Chapter 10: Teething Problems                                                              05.10.2022

The cold mornings are finally here; however, Raymond is well prepared for the frosty challenge ahead. The heated steering wheel, the heated seats (of which have two settings, hot and very hot), and the heated windscreen will all fight off any inclement weather and keep me toastie. The first day and what do I have? A frozen windshield, but as I predicted, Raymond dealt with it as if that was what he was made for, and I was on my way with clear glass in front of me.

Whilst Raymond has been a trooper against the cold, I do have to point out a few teething issues that have happened this week. There is a weird musty smell that appears when you have the heaters on. We suspect this to be either the pollen filter or the a/c. We will keep you informed either way. The other issue is that the radio is intermittent these days. I will be driving along, jamming out to some music, everything working fine and then suddenly, silence, radio off, not turning back on until you restart the car, only for it to repeat the process. I have noticed that it does it more often when the headlights are on, so perhaps Raymond has a wiring issue?? The final issue to note is the constant changing of the key fob battery every other week, which I would describe as more of an annoyance than a problem.

Famous Four x

In our next dive into the die-cast model cars collection, I am going to be looking at a pair of cars with a common theme between them; that theme, the police.

Firstly we have the 5 door Range Rover Classic from the West Midlands Police, more specifically the Central Motorway Police Group (CMPG). The livery is quite accurate to the real counterpart, however there are two glaring errors. Before I go onto the errors though I would like to point out the numbers and letters on the roof of the car. This is code created by the force so that aerial units can identify the ground units. In our case there is a red circle which generally means traffic or general response unit.

Now the errors, one of which may be arguable, but one not so. The arguable point is that, during my research I could never find this particular car in this model. I did however find this EXACT livery on a P38A, the model that came after this one. Perhaps there is no documented existence of this car, perhaps you need special access to find this out. The only shred of evidence I have is that Corgi made this model and with it was a card that read:

“1972-1997. 25^th anniversary of West Midlands Motorway Network and Motorway Police (C.M.P.G) Featured Range Rover is the last of its style to be take into use by the Central Motorway Police Group.”

The second error is in the design of the car. The car is a fairly solid remake of the 5-door Classic, however the indicator lights struck me as quite odd when I first looked at it, because instead of the usual split of indicator and fog lights, there was just a singular red light. I researched for a good few hours and I could not find one example of a Range Rover Classic that had this design. So if it is by some miracle accurate, then this is a very rare car.

The second of the police vehicles is another 5 door Range Rover Classic this time from the Metropolitan Police. The livery on this model is not accurate and appears to based on a few different designs, and more noticeably those designs appear to be more later designs as the designs used on the Classics was very different. Funnily enough though, this model car has the same issue as the other one in that it has a singular red indicator not a split like we know the Classics had.

Despite the issues with the models, I think these two cars serve as important reminders of the importance that Land Rover and more specifically the Range Rover plays in British policing. 2 separate areas of the country and yet the same cars used. I also think that it is a testament to Land Rover because these are being used in jobs in which you need the best, in order to fulfil a public need.

Chapter 9: Back in the Workshop                                                                                     21.09.2022

This week Raymond is back in the shop and due for an important repair. The workshop investigated the car after the last blog and concluded that the radiator was leaking and that it would need to be replaced. There is a video of the radiator swap on the Famous Four YouTube Channel. (https://youtu.be/zf6d6HmCE5s)

To remove the radiator, we first need to drain the coolant. Then the pipes and fans need to be disconnected, removed from the radiator unit, so the radiator can be removed from the car. The new radiator can then be fitted, and all the pipes and fans can be reinstalled. Add coolant and check to see if there are any leaks, of which there were none thankfully, and that is the job completely done.

After a few days of testing, the issue seems to be resolved and the new radiator unit is holding up well. However, nothing is ever straight forward with Raymond… As I was driving along the interior air bag light has come on, so as a matter of safety we need to get that checked out sooner rather than later. We went and got the diagnostic kit, turned the car back on and magically Raymond had fixed himself and the light was no longer on. The never-ending uncertainty of Raymond is starting to become his main characteristic.

Famous Four x

Welcome back to the third installment of the Land Rover Die Cast Model Cars series. So far we have looked at several interesting finds and todays post is no different.

One of our finds in this collection is a Corgi Collection Land Rover, Trailer and Mini Safari Rally set, which was released in 1997.  The rally race in which the mini on the trailer raced in was the 1997 Safari Rally Kenya, of which the legend driver Colin McRae actually won. The story is not so exciting for our mini #53, driven by the team of Robert and Michael Plant, brothers from Rochdale as they unfortunately retired from the race. A fun fact about that race is that a fellow retiree was actually Carlos Sainz Snr.

The Land Rover towing #53 is a Series III 109 W.B in white. From my research I cannot find if this was the exact car that would have towed the trailer, however given the location of the race and the year it is very likely. The car is detailed with decals from the time period, and also includes the famous Corgi logo (now, that definitely wouldn’t have been on the car at the time). This toy serves as a reminder of the part Land Rover plays in all aspects of life, including rallying.

Our next find is this wonderful pastel blue and orange livery Transco Land Rover. This again is a Series III 109 W.B and is also towing something behind it, however in this case it is not a rally car, but instead a road drill. Also included in the box is a workman, donning a head of white hair under his helmet and a grimace on his face as he uses the drill on a small piece of road.

Transco were a gas distribution company who then merged with the National Grid Group, to eventually bring the UK what we now know as The National Grid. Transco mostly used Transit vans, however in more rural areas, they sometimes used a Land Rover, similar to Royal Mail as in the last blog.

Our third and final find is a Series III 109 W.B Royal Mail Post Bus. This served as a later edition to the Series II we previously looked at, however it did not last long, quickly being replaced by the Defender 110, with an identical livery. If you took a quick glance, besides the front being different, partial bits of trim and the addition of a an Alpine Window, there isn’t much difference aesthetically. So, if the Defender 110 came out a little bit earlier, would this Series III Post Bus version even exist. This makes this find even more special as it marks such a specific time that could never have happened, yet for many will bring amazing memories.