1955 Land Rover Series One 86-inch
1955 Land Rover Defender Series One 86-inch
UDE 484, nown affectionately as ‘Jude’ was built in 1955 at the Land Rover plant, olihull, ngland. After fifty years of solid service, he was rescued and restored by British writer Jerry Thurston for a special magazine feature.
Jerry’s aim was not only restore Jude to her former glory but to add some custom tweaks, pecifically to improve engine performance, sing only parts that would have been originally available back in 1955. Having put in all that work, hotographed the process and written his feature, erry was ready to move on to his next project, o Jude was put up for sale in 2007 and immediately snapped up by her present owner, at Howell-Thomas – at that time publisher of Land Rover Monthly (LRM) magazine.
When Cat and her husband Rich sold LRM in 2010 and began to spend more time in California, hey shipped Jude across the North Atlantic and through the Panama Canal to her new home in San Diego. The vehicle was legally imported and has a California Certificate of Title and DMV Title.
Now, ith a heavy heart, at has decided to offer Jude for sale as the vehicle is now used so little that she deserves a new enthusiast owner to take her on to show her a good time!
The rebuild
Back in 2005 Jerry Thurston began his restoration project using brand new ‘old stock’ parts wherever possible rather than replica bits. The project included:
* New heavy duty galvanized chassis from Richards Chassis.
* New galvanized bulkhead.
Totally rebuilt and upgraded engine by Cox and Turner, ncorporating compression ratio increase (+1 atmosphere using later, tronger connecting rods and Rover 3-liter pistons), nleaded cylinder head conversion, ull balance to race standards.
* Ported cylinder head and block.
* Special one-off billet cam by Piper, esigned for modest power increase.
* Pair of brand new 1.5-inch SU H4 carbs on alloy inlet manifolds.
* K&N free flow air filters.
* New SU fuel pump.
* All new wiring.
* New voltage regulator.
* New instruments.
* Fully rebuilt gearbox by Dunsfold Land Rover.
* Complete new Bearmach clutch.
* New brake system with copper hard lines and Goodrich braided flexible lines.
* New brake drums, heel cylinders and shoes.
* New front wheel hubs.
* New parabolic springs with new shock absorbers.
* New spring pins and shackles.
* Most, f not all, uts and bolts replaced with new. All finished in correct grey finish.
* Fairey overdrive (spare unit included in sale).
* New Bearmach prop shafts.
* New front axle swivels and all bearings with Railko conversion by Dunsfold LR.
* Rebuilt steering box and totally overhauled steering system with all new ball joints.
* Rebuilt and uprated radiator.
* New inner and outer front wings..
* New tailgate.
* New canvas tilt.
* New fuel tank.
* New tires.
* Total respray in period correct blue.
* Wheels shot-blasted, owder coated then sprayed blue.
The vehicle is currently housed in San Diego, alifornia. Purchaser will be required to collect vehicle from San Diego or arrange shipping at purchaser’s expense.
- Condition: Used
- Make: Land Rover
- Model: Defender
- SubModel: Series One 86-inch
- Trim: Soft Top
- Year: 1955
- Mileage: 3,700
- Color: Blue
- Engine size: 2-liter custom
- Drive type: Selectable 4x4
- Vehicle Title: Clear Want to buy? Contact seller!
