Land Rover - Yearbook 2023

The essential annual for Land Rover owners and enthusiasts

Land Rover

2 023

YEARBOOK 12 £8.99

the year’s pages of cts for u best prod over R d n your La

Sponsored by

LOCKDOWN IIA

Restored while time was standing still, this beautiful 88” has been kept original with a depth of devotion that will make your jaw drop The best Defender?

Base-spec 90 tested in the wilds of the Yorkshire Dales

25 YEARS LATER…

Pre-pro Freelander: the car that revolutionised Land Rover

✔ Enhanced ✔ Restored ✔ Preserved ✔ Modified

One great Land Rover after another inside

WITH SARAH Yearbook Cover AWAITING BARCODE.indd 1

TANZANIA

Late Rangey on expedition meets other wild beasts 07/11/2022 20:40

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Contents 84

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Features 4

6

8

14

24

34

82

72

16

LATEST WORKS V8

Overland travel is the inspiration for a factory-reimagined Defender you’re never take on an expedition

75TH BIRTHDAY DEFENDER Land Rover celebrates its quarter century with a collectable Defender… and a range of branded accessories to match

DISCOVERY D250

It’s going ever upmarket, but could a more modest Disco turn out to be the most convincing of them all?

ELECTRIC SHOCK #1

Electrogenic’s EV conversion is aimed at Defenders that work for their living

PRODUCTS

Restorers, adventurers, off-roaders, people who just love driving a Landy… there’s plenty in this bumper showcase of new kit to keep all your bank cards living in fear

ELECTRIC SHOCK #2

Another EV – this time sold by John Brown 4x4 as a turn-key classic

118 BUYERS GUIDE

On the lookout for your next Land Rover?

Having checked out our comprehensive guide to everything the company has ever made, the only problem might be trying to figure out which one you want to buy first

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07/11/2022 20:15

Vehicles Vehicles

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From the team that brings you…

12 FIRST DORMOBILE

The first ever 109 to be turned into a motorhome lives on as a window on Land Rover’s history

16 RESTORED IN VOGUE

A bona fide classic Range Rover – complete all the way down to the picnic basket

20 LUXURY HI-CAP

A different kind of lifestyle Defender – one based on a true work truck

Adventure 18

24 LOCKDOWN IIA

Our cover star was restored to a staggering degree of originality by the guys at AJD

28 KILLER QUEEN

Boudica is a 90-based challenge truck that lives up to its namesake’s reputation as a fearsome warrior

50 RESTIFIED 90 SV

One of the most sought-after Defenders lives again – as a resto-modded motor blending style with purpose

56 TUBULAR DISCO

Old Tdi Discos are up for it mechanically but they don’t half rust. Here’s the very obvious solution…

62 DO-IT-ALL 90

Built by a German Landy pro, would you believe a lifestyle wagon that’s also a expedition hero?

68 FRENCH FANCY

94

Range Rovers and Series IIs aplenty on the desert epic – but why weren’t any of them driven by Brits?

106 HIGHLAND EXPLORER

Cruising the best roads and tracks in the glorious Scottish mountains aboard a WildTrax rental 90

110 TANZANIA

Every long-range expedition has its ups and downs. In the shadow of Kilimanjaro, it’s more like up, up and away…

110

Like it or not, the day the Freelander was launched Land Rover changed forever. It was a watershed moment – and one of the very first is still in everyday action today

88 SNAKEBITE

Art Editor Samantha D’Souza Contributors Mike Trott, Graham Scott, Paul Looe, Dan Fenn, Olly Sack, Gary Noskill, Tom Alderney, Gary Martin, Frank Frogly, Raymond and Nereide Greaves Photographers Steve Taylor, Harry Hamm, Richard Hair, Vic Peel, Shelagh Ballard Group Advertising Manager Ian Argent Tel: 01283 553242 Advertising Manager Colin Ashworth Tel: 01283 553244 Advertising Production Sarah Moss Tel: 01283 553242 Subscriptions Sarah Moss Tel: 01283 553242 Publisher and Head of Marketing Sarah Moss Email: sarah.moss@assignment-media.co.uk To subscribe to The Landy, or renew your subscription, call 01283 553243 Current price for 12 issues: UK £28 The Landy is available from newsagents, priced at £2.99 a copy, and free through selected Britpart dealers

When responding to any advert in The Land Rover Yearbook, you should make appropriate enquiries before sending money or entering into a contract. The publishers take reasonable steps to ensure advertisers’ probity, but will not be liable for loss or damage incurred as a result of responding to adverts

78 BMW 90

A classic Station Wagon brought home from Australia… and turned into a truck to make a concours judge seethe

Founding Editor Alan Kidd

Every effort is made to ensure the contents of The Land Rover Yearbook are accurate, however Assignment Media Ltd accepts no responsibility for errors or omissions nor the consequences of actions made as a result of these

72 ORIGINAL FREELANDER

84 HOMECOMING 107

DEFENDER ON HIGH

The cheapest version of the new-shape 90 earns its spurs on some of the best green lanes North Yorkshire has to offer

100 DAKAR CLASSIC

From a vineyard to a US workshop… and out into the world as a 90 to cherish

The M57 engine is fast becoming the way to future-proof an old Defender – as this slick 90 illustrates

RHINO CHARGE

The story of the British Land Rover fans who travel to Kenya every year for one of the world’s toughest off-road challenges

01283 553243 alan.kidd@assignment-media.co.uk Web: www.thelandy.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/thelandyuk

Where a photo credit includes the note ‘CC-BY-2.0’ or similar, the image is made available under that Creative Commons licence: details at www.creativecommons.org

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The Land Rover Yearbook is published by Assignment Media Ltd, Repton House 1.08, Bretby Business Park, Ashby Road, Bretby DE15 0YZ

© Assignment Media Ltd, 2022

88

Arkonik’s Viper 90 has big teeth. Big, Chevy V8 sized teeth…

90 EX-MOD IS THE WAY

Which Defender should you choose for a project? Here’s a strong argument for keeping it military

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3 07/11/2022 20:15

Overland travel the inspiration for Land Rover’s £225,000 Defender Works V8

LAND ROVER’S DEFENDER WORKS V8 TROPHY was a sell-out, despite being priced well into the stratosphere. So here’s the Defender Works V8 Trophy II. Last time, the inspiration for the vehicle’s design came from the Camel Trophy. This time, it’s the Defender’s status as an iconic image of overland travel.

Specifically, the limited run of just 25 vehicles will be finished in a unique camouflage design featuring 23 locations from significant expeditions in Land Rover’s storied history of global exploration and adventure. The design also has silhouettes of Defenders and Series vehicles hidden within it, just in case anyone’s wondering what it is they’re looking at.

As you’d expect, perhaps slightly wearily, the vehicles’ original Puma engines have been replaced by Land Rover’s 5.0-litre V8, giving them 405bhp at 6000rpm and 380lbf.ft at 5000rpm. Top torque halfway to five figures, how very Defender. Fuel

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consumption and emissions figures are not quoted, but if you’re in the market for one of these you don’t care in the slightest.

The engine is mated to the now equally familiar eight-speed ZF automatic transmission. This does still drive all four wheels (we felt if might be relevant to confirm this) and in case that’s not enough, the vehicles come with a winch. Other off-road kit includes a full-width LED light bar,

rock sliders, exo roll cage and rear recovery point.

The run of 25 vehicles will include 20 Station Wagons, split equally between the 90 and 110, and five 110 Double-Cabs. Prices? From £225,000. From, mind.

That cheeky little sum gets you a vehicle that’s been rebuilt in the SVO workshop and equipped inside with two-tone Windsor leather on the dashboard, trim and two-tone

Recaro sports seats, as well as Land Rover’s Classic infotainment system and an Elliot Brown clock face.

We hadn’t either, no, but the same company is marketing a limited-edition watch inspired by the Works V8 Trophy II. It’s also making a special Competitor’s Edition watch exclusively for the 25 customers who buy the vehicle.

Competitors? Yes. Sort of. Buy one of these bad boys and you’ll get a personal invite to take part in Land Rover Classic’s second specially devised three-day Trophy event.

‘Customers will create lasting memories and get acquainted with their vehicles in the most amazing way possible,’ says Land Rover. Before putting them into heated storage along with their limited-edition Astons and Ferraris and selling them to other millionaires at a huge profit ten years from now, the cynic inside us is trying not to say.

2023 Land Rover Yearbook 07/11/2022 20:21

Elevate Your Ride Core Components > Rear Firestone air springs - heavy-duty rolling sleeve air springs > Front Dunlop air springs - heavy-duty rolling sleeve air springs includes shock relocation brackets > AMK air compressor - 12 volt. Max 150 psi working pressure, high quality German built compressor > 1 Gallon seamless aluminium air tank - SAE J10 APPROVED, lightweight & no corrosion. Max. The on-board system has automatic load levelling working pressure 200psi. Pressure tested at each height which continuously monitors to 1,000psi. 3 x ¼” NPT ports (including drain inputs and component performance as a means port). Multi-position low profile bracket set of increasing safety and durability. The on-board > Hand held controller - 9m lead system recognises and responds accordingly > ECU & valve block to potholes, cross-articulation and extended > Vehicle specific air supply mounting brackets turns. This intelligence prevents unnecessary > Rocker switch & height sensors activity and air consumption, it even recognises unachievable heights, assisting in the prevention > 6mm high quality nylon tubing of possible damage above or below the vehicle. > Quick fit push to connect air fittings > Easy to use electrical connections > Sealed relay & harness Features > Automatic 4 corner ride heigh control catering > Hardware > Step by step instructions for all loads > 3 pre-set heights - high, drive & low mode > Operators manual > Fully adjustable via easy to use hand held control > Front to back levelling DA9200 NEW > Raise for clearance Defender 90 > Lower for storage and access Height Range Automatic Mode Front > Inputs available for safety reset to ride height Ride Height up to Raised Height 40mm > Manual mode Ride Height down to Access Height -80mm > Horizon levelling feature option > OEM grade components for reliable Height Range Manual Mode performance Maximum Height from Ride Height 50mm > High volume air springs for optimal ride quality Minimum Height from Ride Height -100mm & carrying capacity Why Intelliride ECAS? This front and rear axle full air suspension kit incorporates on-board air control which is a fully automatic Electronically Controlled Air Suspension (ECAS) System. When fitted, the system provides comfort while maintaining a programmed ride height irrespective of the load.

Multiple vehicle heights are available at the push of a button.

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07/11/2022 18:57

Land Rover celebrates 75 years of the Defender with collectable 90 and 110 starting at £85,995

D

oesn’t time fly? Remember when the ‘new’ Defender came out? And here we are celebrating a 75th Limited Edition already. Gazes into whisky glass, frowning slightly and feeling slight befuddled. Perhaps the second dram was an error.

What year is this again? What did you say, the Year of the Tiger? How is that helpful?

Yet here we are. And, more to the point, here is the Defender 75th Limited Edition. Is this a new model?

Well, no not really, so what’s the point, I ask somewhat querulously.

Ah, Land Rover says this is ‘a highly collectible Defender’. Ah, right, see what they’re doing now. Taps nose.

So what has Land Rover done, apart from cover everything that isn’t moving or soft in Grasmere Green paint? Jolly fine it looks too, it

6 1 75th Anniversary Defender.indd 6

must be said. Ah, the company can kit me out with a matching watch ‘featuring two straps’ (eh?) plus backpack and clothing, all with 75 graphics and detailing. Somehow I sense members will look down their nose if I arrive at White’s so attired.

(Don’t look up my club, it doesn’t even have a website.)

But everyone at White’s (and everyone there is someone) has or has had a Land Rover, so perhaps they might find it amusing. But if I start talking about ‘Resist Ebony’ I might get blackballed. However, that’s the colour of the seating inside so what can I do?

Some of the fellow members were probably members back in 1948 when the first Land Rover appeared – certainly a few of the members don’t seem to have moved since then. Back then of course any

talk of electric power focused on the rather inadequate battery. Yet here we are, in the Century of the Fruitbat, looking at the P400e Electric Hybrid or the D300 mild hybrid.

Whichever you go for, it’s all in the best HSE high-spec taste, with an absolute steamer trunk full of stuff that is now standard, including head-up display, 3D surround camera, configurable terrain response and lots of other kit that would be of considerable help at White’s when you want to navigate to the Gents at the end of a long evening.

The memsahib would be absolutely tickled too to enjoy the folding fabric roof or the sliding panoramic roof, below which we could sit in some comfort whatever the weather, thanks to the heated electric memory seats, heated steering wheel and three-zone climate con-

trol. Don’t get those at White’s either, damn those wingbacks.

Oh and Land Rover has also thrown in all kinds of options such as the towing pack, Secure Tracker Pro, headlamp power wash and oodles more.

Now, we don’t want to get all trade and start talking about costs because that would be vulgar, but should you be searching for an amusing runaround to add to the stable then prices start at an astonishingly reasonable £85,995 for the 90 version and £89,995 for the 110, although obviously you’d want to add more since nobody wants a ‘starting’ price Land Rover do they?

Anyway, for that sort of money you could only get a decent dinner at Rowley’s and a night at the club, so why not? Here’s to the next 75, what ho. Cheers!

2023 Land Rover Yearbook 07/11/2022 18:20

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10/10/2022 12:31

DRIVEN

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY D250 Post-facelift Discovery impressed us hugely in range-topping D300 form, while the D250 version of the same diesel engine is stunning in the Defender. What happens when you put them both together?

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07/11/2022 18:05

A BIT MORE THAN A YEAR AGO, Land Rover gave the Discovery an almost completely new range of engines. These included both petrol and diesel options, the common factor being that all of them are 3.0-litre, six-cylinder, 48-volt mild hybrids.

We’ve previously driven the P360 and D300 petrol and diesel range toppers, and exceptionally good they are too. Power, torque and refinement are off the scale in each case; they do do their work in slightly different ways but mainly they’re so smooth and quiet, with so much in reserve in any conceivable driving situation, that what stuck us is how very similar they are.

What we’ve got here is the entry-level diesel unit. Badged D250, it produces 249bhp at 4000rpm and 420lbf.ft from just 1250rpm. This compares with 300bhp and 479lbf.ft (from 1500rpm) for the D300, which costs £2840 more if all else is equal.

Saving that money means putting up with acceleration of 7.6 seconds and a top speed of 120mph, rather that the D300’s 6.8 seconds and 130mph. We suspect you might conclude that even though it’s not that much cash in the greater scheme of things, you’re not exactly going to be slumming it with the D250 either.

The example tested here is an R-Dynamic SE. That’s a £61,675 motor before you get going with the options; in this case, Land Rover had added £5045’s worth of kit including a towbar, locking rear diff and its Advanced Off-Road Capability Pack.

A word on the latter. On all versions of the Discovery bar the P360, you need to spec it to get a dual-range transfer case. You also get the latest Terrain Response system, as well as All-Terrain Progress Control, so at £500 it’s not bad value for money, but as far as we’re concerned for a Discovery not to have low box designed in as standard equipment is, not to mince words, scandalous.

In the interests of balance, let’s also say that Land Rover is not the only manufacturer to make low range optional on vehicles of this nature. It is, however, the only manufacturer to be Land Rover. Decide for yourself. Anyway, if you don’t go down the R-Dynamic road the Discovery starts at £55,100 in D250 form, so you can add a proper transfer case and it’ll still look cheap in comparison to a lot of the other 4x4s you might be thinking about.

The Defender, for example.

Let’s move swiftly on, though. People often say the Discovery 5 is more like a Range Rover, and it’s easy to make that assumption when you’re surrounded by premium materials and high-tech gadgets. But in reality, the two models are very clearly distinct from each other in terms of their character; both are beyond premium, but they’re resolutely individual too.

Whether or not you go for the R-Dynamic model, the Disco hits the spot in SE trim. There’s a huge range of materials available for the cabin, including eco-friendly suede-like fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles; easy as it is to sneer at such a thing, particularly if you’re an old diesel-swilling off-road

Top: D250 engine is the entry-level diesel in the Discovery line-up, but with 249bhp and 420lbf.ft, the latter from a mere 1250rpm, its output is entirely appropriate to the vehicle’s premium nature Above left: Most posh SUVs offer you any seat trim you want, as long as it’s leather. You can certainly have that on the Discovery (seen here is the R-Dynamic SE’s standard Light Oyster and Ebony hide), but there’s a range of synthetic fabrics available which are made from recycled material and boty look and feel absolutely superb Above centre, right: When Land Rover facelifted the Discovery a little more than a year ago, the highlight in the cabin was the addition of the latest Pivi Pro infotainment system. This is exceptional to use, with excellent graphics and menus and controls which make complete sense as you use them. What you don’t get as standard is low range – it’s a £500 options, which doesn’t impress us one little bit

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9 07/11/2022 18:05

DRIVEN

People often assume that the Discovery has become just another Range Rover. Each does in fact have its own distinct character, and the arrival of the new L460 model will only serve to widen the gap still further – though when you’re sitting aboard even a relatively modest example of the Disco like this one and you’re surrounded by premium materials and cutting-edge equipment, it’s easy to see why someone would make that mistake

traditionalist, these look and feel much better than the leather you get by default on so many posh 4x4s. To us, they’re far and away the best option you can choose when speccing a Discovery.

At any rate, the big story in the facelifted Discovery’s cabin is the addition of Land Rover’s latest Pivi Pro infotainment system. Controlled by an 11.4” touchscreen, this looks classily understated and is excellent to operate, with instant responses and menus and controls which make clear sense from the word go.

Another worthwhile update was to the second row of seats, which have been redesigned for greater comfort. Not something they could have been accused of lacking, but now they lack it less than ever. It really is a very pleasing vehicle in which to both drive and be driven. Those seats also fold down to yield a monumental 2391 litres of cargo space; something like one in five Discovery sales go to the Commercial model, which we can only assume is predominantly about keeping the taxman at bay, because the ease with which the seven-seater converts into a van by any other name is so outstanding it practically brings a tear to the eye.

All of this is true irrespective of engine choice, but it’s worth reiterating that what you’re powering is one of the best all-rounder vehicles ever built.

The Discovery is a glorious premium SUV, a practicality monster for people and luggage alike, a mighty towcar and an off-roader of enormous potential (even if you do have to pay extra for low range).

So compared to the sublime D300, does the D250 engine make it any less of the above? In a word, no – though with the extra output adding comparatively little to the purchase price, you might reasonably conclude that if a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.

In the real world, though, unless you’re on a mission to prove something it’s pretty much impossible to separate them. An extra fourth-fifths of a second from 0-60; are you ever really going to notice that? And in every situation we can think of, except perhaps when you’re cutting loose on an A or B-road, the extra depth of revs at which the D250 generates top torque goes a long way towards making up for the D300’s bigger numbers.

