Ted Shapley's Hotspur 139"
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- Category: 6x4 and 6x6
- Last Updated on Thursday, 03 November 2011 18:25
- Written by Ted Shapley
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All things Landrover started at an early age when my Dad came home from a pub in Cape Town with a Devonshireman who had single handedly overlanded Africa via the little travelled West Coast route. His tales were fascinating and the funny little vehicle which had helped him accomplish his dream equally so. So it was that I came to be introduced into the world of Landrovers by this dead original 1952 Series 1 80 inch that had taken part in this epic trip over 18 months. The vehicle called Charlie was left with my father and our family used it for many outings around the Cape over the ensuing 10 years until the vehicles mechanical state of disrepair overtook my fathers technical abilities. Years later I came by the vehicle again and restored it and Charlie is still in daily use now, 18 years later.
While living in Johannesburg in the late 90's after returning from working back in the UK for 6 years (and bringing my trusty Series 3 rebuilt shorty with me) I met the local Landrover crowd and was introduced to an utter hooligan by name of Lance Walton, who at that stage owned the Hotspur 6x6 V8 powered machine. After having been out with the Landrover club on several outings and witnessing the unbelievable off-road ability of this totally unstoppable vehicle I tried then to acquire it. Again after a good few years had gone by and Landrovers from a Series 1 107 to a V8 110 station wagon had been rebuilt, I thought of that old 6 wheel drive.
I did eventually acquire the Hotspur, which had by that stage not been in use for around 5 years and had been stripped for its various parts for some unknown reason and its remains spread over a couple of acres of Lances’ small holding, among many, many other Landrovers and Landrover parts. Upon my request Lance exhumed the axles and various other parts from the farm and assembled the vehicle with most of its original parts, ready to be towed from Johannesburg to Cape Town. The 1600 km tow by A-frame and 86 inch series 1 powered by a Westlake 3.0 litre 6 cylinder Rover engine went off without a hitch (except for Lance getting stuck in the snow with the rig on the Hexrivier pass in the winter of 2003.
The rebuild started in November 2009 with the complete strip down of the vehicle. The chassis was worked on first, being in excellent condition as it had spent most of its life in Botswana (where it was doing sand trials for the Botswana Military for border patrol duty) and at high altitude in Johannesburg with Lance for most of its life. Originally the Hotspur was built for the British Military and used in the first Gulf war towing an anti-aircraft gun. The chassis had a few mods including the raising of the spring anchor points by 3 inches, fabricating and welding new rear panels that hold the tail lights on (as the original ones were bent beyond belief) and the fitting of a series 2 Discovery power steering box. The chassis along with the door frames and bulkhead and the body cappings were sent in for hot dip galvanising. While this was being done, a V8 3.5 litre Rover car engine was acquired, stripped and completely rebuilt with 10:1 compression pistons, Long stroke Rovertech forged steel crank shaft (Capacity is somewhere around 4.1 litres now) Crane cam and lifters were fitted.
Part of the rebuild involved galvanising the chassis
The LT 95 gearbox was also completely rebuilt as were the three axles, the intermediate one having the power through centre device. All the other vehicle components were overhauled from brake master cylinder, clutch master, all slave cylinders, all brake piping replaced with extended flexible piping going to the wheels. Parabolic springs have been fitted as well as ARB diff locs on all axles. The rear most one here is a Salisbury type with what appears to be standard Rover axles on the intermediate and front positions, all running 3.54 ratios. Increased angle propshafts were made and fitted, with a special fat one linking the LT 95 output to the intermediate axle input shaft.
Stainless steel fasteners have been used throughout the rebuild and a big bore stainless steel exhaust system has been made up to suit with special attention being paid to ensuring that it is neatly tucked away as not to catch on rocks etc. The V8 feeds into this via two cast iron exhaust manifolds sourced from a series 2 Discovery as these are apparently superior to the many header pipes that are available and run quieter due to the thick walls. Torque delivery at low rpm is also supposed to be better with these manifolds.
The original mild steel fuel tank was badly rusted on the inside, so it was used as a template for a 304 grade stainless steel one and its capacity increased to hold 345 litres, thus giving the vehicle a range of around 1800 km (assuming here that the vehicle is driven at 100 km/h on relatively hard road surfaces) Fuel consumption of the 6 Wheel drive when we used it with the original 3.5 litre carburettor fed V8 was 5.4 km/l, as measured as an average when used at 100 km/h on tarred road as well as a good splodge of weekend off roading. With the new engine it may be slightly heavier, probably around the 5 km/l mark which is not bad for such a machine. It weighs in at 2065 kg with roll cage and extras such as the side awning and two roof top tents. The tents still have to be fitted as does the soft top.
