general the items that can be seen…
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Vanishing like a mist
A lovely late autumn scene just after golden hour. As the light fades a mist rises from the ground, and within a few moments it fades away, carried by the currents of air. The dark forest forms a gateway, opening to a new adventure slowly being revealed as details become clearer.