This was the saga of EG1930, a former Agriculture department vehicle, Sabah State Government service. The vehicle began life in 1976 and was imported from Soliholl, England. It was with the Dept. of Agriculture which used it throughout Sabah until the late 1980s. After that it was transferred to an agency handling retired/derelict vehicles. It sat idle for the better part of the 1990s until it was offered to the public via tender in 1997. I was the highest bidder and got it home in December 1997. The following depict the restoration effort in early 1998.
After towing the vehicle to the 'workshop' which is actually the backyard of a friend's house we began stripping it down. First the front fenders, the hood, the roof assembly, the body tub, doors and everything else. As you can see in the preceding photo everything came off, except the fire wall and steering.
The next important matter to tend to was finding an engine. After a few weeks of searching we came across a 1978 series II engine from a SWB Land Rover. The mechanic cleaned up the engine and installed a new set of rings and bearings. After test running the engine, satisfied it functioned normally, the mechanic installed it onto the vehicle's frame using a chain block, as seen in the preceding photo.
Another vital component in a 4WD vehicle is its transmission and transfer case. Fortunately for us the 1978 donor vehicle also had a functioning gear system and so we didn't have to look far. The preceding photo depicts the transfer case and the various 'forks' protruding from the gear shifter.
The next thing we did was to assemble the front and rear prop shafts to their respective axles. Fortunately again we found a set of shafts that had the right length and no modifications were needed. We did have to get a fresh set of uni-joints to match the axles. After that it was mostly body works and I requested the vehicle to be spray painted white.
The last vital assembly needed was the wiring loom. It is amazing how even such an early vehicle had so many wires - front headlamps, signal indicators, dim lights, rear brake lights, rear signals, starting switch, heater coil for the diesel engine, water temp and fuel tank gauges, horn and so on.
We had the vehicle up and running on April 1998. After a few minor glitches, which included adjusting the spacing on the gearbox and later on in the rear axle, the vehicle was sent to the Road vehicles Dept. for inspection. I managed to register EG1930 (its old govt. service plate) as SA3720X on ..