127 - Transport of Delight
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As purchased with the stretchers etc. still inside. |
Transport of Delight
It's worth it just to ride inside,
That thirty-foot long by ten-foot wide,
Inside that monarch of the road,
Observer of the highway code,
The big six-wheeler,
London transport,
Diesel engine,
Ninety-seven horsepower,
Ninety-seven horsepower omnibus.
Hold very tight, please!
With acknowledgement to Flanders and Swann
It was red when I bought it from Peter Akass who had used it as a works vehicle in his business of providing special effects for the film industry. It was not our preferred colour scheme but after looking into the cost or effort of changing it a compromise was reached and the roof line was painted "limestone" which had been left over from a re-spray of the Series 3. I think I coined the name "red-bus", after the Flanders and Swann's Transport of Delight, and it seems to have stuck.
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The Commer van parked up
on
a forestry commission road in Wales, in the
snow (shortly after the photo was taken we were told to leave!). Click HERE to buy one new for £843 |
Why an ex-military 127 Ambulance? Well again it all started in Africa. I moved camp regularly, as my project area advanced, and this always took longer that it should; a camper van could be a big improvement and a good bit more comfortable than a tent. And then I came across a Series 2B (the forward control Land Rover) - I wanted one! When I got back to UK I still hankered after a 2B but funds (and availability) would not allow and I settled for a (very) second hand Commer van that I converted to a camper van and Jean and I had some interesting expeditions and fun in it until it eventually died. By this time I was earning and bought a Series 2 LWB.
I still thought, irrationally, that a 2B was the best option for a camper van even with a top speed of 50 mph and a horrendous noise level. However it was not to be. I took my family to Bahrain and bought a NEW Series 3 Station Wagon; that was nearly 30 years ago (time of writing 2009) and it is still on the road. Driving across the desert in the Middle East reinforced my view that the Land Rover is the best cross-country vehicle - and I had the opportunity to try them all.
The Series 3 came back to UK in a container - Middle East politics prevented us from driving home, that was at one time our intention. It was then the second (or third) vehicle for a long time until I took early retirement in 2000. The camper van ambition was re-kindled and for a time the Series 3, with a roof tent, took us around the UK and also to Brittany. The Brittany trip however was a near disaster - the Series 3 was just getting too old and was also, to be fair, noisy and uncomfortable and really too small to be an acceptable camper in our "dotage". Jean took some persuading but eventually I got the go-ahead and started looking for a 127 Ambulance (I had briefly introduced Jean to a 101 but this was firmly rejected!).
So here we are. I became the proud owner of an eccentric, and very red, ex-military field ambulance - the Landrover 127.