Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Rust or bling, we want to see it!
Post Reply
User avatar
I love driving my Patrol!
I love driving my Patrol!
Posts: 1076
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:25 pm
Location: Geelong, Australia
Has thanked: 84 times
Been thanked: 327 times
Contact:

Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Post by miller »

Friday 20th September...

I finished work at 2pm ready to hit the road for the 925km drive to Swerve's house. I had packed the car the day before and collected a mates trailer to save me renting one for 4 days.

My GU is off the road getting some upgrades and was too big for the trailer to hook up to so I borrowed the Old Man's.

Image

By the time I got on the road I was lucky to miss peak hour traffic as I was going through Melbourne and the trailer was towing beautifully. After a couple of hours I decided to make a quick stop as the bottles of water I had been drinking were starting to catch up on me! As I pulled into the truck stop I could hear a strange noise coming from the trailer. I knew it straight away... BEARINGS!! Sure enough after tugging on the wheel there was defiantly some movement in 3 of the 4 wheels... SHIT! Its now 4:49pm on a Friday (5pm is beer o'clock on a Friday down under) and the nearest town in 10mins away. I jumped back in the car booted it to the next town, still busting for a leak :oops:
As I was hurtling up the main street of town I spotted a trailer workshop, perfect! I pulled up out the front as the owner was chaining the gate for the night.
Turns out he was a top bloke and although he couldn't fix it on the spot he leant me one of his trailers so I could still go and get HP and OJ... what a rippa :dance:

Its now nearly 6pm and I am back on the road. The rest of the trip went well with constant updates to Swerve and finally making it to Sydney at 2am. Had a couple of beers with Steve and then hit the sack for the night.

Saturday...

Beautiful morning, Stevo cooked me bacon and eggs and we took off to go and pick up his showcar from storage. Believe it or not he let me drive it back to his place, I tell you the photos on here don't do it justice. Geez its a nice original ol thing!

Image

We got back to Steve's and took the 35's off HP. I was also worried about the height of OJ on the back and finally convinced Steve to at least take the diff out to help with the weight and height :D
This turned into a bit of a mission with a quick trip to the hardware store for supplies and lunch at the local pub washed down with a few beers.

Image
Image

Swerve hard on the grinder... hate it when those U bolts go BANG!
Image
Image
Image

Diff out! Please note we were in complete control the whole time and had carefully evaluated the consequences of just "letting the bastard fall off the back" :lol:
Image

The house you can see in the background is not Steve's... his neighbours would have been really impressed with all the red neck engineering going on as you can imagine! :lol:
Image

This was after lunch, after a day in the sun, after a fair few beers...All strapped up ready to go!
Image

The last shot at Swerves the night before I left..
Image

Sunday..
Hit the road at 5am, surprisingly with no hangover ;) The GU towed the utes really well and I felt comfortable sitting at speed the whole way home which was great.
I had originally thought that I would be coming back through on Monday to swap trailers but because I was a day early I decided to head directly home. Went to work and unloaded HP and OJ and have stored them down there for now.
Image

Monday..
Up and at em again at 6am for the 5 hour round trip to take the trailer back. Picked up my mates trailer and turns out the bearings were buggered but the bigger issue was the shackle bolt working its way out of the spring and was wearing a groove on the inside of the tyre :shock: If I didn't notice the bearings this would have been catastrophic failure within more 100k's! Anyway all fixed, dropped the trailer back to my mate and crashed out on the couch with my girls for the rest of the day.
Image
1964 MWB Soft top Patrol - 1972 MWB Soft top Patrol "Diablo" - 1977 MWB V8 "Mr Muck" - 1978 G60 Patrol Ute "HP"
User avatar
Patrol Fanatic!
Patrol Fanatic!
Posts: 3000
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:28 am
Location: Lutherville, MD
Location: Lutherville, MD
Has thanked: 6010 times
Been thanked: 1600 times

Re: Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Post by Esteban »

What a great write up of the journey, and the photos tell all. :clap: :clap: :clap:

I admire the extremely high safety standards you two worked. :twisted: :twisted:
Owner of the same Patrol since 1967
User avatar
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 2460
Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2013 11:49 pm
Location: Arizona
Location: Arizona
Has thanked: 800 times
Been thanked: 1269 times
Contact:

Re: Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Post by moore_rb »

Awesome diary, Mate


You're both crazy. I'm glad to see my disease is a global phenomenon... 8-)
ImageImageImageImage

L-R:
White 65 Hardtop L60-3-00617 (undergoing restoration)
Red 65 hardtop 4L60-002565 (scrapped for parts)
66 Hardtop "El-Bondo Patrol", L60-00511 (Restored, then sold June2020)
Blue 67 Hardtop (sold March1997)
Green 62 Softtop L60-2-00504 (undergoing restoration)
Helping others revive their Patrol…
Helping others revive their Patrol…
Posts: 1619
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:35 am
Location: USA
Has thanked: 310 times
Been thanked: 176 times
Contact:

Re: Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Post by bosque »

moore_rb wrote:You're both crazy. I'm glad to see my disease is a global phenomenon... 8-)
:laughing-lettersrofl:
Esteban wrote:I admire the extremely high safety standards you two worked. :twisted: :twisted:
:auto-ambulance:
Dudes :auto-swerve: (this is Swerve) & :chores-chopwood: (this is Miller) ,
You are part of a special club now.....
Image
User avatar
I love driving my Patrol!
I love driving my Patrol!
Posts: 1076
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:25 pm
Location: Geelong, Australia
Has thanked: 84 times
Been thanked: 327 times
Contact:

Re: Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Post by miller »

HP is home and OJ's tub is at the sand blasters. I hope there some left when I get it back :D
Yesterday I needed to do some running around so loaded my daughter and my heavily pregnant partner across the bench seat and off we went! It was a warm day so had the vents open which my daughter thought was the coolest thing ever! She even got to experience burning her legs on the hot vinyl seats ;) Something kids of today miss out on too often :lol: but she had a ball!

Driveway poser shot..
Image

The other day I started working on the new headboard for the tray. The old one was a temporary piece of timber. My new board is made from 2"RHS and is pretty sturdy. I thought about the design for a while and really dislike the boards that are too big in relation to the cab. I know the idea is so you can carry longer timer etc over the cab but I doubt I would need that and I have a trailer that car take care of it if I do. I made mine slightly lower than the roof line but I feel it ties into the lines of the cab better. Anyway pics...

The old..
Image

The new.. (the middle horizontal bar is just sitting in place)
Image
Image

and with the plate..
Image
Image

Next step is to measure up for the tray sides and get them folded. The tray already has 1 half of the hinge so I will use some round stock to make the female part and tie in to the original hinges.
Image
1964 MWB Soft top Patrol - 1972 MWB Soft top Patrol "Diablo" - 1977 MWB V8 "Mr Muck" - 1978 G60 Patrol Ute "HP"
User avatar
Patrol Fanatic!
Patrol Fanatic!
Posts: 3000
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2013 11:28 am
Location: Lutherville, MD
Location: Lutherville, MD
Has thanked: 6010 times
Been thanked: 1600 times

Re: Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Post by Esteban »

Good progress there, Tim. You are moving fast with your changes, and they are looking good. Nice pictures.
Owner of the same Patrol since 1967
User avatar
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 7814
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 10:42 am
Location: Temecula, CA
Has thanked: 7689 times
Been thanked: 2476 times
Contact:

Re: Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Post by RiverPatrol »

Nice job! That's what Yank truckers call a headache rack. ;)
Beyond any hope for intervention

Image
User avatar
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 2460
Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2013 11:49 pm
Location: Arizona
Location: Arizona
Has thanked: 800 times
Been thanked: 1269 times
Contact:

Re: Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Post by moore_rb »

So, What is the plan for OJ's tub?

Gonna paint it to match HP and make it swappable with the flatbed?
ImageImageImageImage

L-R:
White 65 Hardtop L60-3-00617 (undergoing restoration)
Red 65 hardtop 4L60-002565 (scrapped for parts)
66 Hardtop "El-Bondo Patrol", L60-00511 (Restored, then sold June2020)
Blue 67 Hardtop (sold March1997)
Green 62 Softtop L60-2-00504 (undergoing restoration)
User avatar
I love driving my Patrol!
I love driving my Patrol!
Posts: 1076
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 4:25 pm
Location: Geelong, Australia
Has thanked: 84 times
Been thanked: 327 times
Contact:

Re: Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Post by miller »

moore_rb wrote:So, What is the plan for OJ's tub?

Gonna paint it to match HP and make it swappable with the flatbed?
Needs a fair bit of work to patch and straighten it. When I finally get it done I will paint HP and OJ tub a different colour all together.
RiverPatrol wrote:Nice job! That's what Yank truckers call a headache rack. ;)
Haha yeah I've heard that one before :D
Image
1964 MWB Soft top Patrol - 1972 MWB Soft top Patrol "Diablo" - 1977 MWB V8 "Mr Muck" - 1978 G60 Patrol Ute "HP"
User avatar
I love driving my Patrol!
I love driving my Patrol!
Posts: 1305
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:31 am
Location: Sydney, Australia
Location: Sydney, Australia
Has thanked: 104 times
Been thanked: 175 times

Re: Miller's 1978 Ute - HP

Post by Swerve »

Looks good Tim, bar is already the right colour :)

The wood thing was temporary so no issues there. Feels weird watching your baby start a new life :text-woo:
Post Reply