The name comes from Tanya, saying "Eeeeeew, that's a Huge Ugly Thing!" -- thence the name, Jabba the Huge Ugly Touring Thing. The fact that Jabba the Hutt in the movie is 3.9m long, 1.75m tall and weighs 2000kg is a coincidence, really :-)
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Jabba the HUTT is a 1963 (Chassis Suffix B) 109" Series IIA Forward Control Land-Rover.
The name comes from Tanya, saying "Eeeeeew, that's a Huge Ugly Thing!" -- thence the name, Jabba the Huge Ugly Touring Thing. The fact that Jabba the Hutt in the movie is 3.9m long, 1.75m tall and weighs 2000kg is a coincidence, really :-) |
On the Y2K tour, Pim and I decided to get a 101 Forward Control each. Well, Pim kept to his decision, but when I did some research I found that it's not easy to import a 101... or at least, it's only relatively easy if you're prepared to spend lots of money. I estimated that it would cost me about R50 000 to get a rough-but-fixable 101 imported and registered, and while 101s are nice, that's just a bit more than I have available. So I decided that a Series II Forward Control would be a better option.
I bought an SIIA rolling chassis from Mike Ilsley in Johannesburg for R5500, based on these pictures that he sent me. I couldn't swing things to go and fetch the chassis, the people who were storing the thing got itchy, and I eventually sold it to Peter Broccardo, without seeing it.
I then heard of another SIIA for sale, in Boksburg, Johannesburg. In December 2003 we drove up to Hazyview in the yellow Rand-Lover, and we swung by Leon Clulee, had a look, and bought the beast for R7500. It's an ambulance bodied, camouflage painted, slightly camperized beast with a 2 1/4 engine and 6485 miles on the clock.
I arranged to have the brakes overhauled, with the idea that I would drive up with enough tools and electrickery to get the thing going (from a jerry can, since the fuel tank is bust) and drive it down. Work pressure intervened, and I ended up paying Touche Auto R6783 to truck the thing down. Pictures of the delivery : 1 2 3 4 5.
So now I'm the owner of Forward Control 288 00212B, a CKD shipped in 1963 or 1964, with 6485 miles on the odometer and a lot of abuse on the body.
I've started work on the Series II Forward Control FAQ. I need more information, please comment!
Note also the 80X80X10mm equal angles which we will use to tie the whole loadbody together (will also provide side-protection and hilift points all along the body).
Note also the left hand fuel tank (still tacked together) shown for perspective. Pic 3 and Pic 4 shows the awesome ground clearance of the fuel tanks (remember these are 900X16 wheels). The sand ladders will provide the bash protection and the remainder of the protruding front outrigger will then be trimmed to suit.
