First Owner: Doctor Duck – 1959–1976
(Yes, that was his real name!)
Castle Douglas, Scotland.
Second Owner: Jardine Motors – 1976–2001
(Ford Garage. Painted cream, sign written and used as their recovery truck)
Third Owner: Ken Coupland – 2001–Present
(Daily driver, continental cruiser, works truck)
Frank was initially bought to help build my house, (and used here as mobile scaffolding…)
Towing soil and rubble out, and bringing tools and materials back in…
As my daughter grew up, Frank facilitated the stupidity of horse ownership…
And when she was 17, helped collect her first car… then facilitated the stupidity of Morris Minor ownership!
Now my daughter has three kids of her own… (How quickly time passes 😊)
The Capstan Winch is used regularly. Fitted when new in 1959 at Dr. Duck's request by the Land Rover dealer. Now modified to run from the 200Tdi engine. (Caravan is chained to the micro digger, which was used as an anchor. Capstan was used to pull the 5 tonne caravan round into position.)
Capstan being used again to collect friends and relatives broken down vehicles…
And of course towing silly loads always part of Frank's duties…
France, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Holland…
From Swiss Alpine crossings at 2600m, to camping deep into the German Black Forest..
And of course, a bit of "off-roading" is always fun…
Even my good lady has had a go at off-roading (just visible above left). However, she seems to be happier thrashing Frank on the motorway… Above right photo taken on the Italian Autostrada. iPad was used as a satnav and had the speedometer app. In the image she is cursing a Mercedes driver to "Get out of the way" as he was holding her up!! (Her max. speed just visible in the top left corner of the screen!)
Frank was even featured in the Classic Land Rover magazine back in 2013…
Sadly, with 200Tdi, Roamerdrive, 3.54 diffs, and bigger 750 tyres… this is not an unfamiliar sight!!!
However, Frank's most important duties are as my works truck. On site, full of tools, most weeks…
Having sifted through the family photo albums to find the above images, I have realised what an utterly fantastic vehicle Frank is.. how much work he has done over the years, and how much a part of my life he is… Here's to another 25 years of happy motoring.
