Gearbox noises. Engine losing power, then overheating while stuck in traffic. Fuel gauge stuck at three-quarters full. The low-box lever jumping out of gear. Not the mishaps you would likely want to encounter when traversing Europe in an age-old Series I! Despite all this, the truck made it.

Jekyll breaking the world rust heap land speed record:


By the time that all the participants of the Czech Series Land-Rover owners’s meeting were already gathered at the Malesov campsite on the Friday in anticipation of the event’s start on Saturday, strange noises started coming from the general direction of the road leading into the campsite. “Your truck is here!” someone laughed at me, listening to the horrendous rattle.

We walked over to greet the newly arrived participants – I had already received many messages saying that the truck has had many difficult moments en route and was haunted by a premonition that not everything would work as I hoped it would. That was an understatement in many ways.

Although the truck eventually did make it and covered some 1500 kilometres without actually breaking down so seriously as to make further travel impossible, the original idea of patina and a reliable mechanical underneath somehow turned into too many small (and a few not so small) problems. After driving the SI for a bit around the campsite, it took me two more days to gather enough courage to sit in the truck and drive it for anything else than just a few hundred metres and stop, casually pretending that the truck isn’t really mine!

All of my Czech friends appeared very fond of the truck, lifting my spirits a bit – Martin, a friend whose V8 SI started all this, remarked jokingly that he will obviously retain the honour of having the truck with the largest exhaust pipe, as mine did not resemble a Tiger tank hiding underneath, with just the cannon sticking out back!

Well, I had it coming – finding a SI 86” with a 3.5 V8 fitted on Carandclassic.co.uk in March or April 2011 had me thinking. I fancied something V8 powered since 2008 and eventually, after much deliberation, I could not resist buying the truck. At the time, OLLR provided the human chain needed to get the truck from a town close to Edinburgh, Scotland, to Kutna Hora, Czech Republic.

The first photos I saw of Jekyll:






A few short message exchanges with the key member of the human chain squad, Kev/mr.scruff, confirmed the truck was road-worthy and should not break in half en route. Kev boarded Jekyll and went south – the non-working fuel gauge caused him at least once to run out of petrol (and I think Dougal had to come to the rescue at that time), but eventually he got as far as Jon/landyboy’s home, where a change of drivers occurred, leaving Kev to heal his physical and mental scars of driving the scrap heap for several hundred of miles.

It was Jon who then went on to drive Jekyll for the “remainder” of the journey, from southeast of England to central Europe. There were plenty further attempts to cure the engine losing power and investigating the cause of the disturbing gearbox noises (eventually a bolt was found loose in the gearbox, probably due to the previous owner’s hurried removal of an overdrive, plus a missing tooth on the first/reverse gear) and – if I remember correctly – engine or gearbox oil had to be filled up.

The two occassionally almost inseparable mates on the road - Dougal and Jekyll:


The bill for the journey was obviously horrendous and we had a hard time putting together enough cash to repay Jon’s services, as we did not quite prepare for the amount of various liquids that Jekyll managed to consume en route, but eventually we managed to put together enough cash in several currencies to pay up – this proved to be a lasting problem, there’s simply never enough cash to finance this cursed vehicle!

Jon inspecting the noisy gearbox somewhere en route to CZ:


The all-stars euroleafing team:


Jekyll’s Saturday shame corner and Sunday’s laning
Birmabright Weekend’s Saturday’s great greenlaning trip saw the SI enduring the shame of sitting at the campsite – after the stories of gearbox noises and the images of big yellow truck having to haul it back to my home, I ended up leaving the SI behind while enjoying the greenlaning trip in the nice, original and 100% reliable Bernie, an ex-Swiss Army 1960 SII 88”.

On the Sunday, the plan was to visit the National Agricultural Museum and do a bit more greenlaning. After many grim thoughts, I eventually came to the conclusion that breaking down close to Kutna Hora (where my parents live) could be more convenient that doing so while somewhere half-way between Kutna Hora and Drozdov, my home village, some 130 kilometres away from the campsite.

Regaining its honour during Sunday's laning:


Jekyll at the National Agricultural Museum at Caslav:


So, accompanied by the compassionate Jon Holmes, who sensed the uneasiness with which I was boarding the truck, I eventually led the Sunday’s leafer column in the first right-hand drive vehicle I have ever driven for any considerable distance, unsure if it would make the trip back. Jon, obviously much more optimistic, kept reassuring me that the vehicle is not that bad, while offsetting this with scary stories from the trip, but we did make it to the museum, where the SI fitted nicely among some exhibits parked there for the oncoming museum’s weekend, when they would be seen in action.

After seeing all of the several halls of exhibits at the museum, we had a short chat at the parking lot. The OLLR crew, now reduced to two vehicles, as well as several local participants, understandably decided they could put the time needed for the following greenlaning trip to much more use returning home, so we bid farewell to them and departed for some 30 kilometres of tarmac and greenlanes, visiting the ruins of the Lichnice Castle as well as a beautifully restored lime kiln just down the hill from the castle. Here, we shook hands saying our goodbyes to the rest of the participants. The meeting was over, the journey home was ahead of us, with me driving the SI V8 shed, while my wife resorted to driving Bernie for the third time in her life.

After pumping as much petrol as was physically possible into the SI’s tank, we headed west. Travelling at 80 kph, which we keep as a rule with Bernie, the noises from within the engine and gearbox area gradually subsided and I was able to taste what it really means to drive an ex-Rover P6 V8-powered SI really means. Increasing speed from 50 to 100 kph while in fourth gear was a priceless Ferrari-like experience.

Against all odds, the SI reached our home safely and was reversed to its roofed parking space to await its further fate. Needless to say, both me and my wife needed a drink after all this!

After spending about two weeks thinking up a name for the truck, I ended up with Jekyll en route, seeing how many hideous and scary details are hidden under the beautifully used looks of the truck. Eventually, the name ‘Pekelnik’, given to the truck by other Czech forum members, meaning ‘One from hell’ or ‘Devil’ stuck much more.

The next weekend, after doing a test drive with the family and pumping some adrenaline into our bodies by depressing the throttle pedal, I armed myself with a screwdriver and a wire brush mounted on an angle grinder, decided to remove the ‘surface rust’ and ‘paint it over with a few coats of paint so it doesn’t deteriorate’.

Two or three hours again I needed another drink. The outriggers, under coats of rust flaking away in chunks, were all thinned down so much you could see right through them in several places. The bulkhead door pillar bottoms were partially bitten off by the rust worm and there was an inch-wide hole in the driver’s side door pillar just above the wing.

Oscillating between thoughts of sale and restoration, I ended up being persuaded by my wife Hana, that we’ve stepped into this (read: I made us step into this) and now have to move on. In two weeks we received an estimate on the restoration, concentrating on strip-down, chassis & bulkhead external zinc-coating, wheel sand-blasting, painting everything that got refurbished in a colour similar to the one already on the body panels, as well as other details.

The price tag more than doubled the buying price of the truck, but we could not but take it as life’s another lesson. A truck in Bernie’s condition and a truck in original condition which needs bringing up to Bernie’s standard will put you down to Bernie’s cost at least. In the long run, it is always cheaper to buy a restored truck, which is obvious – until you see a good price for an SI V8 with a great patina…

Jekyll at the beginning of his rebirth:


Whoooaaaar etc., following shortly after the work on bulkhead/frame was finished: