Rover 8 FFR Restoration

My land rover, officially called “Rover 8, FFR” was delivered to the British Army in 1961 and released in 1972, after which it was brought privately by (presumably) a farmer. I brought it in 2001 after an encounter with another land rover nutter at a mountain biking event in Thetford forest. Initially it was pretty much a standard looking ex military land rover but what made it different was the 24 volt electric system, most 24 volt models have a 90 amp system with the rectifier built into the generator but this is the earlier 40 amp model with the rectifier attached to the front panel behind the grille, along with a strengthen extra grill.

          when I first brought it, it was stripped of all it’s military fittings and had a mix mash of seats, usable but tatty canvas, odd tires dodgy paintwork and a gear box which would need replacing in time, first off I set about just tidying it up with a new coat of army green paint and canvas, used it like this for a while and just added bits as it when along. In 2004 I took it off the road to do some serious work to it, this stared off with getting the radio table, dexion and battery box for the back, atu boxes for the front and radios to go in the back, then I had a bargain on eBay! Used but very good 2a gearbox for 35 quid! Once I picked this up and sorted out some time to fit it that’s when things really took off.

          As most of the interior had to come out to fit the new gearbox it seemed like a good point to restore it some more, so with every thing stripped out I sanded down and repainted all the interior parts in deep bronze green as that is the colour of most of the interior, the other reason was that I wanted to give it that “in service” look, as later on in its service life it would have been repaint in nato green on the outside only so that’s the style I’ve gone for, usually the capping would have been painted over as well but on this vehicle it never has been, rather then strip all this off the vehicle I opted just to go over all the galvanised parts with silver paint that looks very much like new galvanising.

          With the new gearbox in place and the interior refitted it really did start to look like a new vehicle, as well as all the usually parts I also managed to get hold of the brackets for the rifle clips and water jerry can holder which where also stripped and repainted.

          Also I had been able to get hold of reproduction series 2/2a elephant grey seats as well to replace the mix mash I had before.

          With the front done then I turned to the back, I stripped out all the radio fittings  I had collected and totally stripped and repainted the radio table and fittings and fitted new woodwork, repainted the rear body and fitted the radio connection/junction boxes as well.

          The radio operator’s seats were a bit of luck as they actually come from an ffr wolf land rover from work which “somehow” found there way into my ownership!

Sometime later through the forum I was able to get hold of a larkspur c13 radio set to fit in the back, which has got me started in having it fully kitted out with its original radios, also on eBay I tracked down a larkspur a41 man pack radio for it as well.

 Still need little bits and bobs for the back and radios but these will come in time.

          Turning to the engine all this needed doing to it was to convert it to run on unleaded petrol, whilst under here I decided to make it match the rest of the interior by repainting it bronze green as well

          Another eBay find (what would I do without eBay lol) was some military spec split rims which would have been fitted to it originally but had been lost and replaced with standard land rover steel wheels until now, once they were shot blasted and had the tyres swapped over and painted they were finally back where they belong.

          The chassis is pretty much ok, just needs a couple of small patches when I get time, the rear axle was cleaned up and repainted and the front was fully stripped with new swivel housings and gaskets as well as the brakes,  including new drums.

Most of the original markings are now on as well, the only unit markings to go on will be that of the RAF Regiment as I feel that it is not a widely known military unit and is hardly ever seen on preserved vehicles, hopefully it’ll be back on the road sometime this year

Lozzaboy