Saw this on an overlanding forum.
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The slowest Land Rover in the world? Instead of a radio, it has an insertion hole under the boiler.
British retiree Frank Rothwell redesigned the old 1967 Land Rover model to steam only. He is even allowed to drive on normal roads.
It has been fashionable for a few years to take an old car, dissect it and insert batteries with an electric motor into its bowels. Nothing against taste, let everyone do with their property what they see fit. Apparently, however, there are those among us who think a little differently. More precisely, their thoughts run in exactly the opposite direction. To history.
A shining example is Frank Rothwell from Oldham, England, who looks like any other retiree. He walks in dirty overalls, has a bekovka on his head and a cheerful, contagious smile on his face. Except that this seventy-year-old guy isn't quite an ordinary senior.
Last year, he boarded a boat and, in 56 days, sailed across the Atlantic alone to draw attention to his foundation, ultimately raising £ 1.1 million to research Alzheimer's disease. This time I'm responsible for another project, but similarly crazy.
Frank owns a 1967 Land Rover Series IIA, which was fitted with a 2.25-liter four-cylinder diesel engine, an equally large petrol engine and a 2.6-liter in-line six-cylinder. In this case, however, you will not find any of the mentioned aggregates under the hood.
As Frank says in a video shot by the DriveTribe platform, founded by the original well-known TopGear trio of Clarkson, Hammond and May: “What should one do on Sunday afternoon? I took part in a weekend event with steam engines and I noticed miniature versions of the vehicles there. I thought they had to be really good engineers to build something like that, ” adds Frank Rothwell.
The speech then turned to exactly such a machine, already standing in his yard. "Yes, there's Elvia, but I cheated, bought a kit and built it in the garage," he recalls. Only one machine powered in this way was probably not enough for him, not to mention that it was really just a miniature.
He needed another, ideally some life-size one. And that's when it occurred to him that he could install a steam unit in another vehicle. Thus was born the idea of a model from Land Rover with steam propulsion. You can see how it developed further in Frank's own submission in the video above.
Initially, he tried to estimate the weight of an engine with a gearbox and differentials and compare them with the weight of a steam engine. And because there wasn't much difference, he set about rebuilding.
He first made an imitation of a steam generator from plywood to be sure that he would get it there after any necessary adjustments. And since everything was seated, he dismantled the old engine with the front differential and gradually made a steam butt.
He added manual throttle control, produced several simple backup brake systems, and the Land Rover Series IIA, powered solely by the power of an external combustion steam engine, was born. However, it is not the fastest, on the contrary, it is probably the slowest Land Rover in the world.
Frank admits that the maximum speed of his vehicle is only 19 kilometers per hour. And on the hill he is glad that he goes at least three kilometers per hour. But do you know what's best about it?
His Mildred, as he called the car, has passed a "technical inspection", so he can legally set off on normal British roads with it.
