Informal Meet

[elma]

Yes not to be confused with that awful bread masquerading as cake.

[myglaren]

Stolly:

[Zelandeth]

All you need to know about a Stolly. Six wheel drive, powered by an in line eight cylinder engine made by Rolls Royce, it's amphibious, will go just about anywhere, spits flames out the exhaust on the overrun, and is possibly the thing I have driven that put the biggest grin on my face.

...Launching it into a lake at full speed is probably one of the most terrifying driving experiences of my life so far too...

Sadly I've no photos of it as it pretty dated my having a digital camera or a budget that stretched to actually stretched to buying film more than a few times a year.

[mickeymoon]

Yes not to be confused with that awful bread masquerading as cake.

Or is it awful cake masquerading as bread?

[elma]

...Launching it into a lake at full speed is probably one of the most terrifying driving experiences of my life so far too...

Sadly I've no photos of it as it pretty dated my having a digital camera or a budget that stretched to actually stretched to buying film more than a few times a year.

Better relive it then Zel, I volunteer to be cameraman on the condition that I am on board.

[Zelandeth]

If I do get hold of one you'll be more than welcome!

Thing that surprised me the most about it was how manoeuvrable it was in the water. That and the fact that it was more than capable of getting air when you're larking about over rough terrain.

[Hell Razor5543]

There is a very simple reason as to why it CAN get airborne. Any army mechanic worth his salt would yank out the governor as soon as the vehicle came onto MoD land!

[Gibbo2286]

I had a drive of one and a variety of other military stuff a few years ago, my daughter bought me a 'Military driving experience' as a present.

I can't remember the company name now, it was in Wiltshire near Longleat House. I note there are still offers to be had Here for example:

Didn't do any water though just around the fields.

I have though experienced some of the AFVs when in Egypt in the REME workshop in the fifties, Stuart tanks mainly.

https://www.tankdriving.co.uk/tank-driv ... er-leisure

[CitroJim]

Yes not to be confused with that awful bread masquerading as cake.

Stollen you mean.... Love it - but only my own home-made

[elma]

Your's may be very nice Jim and I shall not criticise it unduly.
Packet stuff is sugared cardboard as far as I'm concerned.

[Gibbo2286]

Your's may be very nice Jim and I shall not criticise it unduly.
Packet stuff is sugared cardboard as far as I'm concerned.

Makes a good chock when your handbrakes a bit dodgy.

[CitroJim]

Packet stuff is sugared cardboard as far as I'm concerned.

Yep, fully agreed and not limited to Stollen either... Most packet stuff in my experience...

Once you start baking and cooking your own stuff from scratch there is no turning back... Commercial stuff fails to satisfy on so many levels...

Makes a good chock when your handbrakes a bit dodgy.

[Zelandeth]

There is a very simple reason as to why it CAN get airborne. Any army mechanic worth his salt would yank out the governor as soon as the vehicle came onto MoD land!

Very true...

Need to track down a video with decent audio, most I've found on YouTube have been rubbish in that regard so far. They do (or at least my mate's one does) make a lovely noise...

Reason seeing them in the water is pretty rare is that the swim kit was - officially - removed from them when they were decommissioned and sold off. The bits apparently do still surface from time to time if you do some digging though. Bits we had to find for his one were pretty basic though, few drive shafts, a mass of fiddly linkages for the steering and two bevel boxes to turn the drive from the gearbox PTO through 90 degrees to the jet housing. Those bevel boxes are the only bit that would really be hard to make if you had access to a decent workshop and a proper set of drawings.

Fitting those steering linkages was a task during which I learned several new "special" swear words. It's a simple system really, but it has to go in in a very specific order...And I didn't have the luxury of a manual! There are also a heap of linkages which look identical...But are actually an inch or so different in length. You figure out which one goes where without taking it all to bits again several times.

Totally worth it though (even the bit where I nearly knocked myself out climbing out of the engine compartment and clocking my head on the exhaust), and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[CitroJim]

A lovely lineup

[elma]

Thats an almost perfect Citroen collection. Prity much how my garage would look if I had a garage and 5 cars.