Maybe, just maybe, the extra work the D250 has to do to generate the same result manifests itself in a moderately less refined performance. That

Practicality has always been a massive point for the Discovery. It has seven seats, all of them capable of accommodating adults at the same time, and when the rear two go down it becomes a five-seater with a colossal boot. Go one fiurther and drop the second row too, and you’re in an SUV with the capacity of a decent van – 2391 litres of cargo space say you’ll never run out of room for your luggage

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2023 Land Rover Yearbook 07/11/2022 18:05

DRIVEN Whichever engine you choose, the Discovery is extremely good at looking after the people who sit in it. The driver and front passenger get an excellent view of the road ahead, as well as what feels like almost limitless adjustability in their seats. Behind them, the second row offers loads of knee room and head room alike, and the view out is similarly generous. They’ve been revised for greater comfort than ever in the latest version of the Discovery, too.

Naturally, the third row is not as spacious – though those in front only need to give up a little of their spare capacity for the Disco to be able to carry seven fully grown adults with none of them feeling short-changed for space

really is a maybe, though; we’re basing that on the fact that when we drove the D300, it absolutely wowed us, whereas the D250 was merely very, very good. Either way, this is a vehicle whose smoothness and lack of intrusive noise is one of its defining features.

It pulls like a train at all speeds, too. Around town, it’s utterly effortless to drive, hauling with a purpose that never goes away, and its mastery continues all the way up to motorway speeds – where it will sit very happily all day long. Kicking it down from this kind of speed provokes a bit of noise, though nothing too drastic; the acceleration you get is steady rather than instant, but it does continue to build pace relentlessly.

Off-road, too, it simply never feels stretched. Whether you’re rumbling along at 20mph on a scruffily unsurfaced green lane or picking your way at less than walking speed across the sort of terrain that makes a vehicle work for its living, there’s rarely any sign of the engine needing to break a sweat.

Every now and again, the revs rise as the traction control asks for more input to help it defeat the laws of nature, but even then it’s more of a contented gurgle than a shrill bark.

2023 Land Rover Yearbook 4pp Discovery D250.indd 11

In terms of fuel consumption, over the course of a week in the D250 we got 31.8mpg out of it. So, while we don’t have anything relevant to compare it to, we’re not seeing anything to say it will be an economy hero they way a D300 won’t.

With all else being equal, then, we do have to say that we’d spend the extra money and trade up to the D300. Regular readers will know that we’re huge, huge fans of the D250 engine in the Defender, and it’s excellent in the Disco too – but the more powerful unit has a fractional edge which makes it that much better suited to what the latter vehicle is.

Don’t be in any doubt that the Discovery D250 is a wonderful vehicle. If you’re in the market for an SUV of this nature and you can afford the price of putting one on your drive, we can’t think of anything that will live with the standards it sets in so many different ways.

Actually, we can think of one thing and it is of course the Discovery D300.

There’s something indefinable that makes the bigger engine even better – but make no mistake, either way you’ll be getting an SUV that’s nothing short of brilliant at everything it does.

11 07/11/2022 18:05

First Dormobile is a window on history Stood since 1989 and now awaiting restoration, this 109” Series II is like a time capsule from half a century ago

I

t’s not every day that you come across a genuine, honest to goodness piece of Land Rover history.

But this 1960 Series II is more than just that – it’s also a genuine piece of Dormobile history.

As you can see from the pictures, it’s not in a particularly great state.

And the pictures don’t show the condition of the chassis and bulkhead.

Its owner, Duncan Ross, had had it for almost a decade when we spoke to him, all of them spent fully intending to get round to making it right.

‘I bought it with a view to restoring it as a family camper,’ he

12 1p Dormobile.indd 12

explains. ‘But as my wife keeps telling me, the kids will have grown up and not want to go camping any more before this will happen. So facing this dilemma and a lack of time, I decided to buy a camper that has already been done.’

This meant the Dormobile was for sale. And for someone, we’re confident that it would have counted as absolute treasure.

Whether you’d want to use it as a family camper is very much down to how you view your classics. Either way, the story behind it (which is unsubstantiated but certainly entirely

credible) comes via Duncan from the guy he bought it from.

‘The story I was told by the previous owner was that his father worked at the Land Rover factory,’ he explains. ‘Having heard that Martin Walter of Folkestone was about to commence building 109” Dormobile conversions, he placed an order for the very first one. The numbers reportedly started from 72500, which was for the first demo vehicle.

‘I have no proof to corroborate this story but mine is by far the earliest known by any Land Rover club, with number 72501. I believe there is no Land Rover Dormobile in existence with a lower number than this.’

There’s probably also no other Land Rover Dormobile in existence in such an extraordinary time-warp condition. That’s not ‘time-warp’ in the usual sense used by an unscrupulous car dealer trying to flog you a clocked shed; it’s understood that the vehicle last turned a wheel in anger in 1989, when it was parked up in the barn that was to be its home for the next quarter of a century, and even then it was like a throwback inside.

‘It certainly has been used well and clearly enjoyed by the family

who owned it,’ continues Duncan.

‘The cupboards are full of period accessories, medicine, supplies and so on. It’s as if it was transported from the 1970s to now.

‘It has all the correct Dormobile bits: all the seat frames, bunk beds, cupboard, cooker, sink and tap, table and so on. The very rare original spotlights and correct roof rack are also present – along with all the right Dormobile badges.’

So is the wrong engine, unfortunately (it’s been replaced by a later Series III unit), but at least Duncan says this and the gearbox are in good running order. But whoever took this on earlier this year will, probably even as we speak, have a job on their hands.

‘The chassis is not in a good state and has been patched up many times over the years’ was Duncan’s assessment. ‘It’s definitely salvageable but I personally wouldn’t use it. The bulkhead has been molested and patched, too, and will require significant work.’

Well, as the saying (sort of) goes, a bit of significant work never hurt anyone. And next time you see this Land Rover, it may well be at the end of some very significant work indeed – by which time an equally significant vehicle will be not just significant but magnificent too.

‘I have lots of things to make this project a success but time is unfortunately not one of them,’ was Duncan’s slightly rueful conclusion It’s definitely not every day that you come across a Land Rover that’s this well worth restoring.

2023 Land Rover Yearbook 07/11/2022 19:19

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08/10/2021 09:36

20900 Allmakes DiscoveryAccessoriesAdverts - The Landy 265 x 338.indd 1

08/10/2021 09:36

20900 Allmakes DiscoveryAccessoriesAdverts - The Landy 265 x 338.indd 1

08/10/2021 09:36

2022 Yearbook Footers 74

10/11/2021 10:38:41

New low-cost Defender EV conversion from Electrogenic is aimed at landowners and agriculturalists

ELECTRIC DEFENDERS are big news – and they normally come with even bigger prices. But Oxfordshire company Electrogenic says its new drop-in conversion kit can pay for itself in four years of typical use – then play its part in keeping the vehicle healthy well into the future.

The conversion, which was developed in partnership with experts at Cardiff University, comes as a kit designed to be installed by a qualified mechanic. It includes an electric motor developing 120bhp and 173lbf.ft – roughly comparable figures to the Tdi and Td5 engines in most Defenders whose age now might make them suitable candidates for the work. A 52kWh battery pack is installed under the bonnet, which Electrogenic says will allow ‘100-plus miles of range on-road and considerably more when driving off-road or around a farm.’

As this suggests, the kit is aimed at a very different kind of Land Rover to the millionaires’ lifestyle machines most normally associated with electric conversions. Electrogenic says it is intended for the agricultural sector, with 18 months of testing having recently been completed at Worthy Farm, home of the famous Glastonbury Festival.

The Electrogenic kit comes equipped as standard for 7.5kW AC overnight charging via a Type 2 connector, however a faster set-up can be specified as an optional extra.

Unusually for an EV, Defenders equipped with this kit retain their original manual gearbox. The motor is bolted to the existing clutch bell-housing so all five gears remain, as of course does reverse – as well as the full-time four-wheel drive and high and low range provided by the transfer case.

‘Off-road ability is improved by the fitment of the electric motor,’ says Electrogenic. ‘With readily accessible torque and linear power delivery, it is effortless to drive even in demanding off-road scenarios. Dual-stage regenerative braking enables ultra-controlled, brake-free off-road descents.

‘Towing capability is also enhanced by the electric motor’s instant and abundant torque.’

Following its year and a half of testing about a number of 90s and 110s at Worthy Farm, Electrogenic estimates that the conversion can be worth ‘at least £6000 in fuel costs over the course of an average year of on-farm use.’ The powertrain is also designed to be 100% maintenance-free, meaning

further savings on servicing costs (as well as the associated down-time) – so with a target price of £24,000 plus VAT, the conversion can pay for itself in less than four years.

‘The electric powertrain is designed to… operate happily for decades,’ continues Electrogenic, ‘while the batteries are similarly robust: good for 200,000 miles or more, giving owners total peace of mind.’ Company co-founder Steve Drummond also points out the benefits of instant heat on cold mornings and time saved on regular trips to fill up with fuel – and that removing diesel from a farm’s fleet can help it meet its sustainability targets.

‘This new electric conversion kit is a really exciting development for us,’ commented Drummond. ‘We do high-specification conversions for road-warriors, but this kit is all about giving landowners an economic, sustainable option. It’s easy to install and uses Electrogenic’s proprietary technology.

‘It gives Land Rover Defenders an affordable new lease of life, reducing running costs while enhancing performance and drivability around the estate. It future-proofs the traditional Defender, readying it for decades of reliable, sustainable service as we enter the age of low-carbon agriculture.’

Electric vehicles have often tended to post poorer towing limits than the traditionally engined equivalent. However Electrogenic says the ‘instant and abundant’ torque from its conversion will positively enhance the Defender’s abilitity in front of a trailer

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2023 Land Rover Yearbook 07/11/2022 18:21

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21/08/2020 10:43

A rarity in every way Not only is this Range Rover In Vogue from the first run of 1000 vehicles, it’s just been restored to factory-fresh condition – and it even has the finishing touch that’s so often disappeared…

T

he Range Rover In Vogue is a rare beast. But the original first thousand examples from 1981 are especially rare, with their Vogue Blue paintwork and manual gearboxes marking them out as a classic among classics.

That’s what you’re looking at here.

It was first registered in August 1981, six months after the In Vogue first went on sale, and it’s on sale now having spend the last four years undergoing a complete restoration.

This covered the bodywork and the mechanicals alike. Starting with the former, the panels were stripped back to bare metal before being

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resprayed in the correct Vogue Blue – complete, of course, with the twin coachlines in two-tone grey.

Underneath, the chassis, axles and suspension components were all stripped back to bare metal and treated with epoxy primer before being finished in epoxy satin black.

The axles were rebuilt with new wheel bearings are refurbished swivels up front, while the braking system gained new calipers, discs and lines as well as a new master cylinder. When the rolling chassis was built back up, it was with new springs, shocks and bushes.

The fuel tank is new too, as are the pump and sender. And under

the bonnet, the high-compression V8 engine was completely rebuilt with renewed bearings, piston rings, camshaft and followers, water pump and starter motor.

Inside, as well as out, the vehicle has remained exactly as it should be. Like those coachlines, the steel wheels are correct, as are the polished wooden door cappings and the plush carpeting covering the rear inner arches, boot floor, spare wheel and tool roll shroud. The In Vogue was one of the first vehicles to have air-conditioning, and this remains in place too – it even says so beneath the controls on the heater panel, just in case whoever owned it back then couldn’t believe such a thing existed.

Something that doesn’t exist, normally, which set the seal on the In Vogue’s country lifestyle image, is the Brexton picnic hamper that came as part of the vehicle’s specification. Stored in the boot behind the offside rear wheelarch, it was finished to match the light brown upholstery – but four decades on, it’s all too common for fate to have separated this treasured item from the vehicle it once graced.

Which is why this particular In Vogue is an uncommon one. The

hamper remains with it – and its contents look like they’ve hardly ever seen a polo club meet or grouse-bagging excursion. The cup is missing from one of the Thermos flasks, if you want to be ultra-picky – but if that’s the only thing you can find to carp about in a vehicle, you know it’s a good one.

2023 Land Rover Yearbook 07/11/2022 19:19

The World’s best accessories for Land Rover Defender Terrafirma Serious 4x4 Accessories: Certified Manufactured to Specification For more information visit www.terrafirma4x4.com www.allmakes4x4.com email sales@terrafirma4x4.com

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26/02/2021 12:07

British-based Team Gumtree 4x4 wins Unmodified class in Kenyan Rhino Charge for the third time Words: Olly Sack Pictures: Shelagh Ballard

B

ritish based Team Gumtree 4x4 has completed a unique trio of sporting successes – by winning its class for the third time in the Kenyan Rhino Charge.

The team’s vehicle is a classic ‘bitsa’ made from a variety of Land Rover components that were lying around Gumtree’s workshop at the time – a 90 chassis, Series III

bulkhead, 4.0-litre V8 engine, LT95 gearbox and axles containing a Detroit Locker at the back and Truetrac at the front. It qualifies for the Unmodified Class in the Charge mainly by not being equipped with portal axles or a twin-motor winch.

The Rhino Charge predates challenge events by years, but in some ways it’s similar in principle to the way they operate. Teams are given

13 checkpoints and 10 hours in which to visit them all; the winner is the team that does so while covering the shortest distance.

While this sounds simple enough, the distance between two checkpoints may only be a couple of hundred yards – but it might also be up a cliff or across a field of carsized rocks. Teams have to decide whether to take the short, potentially extreme line or save time by going the longer way round.

To aid them in doing this, a team really is a team.

As well as a driver and navigator, each vehicle carries a crew of runners whose job is to scout ahead for hazards and routes through the terrain.

It’s like walking a trials course, but in real time and on a huge scale.

For Team Gumtree 4x4, the driver was John Bowden – founder of the famous Sussex-based Land Rover specialist of the same name and a long-term supporter of the event’s charitable aims. He was navigated

by Lorian Campbell-Clause, making full use of satellite images as well as an actual map, with the running done by Simon Davies, Hugo Potgieter and John’s eldest son, Lawrence Bowden.

The other vital team member is Chief Mechanic Chris Ballard, who preps the Land Rover every year to ensure it has the reliability needed to battle its way through the bush for 10 hours non-stop. Bearing in mind that the terrain is chosen with Unimog-axled prototypes in mind, that’s no small task.

The vehicle was originally built in Gumtree’s own premises, mainly by workshop maestro Martin Stapleton – a man whose own competition vehicles go before him. It won the first UK version of the Rhino Charge in 1997 before being freighted out

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07/11/2022 18:23

‘Losing our brakes made less difference than I expected –though there was one hill I came down with never more than one wheel on the ground at a time!’

to Kenya in 2000, where it has lived ever since. This was Team Gumtree 4x4’s 23rd event in total, with the clock currently running at more than £160,000 raised for Rhino Ark. In addition to winning its class this year, the team was positioned 13th overall – a result which placed John and his crew ahead of more then 30 portal-axled rivals. As always, however, fate is a fickle mistress in the world of motorsport – and the outcome could easily have been very different.

‘Our fuel tank split at about midday after we landed the guard on a boulder,’ John explains, describing an incident that would have scuppered many teams. ‘We repaired it well enough to finish, but we lost our brakes three sections from home, most likely when a branch pulled the brake pipe off the rear axle.

‘It made less difference than I expected, actually. Though there was one hill I came down with never more than one wheel on the ground at a time!

OFF-ROADING FOR A WORTHY CAUSE ONE OF THE REASONS for the Rhino Charge’s enduring popularity is that it raises money for an extremely good cause. The Rhino Ark is a charity set up in 1988 in a bid to save the Black Rhino from being poached to extinction in the Aberdare National Park; thanks to its efforts, the entire park is now encircled by a game-proof fence designed to prevent poaching and illegal logging as well as keeping animals from damaging farms.

In more recent times, the Rhino Ark has expanded its efforts to support conservation in other mountain ecosystems, notably around Mount Kenya and Mount Eburu. This has made a real difference to the lives of people living alongside Kenya’s indigenous species, as well as protecting the animals against the worst of the human race – all of it made possible by fundraising donations which have so far topped £11million.

There has always been a great deal of British interest in the Charge, and a UK version ran for several years starting in 1997. Gumtree’s John Bowden has been a trustee of the charity’s British arm since 2000 and is currently hoping to get one of the big names from Ultra4 or the winch challenge scene to give Kenya a go.

Up for it? You can reach him at john@rhinoark.org.

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John was also gracious enough to point out that had Petra Somen’s Bushbabes team not got stuck on some enormous lava rocks 150 metres from their last checkpoint, they would have beten him to the class victory. ‘They said it should have been called the Obelix Charge, because it looked as if he had lived there and been having fun throwing all these boulders around!’

Team Gumtree 4x4 was supported by Britpart, which donated a 12,000lb winch and a number of other parts. In addition, Silverstone Tyres in Nairobi supplied six General Grabber X3s. ‘We really abused them,’ says John. ‘I had them smoking on rocks at one point, but they were faultless from the point of

view of sidewall and tread damage, punctures and so on.’

John’s Land Rover covered exactly 35.92 kilometres while visiting all 13 checkpoints. This compared to a best possible distance of 20 kilometres as the crow flies – though when you learn that the winning vehicle, Sean Avery’s Series II/Discovery hybrid, only covered 24.72km, you can see the standard achieved by the top competitors.

This also equates to an overall speed of 1.5mph, which should also tell you something about how serious the off-roading is on the Rhino Charge. It might be a charity event – but it’s also one of the most challenging tests any Land Rover can be asked to endure.

19 07/11/2022 18:23

A NEW CASE FOR THE DEFENCE The Defender market has left off-roading behind in search of bling. But with builders Words: Paul Looe Pictures: Harry Hamm

Sponsored by

A

s we all know, there was a time when if you did off-roading, you did Land Rovers. Even if you did Suzukis too, you still Did Land Rovers.

Things have changed a little now. The emergence of Jeep and the growth of the pick-up sector has given people more options, but Land Rover is still an overwhelmingly dominant part of the British off-road scene.

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07/11/2022 16:55

like Wallis Defenders around, there’ll always be rorm for 90s and 110s in the real world

Nonetheless, the vibe in the Defender game is not about off-roading. Yes, that’s what they were built for – the majority of 90s and 110s going through the hands of rebuilders and modifiers are being turned into blingers of one level or another.

Sprucing up Defenders has become a major part of the Land Rover industry in recent years.

There are of course companies whose builds command six-figure price tags. It’s possible that if

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you’ve got that sort of money to spend on a boutique Defender, you won’t actually care if you get it muddy or scratched and dented, because if that’s what happens when you take it off-road you’ll just go and buy another one. But it’s probably more likely that the boutique motor will be kept for trips to Harrods and you’ll spend another small fortune (or ‘week’s wages’) on another one with every last bit of off-road kit on it that’s ever been invented.

Back here in the real world, the rest of us have to balance our off-road ambitions with our desire to smoke around in a truck that looks the business too. And the real world is quite a big place.

