The Rover-Landers of BC

Hello all, looking for information on Series trucks painted light blue from the factory.

Thanks.

What’s your vin number for your ‘66? I have a truck built on feb 15 1966 dispatched to Vancouver but my truck was originally Limestone. Does your truck have steel straps added on the front wings? I’ve heard these trucks were used by BC hydro(or whatever they were called in the ‘60’s) and most seem to be blue.

Matt

Here is a photo of the light blue in question.

Vancouver was the main shipping port for Western Canada?

My series 1 has steel straps on the front wings. Is this a BC Hydro mod?

My 56 S1 also originally blue had the steel strengthening surround. It went completely around the slam/breakfast panel and over the wings. I still have mine but didn’t use it on the rebuild. They stopped the wings from bouncing but most created fairly severe galvanic corrosion underneath.

BC Hydro and BC Tel (Telus) were both large companies that each had a fleet of Land Rovers. All of the BC Hydro trucks of the day were light blue, "Crappy Blue" as you call it. BC Tel had a yellowish beige colour on their entire fleet of vehicles. I don't know if the BC Government had a fleet colour. I can't think of any other large fleets of Land Rovers. The occasional logging or mining company had some but not fleets where they would be buying 12 at a time as far as I know.

A point of interest. LR made a "Forestry Rover" It had extensions on the axles and had big, skinny tractor tires on it. Probably 48" or bigger tires. BC Tel had one that worked on the coast in remote areas. A friend of mine drove it at work with BC Tel on a few jobs. Look up Forestry Rover.

The outside of the truck is a repaint, the inside may be the original light blue.

There is a picture of what is being called a "BC Forest LR" here:
https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum ... nd-rover-3
Cheers
Ted

I also investigated the BC Hydro (BC Electric) trucks.

"The B.C. Electric Co. bought a half-dozen SI models for staff use at the Mission Dam hydro-electric scheme then under way on the Bridge River... A dowdy, buff-yellow SI Land Rover had that number painted in red on its door. Below it, the like-coloured B.C. Electric logo featured a thunderbird-headed totem sprouting from a flattened circle containing the script letters BCE. Folk called it the “squashed tomato”.

This is the article: https://nuvomagazine.com/magazine/summe ... land-rover

Been trying to figure mine out too. 1960 truck. Sold at dealership in calgary. Came in through vancouver. Went back to vancouver at some point in its life. Logo on both doors. Original colour seems to be a light grey, resprayed with this blue/green. Pretty nice paint job though. Unless its just primer underneath. But this isnt a rover colour right?

I found these remains of a company logo on the doors of my 1955 107”. Looks like they were applied over the original raf blue, then someone took a scraper to it and painted the truck red, then green. Does anyone recognize the remains of it?

Matt

Hey guys, I'm really enjoying this discussion. So much interesting BC history and so much is slipping away with each generation. These logo remnants are fascinating and I will dial in if I've got anything that might help. Matt, I can't help but see some of the BC provincial flag sunburst on your 107 door.

There are dozens of BC Hydro/Electric, BC Tel, BC Forestry trucks with the strap reinforcement out there. I wouldn't underestimate the numbers which have this modification. Too bad the strap wasn't better insulated between the Birmabright and the steel though.

Keep posting those photos please.

Hey Bill, I agree wholeheartedly. I think the topic has some value and a few days ago I edited my original post, hoping to open it up a bit. Perhaps a forum MOD could edit my topic to just read: "BC company Landrovers?" or maybe "Canadian Company Landrovers?" or "Logo'd Landrovers?"

I too really enjoy the historical part of these trucks with the various jobs they've had.

Apparently the Darien Gap Series truck came from Canada (Toronto), its logo is not far off your circle logo .... wouldn't that be a nice find! :wink:

Yes the darian gap rover is the closest ive seen yet but i have many doubts. Almost the same year but not quite. I believe they purcharsed theirs in 1959 and my radiator wasnt made until 1960. Mine did with the roof sides that match, oval windows without the ones in the rear (is this a canadian/north american thing, seems to be rare?).

However i havent found any remnants of other stickers or paint that match, my circle logos both have short sections that come off at 45 degrees from both sides. No holes matching all the accesories they must have drilled for roof rack, jerry cans etc.

It does have a lot of holes in it, scrapes and scratches look like its been across the darian and has exact same body styling. Looks very close, almost a perfect imposter really.

Trygve, do you have one piece doors? My old '59 88" had a colour matched top, with no rear quarter windows either. That definitely was a Series 2 / Canadian set up.

Chad_M wrote: Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:38 pm Trygve, do you have one piece doors? My old '59 88" had a colour matched top, with no rear quarter windows either. That definitely was a Series 2 / Canadian set up.

Mine has 2 piece doors im pretty sure. No obvious welds or anything but havent tried taking them apart. Ill probably put the original sides back on, but will miss the visibility through the back.

My 88 was ex BC Hydro, but Limestone. Had a Koing winch and the 2 piece tailgate modified to work as one piece door, apparently a standard mod for them.

Also was in Squamish about 15 years ago

My Father bought his series two from a government asset. sale in the late sixties. It was grey and had belonged to the Department Of Mines & Resources. Still had the logo on the doors, no metal strapping though. Uncovering a Landrovers history can be very interesting as I found with my military series one, removing all the paint by hand and finding the original military markings . On the subject of Canadian one piece doors, they were very distinctive on the series ones and hard to come by today.

RobinS wrote: Sun May 02, 2021 7:11 am My Father bought his series two from a government asset. sale in the late sixties. It was grey and had belonged to the Department Of Mines & Resources. Still had the logo on the doors, no metal strapping though. Uncovering a Landrovers history can be very interesting as I found with my military series one, removing all the paint by hand and finding the original military markings . On the subject of Canadian one piece doors, they were very distinctive on the series ones and hard to come by today.

I’ve almost got your Dad’s truck finished! All the bodywork has been left untouched to keep what’s left of the BC logos.

Matt

Thanks for those Matt, I will forward them to my dad today. He's well into his 80's now and thinking he should get another Landrover . Cheers Robin