'THAT' Land Rover: Photobombed by a hobo. (P26)

Graham is indeed a legend....so are the rest of the guys there and they all want to see the LR in the flesh when I get it back on the road. Of course I'll be happy to oblige.

I'm a firm believer in going to local companies for everything possible. So much so I'm hopefully going to be doing a series of 15-18 magazine features on exactly that. It's been a long time in the planning but I feel it only right to do what I can to promote local independents.



I adore places like this and can never get bored of just wondering around taking in everything. Every square inch of these places has a story to tell, every machine a work of art in its own right.

Waterject cutter you say? Ooohh, I think I might be getting in touch soon to see if they can do some stuff for me (might have to pay them a visit if you're up for a visitor yourself sometime?) I've done a lot of work with waterjet stuff in the past and quite fancy getting back into it again. Expect a phonecall soon ;D

Oh...and I'll make sure I send you some 30hr days if I ever get them scheduled.



Thanks Dude, I appreciate it.



If you're thinking what I'm thinking then yes, you're thinking right. I'm pretty sure you're thinking right.




I didn't think it was a dig at all. I'm just annoyed at myself that there's SOOO much to cover with Delica's going back nearly ten years, just trying to find all the old photos takes an age, then remembering the order of it all, all the events, the road trips, holidays etc...it's going to be a huge, huge story in the end. I just need to get back into gear and get more updates done.

Photos of the engineering shop coming up very shortly, I would have put them up earlier but dog walking, selling my Demio, popping over to see my Brother-in-law (his Birthday today) and even eating have all selfishly got in the way of further updates tonight.

Just this second had a phonecall....things not good. Rest of the photos will have to wait because I'm probably not going to be about for a few day. Keep safe everyone....

Hope everything is Ok

echo the sentiments in hoping everything is ok re the above posts.

Would like to add the the quality of the work and vision is second to none, but your ability to capture the spirit and mood in a photo is simply fantastic(shames my shonky phone pics of rust and more rust on just about everything I own!).

About the thirty hour day, you can have a look into this, it's close enough. Sorry about the bad news, whatever they are :/

Here's the rest of the pics from my little visit to Rank Engineering. It's really my kind of place....nice people, old school values, lots of character, great machines and a brilliant attitude to helping with any job no matter how small.

Some of the racking, lots of great stuff hidden away in each corner


Lathe. As Ian says, you can just smell the cutting fluid and years of machining throughout the workshop


I love old drawers.


Swarf...lots of swarf under every machine


Big, big cast iron machines - they really don't make them like they used to.


Grahams dog. She's a real softie and I always think the addition of a pet in the workplace adds a real touch of personality. She loves her little space in the office.


Back out in the workshop, one of the employees shows 'small boy' some TIG welding...


BIG welds on massive chunks of ally box section. The welds he was laying on a smaller scale was beautiful. I'd love to learn TIG.


Tucked away in the furthest corner of the workshop...more great bits of kit.


Faces in places...I love everything about this place.


Parting shot, as I say my thanks and leave, even the racking outside has materials where I'm thinking, "Hmm, I could just use a bit of that for something I'm planning"....and with that in mind, I just know I'll be back. ;D


If you haven't been to a local engineering shop recently, get out there and pay a visit. If they're anything like this place you'll always be welcome and will more than likely find they are very willing to help with an aspect, any aspect, of your project that you can't manage yourslef, no matter how small it is. That alone is worth its weight in gold, let alone the whole experience itself.

hey bruce sad to hear about amandas dad! I lost mine a few years back and its never a good time

ive used rank engineering a couple of times for small jobs when i couldnt get it done at work. Now that theres no chance of homers at work due to aerospace not wanting us to do engineering anymore! then places like this are sought after but not that common another good one is bowdens up in patchway, really good guys for machining as they are ex rolls royce!

Amazing read mate keep up the good work

taken a while, but read through the entire thread. Simply excellent!!

The cleco (spelling??) pins take me back to my days as an aircraft fitter building bits of commercial aircraft structure for a living...