That’s why for every one of the millionaire-motor boutique Defender builders, there’s another dozen creating nicely enhanced, stand-out-from-thecrowd 90s and 110s for a clientele whose wealth is measurable in… well, it’s just measurable.

07/11/2022 16:55

Wallis Defenders is one of the most notable additions to this part of the Landy scene – and one of the most recent. Yet it’s also one of the best-established businesses you’ll find anywhere in the motor trade, with a lineage that goes back further than that of Land Rover itself.

That’s because it’s part of a family concern which started in the grocery business and moved into the motor trade in 1937. Based these days out of a superbly presented filling station and showroom complex just outside Cambridge, it’s a dynasty whose heritage goes back to the early days of powered flight. Percy and Horace Wallis built a pioneering light aircraft in 1910, having watched the Wright Brothers in action at first hand; Horace’s son, Ken Wallis, served as an RAF pilot in WWII then both invented and flew the autogyro which starred alongside Sean Connery in You Only Live Twice.

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These days, the business is run by Percy’s great grandson Elliot Wallis. Alongside the everyday stuff that goes with looking after a thriving sales and maintenance operation, in the last few years he has started getting interested in the idea of branching out into Land Rovers. And that’s where Wallis Defenders was born.

The company has already built a good number of vehicles – some for customers, some for show and some for stock. A difference between it and many of the usual bling-‘em-up suspects is evident right there; this isn’t one of those set-ups that needs to sell one before it has enough money to buy the parts for the next. It might be new to the scene, but it’s got capital behind it and its business planning is rock-solid.

Nonetheless, it’s also not one of the many companies that are content merely to play the percentages. When you talk to Elliot, you can tell

pretty much immediately that he loves his Land Rovers. Particularly if you’re standing in the showroom they live in at the time. And what this means is that whereas some will happily churn out one identikit modded Defender after another, he’s not afraid of daring to be different. It’s a business, of course, and he’s building them for a market. But it takes a brave man to base this kind of build on a 110 Hi-Cap… The vehicle in question is a 2.2 TDCi from 2013. It came out of the factory in XS trim, meaning it was already fitted with air-conditioning among a few other luxuries, but even then it’s made a quantum leap forward now.

Of course, a white pick-up is hardly the stuff of radical road presence. When it’s a proper gleaming shade of white, though, rather than turgid old Bog Roll Grey, it’s a whole lot different. And when this is contrasting with stuff like a set of 18” Sawtooth alloys and gloss black grille, arches, vents and mirrors, it’s set fair to be about the most eye-catching thing on the road.

There’s more black on the cab roof, the chequer plate sills and wing tops and finally the Fire and Ice side steps. And even where things would have been black originally, they’ve been enhanced – the front bumper has been replaced by a DRL job and the headlamp surrounds are the same gloss material as the grille. The headlamps themselves, meanwhile, are halo units.

Moving back to those wheels, they’re home to a set of 255/55R18 Cooper Discoverer AT3s.

Already more than a little cool, then – but they’ve been spaced out by 30mm at the front and 50mm at the back to give the truck some added stance.

Not everyone will get that, but there’s a foursquare attitude to its appearance that definitely catches the eye.

Now, off-roaders can be a cynical lot, and you might be looking at this 110 and saying to yourself that it’s all fur coat and no knickers. What you’d be saying, however, would be wrong.

07/11/2022 16:55

There are certainly companies out there that think nothing of hiding a ropy motor beneath a blanket of fancy add-ons. But Wallis Defenders is not one of them. Every one of its builds starts with a comprehensive clean underneath, following which the chassis is given a similarly comprehensive course of protective treatment – and the results are there to be seen. You could eat your dinner off the underside of one of these trucks, if only gravity wasn’t trying to stop you. Elliot himself talks of customers turning up to view vehicles, taking a quick look at the chassis and door bottoms and saying yes please, I’ll take it.

There’s more hidden stuff inside the cabin, too, with 6mm foam insulation and 3mm sound deadening material helping to quieten it down. You rest your feet in Lucari carpeting, and the same company’s high-rise cubby box is sat between the seats. The dash is trimmed in leather and the roof lining in alcantara, while the steering wheel is a 13” Momo job and the seats are XS Sports units.

There are of course things here that you would do differently. That bumper might need a winch tray in it and those wheels might need to shrink by a couple of inches, while the tyres’ sidewalls grow at least as much in the other direction. And when

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it comes to black detailing, you might consider the lack of a snorkel to be an omission.

But you might also be coming from a place where your idea of the perfect Defender involved vinyl, sliding windows and a rolled-on coat of that same turgid old Bog Roll Grey, and perhaps it might be dawning on you that actually, this here Hi-Cap doesn’t half look good. Perhaps being an off-roader doesn’t need to make you look like a serial killer after all.

At the very least, what this truck goes to show is that you don’t need to mess with the engine, suspension and so on to turn a standard Defender into one that’s very special (and valuable) – but still very much a truck, not a car, and still very much a Land Rover, not a pavement princess.

This is basically still a standard 110 Hi-Cap, with just as great an appetite for work as it ever had – only one you’d never mistake for anything else.

Given that this is a company which builds Land Rovers to sell, we hope it won’t come as too much of a bucket of cold water that the actual vehicle in these pictures has long since become someone else’s property. But if so, well, it’s a company which builds Land Rovers to sell, so you know what to do.

You might be sneering at the idea of getting a professional outfit with an eye for good design to build an off-roader for you. But stop and take a look at the way the market has gone since those Jeeps and double-cabs started coming along.

High-end builds based on current Rangers and Wranglers are a big deal now – and those vehicles tend to be every bit as stunning to look at as they are to drive off-road.

That’s a market which, to some extent, passed by the last knockings of Defender production.

But while we’re unlikely to go back to the time when if you did off-roading, you did Land Rovers, there certainly is potential for the current craze for blingers to mature into a market for 90s and 110s that look great on the road and can do it in the mud, too. It wouldn’t take much for a build like this 110 to evolve into something like that – and what a cool place it would be to start.

The millionaire motors at the top of the market won’t change the Defender zeitgeist. If it’s going to move on into a new version of the real world, it’s companies like Wallis Defenders that will take it there. And when you look at trucks like this 110, you can’t help but feel that it’s going to be a journey worth taking.

07/11/2022 16:55

LOCKDOWN SPECIAL Sponsored by

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07/11/2022 16:56

When Britain went into lockdown in the spring of 2020, Land Rover enthusiasts around the country took the chance to get stuck into the vehicles they had never had the time to work on.

And at AJD Off Road, the Series IIA that had been sitting in a corner for years was about to be reborn – in truly magnificent style Words: Olly Sack Pictures: Alan Kidd

I

n the spring of 2020, when Covid first swept the world and the nation went into lockdown, many things changed. The roads went quiet.

People started going out for walks. Swindon Town actually won something by not playing, which is pretty much the only way that was ever going to happen.

Soon, it became impossible to turn on the radio without hearing either Chris Whitty or that ‘We’ve Lost Dancing’ song. Some of us never had it in the first place. ‘Furlough’ went from being a word no-one except missionaries had ever heard of to a name people called the dog they had just bought for something to do while they were off work.

But mainly, all across the country, hundreds and thousands of petrol heads finally got round to doing that project they had had sitting in their garage for years. The result was a clamour for parts and accessories that helped keep the independent Land Rover trade up and running through the worst of it.

‘We were proud to work through the pandemic to supply parts and repairs to all key workers including paramedics, police, nurses, teachers and care workers, of whom we have many customers,’ comments Andy Degiulio, the owner of one such outfit, AJD Off Road of Hoddeston in Hertfordshire. When lockdown happened, however, even with this line of business remaining open the company’s workload decreased massively.

But like so many people in the independent trade, Andy is an enthusiast too. Beyond his own customer base, he’s probably best known for his exploits as a highly successful comp safari racer, however he knows a thing or two about classic Land Rovers too. And herein lay the ace up his sleeve which allowed him to offer his staff the choice when lockdown came along: take up the option of going on furlough or stay on to look after essential repairs for key workers and, the rest

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07/11/2022 16:56

Above left: The 2.25 petrol engine was original, as were the gearbox and transfer case, the axles, the chassis, the bulkhead, the panels, the lot. The word ‘treasure’ hardly touches the sides of how valuable this vehicle was as a restoration project Above right: As is came back together, everything was finished off as accurately as possible. All the body cappings were sand-blasted and re-galvanised, and Exmoor Trim supplied a new canvas hood to the correct original spec Below: More from Exmoor here, in the shape of a full set of elephant-hide front and rear seats. The same company supplied the hood sticks, too

of the time, get stuck in to an in-house restoration that had been crawling along since 2016.

That was when AJD bought the 88” Series IIA you see here. ‘Our objective from the start was to restore it back to how it would have left the factory in 1965,’ Andy explains.

‘As we run a busy workshop and also a parts shop, when we started the project we used it as a

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time filler. But when lockdown hit back in March 2020, we took this opportunity to go all in and get it to the finished result.’

To go back to the start for a moment, what attracted Andy to this particular IIA was that it still had all its original component parts in place.

It was still on its factory chassis and bulkhead, engine (a 2.25-litre petrol), gearbox and even

axles. ‘We wanted to keep it this way,’ says Andy, ‘to add to its character, keeping it as original as we possibly could.’

To help them do this, the AJD team started by stripping the Land Rover down to its chassis.

Nothing unusual there, nor indeed in a rebuild that saw every major assembly comprehensively refurbished using no end of quality new parts, but this is a story with some wonderful details to the way it was finished.

It’s also a story with some absolutely painstaking work in it. A restoration doesn’t necessarily need to be cripplingly labour-intensive, if you’re willing to stump up for new stuff rather than putting in the elbow grease on the originals. But there’s that word again, ‘original’ – in a rebuild like this you could see it as a synonym for ‘sacred,’ and that’s the view Andy took.

‘We restored any parts of the body that were slightly aged,’ he explains. ‘Unfortunately, like a lot of these vehicles, the wings were full of holes due to chequer plate being fitted throughout its life. We drilled off all the old plate and carefully tig-welded every hole then ground them flat to get it back to its original state.

‘We then had every panel repainted back to its original colour, as the previous owner had hand-painted the vehicle blue.’

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Why are we showing you a close-up of the IIA’s grille? Because it’s only partially a grille, that’s why. Part of it had been cut out for access to a hasp keeping the bonnet locked – and such was Andy’s determination to keep it as original as possible, rather than just buying a new one he repaired it by grinding an old dipstick to the correct gauge, hammering and bending it into shape and tig-welding it in so that the structure was once again complete. On the rear side panels, once again keeping the originals was paramount – so the dents in them were skimmed over with filler then, to recreate the correct appearance, the surface was dimpled with a drill bit where it would originally have been marked by spot welds Admit it. You’d have just gone out and bought a new set of wings, wouldn’t you?

Now, Andy admitted to us that some people told him he was mad to go to so much effort rather than just replacing stuff. But you can sense that he had developed a devotion to keeping the vehicle original that went way beyond what the realms of what a professional restorer would look at in terms of costs and benefits.

Get this, for example. When the vehicle first joined the AJD fleet, a previous owner had fitted a hasp to keep the bonnet locked – and cut out a section of the grille to provide access to it. These are the things you don’t have to worry about when you restore Ferraris instead. Anyway, buying a new grille would have been too easy. Instead, Andy rebuilt it using an old dipstick which he ground down to the same gauge, cut to size then bent into shape before tig-welded it into to the existing grille. After that, the whole thing went off to be galvanised.

If you want to think of this in terms of a garage’s labour rate, just remember to stop before the palpitations begin. But this was a lockdown project, when people suddenly became tremendously time-rich – and you can’t help but admire the sort of dedication that goes into doing something like this. Look at the finished result and you’ll be more than a little impressed by the skill that went into it, too.

Then came the rear body, where the side panels had copped a number of battle scars down the years. ‘We skimmed some filler into them to remove all the dents,’ explains Andy. ‘Then to mimic the look of the original, we used a drill to add a row of small dents where there would originally have been spot welds.’

After that, it hardly sounds like anything to report that the team stripped off all the Land Rover’s body cappings and sent them off to be sand blasted and re-galvanised, prior to fitted them back on to the repainted body panels using the correct domed rivets.

Elsewhere, there were areas in which the vehicle had lost its originality and needed to be given it back. Happily, the previous owner seems to

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have understood that this might be important one day, because he had boxed up various items he’d taken off it and stored them in the back.

These included the original steering box, steering wheel and indicator switch, which had been removed and replaced with Series III items. Naturally, the originals went back on – after, of course, first being refurbished. The correct 6.00x16 tyres had long since gone, too, to be replaced by a bigger, more modern size, and this too was put right.

Of course, as this illustrates it wasn’t all just a case of refurbishing old parts. Lots of new stuff had to be bought too – mainly for the purpose of making the refurbishments happen, of course.

‘Paul Myers at Britpart was a lot of help in supplying the parts for this rebuild,’ comments Andy. ‘He is a good friend from the off-road racing world, as well as being our biggest parts supplier.’

There’s an honourable mention for Exmoor Trim, too, which supplied the canvas tilt and a new hoop set to support it, along with a full set of the elephant hide front and rear seats.

The finished result of all this effort was a Series IIA which looks – well, a Series IIA, but not as you know it. Unless you were around in 1965, that is. To go back to the beginning, Andy told us his aim with the project was to restore the vehicle back to how it would have left the factory – and if you can see any discrepancies in it, you’re doing better than us.

It was never meant to be a lockdown project, this. But it is, in every sense, a shining example of what people were able to do with those strange few months when the world ground to a halt. Having a fully equipped professional workshop and a team of skilling technicians to call on definitely helps, obviously, as does a trade account with some of the biggest and best parts and accessories suppliers in the land. But ultimately, what and project comes down to is the vision behind it and the dedication with which that vision is pursued.

And there’s a whole list of factory-original parts that say this is one of the best, truest Land Rovers you’ll ever find.

07/11/2022 16:59

KILLER

Boudica was among the earliest historical figures to become great British icons. ruthless warrior – so it’s very fitting that her name now lives on in a Land Rover Words: Gary Martin Pictures: Alan Kidd

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07/11/2022 20:29

QUEEN

The legendary queen of the Iceni was an utterly that’s been designed to slay the opposition

I

f you ask people to name Britain’s greatest historical figures, there are a few that will crop up over and over again. Churchill is sure to be one. Queen Victoria would be another. Darwin, Brunel and Shakespeare are sure to be there or thereabouts, too, and you’d like to think Stephen Hawking and Alan Turing would be too. So too would King Arthur, and I’ve just asked the Editor and he said Archie Gemmill.

What all these have in common is that they came after Boudica. The legendary Queen of the Iceni was possibly the first Briton ever to become an icon of our nation’s history. Around 60AD, she led a revolt against the might of the Roman empire which, though it was ultimately unsuccessful, came to embody the bulldog spirit which, centuries later, helped see us through the darkest days of the struggle to defeat Hitler.

As is so often the case with history, the romance of the story can hide some uncomfortable truths. And there’s more than a little evidence to suggest that Boudica was actually a bit of a psycho. If you were a Game of Thrones watcher, you’ll remember that episode near the end where Daenerys rides into town aboard a dragon and leaves its entire population done to a turn – well, that’s basically what the Iceni did to London, only with a lot less fire and a lot more torture.

History is a story told by the winners, of course, so who knows what really happened, but safe to say Boudica was up for a fight. And her legacy is

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Above left: Both axles are Land Rover units, though not as Land Rover made them. They’re been trussed and fitted with ARB diff pans, protecting a set of innards which includes 330m shafts all round and 4.75:1 lockers front and rear, all from Ashcroft Above right: Siobhan’s partner Lee Craighead runs Titan Offroad Racing, whose hydralic steering is a common sight on top-level winch challenge trucks. Hardly a surprise that her own vehicle is a showcase for one of his set-ups, then…

Below: Long-travel Rough Country shocks sit in fabricated brackets as part of a set-up designed for extreme flex, with progressive-rate springs holding the vehicle up at the front. It’s still on radius arms and a panhard rod at the front, though the A-frame and rose-jointed trailing links at the back are aided in their articulation by dislocating lower spring seats

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Beneath the bonnet, you’ll find a Land Rover 300Tdi engine – though like the axles, it’s a lot different to the way it was when Land Rover built it. It’s running bespoke injectors and injection pump, Spal fans and an Allisport VNT turbo and cooled by a standard radiator – standard, but mounted in the back to keep it away from the worst of the mud

definitely one which has come to be celebrated in Britain as an example of never-say-die willingness to stand up in the face of overwhelming odds.

That’s definitely a useful approach to take when you’re winching your way into impossible-to-reach places, at any rate. Which is good, because when it comes to doing just that there’s a modern-day Boudica with no shortage of fighting spirit.

Boudica is, naturally, a Land Rover. She started life as a Defender, and if you push it that’s what she still is, but her chassis has been cut down at both ends for better approach and departure angles and now has a Whitbread frame on top of it. She might be a Land Rover, but she’s also a purpose-built challenge special.

The man who did the building is Lee Craighead, whose own challenge truck (a Patrol-axled spaceframe proto called Titan) appeared on the front cover of our March issue. Doing the driving, meanwhile, is his other half, Siobhan Cook, who’s to be found competing against him in the Odys-

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sey Batteries Winch Challenge series run annually by the Viking 4x4 Club.

What she’s driving is a Defender whose Land Rover axles are turned by a Land Rover engine.

None of these things are standard, needless to say, but they’re still about the most standard things on the truck.

The engine is a 300Tdi with an Allisport VNT turbo, bespoke injectors and pump and, behind it, an Ashcroft monster box. There’s more Ashcroft stuff in the axles, too, in the shape of the company’s lockers and heavy-duty halfshafts, and the whole drivetrain ends up at a set of 37” Maxxis Trepadors.

These are kept firmly on the ground by a high-articulation suspension set-up which dislocates at the rear, allowing a set of long-travel Rough Country shocks to stretch to their fullest extent. The Defender’s A-frame location is retained here, albeit with rose-jointed trailing links; a set of extreme-angle Bailey Morris propshafts

takes care of the massively increased potential for droop.

These are the basics of a truck which, some four years ago, joined the family as a used and abused trials motor. ‘It used to compete in the hands of Matt Jarrett before we procured it,’ says Lee. ‘Then myself and Shaun Dighton set about turning it into a full-on Class 3 challenge truck with Land Rover axles instead of the Toyota 80s that were on it, suspension from RAC parts, 37” Treps instead of 35” Simex, cage alterations and the introduction of three winches, lockers and 300m shafts.’

He makes it sound so easy. But the build was done in parts rather than all being chucked on there at once. The first stage of the project saw the Whitbread cage and Gigglepin winches go on to a freshly chopped chassis, then after that came the Land Rover axles – complete with all the mods that make them so much stronger and more tractable. Finally, the suspension was

07/11/2022 17:00

Above: Front and rear winches are Gigglepin GP84s with air freespools. There’s a Goodwinch unit in the centre, too, mounted alongside the Viair tank where compressed air is held Below: 37x12.50R16 Maxxis Trepadors are mounted on beadlocked modular rims. The hilarious thing is that for winch challenges, these actually count as quite small tyres by today’s standards

upgraded, giving the vehicle a level of flex and articulation that would have been unthinkable in its trialling days.

