new to forum

[Amesz00]

Hi all,

New to this forum so i thought id better introduce meself.
Been looking at this forum for a little while now so i figured i'd better join up today.

i'm Andrew, and I live in Perth, West Australia.
im only 18 but my families been into these vehicles for many years now. my dad used to run a safari tour company for around 35 years, using everything from cruisers and land rovers to a pinzgauer 6x6,bedford 4x4, merc 911s, a custom carrier 6x6 and many canters.

of recent ive bought my own vehicle.
she's an 03 model crew-cab, the first of the EFI 3.9 TDI.
ill try to post some pics for yous to see...

 

[1leglance]

welcome and yeah we want pics

 

[able]

Hi Amesz00
Is that Amesz as in 'Amesz Designs' the verrrry cool offroad vehicle builders?

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hi Andrew, Good on ya for joining. Are you Hans's son then?

Regards John.

 

[haven]

Welcome Andrew!

"using everything from cruisers and land rovers to a pinzgauer 6x6,bedford 4x4, merc 911s, a custom carrier 6x6 and many canters."

So which vehicle worked out best for safari-style trips?

Chip Haven

 

[Amesz00]

yeah sorry the pics dont seem to have worked- ill try a little later when i have some time.
i bet none of you thought that 39" michelins would fit on a fuso with stock suspension!

Yeah im Hans's son, of Amesz Design. didnt really want to say anything at first, as im here on personal interest. but if anyone has questions regarding our campers or coaches then ill be happy to fill them in.

as far as which vehicles worked best for safari type tours- he always found that the simpler trucks worked best. ie the 911s, cruisers, and canters.

he once bought a pinz (for $17,000! but thats when a landcruiser was 4k...), and to this day thinks it was the most awesome offroad machine on wheels.
however the problems he had with it were all engine-related (the air-cooled motor kept buring valves).
however the only vehicle hes owned that is able to drive flat out in 5th across spinifex plains in the great sandy desert!

911LA is possibly some of the simplest trucks around, and he had hardly any trouble with them, same with canters.

the custom carrier, however was always breaking down, cracking axles, etc, etc.

 

[Amesz00]

hope these pics work....

 

[engineer]

G'day mate,
Welcome to the circus ha ha ha!!! Love the truck, spoke with your old man today, great bloke with "truck" loads of experience on both sides of the fence. I gotta lot of respect for Hans. I'd love to own a beast like that, i bet she turns heads where ever you go.
Chocko

 

[whatcharterboat]

Yeah im Hans's son, of Amesz Design. didnt really want to say anything at first, as im here on personal interest. but if anyone has questions regarding our campers or coaches then ill be happy to fill them in.

Andrew, awesome. You'll fit right in here. Plenty of good guys with no nonsense ideas and useful information.

BTW how many RF guys at work. Caught up with Peter Cooper and Kevin Quirk earlier. I used to share a house with Frank (Digger) too. They all speak very highly of you guys and your grandpa.

 

[Amesz00]

Yeah cheers. like i say, shes an 03 model, we bought her at an auction in Feb, as a cab/chassis, used to be a CALM (conservation and land management- they look after natoinal parks, etc.) tipper.
21K for the truck, 102k on the clock, full service history. then 1k for sandblasting and repainting chassis and driveline.
blokes at work didnt have much to do at the time, so dad got one of em to weld up the tray. got a good deal on the painting, so the cab got done in green at the same time.
guy around the corner always does us a good deal with bullbars, so i just had some extra spotty mounts put in.

tyres are michelin 11.00R16 XL tread. initially i wanted the XMLs, but at $1285 each, they're a little over the top. these 1100s were imoprted from europe as military surplus (but brand new) for around 700 a tyre (still not cheap i guess...).

lets just say that i owe plenty on it, even with the 12 that i saved up.

John, i did not realise that you were in TRF. how long have you been spirit filled? ATM we have dad, Alister Strachen, Kevin Huynh (?) and me from RF.

not sure if youv heard or not, but unfortunetly my opa (grampa in dutch...) passed away in march this year from cancer. but its all good, hes asleep in the lord.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Yeah cheers. like i say, shes an 03 model, we bought her at an auction in Feb, as a cab/chassis, used to be a CALM (conservation and land management- they look after natoinal parks, etc.) tipper.
21K for the truck, 102k on the clock, full service history.

Andrew, that's a score alright. Well done.

BTW October '87 and there is only a couple of us at ATW too.
And yeah, heard about old John. Wayne Cooper told me when he was over earlier this year. Like you say , it's all good. Wayne's brother Pedro (peter) is a close friend of mine here. Hey, say gidday to Frank (Digger) for us too.

tyres are michelin 11.00R16 XL tread. initially i wanted the XMLs, but at $1285 each, they're a little over the top. these 1100s were imoprted from europe as military surplus (but brand new) for around 700 a tyre (still not cheap i guess...).

There was some surplus XML's going at the auctions in Brisbane a couple of months back but after looking at how they wear and the troubles we've seen with extra wide 16"rims to suit them, on the heavier trucks we didn't bother following it up. Your 11.00R16XL's will be much better in the long run >>> Especially if you have to do any running up and down the highway before you head offroad.

 

[Amesz00]

Yeah i was talking to Wayne yesterday at the meeting, said he couldnt quite remember you but must be pretty close mates with peter as most only know him as pedro.
ill try to remember to say gday to frank when i see him next, hes in the south meeting so i dont see most of them very often.

interesting what you have to say RE the XMLs, as i was going all-out to get those surplus ones, but the day before the auction, the army pulled everything they had out, some government audit....

When the 1100s came in off the ship, my first thoughts were how good theyd be offroad, but that they wouldnt last too long onroad.

i would have thought that the XMLs, being 2" wider, would wear better. they also appear to have closer block spacing than their predecesor. (the XL)

ive taken them out once so far, a 4wd trip to the powerlines- they went pretty awesome- simply walked up and over or through anything- in 1st or 2nd low- no momentum required!

depending on how these do wear, in future i may look for the XZL version instead, as we have one here and it is much less extreme than my XLs.

 

[haven]

Looks like green is a popular cab color amongst the Amesz clan

 

[Amesz00]

Ahahahaha yeah Haven thats about it!
Unfortunetly though my dad broke the chain with his MAN, which is dark blue (similar i think to charlie's unimog)...

gee that pic of the old shorty musta been floating around for a while, pretty sure that pic was in 2004, after that it got built up into (slightly) more of a motorhome- was an awesome beast, went absolutely everywhere!

Anyways just got back from a little photo shoot, the ones above are a couple of months old.
now has new rims and tyres (and works to make tyres fit...), and aux. fuel tank on left side (done quite well on the bugo with 2 90lt fuso tanks welded together! :sombrero

only thing externally now is the toolboxes at the back, just have to get around to painting and fitting them. after that its (well the plan is...LOL) mostly internal, suspension, turbo work, chip, etc, etc.

Andrew

 

[whatcharterboat]

Yeah i was talking to Wayne yesterday at the meeting, said he couldnt quite remember you but must be pretty close mates with peter as most only know him as pedro.

Yeah, he knows me. Tell him John from the Sunshine Coast Assembly. You wouldn't think those guys were brothers heh?

Thanks for posting the new pics too. It really looks the part. Wish I'd had something like that when I was 18. Wow!! Imagine taking that surfing up to Gnarloo or Red Bluff.