How a piece of history was remade in the Nicola Valley
It’s the subject of articles, news stories, and potentially a documentary. Nearly half a century ago it travelled through continents, forded rivers and crossed jungles, carrying two young men who would go on to achieve great things in their respective fields.
Now, the old Land Rover named Grizzly Torque has been rediscovered and brought back to life. It was one of the vehicles parked in Central Park last weekend for the annual Show ‘n’ Shine.
But one thing that isn’t as well known about Grizzly Torque’s resurrection is that a big part of it is thanks to craftsmen and workers in the Nicola Valley.
To understand the significance of the vehicle, we have to rewind to 1956.
Two young men, Robert Bateman and Bristol Foster, had the custom Land Rover made in England, before taking it 60,000 kilometres around the world.
They visited India, Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia, recording their adventures for the Toronto Telegram.
Fourteen months later, they shipped the truck back to Canada, and after Bateman sold it in Toronto it was lost to history. Robert Bateman would go on to become a prolific wildlife painter, while Bristol Foster would have a profound impact in the field of biology.
REDISCOVERY
Their former vehicle did not enjoy a similar prominence, and its finding was almost by accident. Stuart Longair, an antique Land Rover enthusiast in B.C., had come into possession of it years ago, but had no idea what the history was behind it. It sat on his friend and fellow restoration enthusiast Allan Simpson’s ranch 80 kilometres northwest of Merritt.
Then, late last year, Longair saw an old picture of the two men on their adventure, and thought that the Grizzly Torque looked remarkably similar to the pile of scrap and rust sitting at Simpson’s ranch.
Sure enough, Foster came up to verify that was the one. “It was funny when Bristol came and identified it, he got within about 10 feet of it and said, ‘Oh, that’s the truck!’” remembered Simpson. “And I went, ‘No, no, no, you’re going to have to do better than that.” So Foster asked them to roll up the driver’s side window to see if it was Plexiglass. Sure enough, it was, installed in India after they accidentally rolled the vehicle, blowing out the glass window. Just to be really certain, they also checked serial numbers to verify that it was the same truck.
Every detail of the old Land Rover was replicated, down to the gin and tonic lettering on the front gas canisters. Ian Webster/Herald
REBUILDING
From the point Longair realized what he had up to now has been a flurry of restoration activity, spearheaded by Simpson’s experience and expertise. But they had plenty of help from around the valley as well.
“I may be the owner, but it’s sort of a communal thing — I’m just the custodian,” said Longair. He said he wasn’t sure how Simpson got the vehicle back together, but he did. “That’s where Allan’s brilliance came in,” he said.
Simpson maintained a similarly humble attitude about the project. “It happens in my shop, but a lot of the work was done in different shops in Merritt,” he said.
Parts came in from all over the world — original, 1957 parts. Headlights from Malaysia, taillights from Australia, a dimmer switch from India, tires from Washington. A lot of them came from England, still new, packaged in 1956.
But much of the work was done here, and Simpson reached out to his network of contacts that he would go to for other restoration jobs. “I’m aware of all these fellows, and it’s like a guild. You bring in the people that you need for whatever the project is,” he said. “When I was younger I used to do absolutely everything myself. Now I tend to send out certain things that I know some people can do better than me.”
HUNDREDS OF HOURS
The frame and aluminum repair was done by Rob Boley, and the body and paint work was done by Paul Thomson, both of whom work for Barry Jackson of Jackson’s Welding Ltd. in Merritt.
Cory Hepper is a metal worker in Lower Nicola, who did some of the steel fabrication on the front of the vehicle. Visible examples of his work are the turn signal lights on each of the front fenders, as well as the visor that sits over the windshield. Some of that work had to be done by closely examining old photographs of the truck in its original condition.
“Lots of pictures, and measuring off the originals as best you can, stuff like that,” he said.
In the case of the visor, he had to build that by hand, since the original was lost. In old photographs, however, there’s a dent firmly in the passenger side, where that’s missing from the restoration. “Bristol Foster, he asked me if I could put the dent in it, too,” he said, remembering one of his visits. “I said yeah, I could do it, but no,” he laughed.
He said of all the different kinds of projects and jobs he’s had over the 25 some years he’s been working in metal, this one was one of the more notable ones. “Everybody that was part of the team, we all enjoyed it and had a good time,” he said.
One of the last details to go onto the vehicle was the paintings on the side. They were originally done by Bateman during the course of their journey. He replicated them just days before it came up for the Show ‘n’ Shine.
THE DETAILS
Those men put in hundreds and hundreds of hours on the vehicle, working hard to get in done in a matter of weeks. But there were smaller, specialized jobs that needed to be done as well.
Andy Knight, a saddle maker in Lower Nicola was contracted to remake the straps that held the folding bunks in the back of the truck to the ceiling. He was able to refurbish the original buckles to attach to new leather. “You would had no idea that they were originally bronze buckles, but we cleaned them up,” said Knight.
The flooring of the vehicle was put in by Kerry Bloom, owner of The Rediscovered Wooden Floor Company in Lower Nicola — though this floor wasn’t wood, it was Marmoleum. Also known as “battleship linoleum,” the surfacing material is renowned for being tough and durable.
The brake and clutch linkage was done by Merritt Machine.
Merritt Radiator cleaned and repaired the radiator.
Rick Brown out in Spences Bridge did one of the finishing touches — “Grizzly Torque” above the windshield, and other lettering around the vehicle.
Like Hepper, Brown relied on old photographs to recreate the lettering. “I tried to get the heights of it especially, and I had to kind of use something that was on there, like the height of the “Land Rover” sign or something like that, and then kind of compare it with the lettering and see what was close, because I had to have something visually that I knew the dimensions of,” he said.
He made the lettering using a stencil, and then went over it with a brush to make it look like it was brush painted. He said he’d heard Foster had seen it and was impressed with his work.
“I hate copying somebody else’s art, but what else do you do?” laughed Brown. “It was really enjoyable doing it, it was just fun to see it done.”
Longair described the job as a record restoration.
“The team that Allan worked with up there in Merritt were just phenomenal, it’s world class.” he said. “They’ve done an incredible job, and they’re wasting their time doing mining equipment and logging trucks, these guys should be doing quality Mercedes and million dollar restorations.”
THE NEXT STEP
Their work is already starting to pay off. The CBC is considering a documentary on the project, and a cross-Canada tour is being planned, with an eventual recreation of some of the original journey a possibility in the future. On the 60th anniversary of the two men crossing the Kalahari, they plan to do it again.
Grizzly Torque has also been winning prizes, even though it isn’t completed yet. It showed at the All-British Field Meet at the VanDusen Botanical Gardens in Victoria this past May where it won three awards.