Watching her in action, Boudica does cover ground beautifully smoothly. Whether it’s at speed over an averagely rough quarry floor or crawling over rocks the size of your sofa, there’s a natural

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nature to the axles’ movement that stands it in very good stead. Even though those Trepadors are actually on the small side by the standard of today’s winch trucks, she flexes her way over anything – and if the winches have to come out, they have the blistering page for which Gigglepin’s best are known.

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Something else that was noticeable from our photoshoot is that Siobhan is not scared to put the boot in. Not that that would come as any surprise to Lee, who reports that she was already showing a positive attitude behind the wheel back in 2018 on the Nightmare Challenge. ’On Stage 2 in the woods, Siobhan was giving it plenty,’ he says. ‘Next thing, I get a shout on the radio to come assist her as she was “broken down”. On arriving, it was clear she had been a little enthusiastic with the throttle and never made a turn, ultimately gaining a new-found close friendship with a rather large tree.

‘This had caused the steering joint to part company and the wheels to point in opposite directions. We recovered her to the pits, made haste and fitted new parts then got her back out with a simple bit of advice: “Avoid the trees!”’

As this illustrates, to Lee off-roading is about much more than just the driving. ‘There are two sides to the off-road scene,’ he says. ‘The first is the side everyone knows – the actual playtime, speed, mud, water, testing technical sections, camaraderie, banter, sunshine and snow… and the breakages. Which brings me to the second part – the work that goes into prepping them, friends giving up their own time without question to lend a hand, workshop banter being the best bit. And of course, the major support and understanding we get from our other halves.

‘I’m lucky in this respect as my other half is also into the same sport.’

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Siobhan and Lee have owned a wide variety of challenge and playday vehicles between them in the past, and both of them drive Audi SUVs as dailies, so it’s fair to say 4x4s are in their blood.

And it’s definitely fair to say that after a series of competition cars of various levels of ability, Titan and Boudica represent the culmination of a developmental journey which ought to serve the couple very well indeed as the winching scene opens back up.

For a vehicle driven by one of the few women competing at the highest level of the winching game, Boudica is very well named. This is a Land Rover that’s standing up for itself in a male-dominated arena, after all, just as its namesake stood up to the Romans. The difference being that while the Queen of the Iceni caused absolute mayhem before her revolt was quelled, this Boudica is a lot more level headed. And she’s got a much better chance of beating the odds and winning, too…

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PRODUCTS

Safety Devices snorkel designed to work in tandem with a roll cage

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wo of the first things you’re likely to think about if you’re prepping a Land Rover for off-road action, especially the kind of off-road action that involves long-range overland expedition travel, ought to be protecting its engine from dust and water ingress and protection everything else, yourself and your loved ones included, from the consequences of a major stack.

The latter puts you very firmly into roll cage territory. And the former is all about kitting up your truck with a raised air intake.

These are both fine things, and well worth the investment. But fitting them can give you a problem – which is that they both want to occupy the same bit of space down the front of one of your A-posts.

Safety Devices’ own 3” raised air intake is the answer. At least it is if

you’ve got an original-shape Land Rover Defender and you’re fitting one of the same company’s roll cages, because they’re designed to work together. So if you’re looking at a Defender 90, 110 or 130 and it’s a Hard-Top, Station Wagon, Pick-Up, Double-Cab or Hi-Cap, there’s an answer here for you.

The air intake that’s supplied by Safety Devices doesn’t include the 3” head shown in the pictures, but you

shouldn’t struggle to get your hands on one of those. And you certainly shouldn’t struggle to get your hands on the intake itself, because it’s just become part of the Britpart range.

They cost around £250 including the dreaded; drop in on www.britpart. com and tracking one down will be a piece of cake.

Workshop tool storage options that can be used separately or together CLARKE’S CBB209C 28” 9-DRAWER TOOL CHEST AND CBB217C 7-DRAWER TOOL CABINET can be used individually – though they’re designed to work a treat together, too. The latter has soft, cushioned matting up top, providing a nonslip work surface – or a perfect platform for the former to sit on.

Across both items, each drawer has ball bearing runners for smooth opening and closing. Full-width aluminium handles and anti-slip liners promise excellent ergonomic performance, while a push-lock feature prevents accidental opening if the unit is tilted.

The 9-Drawer Chest is fitted with carry handles for portability, while the 7-Drawer Cabinet has 5” industrial grade chrome spoked wheels and a side handle, allowing you to wheel it around the workshop with ease. It’s made from extra heavy gauge double-wall steel and has a reinforced base, all of which goes towards keeping your tools safe and sound.

You’re looking at £191.94 for the chest and £346.80 for the cabinet. How much for both together? Time to get your mental arithmetic on that one, but ‘less than £540’ is our helpful answer. It’s all at www.machinemart.co.uk.

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PRODUCTS

BUDGET 2” LIFT FOR LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 3 AND 4 THE LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 3 AND 4 are becoming increasingly popular as green lane wagons and overland motors. In each case, a bit more ground clearance and the opportunity to fit bigger, more rugged tyres will definitely be on your to-do list – and Dirt Monkey Offroad’s +2” coil spring spacers offer an easy way to achieve just that.

Designed for use on vehicles with steel springs as original equipment, or those which have been converted from air, these are made from 6mm high-strength steel, laser-cut for a precise fit and MIG welded for strength.

Sitting between the chassis mount and the top of the suspension strut, the spacers provide 2” of lift more cheaply than fitting longer springs. They’re finished in a corrosion-resistant powder coat and supplied as a kit including all the fixings required to fit them.

Cheaply? Go on then. The first answer is £200 for the full set, and is that one meets with your approval the second answer is www.dirtmonkeyoffroadltd.co.uk.

POWERspec clutch kit from LOF designed for tuned or hardworked Puma Defenders

LOF CLUTCHES’ POWERSPEC RANGE is designed for Land Rovers with tuned engines and those used for heavy work like towing and overlanding. With more and more Pumas now falling into those categories, the company’s TDCi Bundle includes a heavy-duty friction plate, uprated cover, concentric slave cylinder (LOF’s own rather than the Ford original), bleed pipe, crank seal, alignment tool and spigot bearing – as well as everything else you need to change and upgrade the clutch on any 90, 110 or 130 fitted with a 2.2 or 2.4 engine.

Used by leading tuners including Land Rover’s own Bowler Motors, these clutches promise a pedal weight no greater than the original. In addition, they use a sprung centre with 20 degrees of pre-damping to allow maximum balance at idle.

‘This clutch will handle highly tuned road monsters or hard worked off-roaders all day long,’ says LOF. ‘If you use your Land Rover as a workhorse, tow regularly or carry any extra weight like expedition trucks do, this is the spec for you.’

At £340, it’s more than you might do on other clutches but what price do you put on not having to do the job again next year? Thought so. Next step, a visit to lofclutches.com where all the info awaits.

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New light bar from Osram puts out 6000 lumens for just £299

IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A LIGHT BAR, the latest new product from Osram’s LEDriving range is, well, a light bar. It’s called the VX1000-CB SM, a name which could refer to an old Vauxhall sports car, citizens’ band radio or high times in a sex dungeon, but what you need to know is mainly that it bangs out enough light for you to see the road up to half a kilometre ahead.

Made up of 35 high-performance Osram LEDs, the VX1000 produces a 6000lm luminous flux in a combination beam designed to deliver both near and far-field illumination. It has a colour temperature of up to 6000K, mimicking daylight as closely as possible to prevent eye fatigue.

The LEDs are housed in an aluminium structure and behind a stable polycarb lens, with IP67 protection against water, dust and impacts.

Thermally managed and polarity protected, they have a service life of 5000 hours and promise to be as tough and rugged as they are bright.

Ideal for off-roading, then. And with ECE approval, you can use them on the road too. Osram’s suggested retail price for the VX1000-CB SM is a pleasingly modest £299 – to find out more, get yourself to www. osram.com.

Console box for new Defender THE NEW-SHAPE DEFENDER has an empty space at the front of its floor console which is perfect for this shaped stowage tray to slot into.

Tailor-made for the vehicle, it simply drops into place and, to stop the contents from sliding around, is fitted with a rubber mat that’s easily removed for cleaning.

It’s available from the nationwide range of Britpart dealers at a cost of about £25.

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PRODUCTS

More Land Rover kit than ever in …and the Lucas Classic catalogue new Terrafirma catalogue…

makes for a pretty good read too

Price: Free From: enquiries@terrafirma4x4.com IF YOU’VE GOT A LAND ROVER and you want to make it better off-road, here’s some excellent news.

The new Terrafirma catalogue has just been published – and it contains 196 full-colour pages of pure temptation for you and your truck.

There’s more than 1500 products in here, each of them covered using detailed descriptions, technical information, images and illustrations. Terrafirma promises not only choice but clear product identification and application, ensuring you can select and combine the kit you need from its ever-more extensive range of accessories.

Whatever Landy you drive, they’ve got you covered. In Terrafirma’s own words: ‘Studying this catalogue will enable workshops, vehicle builders and enthusiasts to prepare and equip their Land Rovers to have more fun, safely carry more load, tackle greater obstacles over harsher terrain and ensure they are protecting their pride and joy for many more adventures to come.’

Price: Free Available from: Britpart dealers

IF YOUR LAND ROVER IS THE KIND with a few more birthdays under its belt, the recently published Lucas Classic Parts Catalogue can hardly help but be essential reading. A 20-page A5 booklet, it includes everything that was in the company’s ever-growing range at the time of publication – you can pick up a copy free of charge from your local Britpart dealer.

Vredestein launches first off-road tyre with allweather, all-terrain Pinza APOLLO TYRES HAS LAUNCHED ITS FIRST DEDICATED ALL-TERRAIN TYRE, the Vredestein Pinza. Designed to be ‘comfortably rugged’, this is an all-weather, all-terrain fitment for 4x4s, pick-ups, and SUVs that are used on and off-road.

The tyre is based on a three-ply carcase and features a threepitched shoulder and sharp edge blocks for efficient self-cleaning and additional grip on loose surfaces. It’s also designed for low noise and good road manners, in particular for all-round grip and responsive steering.

Already well established in the USA, the Pinza is available here in two forms: ‘P’ and ‘LT’. The latter is intended for working vehicles which are primarily used in more demanding off-road conditions, with the ‘P’ has a more roadbiased design to suit passenger-carrying SUVs. In each case, the Pinza carries the 3-Peak Mountain Snowflake logo, meaning it’s approved for use as a winter tyre in nations where this is a thing. It’s initially available in 24 sizes, with more to follow –to find out more, pay a visit to www.vredestein.co.uk.

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IF YOU’RE READY TO TAKE THE PLUNGE and convert your Land Rover to electric power, this divorced output coupler from the ever-innovative Syncro Gearboxes allows you to do so using the EM57 motor from a Nissan Leaf.

There are those whose jaws will drop at the suggestion. But with similar torque to a Tdi the moment you touch the pedal, this is not to be sniffed at.

Syncro Gearboxes’ adaptor is CNC machined from billet aluminium and fitted with a high speed bearing, and the chromoly flange is retained in the adapter to ensure it can’t come off. It allows you to bolt the motor’s output to a driveshaft, coupling it to an axle – or, assuming you still want fourwheel drive, your Land Rover’s transfer box.

At £350 plus VAT, it doesn’t sound like a lot to be at the cutting edge of innovation. Obviously you do still need the motor itself, and apparently they need a battery pack too, but a visit to www.onlinegearboxparts.com will set you on the way to the future.

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PRODUCTS

REPLACEMENT HEADLINING RANGE FROM MASAI4X4 FITS DEFENDER 90 AND 110 TRUCK-CAB THE LATEST ADDITION TO THE MASSIVE RANGE of interior trim products available direct from Masai4x4 is a replacement headlining kit for the Defender 90, 110 and 130 Truck-Cab. Hand-crafted from a high-quality plush suede-like material, this is available in a choice of ten colours from Alston Black through to Luna White, with light Sandstone brown the most recent addition to the range. It comes to you, direct from the Masai factory, as a six-piece kit complete with fir tree fittings and colour-matched adhesive covers to keep them discreet.

Masai’s roof linings are made from a special Glass Reinforced Plastic compound. This resists water absorption and is more rigid than the Land Rover original, which is infamously prone to sagging.

The kits can be ordered with or without interior light brackets and matching sun visors, with prices starting at £625 plus VAT. You’ll find them at www.masai4x4.com.

Any 90 or 110 Truck-Cab will be suitable for Masai4x4’s new range of replacement headliners. These promise greater strength and resistance to water absorption than the original, and they’re available in a choice of ten different colours

Latest new model from Toylander puts your kids behind the wheel of a 90 WITH CHRISTMAS ON THE HORIZON, Toylander has introduced an all-new model to its range. The electric-powered Toylander 90 ‘salutes the classic styling of the 1984 model’ and comes with the correct wheelarches and wing mirrors as well as a tow bar.

It’s not plated for 3500kg, however. But Toylander’s replica kids’ 90 has forward and reverse gears, speed control, a foot brake and handbrake, lights, a folding windscreen, an opening tailgate, pneumatic tyres and a horn.

Based on a monocoque body of some 1.6m long x 78cm wide x 70cm high, the 90 can seat 2-3 children depending on their size, or one adult (again depending on size, you’d think).

It has a safe top speed of 5mph and is ‘the ultimate toy for intrepid little explorers.’

As usual with Toylander, customers have the choice of buying a fully built car or, to make a project of it, a comprehensive build manual. The latter contains all the information you’ll need to build a vehicle from scratch, including full cutting details and dimensions for body panels. The company can then sell you all the parts you’ll need to finish the job.

Talking of selling you things, Toylander would be delighted to do exactly that with a fully built 90 – all you need to do is cross their palms with £5375. Step one is to visit www.toylander.com.

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PRODUCTS

Classic alloy wheel from Sterling Automotive promises to combine strength with style for Defenders from 1990 on

S

terling Automotive’s Classic Defender Alloy Wheel combines strength with no-nonsense rugged styling and can be had in a choice of polished black, gloss black and satin black finishes. Any colour you want, then, so long as it’s…

Suitable for Defenders made between 1990 and 2016, the wheel is an 8x17” alloy with a deeply concave design. It has a 113mm centre bore, a 5 x 165 PCD and an offset of ET10, and each unit has a maximum load of 1250kg.

The wheels are available direct from Sterling Automotive priced at £225 plus VAT per piece. You’ll find them at sterling-automotive.co.uk.

Maverick 4x4 unveils Front Runner Slimline II roof rack fitting kit for Defender 90

THE LATEST ADDITION to Front Runner’s Slimline II range is a full kit for fitting the ever-popular roof rack to the current Land Rover Defender 90. Supplied with everything you need to mount the rack (yes, that includes instructions), this includes the 1255mm wide, 1762mm long Slimline II Tray itself along with a wind deflector and two vehicle-specific foot rails.

These in turn have openings for storing compatible gear, such as Front Runner’s own range of camping tables, underneath the tray.

Like all of Front Runner’s roof racks, the Slimline II kit for the Defender comes backed up by a limited lifetime warranty. It’s available through Maverick 4x4, priced at £1065 plus VAT and delivery; you’ll find it by going to www.overlandgear.co.uk.

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PRODUCTS

Wide-bore tailpipe for a hardcore 110 THIS 3” STRAIGHT THROUGH tail pipe will make your 110 the rudest in town. Suitable for Td5 and Puma models, it costs about £115 from Britpart dealers.

COMPLETE READY TO DRIVE CARS OR SELF BUILD KITS • Build manuals & full kits,

COMPLETE READY TO DRIVE controlled speed, lights, horn, CARS OR SELF BUILD KITS

N E

W !

• Pre-cut panel sets • Build manuals & full kits, & ready-made bodies available controlled speed, lights, horn, • Manual includes full component • Pre-cut panel sets and body cutting dimensions & ready-made bodies available • Battery powered DIY kits or parts • Manual includes full component For more information please contact 01291 626141 sales@toylander.com www.toylander.com and body cutting dimensions

COMPLETE READY TO DRIVE •CARS BatteryOR powered kits or parts SELFDIY BUILD KITS

For more information please contact 01291 626141

Transfer case dipstick for Series trucks ROAMERDRIVE IS FAMOUS for its overdrives, but Britpart dealers also stock the company’s Transfer Case Dipstick Kit for the Series I, II, IIA and III. Consisting of a dipstick tube, which screws into the level plug, and a replacement top cover with a filler plug, this allows you to check the oil level in your Land Rover’s transfer case simply by lifting out its centre seat.

Expect to pay around £50 plus the dreaded.

sales@toylander.com • Build manuals www.toylander.com & full kits,

COMPLETE READY TO DRIVE controlled speed, lights, horn, CARS OR SELF BUILD KITS

• Pre-cut panel sets • Build manuals & full kits, & ready-made bodies available controlled speed, lights, horn, • Manual includes full component • Pre-cut panel sets and body cutting dimensions & ready-made bodies available • Battery powered DIY kits or parts • Manual includes full component COMPLETE READYsales@toylander.com TO DRIVE For more information please contact 01291 626141 COMPLETE www.toylander.com and body cutting dimensions READY TO DRIVE

Toylander 3 Toylander

CARS OR SELF BUILD KITS •CARS BatteryOR powered kits or parts SELFDIY BUILD KITS • Build manuals & full kits, COMPLETE READY TO DRIVE • Build manuals & full kits, For more information please contact 01291 626141 sales@toylander.com www.toylander.com controlled speed, lights, horn, READY TO®DRIVE CARS OR SELF COMPLETE BUILD KITSspeed, lights, controlled horn, based on the 1972 Series 3 Land Rover CARS OR SELF BUILD KITS • Pre-cut panel sets

The ultimate toy for • Build manuals & full kits, • Pre-cut panel sets & ready-made bodies available • Build manuals & full kits, controlled speed, lights, horn, & to ready-made bodiestheir available little explorers...

Toylander are proud launch controlled speed,or lights, horn, • Manual includes full component Buy now ready made • Pre-cut panel sets includes full component • Manual and body cutting dimensions • Pre-cut panel sets & ready-made bodiesand available latest model, the Toylander 90 – the Buy now ready made, or body cutting dimensions ready-made • Battery powered DIY&kits or parts bodies available build it yourself!

• Manual includes full component • Battery powered DIY kits or parts • Manual includes full component ultimate toy for intrepid little explorers and body dimensions build itcutting yourself! and body cutting dimensions

For more information please contact 01291 626141 sales@toylander.com www.toylander.com For more information please contact 01291 626141 sales@toylander.com www.toylander.com

• Battery powered DIY kits or parts • Battery powered DIY kits or parts

For more information please contact 01291 626141 sales@toylander.com www.toylander.com For more information please contact 01291 626141 sales@toylander.com www.toylander.com

Britpart grille smartens up your Series III GOT A SERIES III? Britpart’s new Deluxe Grille is a great way to smarten it up. Supplied without a badge, it should cost in the region of £30-35. It’s at www.britpart.com.

