Land Rover Series 2 Episode 1

Nicky turned up at the door, he’d just passed his test, first time too, and quite a way ahead of the rest of us, he was the eldest in our year. He had a surprise, it was late for him to have come calling on a week night; we were from opposite sides of the river. He asked us all to come out and look so we did. At the bottom of the street, standing proud was a green Series 2 diesel Land Rover. Little did I know the adventures and the injuries that this thing had in stall for us over the next year or so, it was to be an awakening. I was allowed to go out for a spin, and so began a route around Warwick Road, Burger King, Scotby and Wetheral until there were no less than ten lads in the back of this damn Land Rover! All rammed in and sat on top of one another, not one of us belted up, there were no belts, we were so tightly packed in I don’t think it would have mattered though. So we took our first outing in the Landy, we went to Penrith, got out, walked in a circle and got back in again, then headed off back down the M6. It wasn’t until we were midway down the M6 on route back to Carlisle that there was a sudden grinding noise before the offside rear of the truck suddenly dropped. I agreed to open the back door of the Landy whilst we continued on our way in order to check if I could see anything. Indeed I could, the offside rear wheel was bouncing down the hard shoulder and off into the grass verge, sparks flared out of the back of us like a Phoenix tail feather and the noise was a great deal louder out there. I reported forward to Nicky who pulled off the road. We had to work quickly, if the police turned up and found thirteen lads and one Series 2 Land rover, Nicky was for it. We were about twelve miles outside of Carlisle still; needless to say it was going to be a long, dangerous, cold and muddy night for the unfortunate few who bolted over the fences and into the blackness of the fields. It was a long time before the tow truck arrived, fortunately the police didn’t. The remainder of us made it home later than the lads on foot. A few days later the mechanic said that it looked almost like the bolts had been tampered with, as Nicky looked on like butter wouldn't melt, they’d sheered right off; he’d never seen anything like it. It was to be the first of a few firsts for us and that Landy.