One trip I will not forget that Lance and I did with this vehicle was a long weekend of off road debauchery in Babanago with a good few other Landovers along the White Umfolozi River. One obstacle that had to be conquered on this Series Landover Challenge was to ford the river which was nearly a meter deep in places and to cross mud island in the middle then continue to the other side. We watched as the other vehicles tried in vain to scramble out of the water up the near vertical bank on the island, some getting the rear wheels out of the water and bogging down or just sliding back into the river with all wheels spinning forwards! When our turn came the 6x6 just barged its way through the water, ploughed straight through the bank, shunting about a quarter of a tonne of mud, stones and bush out of the way as it did so. Not so much as 1 km/h was lost as we just effortlessly sailed over (and in places through) the thickly vegetated island into the river on the other side (which was way deeper that anticipated as no one had until then driven through it). The cab filled up to the dash with muddy water as the vehicle plunged into a hole that nearly swallowed the entire car, momentarily covering the windscreen. I must admit, the V8, even with its ‘water proofed’ HT circuit did not appreciate this and we came to a shuddering, steaming halt with the two front wheels on the opposite river bank!
The bodywork was in relatively good condition and the most time consuming exercise here was the removal of the horrible old green paint that had been squirted all over the thing. Once that was out of the way and the odd ding here and there had been clobbered out and filled, it was sprayed up in a 2K type of twin pack paint with great results. The front end of the vehicle was originally Stage 1 V8 and as I wanted more space under the bonnet, I sourced Defender front panels and bonnet which fitted straight on. A defender windscreen seemed like the best choice as it does not restrict one vision as does the old series setup. Defender front seats are a better bet than the original, so a pair of new ones were sourced and fitted along with the Defender Td5 dash and Raptor Engineering’s dash panel. A sturdy roll cage has been fabricated which will to hold the two roof top tents and solar panel as well as make for a very sturdy attachment for seat belts. Two rear seats from a Puma 90 make for comfortable seating for two in the load deck and the rest of the load area will be used for carrying the necessary equipment for over landing. A full length canvas soft top will be made in the near future which will have rollup sides.
The wiring is nearly complete with the dash panel and the two radios still needing connecting. Other small odds and ends will be done in the following few weeks such as rubber floor mats, the solar panel charging system to run the fridge and charge the extra batteries must be installed as well as the frame work for the soft top around the driving compartment. Some of the extras include a 15,000 lb Warn winch, the extra heavy duty Domex steel bull bar, 150 Amp alternator, UHF two way radios, 3 off ARB Diflocs with onboard compressor with 70 litre stainless receiver, eight off 33 x 12.5 Khumo KL71 mud pattern tyres on 10 silver rims (two spares) and drawer system on the load deck.
I have only driven the Hotspur (as it is now, down the road and back, about 2 km) and hope to have it out on the road for a 1000 km weekend trip to sort out all the anticipated teething niggles. Its acceleration is impressive for its bulk and everything spins over very smoothly. Brakes are awesome and the old LT 95 changes gears a bit like a truck (then that’s what is expected because it is a truck!).
Everything has to be sorted out by mid march as I (as well as It!) are booked to do the 650 km beach / dune drive from Luderitz to Swakopmunt in Namibia. I have to ensure that my beast does not break down as I am the only Landy among a herd of Landcruisers (Gutless, chugging Toyota Land Cruisers prepare to be put in your place!)
Update: pictures of the finished article!
So does it live up to the Hype? – Yes. And then some, it is actually ridiculous, I have had people (on many occasions) nearly have very serious accidents as they are hanging out of their car windows while driving, frantically trying to get cell phone pics etc. of the thing! Off road ability with the parabolic springs is phenomenal, it always has at least four wheels on the ground in any situation. I hauled two large yoghurt tanks with it 1600 km from Cape Town to Johannesburg (my company here builds mixers, tanks etc. for industry) and the total weight including that of the trailer was well in excess of 4 tons. I have towed many, many things and I can honestly say there is no finer tow vehicle than the Hotspur. I got 3.7 km/litre fully bombed up and going as hard as I could, average speed was 47 km/h (which is not bad considering that it is a climb the entire way up to JHB which is at an altitude of around 1500 m above sea level) On the flats and down hills the truck would easily get up to 110 km/h with the load, on steep passes we were down to first gear, 5 to 10 km/h and keeping pace with the large Superlinks.
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