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PRODUCTS

Heavy-duty tool roll at the ready for all your running repairs

Roamerdrive developing overdrive unit for trucks with LT95 gearbox

NEWLY OUT FROM TERRAFIRMA FACTORY RACING, this heavy-duty 20oz canvas tool roll is designed to be stashed in your competition vehicle in readiness for when you’re out on a stage and need to make running repairs.

It has no less than 23 pockets and pouches, variously secured by zips and velcro flaps, and unrolls to give easy access to all its contents. It’s available from terrafirma4x4.com, costing £41.95 – all you need now is to supply the tools to go in it.

Auxiliary switch mount for Puma dash DESIGNED TO SUIT genuine TDCi-era switches used from 2007 to 2016, Mud’’s Defender TDCi Switch Mount can also be used for the company’s own range of Land Rover style switches.

There are two versions available – a 5-gang mount for simply adding extra switches to your dashboard, and a 4-gang plus hazards version. The latter is intended for vehicles with a pop-out or halo-style single-DIN head unit, which restricts access to the top row of switches on the dashboard.

‘The Puma dashboard has an abject lack of space for extra switches,’ explains Mud. The traditional method is to mount switches into any spare flat surface, which normally results in an ugly and untidy spread of aftermarket switches. The Puma dashboard doesn’t help, with its large empty spaces to the left and right having a compound curved profile preventing traditional gang mounts from sitting flush with the dashboard.’

These mounts provide an answer by snapping into an outer frame which is moulded to follow the compound curve of the Puma dash. They come with colour fitting instructions, hardware and a cut-out installation template.

The kit comes without actual switches, but Mud offers a range of its own designs with various legends for accessories like winches, lockers, compressors and work lights, as well as USB sockets and switch blanks for any unused housings. They can accommodate switches from the Discovery 2, Freelander and soft-dash Classic Range Rover, too.

The mount is priced at £63 – you can get it direct from the manufacturer by visiting www.mudstuff.co.uk.

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GLOBAL ROAMER CORPORATION, the Canadian manufacturer of the Roamerdrive brand of overdrive for Land Rovers, has announce a joint venture with Garage Therapy of Perth, Australia.

Under the arrangement, an overdrive suitable for Land Rovers fitted with the rugged LT95 four-speed gearbox will be manufactured in Australia.

These overdrives will be sold under the Garage Therapy brand using a combination of Canadian and Australian engineered components.

The product, which is scheduled for release in August 2022, is aimed particularly at the ex-Australian Army 110 Parentie, hundreds of which are currently being released on to the civilian market.

‘Worldwide,’ says Ray Wood of Global Roamer Corporation, ‘there is a pentup demand for a reliable overdrive that will fit the LT95 four-speed gearbox found in the Range Rover Classic and 101 Forward Control.

‘We looked at producing an overdrive for the LT95 some time ago, however we didn’t think there was sufficient demand. But the release of the Perentie has changed all that, so we were happy to work with Garage Therapy to produce one.’

Producing a strong but compact overdrive unit that fits into the constricted area behind the transfer case in a Range Rover Classic proved a considerable challenge for the design team in Australia. The units share oil with the transfer case and offer a 28% overdrive ratio that can be used in any gear.

They use the quiet, rugged encyclical gear technology from Roamerdrive that has helped make thousands of Land Rovers more civilised over the past twenty years.

‘We were very lucky to find Ray Wood and the team at Roamerdrive,’ adds Garage Therapy’s Brad Miocevich. ‘Ray has been very supportive, both with the supply of critical components and technical knowledge. We’re committed to producing the best LT95 overdrive ever!’

To keep tabs on the new unit, and everything else to do with Roamerdrive, visit roamerdrive.com.

2023 Land Rover Yearbook 07/11/2022 16:47

PRODUCTS

Machine Mart’s all-in-one welding kit for fabrication and automotive use

MODEL LAND ROVERS HERE IN TIME TO SAVE YOU THIS CHRISTMAS

CLARKE’S MIG102NG MIG WELDER is designed specifically for automotive and general fabrication work. Producing a maximum power of 90Amps, it’s capable of welding mild steel up to 4mm thick.

Promising optimum performance and reliability, the unit uses flux cored steel welding wire which produces its own gas shroud as it burns – meaning it doesn’t require a gas cylinder. Further features include turbo fan cooling for greater efficiency and multiple power settings for accurate welding power control.

It comes complete with a range of accessories including wire, and earth clamp and even a welding mask.

Look at it that way and you have to say that £167.98 sounds pretty decent. You’ll find it at www.machinemart.co.uk

WITH JUST A COUPLE MORE PRIME MINISTERS TO GO BEFORE CHRISTMAS, it’s that time of year again when you start thinking about what to buy for the Land Rover fan in your life who already has everything. Or if you are that Land Rover fan, it’s the time of year when your family ask you what you’d like and your answer isn’t allowed to include the words ‘galvanised’ or ‘chassis.’ Or if yours is a Disco 3, ‘Prozac’ and ‘some money.’

You could of course ask for a whole new Land Rover. But with interest rates the way they are, perhaps one of these die-cast models from Britpart would be less likely to result in you getting socks instead.

The eight-strong range is detailed and collectable, and it covers a number of Landies you’re probably only ever going to be able to afford in 1:76 scale.

The full list is: Discovery 4 (Firenze Red) Range Rover Sport SVR (Indus Silver) Range Rover Sport SVR (Fuji White) Range Rover Velar SE (Fuji White) Discovery 5 (Namib Orange) Defender 90 (Pangea Green) Defender 110 X (Gondwana Stone) Defender 110 (Indus Silver) We’ve just looked on Google Earth and there’s nothing very silver about the Indus at all, in fact it’s a rather worrying shade of brown. Not too sure about Firenze being red, either, unless they’re talking about an old Vauxhall coupé in that colour. And Fuji is very dark grey, even if the top bit tends to have snow on it. Perhaps it would be more in keeping with the mood of the season if they called it Nuclear Winter.

Sorry, just dropped that one in there to help get you in a more Christmassy mood. Of course, there is always the danger that someone got you this here Yearbook for Christmas and you’re currently sat on the toilet reading about these models and getting the feeling that you may have missed the boat somewhat. But hey, there’s always your birthday to look forward to. Either way, these little beauties cost about £9.00 each and are available from your friendly neighbourhood Britipart dealer.

Stainless steel DRL bumper with Ring LEDs GRP 4X4’S DRL DEFENDER BUMPER is fabricated from stainless steel which is first shot blasted and then powder coated in your choice of satin, gloss or textured black finishes. It’s supplied pre-fitted with two Ring Aurora LEDs in GRP’s own design of recessed billet surrounds and comes with all the wiring and controller boxes you need for easy installation. Head across to www.grp4x4.com to check it out, and get ready to pay £389 to give your Defender a slick new look.

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PRODUCTS

Britpart adds comprehensive air suspension kit for Defender 90, 110 and 130 CONVERTING A DEFENDER TO AIR SUSPENSION is something people have done in the past, but it’s still quite a rarity. Thanks to Britpart, though, it might be about to become less so.

That’s because the company’s range now includes full Intelliride Electronically Controlled Air Suspension kits from Airbag Man. Promising comfort on the road and a constant ride height, irrespective of load, these also allow you to raise and lower the vehicle at the push of a button, with three pre-set heights adding ground clearance beneath the body when you go off-road and allowing easier loading for luggage and passengers alike.

Converting both axles to air ride, the kit has front-to-back and horizon levelling options. As well as offering manual control, its fully automatic operation continuously monitors inputs and responds accordingly to potholes, cross-articulation and extended cornering.

Britpart says the kits include OEM-grade components for reliable performance and high-volume air springs for optimal ride quality. Its main components are heavy-duty rolling sleeve air springs (Dunlop at the front, along with shock relocation brackets, and Firestone at the back), a 12-volt, 150psi AMK air compressor and lightweight 1-gallon seamless aluminium air tank and a hand-held controller with a 9m lead. The kit, which promises easy installation, also comes with an ECU and valve block, vehicle-specific air supply mounting brackets, rocker switch and height sensors.

It uses 6mm high-quality nylon tubing throughout and comes with all the hardware you need, including

quick-fit push-to-connect air fittings, easy-on electrical connections and sealed relays and harnesses. You get step-by-step fitting instructions, too, as well as an operator’s manual to make sure you’re getting the best from it once it’s up and running.

Do so and the promised benefits will include adjustable levelling control, stabilised body roll, safer load carrying, reduced tyre wear and improved braking, steering and handling, and the air cushion in the springs also prevents bottoming out. The kit brings the promise of lower maintenance costs, too.

You can see the kits in action at www.britpart.com/airbag. They’re available across the company’s dealer network priced at about £3500 plus VAT.

Make discontented back-benchers a thing of the past FEW THINGS INSIDE A LWB LAND ROVER seem to take as much punishment as its rear bench seats. This like-for-like replacement from Britpart’s Trim Shop is 1200mm wide and comes in two parts, allowing you to change just the base or back individually to suit your requirements.

However you want it, typical prices start at around £45 plus the VAT; your local Britpart dealer is the place to go.

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2023 Land Rover Yearbook 07/11/2022 16:53

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13/09/2022 11:24

PRODUCTS

Goosefoot Panels introduces new reproduction rear body assembly for 88” Series II/III

GOOSEFOOT PANELS IS ALREADY VERY WELL KNOWN for the popular reproduction rear wings it manufactures and sells to fit the Defender 90. Not content with just that, however, now the Burnley-based company is going to be getting ready to become better known than ever previously, because it has just introduced a new range of complete reproduction rear body assemblies to suit 88” versions of the Series II and III. These come with their rear crossmember chassis mounting bolt holes already punched. Those at the front are not, however, because the position of this crossmember differs slightly between the Series II and III; it’s left to customers to drill their own holes to suit their vehicle.

‘The floor is spot welded to the rear crossmember but out of necessity, due to spot welding constraints, is riveted to the wheel boxes and bulkhead,’ explains Goosefoot. ‘All other components are spot welded together as per the originals – Land Rover themselves moved to riveting rather than spot welding the floor in place for the 90.’

Each of these rear tub units is made up of no less than 57 aluminium components, all of which are spot welded together to make the

complete assembly. ‘Each component is made to faithfully reproduce the Land Rover original,’ continues Goosefoot. ‘However we have taken the opportunity to increase the thickness of the floor, rear crossmember, bulkhead and tailgate support pillars compared to the originals – with no visible difference.’

Clearly, no small amount of skilled and time-consuming work goes in to making one of these tubs. So you needn’t go blanching at the price of £3800, which is a classic case of

spend-it-once, spend-it-right. ‘The product is intended for high-end restorations where the cost of all-new compares very favourably to the cost of restoring an old unit due to the man hours involved,’ explains Goosefoot. And if you’ve ever been the man putting in those hours, you’ll probably be nodding in agreement. Not needing to add VAT on top should do no harm to your overall mood, either.

Want to know more? Have a gander at goosefootpanels.co.uk.

Distributor caps for Series IIA/III RECENTLY ADDED TO THE LUCAS CLASSIC RANGE, this distributor cap is for the Lucas 45D unit on the Series IIA and III. It’s available from Britpart dealers at about £5.50, which compares well with the £115 we’ve seen asked for the same thing in a Genuine Parts box…

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2023 Land Rover Yearbook 07/11/2022 16:52

The UK’s largest range of Land Rover chassis Richards Chassis have been manufacturing and supplying high quality replacement Land Rover chassis in the UK since 1984. See our website for the entire range, or give us a call to discuss your requirements.

Series I • Series II & IIa • Series III • Defender • Discovery 2

UP TO 12 MONTHS INTEREST FREE CREDIT AVAILABLE NOW ON ALL OUR PRODUCTS. Call our sales team to find out more.

Web: www.richardschassis.co.uk

Tel: 01709 577477

Email: info@richardschassis.co.uk

Unit F2, Swinton Bridge Industrial Estate, Whitelee Road, Swinton, Mexborough, S64 8BH 2022 Yearbook Footers 74

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PRODUCTS

Premium bikini hood for Series II/IIA and III

NOT MUCH LOOKS BETTER than a classic Land Rover, and not much looks better than a Land Rover with a bikini hood. Put them together and you have The Bude, a new soft-top from Heritage 1948 for the 88” and 109” Series II/IIA and III. Made from 610oz Moorland canvas, this uses heavy-duty saddlers cotton webbing and 100% real brass buckles, tips and eyelets throughout, all of which sounds like the right sort of stuff. The company says proudly that it’s designed, developed

and hand-made in Somerset, and that no expense has been spared in making it the best on the market.

‘The Bikini hood can be removed and put on in under a minute,’ says

Heritage 1948. ‘A fuss-free alternative so you can enjoy almost opentop driving while still having the reassurance of adequate protection from showers and sun.’

Fuel swirl pots Security Bonnet Hinges for for hardcore use your Defender IF YOU USE YOUR LAND ROVER hard enough for fuel starvation to become an issue in hard, long corners or at prolonged extreme angles, a swirl pot is in order. AlliSport. offers 1.0-litre and 1.5-litre options, each with a 3mm base mount.

These have two Dash 8 JIC male connections, one Dash 10 JIC male and one 8mm push-fit top bleed.

They can also be had with push-on connections all round. Both are 4” in diameter. The 1.0-litre unit is 130mm high, while the 1.5-litre extends this to 180mm.

The pots cost £105-£110 plus VAT. You can get them at www. allisport.com.

THESE ANTI-THEFT BONNET HINGES from Design and Development Engineering come with stainless fixings and hardened pins. They’re supplied as standard in a black hard-anodised finish but can be colour-coded to match any Land Rover factory shade – the set seen here are in Galway Green. The hinges are CNC-machined from aviation-grade aluminium and designed to look as close as possible to the originals – while putting up a much more robust defence against attempts to tamper with them. They’re priced at £108 the pair and available from www.designdevelopmenteng.co.uk.

Putting one of these on your Land Rover will cost between £188 and £203. You can set about doing exactly that by visiting www.heritage1948.co.uk.

Heavy-duty shock towers for Discovery 2 WITH P38 PRICES GOING UP, the Discovery 2 is now probably the most affordable option if you’re looking for a Land Rover to turn into a modified off-roader. The most affordable to buy in the first place, at least, though that’s another story.

Unlike the P38, the Disco 2 has a wide range of kit available for owners wanting to do a gnarly project.

Such as these skeletonised shock towers from Britpart, which are stronger and much easier to clean than the original mud traps. They’re available to suit standard height vehicles and those with a 2” lift and come powder-coated for a heavy-duty finish. Expect to pay about £125 plus VAT for the pair.

ELECTRIC WINDOW MOTORS for the Defender from 2002 onwards are now listed as part of the Britpart range. We still find it hilarious to think about a Land Rover whose windows go up and down rather than back and forward, but there you are.

Expect to pay about £200.

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MASAI 4X4: A WIDE RANGE OF EXCLUSIVE ENHANCEMENTS FOR YOUR DEFENDER – AND ALWAYS ORIGINAL QUALITY! MASAI 4X4 OFFERS AN EXCLUSIVE RANGE of high-quality vehicle enhancement accessories and parts – mainly for the Land Rover Defender 90, 110 and 130.

Roof racks, spare wheel carriers, panoramic and traditional windows, seat covers, side steps, rear steps, lamp guards, sporting boxes, tree

sliders and winch bumpers are just some of the many top-class products available through the company.

In addition to its accessory range, Masai also offers full Defender restoration and fitting services at its well equipped premises in Hoar Cross, Staffordshire. You can even

wait in a visitor room with highspeed wi-fi, television and unlimited tea and coffee while its skilled technicians work on your vehicle.

In the words of Masai founder and owner Ferzan Kuman: ‘From a family tradition going back to 1953, you can be assured our designs, materials and engineering are of

the highest standards – built to last and Always Original Quality.’

Masai ships its products to customers all round the world.

A selection of those products are featured on these pages – and you can browse the company’s whole range by paying a visit to its website at www.masai4x4.com.

The original and best panoramic windows – from the company that created them MASAI IS THE ORIGINAL creator of its flagship Panoramic Tinted Windows for the Land Rover Defender 90 and 110.

Unique edge-to-edge tinted, toughened glass delivers a beautiful, minimalist appeal. The design delivers looks and performance all in one – modern, sleek and rugged.

Automotive glass, particularly bonded windows, are among Masai’s specialties. As well as Land Rover windows, the company produces a range of windows and side-opening camper style windows.

WARRIOR BUMPER HAS BOTH STYLE AND SUBSTANCE THE WARRIOR WINCH BUMPER is Masai’s secret weapon for your 90 or 110. Suitable for use with most winches, it has a zinc-plated steel base and comes in a three-piece kit, making it easy to assemble prior to fitting.

The Warrior bumper is available with a stylish black powder finish to its centre section, and it can also be painted to match your vehicle. Masai offers it with an optional steering guard, too – and if you choose the standard zinc-coated finish, you can get both parts painted to match your truck.

Seldom can a hardcore off-road accessory ever have looked this smart!

MASAI OFFERS VARIOUS ROOF RACK DESIGNS including Tubular, Flat and Luggage. The racks are designed to be the perfect fit on to your Defender, at an affordable price. Made from zinc-plated steel and black powder-coated, they also offer the option of adding mountable LED Lights and a Rear Access Ladder to give a full effect.

MASAI’S ROOF RACK COVERS are the perfect way to protect and secure your luggage against tough weather conditions. Made from heavy-duty 600-denier polyester, they are extremely hard-wearing, rip-proof and waterrepellent, and they come fitted with straps for securing them to the rack below.

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Sponsored by

Where it all began

The history of the Land Rover Defender goes back a lot further than just to 1993. But that was the year when Solihull dipped its toe in the lifestyle water with the 90 SV – and things have never been quite the same since. This example of what is one of the rarest Defenders has just been thoroughly restored – and given a unique range of updates at the same time Words: Joe Clifford Pictures: Paul Cowland

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‘Kurt coveted his friend’s Land Rover for the best part of 20 years. He watched it take on all those idyllic activities – but he also saw it beginning to look worse for wear’

F

or somebody who owns Fast’n’Funded, a finance company which helps enthusiasts fast-forward their purchase of a dream classic or supercar, Kurt Bradbury had to cultivate a great deal of patience before finally being able to buy his own dream vehicle – this incredibly rare 1993 Land Rover Defender 90 SV. Finance wasn’t the issue; it was availability.

As the first model produced by Land Rover’s new Special Vehicles (SV) department, this toe-dipping exercise into the emerging lifestyle market was granted a modest production run of just 90 units.

