Current Owner: Peter Mintoft, Craven Arms, Shropshire
Previous Owner(s): Unknown
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For a long while I only knew the sketchiest details of this vehicle, which were as follows:
Photographed 28/8/01 on a garage forecourt in Tywyn, Mid Wales, by Michael Burn.
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Then this picture was sent to me in February 2014 by Michael Fincher.
At the time I made a note that the vehicle had a 3-litre Ford V6 engine.
Then Peter Mintoft contacted me in 2004, with a lot of detail that somehow never got added to this page. He said:
I note 698 was spotted in Tywyn, Gwynedd where it often visits because I am a driver and volunteer on the Talyllyn steam railway. My wife and I both have family 2 miles up the road and 698 lived there for about 6 or 7 years until we moved to Shropshire from near Bournemouth in July 03. I often go to Mike Green's series one Land Rover Rally in Tywyn, although 698 hasn't been an official entry since about 1998.
I have owned SXF 698 since 1996 when I bought it from a farmers son in Lichfield, Staff's who had it for about 11 years. It had been owned by at least 1 other farmer before that as I recall (and some of the 'repairs' testify!) The lad who owned it before me painted it a sand colour and fitted a Steve Parker conversion with Ford 3.0 V6 engine, flip front (wings etc lift as one piece) LWB front axle & brakes, Range Rover diff's, 750 x 16" tyres, one-ton spring shackles, remote brake servo, column indicator stalk, Smiths flat panel heater, truck cab, front recovery point & tow ball, external full roll cage. He had also 'repaired' the bulkhead by welding in sheet steel and angle where the vents should be and generally fixing it up to MOTable standard. The chassis had various patches on the rear and a complete repair cross member on the front. I changed it a bit by doing away with the truck cab and cage to go back to a full tilt which I prefer, and replaced the back axle with series two after shearing a S1 half shaft like it was made from cheese! It is rough and ready but real fun to own as it can overtake and accelerate faster that quite a lot of more modern vehicles. It gets used quite hard off-road and is needing some new springs and I'm after some 235x16" mud pluggers for more traction off-road.
It is our third vehicle so doesn't get used much for everyday road work apart from carrying building materials or firewood etc. I love it off-road where it never disgraces itself against 90's and certainly gets stuck much less than 90's on 650 size rubber. I'd like to fit a galv chassis and new bulkhead but that will have to wait for time and money!
Its registration date is certainly 5/58 and chassis is 111800717. Original engine is long gone as is original colour. I found the original crest on passenger door which has all but flaked off now and the previous owner left the property of home office lettering visible on LH wing too. I have sent off for a Gaydon certificate to find out more.
In May 2020, Peter had clearly been spending a lot of time in the workshop with 698, and sent me a wonderful gallery of restoration pictures:
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Peter also said:
I’ve kept it on the road all the time I’ve owned it — since early ‘96 — but it was very ropey by 2018. Dismantling was done autumn 2018, and with help from extra time caused by the lockdown it looks like it will be fairly well finished by the end of June. The chassis was shot blasted, received many new bottom plate sections, new dumb irons and 4 outriggers, rear x-member repaired (again but it’s still original!) then galvanised. It was then T-washed and painted the correct black finish. Radiator panel bottom was half renewed and galvanised, the bulkhead extensively repaired and second hand vent flaps added back in, but about 40% of the bulkhead panels remain original — now galvanised. There's been a full mechanical rebuild, including the engine which is still the Ford V6 Steve Parker conversion, but now fuel injected. You can also update the details to green colour, soft top, Field Cable Party HQ section as I discovered the sign written lettering under the layers of paint last week!
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Peter definitely looks to have done a superb job of this restoration, and the Ford V6 should certainly give GT drivers something to think about when they both pull away from the lights together! As a final note before I add some more 'before' pics, he said in his last email:
Unfortunately I had expected to be able to show it alongside [similarly restored to livery] SXF 699 at Tywyn's Talyllyn Railway Land Rover rally this year but of course it's been cancelled. I just need a Brockhouse trailer to go behind it now!
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[To add (or alter) information on this page, please contact me on sxf@teeafit.co.uk.]