Truck, 1/4 ton 4 x 4 ct cargo, fv1801 a (1)

S/N 3531

Being naturally curious, I went to investigate and found two Austin Champs as seen in the above pic. The green Champ closest, the one that has been hit by a yellow paint bomb is s/n 3531. The grey Champ behind was s/n 5927. In service with the British Army their license plates would have read 35BE31 and 59BE27 respectively. Two batteries, two litres of fuel and about ten minutes work had 3531 running and I drove it slowly around the police yard

A bit of amateur detective work located the owner who had previous taught in the school in Dumbleyung but had been transferred to Newman about 1900 kilometres north of there. The cost of moving them had dampened his enthusiasm for restoring Champs a little so he agreed to sell them both to me. The Army's well known "mates" network was brought into action short after this and both Champs were moved free of charge to my home in Perth thanks to a Driver Training Course that my unit was running about then and their need to find "live cargoes" for the trainees.

 3531 then spent a few years neglected in my backyard in Perth where it was a great conversation piece at barbecues and parties. All my friends were always amazed that it would start first time every time after sitting in the weather without starting for six months or more. When I moved to Kulin in 1995, I took it to my mate's farm near here where it once again found a purpose in life, as a shooting buggy chasing rabbits and foxes all over the farm and for rounding up sheep. I finally got serious about restoring it early in 1997. 5927 unfortunately was incomplete and too heavily rusted to do any more than supply parts for 3531 and so I sent it off to Champ Heaven in late 1992. I do still have it's engine, gearbox, front axle and some body panels.

This isn't actually my engine. It belongs to Paul Fremanis in South Australia but it looks so nice I decided to use it until I get a pic of my own engine scanned.

As can be seen from the above photo, 3531 is looking a lot healthier these days. I have just finished painting the engine bay, engine, gearbox and all the engine accessories. My restoration philosophy is of the "If it ain't broken, don't fix it!" kind. I do not believe in restoring vehicles to a "Concourse Quality" that they were never built to in the first place. I have been involved in several Australian Army vehicle rebuild programs and I use those programs as my benchmark. Therefore, when finished, 3531 might look a little rough to the purist but it is probably in a better condition than it was when newly delivered back in 1953.

Mechanically, 3531 ran like a dream from the moment I bought it except for the brakes being seized up. Consequently, most of the restoration work has been cosmetic. She has got a little rust in the sills below both the door? openings. The brakes are no great problem as they are mostly the same as early Series II Landrovers. Except for flushing the cooling system to remove many years of rusty sludge, I have done very little to the engine.