Nevertheless, the model was deemed a commercial success, which encouraged Land Rover to produce subsequent projects by the thousand.

This means that the 90 SV is widely recognised as one of the rarest of all Defenders – and it marks the start of a works tradition that recently served up the latest Defender V8 Bond Edition.

The original owner was an old friend of Kurt’s who had served in the Army and was a confirmed Land Rover enthusiast – as indeed many ex-service personnel tend to become in civilian life. Known to many as either ’Hutch’ or Jimmy, he bought the Defender brand new back in 1993 and appeared to have specified every optional extra, from front driving lights for the A-frame nudge bar to the distinctive Range Rover five-spoke 16” alloys. Jimmy was well aware that his limited edition 90 SV (in case you were wondering, it’s #23) was special and he had no intention of parting company with it.

After moving into Jimmy’s neighbourhood in the early Noughties, Kurt coveted his friend’s Land Rover for the best part of 20 years. He watched it take on all those idyllic brochure activities: days out at the beach, ferrying members of the local football club to away matches and so on. But he also saw it beginning to look worse for wear. So

every now and again, Kurt would gently remind Jimmy that he’d be delighted to take the Defender off his hands if ever he wanted to sell it.

Jimmy never did relinquish ownership of his prized Landy. However, following his death at the age of 82 in January 2020, his widow Tina recognised that one of the best ways to honour her late husband’s memory was to pass responsibility of this now rather sorry-looking vehicle to somebody who had always shown a fondness for it. Naturally, this wasn’t the route to ownership that Kurt had anticipated, but he willingly took on the task of restoring the 90 SV on behalf of his friend.

Having examined its MOT history, Kurt initially thought the Defender’s condition issues were fairly superficial and that a couple of days with a Land Rover specialist was all it would need to become a half-decent daily driver once again.

However, the deeper he delved into it the more Kurt realised that it needed some much more

The original 200Tdi engine has been comprehensively reconditioned – with a variety of trick bits warming it up to the tune of an extra 50bhp or so. The mods include uprated Bosch injectors, a performance turbo from Turbo Technics, a 2.5” bore turbo-back exhaust, an LOF clutch and various goodies from AlliSport , among them a header tank and fullwidth radiator/intercooler

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serious, investment-level help – the sort of expenditure that can only be justified by man-maths and rarity.

Talking of figures, Kurt was wise to recognise that his skill lies in financial services rather than mechanical nous. So he commissioned Land Rover expert Dave Lea and his highly regarded team at Mahker/4x4Fabrication in Shropshire to handle the restoration. This left Mr Fast’n’Funded to take care of the resulting invoices, the bottom line of which has not been disclosed as it remains an issue of matrimonial security.

Mahker started by removing the body from the chassis and reported that the underlying structure was in such poor condition that there was nothing

to be done other than for it to be condemned.

This meant that one of the first major outlays was to source a new, fully galvanised Marsland Chassis and OEM bulkhead, both of which were triple-coated for posterity. As well as renewing every single nut, bolt and bush, the suspension arms, A-frame fulcrum and drivetrain were thoroughly refreshed. This included rebuilding the front and rear axles and replacing the Defender’s original open differentials with torque-sensing Quaife LSDs to maximise traction.

Translating that torque to the ground is the task of some outsize 265/75R16 General Grabber all-terrains (believe it or not, when the SV was new Defender 90s still came as standard on 205s) which keep a stranglehold on the original but freshly restored alloy wheels. But now things are going to get controversial. A 90 doesn’t need a suspension lift to go on 265s, but many people combine them – however Kurt’s choice was to gently negate the extra height of the tyres’ sidewall with a 1” drop in ride height, courtesy of Mahker’s own lowering springs.

These are allied to a set of Fox Performance Series 2.0 shock absorbers which, together with a heavy-duty rear anti-roll bar and 1” spacers, give the Defender greater on-road composure and endow it with something of a Tomcat vibe in its silhouette. We’ve seen modded 90 SVs on big lifts and 35s, and jolly good they look too, but here’s a reminder that the comp safari image is a cool one too.

Talking of image, every panel of the body was either replaced or restored and meticulously repainted in the original Caprice Blue Metallic, a shade which according to Land Rover lore is unique to the 90 SV. Similarly, to maintain the model’s aesthetic, the contrasting wheelarch ‘eyebrows’ were repainted and the full exterior cage was sandblasted and powder coated. The twotone look is further enhanced with black chequer plate wing tops, a swing-away spare wheel carrier and boxy stainless steel side rails instead of the original twin tube runners.

Purists may also tut at Kurt’s decision to fit a non-standard Puma bonnet. But that small (and reversible) aftermarket indulgence is balanced out by the fact that he managed to track down a new old stock OEM soft-top, another component that is bespoke to the 90 SV. The original brochure informs us that the top is a two-tone cotton weave but its rarity makes us think it’s actually fabricated from unobtanium.

The desire to create a restomod-style Defender is also seen under the bonnet. Importantly, the original 2.5-litre 200TDi engine block has been retained so its serial number matches that shown on the VIN. But its internals and ancillaries have been thoroughly updated and breathed upon to extract a little extra performance – about 50bhp, in Dave’s experience.

Apart from having the block honed and decked and the crank ground, every other engine internal is new. The head, meanwhile, was similarly treat-

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07/11/2022 18:00

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The 90’s seats were fully restored, stuffed with memory foam and retrimmed in leather.

The dash-top, centre console and steering column have all had the same treatment too, and the original wheel has made way for a Momo unit sitting on an Optimill quick-release boss.

Wooden flooring has become all the rage on high-end Defender rebuilds, and this 90 SV gets a classy looking hardwood treatment finished off by its creator’s logo

ed to an all-new valve train after having been ported and re-faced. That additional flow capacity is put to excellent use by the inclusion of an uprated Turbo Technics blower with variable geometry to increase the engine’s response and broaden its torque curve. It breathes through beautifully TIG-welded boost lines, with the charged air being managed by an oversized AlliSport radiator/intercooler combination spanning the full width of the grille area. Additional cooling is provided by an integrated electric fan instead of the original viscous set-up, primarily because this solution doesn’t draw its drive power from the crank.

Further AlliSport products create attractive bright spots within the neatly arranged engine bay. Beneath the surface, a set of oversized Bosch injectors were plumbed in to ensure there’s plenty of juice to maintain the optimal combustion ratio, while spent gases are efficiently evacuated through an aftermarket turbo-back exhaust system with a 2.5” diameter. And to ensure the engine’s pent-up energy is efficiently transferred, an uprated LOF clutch provides the mediation between flywheel and transmission.

Inside is arguably where the greatest change has taken place. And you can forgive Kurt for wanting to exchange the 90 SV’s tired cloth seats and pragmatic waterproof covers for upholstery that is more reflective of the vehicle’s neo-classic status – especially when the roof is detached and passers-by can get a good look-in.

So the original metal frames of the front seats and rear benches were restored, stuffed with memory foam padding and trimmed in a dusky

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shade of Sandhurst blue leather. Tasteful fluting gives them additional structure and a luxurious visual flair. Even the centre console, the top of the dashboard and the steering column surround have been tastefully covered in hide. The steering wheel itself is a Momo Prototipo unit, and it is connected by an Optimill quick-release boss for extra security.

After approximately 18 months with the Mahker crew, Kurt finally took delivery of his 30-year-old yet ostensibly brand new Defender. Having been instrumental in helping many other enthusiasts get into their dream cars through Fast’n’Funded, he was finally able to experience that same rush for himself. He is as delighted with his 90 SV as Jimmy no doubt was back in 1993.

But in a delightful turn of events, it turned out that Jimmy was able to enjoy one last ride in his Defender 90 SV. Tina had arranged for members of the Cheshire regiment to join her in a modest procession to honour her late husband when his

ashes were interned in Sandbach Cemetery, and Kurt was privileged to escort the urn to that final resting place. It was a touching moment, one that reminded the family of the good times they had enjoyed together. Yet it also provided comfort in the assurance that new motoring memories are now going to be created aboard Jimmy’s muchloved and now fully restored Defender.

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TUBEWAY BARMY Early Land Rover Discoverys are famous for many things.

Among them is an insane degree of body rust – which is why many of those that survived beyond middle age have ended up on the sharp end of an angle grinder. This 300Tdi buggy is one of the more creative results we’ve seen – but despite everything, deep down it’s still a Disco

Sponsored by

Words and pictures: Dan Fenn

W

e know how it goes with Mk1 Discoverys. They’re great old vehicles with the tried and trusted offroad tech from a Range Rover, and they’re also been described as a 100” Defender – only one that won’t deafen, freeze, bake or disable you.

We know all this from experience. We also know that on top of all this good old technology is a body that rusts away to nothing – which is the main reason why there are so few of them left.

If you have the time, the skill and the equipment, a rotten old Disco can be brought back to the way it once was. But there’s also the option of turning it into something it never was.

A few companies have gone down the route of offering kit car bodies as a way of helping owners turn grotty old sheds into funky new buggies. But mainly, Land Rover owners being the kind of people they are, when you see a Disco based special it’s a home-brew.

Some look more like Discos than others. Some indeed look more like Defenders than others, while some mainly look like your worst nightmare. This one doesn’t really look like any of those things, but it definitely looks hard.

We photographed it seven and a half years ago, so we don’t know if it still looks as hard these days. And all we can remember of the owner was that he was called Hugo. But we did take some notes, so at least we were paying attention a bit, however for one reason or another the vehicle never made it into the magazine at the time. Er, well there’s no point rushing these things.

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Standard front and Salisbury rear axles hold the vehicle up on a set of Bearmach springs and Pro-Comp shocks in Terrafirma towers. Terrafirma makes the dislocation kit used at the back, too. The snorkel, which is rather less of a branded item, was the only modification on the vehicle when Hugo bought it

Below left, centre: Believe it or not, the bonnet is the original Discovery unit. Hugo removed the frame from underneath it, leaving just a sheet that could be shaped around the new tubular front end. This is a good illustration of how much length the vehicle has lost out of its front overhang, too Below right: The rock sliders, which are tied in to the chassis, were orginally just a footing for the roll cage. Later on, Hugo added the angled front edge and tubular tree sliders you see here, making the most of their potential as nerf bars

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Below left: The rear chassis was cut down to give the vehicle the best possible departure angle. This is better than 90 degrees, so job done. As well as tying the chassis legs together, the new crossmember is an anchoring point for the back of the cage structure and supports a body designed to keep itself as far out of trouble as possible Below centre, right: The radiator is mounted in the rear to keep it away from mud. This leaves a big hole in front of the engine, because Hugo also removed the intercooler; the rad you see front lefty under the bonnet is an oil cooler

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Anyway, here we are looking back on a shatteringly cold and wet February afternoon at Butcher’s Wood in Sussex. We were there at the invitation of CORSE, a club which had started up the previous year and was there setting up a trial event for the following morning, and we shot a variety of motors including an old-school Samurai and what was probably the best Jeep Wrangler YJ we’ve ever seen.

Hugo’s buggy came at the end of the day, when the light was starting to fade (so about three in the afternoon, given the plight of the weather), and if we remember rightly the photoshoot came to an end when he blasted into a mud run, didn’t make it out the other end and couldn’t find anyone left on site with a heavy enough vehicle to get him out. The Nissan Qashqai we had arrived in probably wouldn’t have made things any better…

Anyway, the vehicle started life as a 300Tdi Discovery with an R380 manual box and, when Hugo bought it, a snorkel made from what looked like a combination of rubber tube and boiler flue.

At this point, it was entirely standard but for this

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one addition, which must have looked a little out of place.

Not to worry, it wasn’t going to stay that way.

Hugo didn’t mention whether the Disco’s body was rotten when he bought it, but he did tell us that he replaced it with a tubular one which he made up himself using that good old Land Rover favourite, scaffold.

This finishes up at a new rear crossmember which anchors the back of the cage structure, in the process reducing the departure angle to better than 90 degrees. The rear body, such as it is, was shaped to be as out of the way as possible in extreme off-road situations.

The front of the chassis has been cut off too.

Hugo first welded in a winch mount crossmember then finished it off a while later with a recovery bar, tidying it up a bit and providing an easyaccess towing point for those get-me-out-of-thismud-run moments.

Along the sides, Hugo made up his own boxsection rock sliders. These started out as just a footing for the cage, with tubular outriggers tying

them to the chassis, but as the vehicle developed he added angled leading edges and tubular tree sliders to give them more of a nerf bar effect.

Underneath, the axles are standard up front and a Salisbury unit from a 110 at the back.

These hold the vehicle up on Bearmach springs and Pro-Comp shocks in Terrafirma towers; brakes are standard, though when we took our pictures they were also new. There’s a set of heavy-duty steering bars on the front axle, while at the back a pair of Terrafirma dislocation cones helps get the best from the standard A-frame and trailing links.

Under the bonnet, the 300Tdi is more or less standard though Hugo removed the intercooler – feeling that this helps make it more responsive at off-road speeds. It breathes in through the aforementioned snorkel and out through a sideexit exhaust.

The radiator meanwhile has been moved to the back to protect it from mud. Under the bonnet (which is the original Discovery one with the frame removed from underneath so it’s just a sheet, bent over the tubular front body), the rad you see at the bottom left as you look from the front of the vehicle is an oil cooler. The R380 box has been retained and the whole plot turns a set of 35x10.50R16 tyres in a pattern roughly based on that of the classic Simex Extreme Trekker.

This is the stuff of hardcore off-road fun – which, having finished it, is exactly what Hugo started used it for at CORSE events and beyond.

Where people just about managed to recognise it as a Discovery – though without its original doors and windscreen, that job would have been a great deal more awkward.

As the original Discovery gets rarer and rarer, keeping them alive is always a noble cause. Land Rover traditionalists might not always approve of the way off-roaders do it, but what was that we were saying about the Disco being like a 100” Defender? If that’s right, then with its new body this one is among the most definitive examples you’ll ever find.

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07/11/2022 19:13

FIRST CLASS Sponsored by

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TRAVEL

Speccing up a vehicle for overland travel tends to be a very practical business. There’s more to a good expedition truck than just fitness for purpose, though. It’s going to be your home, after all – so there’s nothing wrong with making it a home to be proud of Words and pictures: Mike Trott

S

etting up your 4x4 for overland travel is a very personal affair. Whereas with an extreme off-roader, many of the modifications are more or less decided for you, designing and speccing up a vehicle you’re going to live in is more like building and decorating a house.

It’s more than just a way of getting from A to B. In fact, it’s more than just a way of getting from A to Z via every letter in between. It’s your lounge, your bedroom, your garden, your attic and your holiday cottage, all rolled in to one.

And just like doing up your home, prepping a 4x4 for overlanding tends to be a much bigger job than most people realise. When you set off, you want to feel ready not just to take whatever life might throw at you, but to relish it. Harsh terrain and brutal weather? Floods, riots, rampaging animals? You want them to fill you with the excitement of a true adventure seeker, not send you running off to the toilet.

For that, you need to be prepared. You, your vehicle and the kit you carry – all must be ready

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The 90 came out of the Army with a naturally aspirated 2.5 diesel engine. This is very much not that engine. One of Alex’s first moves after buying it from his boss was to install a 300 Tdi; along with a disc-braked rear axle, this helps bring it, in relative terms, bang up to date

to face the challenges of the road and to emerge not just unscathed but triumphant. These are the adventures that create real travellers’ tales, the kind that set true overlander pioneers apart from mere holidaymakers.

Alex Frisse-Bremann is a true overlander. And a few years ago, he built himself a vehicle to match.

It’s a Land Rover 90 Soft-Top which came to Alex as an ex-Army relic. He christened her Sandy Grey in a hat-tip to her complexion over the years – which started in the desert livery of an MOD original then gave way to the smart Beige Grey you see in our pictures.

The 90’s route into his hands was a bit of an unorthodox one. He works for Nakatanenga in Germany, a 4x4 accessory specialist whose products are distributed here in the UK by 4x4 Overlander. ‘The Land Rover used to be a customer’s vehicle,’ he says. ‘My boss Peter Hochsieder

bought it from the customer and, seeing it every day in the few weeks afterwards, made me decide to buy it off Peter.’

This was about nine years ago. Much has changed since then, with the offending colour scheme being first on the to-do list.

‘She was painted in sand colours originally,’ recalls Alex. ’So the first thing was to take off all the layers of paint.’ Cue a whole different kind of sanding, and lots of it, followed by a much classier looking respray.

Now he had a really sound, good looking base for his project. And with that, it was time for the fun to start…

In the back, one of the first things you’ll notice is a full-width timber deck laid across the tops of the wheel boxes. This supports various items of overland equipment (a fridge being the one that catches your eye first) and leaves a nice bit of space below it into which stowage boxes can be slid on a purpose-built tray.

There are LED strip lights along the sides of the wood, and the same material is used on the door cards. The species is Larch, a deciduous conifer

You tend to associate wood trim with Range Rovers rather than ex-Army 90s, but in this case the timber is doing a functional job rather than just looking pretty. A full width larch deck covers the rear wheel boxes, providing a platform for expedition kit and storage boxes while also creating a compartment below it for more equipment to slide into on a purpose-designed tray . It’s not just plonked on top, either, but has sides to help keep spills at bay – and these are also home to LED strip lights. The same material skins out the rear door, in a lattice arrangement which provides further stowage for tools and equipment

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whose timber is extremely durable and tends not to crack or splinter – something that definitely matters in an automotive setting, and doubly so in the high-traffic environment of an overland cabin.

Next came the engine. The 90 came to Alex as a naturally aspirated 2.5 diesel, and you could argue that the best way to see the world is to see it slowly. The original unit is famed for its simplicity and reliability, too. But just imagine chugging your

way across the endless desert of Kazakhstan with nothing more than the low moan of an Army airhead to keep you company…

With a freshly installed 300 Tdi in place, long slogs like that needn’t be, well, a slog after all.

This has become the go-to conversion for a generation of Defender owners – the Tdi was perfectly suited to the old 90 as a factory-fit engine, and it’s every bit as good as a repower unit.

‘I also exchanged the rear axle so that I could install disc brakes all-round,’ continues Alex.

‘Then I fitted new suspension from Bilstein with iRC, which means the dampers are electronically adjustable and can be tuned through my tablet.’

Good grief. Tablet-controlled shocks, whatever next? And this is a vehicle that started out with an engine whose design dates from before The Beatles had had their first hit.

Left: Attached to the back ofthe bulkhead, the iRC module allows Alex to adjust the settings on his shocks via an app on a tablet. Safe to say you don’t see many expedition trucks with gadgets like this… and it’s certainly a far cry from the 90’s days as an Army hack Above: The phrase ‘home-made cubby box’ is not one you hear every day – and when you do, we bet you don’t picture something built and finished to this standard

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Left: A Front Runner roof rack is always a sign of a build that’s been done right. Alex’s is secured down to the 90’s roll cage and used to carry stowage crates, an awning and an LED bar – as well as a roof tent, when he’s out travelling Above: More larch on the door trims adds a real touch of rustic elegance to the cabin Indeed, integrating modern technology within traditional engineering is very much a theme in this Land Rover. A home-made cubby box, for example, houses a waterproof radio, and the dashboard is equipped with a smartphone and the aforementioned tablet. Up front, LED headlights shine boldly out of a traditional Defender front end featuring a fresh, black aluminium grille.

There’s an LED bar up top, too, along with a Front Runner roof rack supporting a variety of cargo boxes. Alex also has a roof tent ready to deploy – along with a shower that can be operated even in the most remote environments.

Beneath this, the drab canvas of a military Land Rover has been replaced by a very classy looking black number from Exmoor Trim. Going overlanding in a soft-top is definitely not the most common thing to do, but people do it on bikes without getting robbed blind so in theory at least, you should be able to keep your valuables secure in a 4x4 even if it doesn’t have a metal roof. And when you’re cruising through the landscape of the African savannah, there could hardly be a better way of feeling part of it than to roll up the sides and immerse yourself in the sounds and smells of your surroundings.

‘I have already travelled around Corsica and through Romania, tackling the Carpathian Mountains,’ says Alex. ‘I really enjoy off-road adventures.

This car is all about fun and is going to be used for plenty of off-roading and travelling.

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‘I would like to travel to so many more places – particularly taking on the most dangerous unsurfaced roads in the world.’ Crikey. Just as well he was planning to add a winch and Torsen diff when we met him, then…

This is, then, definitely a man with his own unique view of what overlanding should be. His feelings towards his vehicle, on the other hand, are very familiar. ‘These old cars,’ he explains, ‘like Land Rovers and the original Mini, for example, are just timeless. They have so much character and are very individual.

‘They are not stereotypical vehicles. Each one is a little bit different.’

For a man who has never previously built an overlander, Alex definitely is definitely not scared to strike out in his own direction. Of course, it’s easier to have that confidence when you work for a manufacturer of overland equipment – and when your first build is already looking worthy of being your last, it’s fair to say that your point has already been made. Learning from your mistakes is a sign of intelligence – but so too is setting out just as you mean to continue.

07/11/2022 18:07

Sponsored by

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NOT JUST YOUR AVERAGE SWAMP MONSTER The Congaree National Park in South Carolina is a wild land of swamps and forests where, back in the day, European settlers feared to tread. This Land Rover Defender 90 is another kind of European settler in the United States – but having just been remanufactured from scratch by Legacy Overland, it’s not afraid to tread anywhere Words: Graham Scott Pictures: Legacy Overland Background pic: Congaree National Park, by John Manard @ flickr.com, CC BY-SA 2.0

W

hat’s in a name? You’re a company remaking – reimagining – old time classic 4x4s. You have a project Land Rover Defender 90 in for a major upgrade. As an American company, you’re looking for a name that references the USA as well as the UK. You go for Project Congaree.

That doesn’t mean much to a UK audience, but it’s the name of a national park down in South Carolina. So, great outdoors, national park, USA, boxes ticked. The Urban History Association obviously wasn’t consulted: ‘The history of Columbia, and of South Carolina more generally, would look markedly different if it were not for the existence of the Congaree Swamp, now a National Park. Being a home for

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Native Americans, a place of mystery for Europeans and a refuge for escaped slaves.’

Yup, that’s the vibe we’re looking for.

However, to be fair, the donor vehicle was a bit of swamp monster anyway. Actually, that’s not being fair. We’ve all seen 90s in worse nick than this one. But it was certainly tired. Or, to be precise, it was ‘fatigué’. Or ‘fatiguée’ if you see vehicles as being female. The previous owner was, and there’s no other way to put this, French.

Legacy Overland is based in Connecticut and has a mantra of making vehicles ‘new vintage classic’. That means complete projects, from sourcing the donor vehicle through the entire documented dismantling and rebuilding to a spec and quality that most manufacturers would find

alarming. We’re talking thousands of hours for every vehicle, whether it’s a Toyota Land Cruiser, Land Rover or Range Rover, G-Wagen or whatever, so long as it’s a classic model.

In this particular case the classic model that Legacy sourced was a 1990 Land Rover 200 Tdi – but a hard-top, which may come as a surprise as you look at the finished photos. However, not all of the vehicle was hard, as Monsieur Rouille had made a permanent home in the metalwork, gorging on the steel like Monsieur Creosote on a wafer-thin mint.

On the plus side, from the Americans’ point of view, the French drive on the same ridiculous side of the road as themselves, so that made life considerably easier. So, all they had to do was take

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this tired old 90 apart and rebuild it. To a standard that would have made the original Solihull crew spill their tea and drop their bacon sandwiches, then go on strike because management expected them to pick them back up themselves.

Legacy make much of life in the slow lane, harking back to an analogue past rather than the frenetic digital present. They take their time, thousands of hours of it as we’ve already mentioned, and you get the sense that they do something then stand back and look at it a while, before nodding slowly in satisfaction and possibly readjusting their baseball cap. What’s the hurry?

After all, this old Land Rover had already been kicking around the planet for more than quarter of a century, so what difference did a bit more

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time make? They took the vehicle apart, literally, back to component parts. At this point many of us are hoping for a garage fire or an urgent need to go abroad for a while, but the good ol’ boys at Legacy are made of a sterner gauge of steel.

The engine and five-speed gearbox with transfer case were rebuilt and gained some remarkably bright and cheerful blue paint and silicon hoses as well as the ability to actually work properly and smoothly. Most of the rest of the mechanicals were rebuilt, replaced or repainted.

But of course, however painstaking the rebuild, at this point you’re simply doing a rebuild, albeit slowly and carefully. What owners of a Legacy Land Rover want is a 20th Century vehicle built for the 21st Century.

That’s where the detailing starts to matter.

Every bracket, bolt, fastener, whatever was galvanised. The door hinges are stainless steel. The paint, Pangea green with black highlights, is thick and lustrous. At the front there’s a KBX facelift kit with black mesh, X-mark LED headlights and round LED lamps either side, which are matched by round LED lamps at the rear.

Below those rear lamps is a NAS-style bumper matched by a satin black front bumper with rubber caps. Front and rear are joined by black running steps for when, according to the photos, a woman wants to drive around in a satin evening gown.

She’s obviously never been to Solihull.

Rounding off the outside are some gnarly Cooper Discoverer S/T Maxx tyres on some

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Legacy Overland doesn’t spruce vehicles up – it remanufactures them completely from scratch. Hence a 200Tdi engine which, despite the miles in its block, is probably better than new. The chassis, suspension and axles all look the way they did when they left the factory, too – all the way down to the somewhat surprising retention of drum brakes on the back seriously black alloy Sawtooth 16” rims. Behind them are a pair of disc brakes at the front backed up to a degree by drums on the rear. The tyres are 265/70R16s and ultimately it’s still a standard Tdi 90, so while upgrading to rear discs would be second nature to any off-roader it’s actually not necessary in this case. The spare remains in its original place on the rear door, and inside there’s a wooden Momo steering wheel attached to those front wheels.

All of this is of course jolly fine, but it’s when you sit behind that racy, stylish wheel that it all starts to really come to life, even if under the bonnet there is still just a 200 Tdi. The most obvious difference is the lavish application of tan leather pretty much everywhere, with black chevron inserts. They’re all made for the vehicle but, rest assured, no cows were hurt in the creation of this.

That’s because the interior is full of vegan leather, whatever that is. (Since cows eat grass, doesn’t that make them vegan?) Whatever, there’s a lot of it and the stitching looks top class. It covers pretty much anything that doesn’t moove, including the front bucket seats. They’re Porsche 911 style, with high headrests and substantial side support for when the off-roading gets radical.

Ahead of those seats and ahead of the Momo wheel are Legacy’s own custom-made white dials, adding further to that modern, sporty vibe, while behind them are two foldable benches with lap straps. This is obviously a very different rear to the original, with the soft-top conversion allowing

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all that positive sunshine in that the Americans are apparently so full of. For when that doesn’t suit the mood, there’s a powerful air-conditioning unit to keep the swamp outside.

So far so fairly analogue. But of course a modern classic has to also include some of the latest goodies as we hurtle through what is apparently the 21st Century. Our lady in the silk gown may sometimes be lost but, when she is, she doesn’t just dial up Google Maps or whatever. She gets out a proper paper map from the glovebox. Hmm, but it’s dark so what to do? Ah yes, use the map light, which is mounted on to a telescopic arm.

Obviously such a light would also help when you drop your bag of Parma Violets on the fitted rubber floor mats or when you want to scare someone by underlighting your face as you overdose on sugar having scooped them back up, and you can’t do that with Google Maps so let’s hear it for analogue.

For maximum effect you’d need a decent soundtrack, perhaps Bach’s Toccata and Fugue

or Nessun Dorma at full blast, or some classic Lubricated Goat, and that requires something that can handle some serious bass for when they really pull out the stops. Legacy have obviously thought of that. There’s an 800-watt subwoofer, enough to make any swamp vibrate enough to scare the alligators. A substantial amplifier adds to the sound for the four big Pioneer speakers, in the front doors and in the rear.

There are plenty of other little touches, like Bluetooth and USB ports, showing the attention to detail and the thought that has gone into this ‘modern classic’. This 90 is a long way from the vehicle that rolled off the production line back in 1990. It’s also a long way from home. Made in England, lived in France and now remade in America for a new life in the New World.

Once upon a time it lived in the Bordeaux area of France. It would be a fascinating story to hear about its life and its journeys from one side of the Atlantic to the other. Perhaps that’s another one for the Urban History Association.

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SURVIVAL OF THE

Few people could ever have imagined that the Freelander would set a trend that But Solihull’s radical newcomer survived – and this one has survived longer than Words: Paul Looe Pictures: Harry Hamm

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‘As a foretaste of what every Land Rover was going home with the steely-eyed accuracy of a trophy last remaining Sumatran tiger’

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FITTEST

outlived traditional beam-axled Land Rovers. almost any other

H

to become, the Freelander hit hunter fixing his sights on the

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istory is a story told by the winners. It’s a famous old truism and by and large it is true, even if the winners do sometimes, decades or even centuries later, admit that they might not have been the good guys after all.

So when 2048 comes around and the history of Land Rover’s first century is told, what will the story be? That of a plucky little road-going tractor that grew up to take on the world? Or of a hightech luxury brand that once also made those boxy things you laugh at in museums now?

Stop the world if it’s the latter, because I want to get off. But as the years roll by and memories of the last ‘real’ Land Rover to see a showroom become ever more distant, facts are facts. The company’s history may always open with a chapter that began in 1948, but everything to do with what it is now started half a century later. Just as the 80” Land-Rover was the seed from which every Series truck, old-shape Defender and early Range Rover was grown, since 2016 Solihull’s entire product offering has come from one point in time: October 1997, when production began of the Freelander.

Until then, ‘evolution, not revolution’ was the mantra Solihull’s press officers chanted almost religiously to quieten the ardour of journalists desperate for news. This thing we’ve seen testing, does it mean you’re finally going to do a new Range Rover? The name of this new engine, 300Tdi, does that mean it’s to be 3.0 litres and the Discovery will finally be able to keep up with a Shogun? Will the Defender finally be available with a CD player? Even when BMW bought it, the pace of change at Land Rover was glacial.

But then the Freelander came along. And it was like all the revolutions had happened at once.

Unibody construction, independent suspension, no low range, dominant front-wheel drive…

Confounded by what we had seen, some of us car hacks lapped up the PR line and agreed that yes, it was a real Land Rover, whereas actually of course it was anything but.

Or was it? The Freelander wasn’t ‘real’ in the Tdi Defender and Discovery 1 sense. But as a foretaste of what every Land Rover was to become, it hit home with the steely-eyed accuracy of a trophy hunter fixing his sights on the last remaining Sumatran tiger. The next Range Rover was all-independent. The Discovery 3 and Range Rover Sport followed. And so it went on until

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Above: The 1.8-litre K-Series engine is infamous for head gasket failures, but this can be cured completely by replacing the original with a stronger metal unit. It’s certainly worth the effort, because the engine is a fine piece of work – as Ron points out, it wouldn’t have been used in so many different applications without having something pretty strong going in its favour finally, the last bastion fell and the Defender was reinvented as what, by pre-Freelander standards, would have been seen as a soft-roader.

Make no mistake, the Freelander was an incredibly significant vehicle. Right up there with the Range Rover, we’d argue. One set Land Rover on the path to becoming a premium car maker; the other set it on the path to modernity. In each case, love it or hate it, it’s at the heart of what the company has become today.

So when you see a very early Freelander, you’re looking at history. And they don’t come much more historic than Ron Brown’s 1.8 XEi Estate. For one thing, it’s a pre-production one. For another, it’s the actual vehicle that appeared in much of the press coverage of the Freelander’s launch.

And for still another, he was actually working for Land Rover at the time.

‘I joined Land Rover in 1984, he says, ‘as a Specialist Engineer using advanced Finite Element

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computing techniques to design vehicle structures. Using FE computing, we could test items and vehicles to destruction and then redesign, all without cutting any metal!

‘Later on, I moved into a number of roles in Product Planning, Land Rover Parts and Range Rover Brand Management, ending up as Classic Range Rover Brand Manager, then Land Rover International Sales – where I became reacquainted with the Freelander, which I had been aware of for some time by then.

‘In most of the European countries, and a few other key markets including North America, vehicle operations were looked after by a Land Rover owned subsidiary (a National Sales Company, or NSC). Outside of these, importation and vehicle operations was done through a network of independent importers and distributors. These all came under the umbrella of Land Rover International Sales.

‘With the Freelander destined to become a worldwide product, the logistics of getting all markets to attend the launch for NSCs, importers and distributors, which was in Spain from late September 1997 onwards, were very significant.

I attended one of the many launch rotations with my markets from South East Asia and the Pacific, flying in to Malaga and then out again three days later. Then some time after that, I attended launches in Tahiti and New Zealand. Well, someone had to!’

Many years later, someone also had to rescue the Freelander you see here from a one-way path towards oblivion. Having served its time with Land Rover, it went out into the trade and passed through a few pairs of hands before ending up in Norwich, as part of a fleet of Freelanders destined to be shipped abroad. It almost sounds like something from a Pixar movie about a lost orphan in a world of talking cars.

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‘Black-top’ side windows mark this out as one of the very first Freelanders – it wasn’t until after making 2000 of the vehicles that Land Rover realised putting them through an additional paint process wasn’t the most efficient way to build a car

Think that sounds fanciful? Had it happened, no way would this Freelander’s status as part of Land Rover’s heritage ever have been recognised by whoever it ended up with. But, in a very Disneyland sort of a way, it was saved from oblivion – because it wouldn’t start.

‘A friend of mine found it advertised online as a non-runner,’ says Ron. ‘And he bought it unseen over the phone.’ That was in 2015.

‘It only needed a new fuel pump and a good service to get her running again,’ he continues.

‘Since then, she has had new tyres, cambelt and brakes, and has been very reliable. I bought it from him a couple of years later.’

Something else the Freelander has had is a new head gasket. ‘The 1.8-litre K-Series petrol engine was a great design, as is obvious by its use in many different applications,’ says Ron. ‘But it has a reputation for head gasket failure when used in the Freelander. We replaced the original with a metal gasket, which resolves the issue completely.’

You can hardly call that a modification, but the fact that Ron mentions it when asked about the vehicle’s originality shows just how close R202 is to when she came off the line in August 1997 – complete with an earlier VIN number that that of the first production Freelander, which is now on display at Gaydon.

There’s another very telling indication of how early the vehicle is, though it’s more subtle. Subtle but obvious, though. Hiding in plain sight, the side window surrounds are painted black – something that was done only to the first 2000 Freelanders.

The idea was to create the impression of a floating roof, in homage to the Range Rover.

Why didn’t they keep it up? Because the black paint was applied in a separate process which meant masking the doors and respraying them over the top of the body colour – a woefully inefficient way to achieve what was, in the greater scheme of things, a minor styling cue. Whoever had the idea can at least look back on it with the

There was a time when this was the most contemporary interior anyone had ever seen. Hard to believe it’s a quarter of a century since the Freelander was introduced. This one’s had a new head lining, but all the signs point to it being the cabin of a good ‘un – in particular, the lockable storage box in the rear isn’t full of water, which given that they were known among Land Rover staff as ‘the swimming pool’ sounds like it makes this Freelander a bit of a rarity

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satisfaction of knowing it took 2000 cars before the fun police showed up – these days, some sort of management accountancy software package would have drawn a red line through it before the thought was even fully formed.

Anyway, if you see a ‘black-top’ Freelander, as they’re now known it’s either an extremely early one or somebody’s done a copy. Given that we’ve seen literally none of the latter, we’ll say that either way, it won’t happen very often, because the number of those first 2000 still on the road is now in the dozens.

In other ways, Ron’s Freelander remains very original indeed. It still has its original interior, radio and tools. And Ron points out a real indication that this is a good one: ‘The lockable underfloor rear load space box, also known as the swimming pool, is dry, as it doesn’t leak through the rear door widow seal and collect there!’

One thing that has been updated inside is the headlining. Another little homage to the Range Rover there, then. ‘The cloth on the old one dropped and was being held in place by the screw-through fixings in the sun visors, interior lighting, stowage nets and door seals,’ says Ron. ‘It did make it pretty difficult to see anything in the rear view mirror!’

He’s also had the central Viscous Control Unit replaced by Bell Engineering of Bewdley. ‘Well it was 22 years old, and starting to feel tight on full lock.’ Other than that, it’s been a case of regular servicing and addressing the usual Freelander gremlins: a broken spring here, a suspension arm there, electric window mechanisms everywhere.

‘But all in all, Ron says, ‘it’s been pretty good.’ It was a daily driver for a long time but these days

5pp Ron Brown Freelander.indd 76

he uses it more for shows and events. All the same, it’s no garage queen: ‘It isn’t just hidden away and not used. It does need to go out to keep things ticking over.’

Those shows have included the Classic Land Rover event at Gaydon, where it was part of the celebration for 20 years of the Freelander. Since them, it has also been a feature vehicle at Land Rover’s own LR70FEST, and at JLR’s invitation it was the only first-generation Freelander to participate in the cavalcade at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it was vehicle 66 out of the 70.

It’s been a common sight in the media, too – both back when it was new and again now. It’s one of about half a dozen which survive from the original fleet of press cars (our editor had two on test at the time and they both seem to have snuffed it, which may say something) and Ron believes it has the best provenance of the lot. ‘She had multiple appearances in magazines such as Autocar at the time of the launch in 1997 and was the test car for the Men and Motors TV programme with Ginny Buckley. More recently, she has appeared in the Daily Telegraph motoring supplement and magazines including Top Gear and Classic Car Weekly, as well as going full circle to be featured in Autocar, 25 years on from when it first appeared.’

For a vehicle not knows for its durability, at least by Land Rover standards, what does Ron think was the secret to R202’s long life? Astonishingly, he puts it down to the motoring journalists who drove it. Well, sort of.

‘We’ve all heard stories of vehicles being lent out to the press for evaluation and on their return maybe not being as complete as they were when

they left!’ he says, diplomatically. ‘With a Land Rover press car, once it had been loaned to a journalist, on its return it would go back to the press garage and be readied for the next loan to make sure that it was as good a representative of the model as it possibly could be. ’So because it was a press car, it received a lot of attention – which meant it had an easy first few years.’ They do say that ex-MOD Defenders are worth a premium because even though the Army uses them hard, the way its techs look after them more than makes up for that. It’s a toss up as to whether your typical car hack is more or less ham-fisted than your typical squaddy, but for sure a press vehicle should get looked after as well as it’s possible for a car to be.

And the proof is in the pudding, as they say. It’s not every day you see an early Freelander looking this good… actually, it’s not every day you see any Freelander looking this good. But that’s the effect of great maintenance – and, in later life, being loved by owners who know what they’ve got.

And what Ron’s got is a Land Rover whose historical significance goes way beyond mere metal and plastic. The Freelander was a watershed moment in the engineering philosophy behind everything Solihull has built, before and since.

Love it or hate it, a company which used to built smart SUVs based on off-road engineering now builds off-roaders based on smart SUVs. And for what is perhaps the earliest, best preserved example of where evolution gave way to revolution and the needle on the scale began its irreversible journey from ancient to modern, look no further than R202 BAC. History is a story told by the winners – and the Freelander won.

07/11/2022 18:19

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2022 Yearbook Footers 73

09/11/2021 18:49:56

Age is just a number

As we all know, age is just a number when it comes to Defenders – so when you find one that’s been rebuilt as thoroughly as this 1986 90, it might as well be brand new. And there’s another number behind it, too – the number 57, with a letter M before it, which marks this out as a Land Rover which, like so many, is not powered by BMW’s legendary diesel engine Words: Tom Alderney Pictures: Richard Hair

Sponsored by

4pp Kimpton.indd 78

07/11/2022 18:14

A

s we all know, age is nothing more than just a number when it comes to Land Rovers. So when you see one that’s 35 years old, than means very little – it’s still probably going to live a lot longer than cars being built right now.

Eliot Kimpton’s 90 is a case in point. It came off the production line in 1986 and we’re guessing it started life in the defence of the realm, because it was first registered with the DVLA in 1999.

If our assumption is correct, that would put it as the kind of Defender that had a 2.5-litre nat-asp diesel.

Which in turn would put it as the kind of Defender that has since then had an engine swap. Which, sure enough, it has.

During the 80s and 90s, various Japanese engines came in and out of fashion as the go-to lump in the repower game. Ultimately, however, as countless thousands of Mk1 Discoverys rusted themselves into oblivion, Land Rover’s own 200 and 300 Tdi came to the fore - to the extent that it’s almost quite rare to find an early 90 or 110 that hasn’t been given one.

Unless it’s been given two, obviously. If you don’t know somebody who’s bought one off eBay and thrown it in their truck only to discover that it’s a lump of scrap, you don’t know enough people.

Anyway, we digress. Eliot bought the vehicle just under two years, as a project – though unlike most projects, it had already come out of

a professional workshop with some extremely major work having been done to it.

The workshop in question was the home of MW Machines, which specialises in engine conversions using the latter-day legend that is BMW’s M57 diesel. The Warrington-based company does kits for other vehicles too, but the Defender is very much its focus.

This particular 90 was more than just a kit. And more than just an engine, too. MW Machines rebuilt it on the chassis from a 2002 Td5 model, which was Raptor sealed before the vehicle started going back together.

As it did, in went an example of the M57 dating from 2004. This can be fitted in one of two ways: directly to Land Rover’s R380 gearbox or, if you want an automatic, complete with BMW’s ZF6 HP six-speed unit which then mates to the LT230 transfer case.

This one is the latter, and Eliot reckons is has averaged 30mpg since he bought it. He gives the

engine a new oil filter every 3000 miles and has also changes the turbo, fuel pump, alternator, oil cooler and water pump since he bought the vehicle; on top of a full overhaul at MW Machines prior to fitting, this is one very well looked after diesel.

‘The engine is marvellous,’ says Eliot. ‘For me, it will go for another 100,000 miles with only oil changes.’

Further down the drivetrain, a new set of propshafts turn the original axle at the front and, cos disc brakes, a Discovery unit at the rear. So yes, age is very much just a number – which is exactly how Eliot wanted it, having chosen this particular 90 on the basis that in a few short years’ time, it’ll become a classic car in the eyes of the DLVA, qualifying for free road tax and no longer needing an MOT. With this in mind, Eliot wanted something with all the right stuff down below but which he could treat as a blank canvas up top. ‘When I got the Defender,’ he says, ‘the shell was old and tired and that is what

79 4pp Kimpton.indd 79

07/11/2022 18:14

Warrington-based MW Machines specialises in BMW M57 engine conversions, and this is one which the company installed itself. Dating from 2004, it went in complete with its original ZF6 HP six-speed automatic gearbox, though if you prefer your Defenders traditional it can also be fitted to the front of Land Rover’s own R380 manual

‘When I got it, the shell was old and tired and that is what I wanted. I wanted to completely renovate a Defender and make it drive like a modern car.

One of my life goals!’

There are many, many Defenders with non-standard cabins, but only one with a dashboard designed by Eliot himself and made using a 3D printer. Toyota MR2 seats are quite rare, too, as are the black carpet and headlining you can just about see here, but beyond the ZF auto shifter on the floor console (yes, it’s a Defender with a floor console) another unique item is an Android TV media system with an OBD reader for digital dials and engine diagnostics

80 4pp Kimpton.indd 80

2023 Land Rover Yearbook 07/11/2022 18:14

I wanted. I wanted to completely renovate a Defender and make it drive like a modern car. One of my life goals!’

The potential was definitely there.

It wasn’t just the shell that was tired when Eliot bought the 90. ‘The doors were falling off,’ he adds, which sounds fairly bad. He replaced them with three brand new ones bought as Genuine Parts from Land Rover itself (that thing you can hear is your wallet begging for mercy) then had the vehicle resprayed in Stealth Grey and Piano Black.

He’s also added a variety of cool stuff in the shape of Fire and Ice side steps, an RDX front bumper and grille, custom rear side glass and a black tinted rear window. All the lights, too, including the headlamps, have been changed to Wipac LEDs. All this has been achieved without making the Defender look like some sort of lost-cause bling machine; rather than something outrageously low-profile, the vehicle wears a set of black Disco alloys by summer

2023 Land Rover Yearbook 4pp Kimpton.indd 81

and Wolf rims with large mud-terrains in the winter.

Inside, it’s not a loadsamoney leather and chrome job – but it is unique. Eliot’s own design of 3D-printed dash sees to that. You also don’t see many 90s with Toyota MR2 seats but he reckons they do the job perfectly, leaving plenty of leg room even for a six-footer.

You might notice a full set of black carpets and matching roof lining, too. But it’s what you don’t notice that makes the difference – to wit, £1000’s worth of Dynamat soundproofing applied everywhere it’s capable of going, as well as acoustic foam to add further to the vehicle’s refinement.

That’s no small amount to pump into the creature comforts fund, but there’s more. And this one really is good. ‘I removed the useless Defender heating system,’ says Eliot. ‘Anyone who knows Defenders knows it never works properly.

‘I’ve fitted a diesel heater, plumbed into the car vent system,

with a control panel in the cab plus a remote so I can operate it from inside my house on cold days to get it warm for entry. There’s a separate red diesel tank for this to save money.’

Further clever stuff includes the aforementioned dash, which is home to dials from a Td5 and a speedo conversion to a digital reader rather than a cable. There’s also a full Android TV entertainment system – though this was fitted mainly as it provided an in-car OBD reader for the aforementioned digital dials, as well as allowing full diagnostic access to the BMW engine.

The upshot of all this has been to create a 90 that’s eye-catching and cool but certainly not such a self-conscious style wagon that you’d be scared to take it off-road.

We all know about the sort of Defenders that end up looking so fancy that there’s no sense of purpose left to them, but even with its sportscar seats and extraordinarily unusual electronics this one still has a

feeling of readiness to it that says it’ll do all the things a Land Rover is meant to.

And with a new, fully Raptored chassis beneath it and one of the world’s best ever diesel engines under its bonnet, it’s set fair to keep on doing those things way into the future. Another 100,000 miles on its current BMW unit sounds as reasonable as it comes – and that’s just for starters. It hasn’t been turned into something it’s not, but this is a perfect example of a Defender being what it always was: immortal. Age is, remember, just a number.

81 07/11/2022 18:14

Land Rover SVO pitches in to top-end Defender market with introduction of new Extreme conversion by Bowler Motors

1p John Brown E-Series.indd 82

07/11/2022 18:22

John Brown 4x4 launches electric conversion for Series Land Rovers

YORKSHIRE-BASED JOHN BROWN 4X4 HAS ANNOUNCED the arrival of its E-Series range of fully electric Land Rovers. This is one of several EV conversions to have come on to the market recently – but the Yorkshire-based classic Landy specialist intends to offer ‘a reliable product at a price currently unattainable elsewhere.’

The conversion is available on 88” and 109” versions of the Series II/IIA and III, all of which are offered only in turn-key form – at present, the company is not offering conversions to customer’s own vehicle, though it intends to do this in the future.

As well as the base vehicle, options include a choice of 24kWh and 40kWh options. The former is rated at 105bhp, with a working range of 50 miles, the latter at 105bhp (limited) and 80 miles. With around twice the power of a standard Series truck, not to mention the greater torque of an electric motor, performance is ‘a far cry from the original.’

In each case, the vehicle can accommodate rapid charging and home charging via a wall box – or you can just plug it in to the mains.

The latter is the slowest way to

charge an EV, but even this will only take six hours to brim the battery.

The company’s prototype vehicle and demonstrator is an 88” Series IIA dating from 1962. Previously rebuilt on a galvanised chassis but retaining the patina of its age, this was chosen for the job ‘to demonstrate what can be done with any Series Land Rover, whether it be a nut and bolt restoration or an original and unrestored example.’

Pre-production work on the vehicle began in 2019, with the build process having been refined since then to achieve the best possible

mechanical design while honing workshop efficiency.

‘For far too long,’ says the company, ‘the electric classic car market has been dictated by the few, who produce bespoke vehicles in small numbers – meaning there has never been the opportunity to mass produce and therefore reduce costs significantly across the board.’

Vehicles built in this way also have a number of features which the company says only it can offer.

These include repurposed original dials, GPS speedometers, full regenerative braking and a purpose-built

electric heating system using the vehicle’s original heater-demister.

In addition, the 88” vehicle pictured here weighs 1310kg – 40kg less than standard – and its battery packs are upcycled from existing examples of current EVs. Customers ordering one of these vehicles from John Brown 4x4 are given a choice of doing so as part of a full nut and bolt rebuild, complete with bespoke spec options; with a galvanised chassis, similar to the company’s demonstrator; or in refurbished but unrestored form.

In each case, the vehicle can be specified with either the 24kWh or 40kWh battery pack.

‘John Brown 4x4 seeks to revolutionise the Electric Classic Land Rover Market,’ says the company.

Turn-key prices for the E-Series range start at £65,000 and climb to £100,000 including VAT, with the latter getting you a Series II/IIA with a full nut and bolt restoration to go with its 40kWh electric conversion.

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07/11/2022 20:36

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Do you come from a Landy A lot of Series Is have come home from Australia recently. Among them all, this of the most distinctive Sponsored by

4pp HMS 107.indd 84

07/11/2022 18:16

down under?

Tdi-engined 107” Wagon stands out as being one

W

hen you’re advertising a car for sale, normal practice might be to start by thinking about who’s going to buy it. Sometimes, though, you need to start by thinking about who won’t.

It’s only fair to warn people, after all. Especially if they’re the kind of people who are prone to taking certain things to heart.

‘This is not one for the purist,’ says Matt Moore, owner of Historic Motoring Solutions. ‘It’s more for a discerning motoring enthusiast who wants something useful and unique.’

He’s talking about a Series I 107” Station Wagon which he’s just finished rebuilding. Dating from 1957, it started life by being exported to Australia and was among a batch of several brought back to the UK a few years ago in response to the astronomical prices the earliest Land Rovers had begun to command.

Land Rover itself was at the heart of this, with its own restored Series Is leaving the factory for six-figure sums. These examples were very much the back-to-showroom kind, however, with every last wear mark painstakingly burnished out of them – along, you might say, with every last scrap of character. Anyway, that’s very much a debate for another day; the point is that with this going on at the top of the market, independent specialists like Matt needed to chase another kind of buyer – the kind to whom buying a classic Land Rover is something you do with your heart and soul, not your financial advisor and investment portfolio manager.

Heart and soul… and head, too? Yes, for sure.

As Matt says, this is a vehicle for someone who wants a Series I they can use, and he restored it with just that purpose in mind.

It was a full ground-up job, as they usually need to be. Vehicles from Australia tend not to be rusted to death, but Matt started with a new galvanised chassis from Richards anyway, adding a fully rebuilt bulkhead to put himself in a rock-solid base camp.

To turn the chassis into the rolling variety, he added a set of Stage 1 axles – fully restored themselves, of course, complete with rebuilt swivels and brakes. These are shod with 265/75R16

4pp HMS 107.indd 85

07/11/2022 18:16

If you’re the kind of person who thinks a classic Land Rover should be ‘right’, you’ll find this very wrong. The 200Tdi engine is a wonderful thing, and so is the 107 Station Wagon, so a 107 Station Wagon with a 200Tdi had got to be more wonderful than ever, right? Discuss…

BFGoodrich Mud-Terrains on deep-dish steel rims and hold the vehicle up using a set of parabolic springs paired with new shocks.

If you’re the aforementioned purist, by now you’ve either stopped reading or passed out at the sheer horror of it all. Which is just as well, because next came a 200Tdi engine. Taken from a Discovery, this was fitted minus its intercooler on the basis that there wasn’t room for it. The donor vehicle’s power steering wasn’t used, either, which sounds like a recipe for forearms like Popeye – though as we found when we had a spin in the vehicle, it’s actually surprisingly light to manoeuvre even at low speeds.

Behind the engine is a four-speed Series IIA gearbox. This gives you syncromesh in every ratio, though first you have to find one – which with the absolutely gigantic throw on the stick is definitely an acquired skill. One that’s well worth the time to acquire, though, because for all the effort you have to put into it the sheer pleasure that comes from bonding with an old stager like this is simply incomparable.

We’d love it even more if the bodywork still had the patina of 65 years in the Outback, but this one has been painted – albeit not to the sort of over-prepped level that neutralises a vehicle’s entire character. The body cappings haven’t been

re-galvanised, either, which helps connect it to the life it’s lived to date.

Inside, the seats and doors have been retrimmed in Tenghi upholstery from Exmoor and there’s a liberal amount of Dynamat in the footwells. Whether this actually makes a difference is hard to quantify, though to us it’s quite hard to believe that it could be any louder in the cabin when you press the button and the Tdi lump clatters into life. It’s noisy, it vibrates like mad and we like it just the way it is.

We also like, make that love, the daylight that’s visible through the floor at either end of the bulkhead behind the front seats. It would be

The seats have been retrimmed in Tenghi upholstery from Exmoor Trim, with the same material also covering the door panels. The bulkhead, meanwhile, is lined in Dynamat, which comes over as quite a heroic thing to do. Up top, the roof lining has a patina all of its own; there’s no danger of the vents for the Safari roof being blocked, that’s for sure. Just so long as there aren’t any spiders living in it…

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unthinkable in a Defender, but in a 107 it’s simply correct. As Matt puts it, ‘the rest of the inside is original and patinated.’

This includes the head lining, which to be fair is very patinated indeed. So much so that having spent 65 years in Australia, we’d be taking precautions in case there were dodgy spiders living in it. What it does have, though, is access holes to vents from the Safari roof – always a lovely period item on a Land Rover from this era.

Would it be better if all these items were back to the way they were when they left the factory?

In some people’s eyes, maybe, yes. And some of those people might tolerate all the non-standard parts on the vehicle, too. Perhaps it would be worth more with its original engine, box, axles and so on, especially if you were to do a just-so

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resto on it and take it back to the way it was on day one. But as we always say, it’s the history that makes a classic, and history is a living thing.

And this is still very much a living Land Rover.

Matt didn’t rebuild it this way just so it could sit in a museum. ‘It’s an absolute head turner,’ he says.

‘It would be a great tow truck for a period racing car (and he’s got plenty of knowledge of that scene), ‘or just for fun days out.’

And how right he is. It might not be one for the purist, but this is a Series I with a whole lifetime still to be lived. And for whoever takes it on, it’s going to be a lifetime of smiles aplenty.

Thanks to Historic Motoring Solutions for their help in compiling this article. You’ll find them at www.historicmotoringsolutions.com

07/11/2022 18:17

SNAKES ALIVE! Arkonik’s Viper 90 shares its name with an outrageous American muscle car. And that’s Words: Olly Sack Pictures: Arkonik

I

f you say the name Viper to your average car nut, they’ll think about one thing and one thing only. The Dodge Viper was a barmy sports car from the early 90s, powered by a hulking great V10 engine. It was even more monstrous than it looked, and it looked really monstrous.

Like all muscle cars, the Viper was all about an engine. Its V10 was created by taking an old

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Sponsored by

General Motors commercial vehicle lump and engaging Lamborghini to turn it into something fun.

Back it came displacing 8.0 litres, yanging out 400bhp and making a noise like a pack of wolves riding on a Chieftain tank.

There’s another Viper, though. This one was built two years before Dodge got around to launching theirs, though somewhat inconveniently it didn’t actually get its name until more than three decades later. That’s because it’s a 1989 Land Rover 90 – which has been remanufactured, and renamed, by Somerset-based specialist Arkonik.

So we’ve got a thing built to race at Le Mans and a thing built to chug round Wales hauling a trailer full of sheep. And guess what? The one with the

farmer’s bootprints all over its pedals is the one that’s more powerful.

It wasn’t always like that, of course. But Arkonik doesn’t just remanufacture Land Rovers: it reimagines them. And one of the ways in which it does this involves fetching out the original engine and replacing it with a 6.2-litre Chevy L3. The V8 from the Corvette, in other words.

Fresh out of the crate and bolted to a six-speed auto box, this puts out 430bhp before you start thinking about tuning it. So that’s more than the original Viper already. Dodge did push it further in later years, though, upping the engine size to 8.4 litres (finally, a sensible size) and getting 645bhp out of it, along with a top speed of more than 200mph, but that’s just plain vulgar.

So let’s forget about that Viper and look instead at the real thing, which is in no way vulgar. It’s a bit of a rarity in Arkonik terms, being a 90 – the bulk of the company’s vehicles are 110s, but as far as we’re concerned that stonking great Chevy V8 sounds even better coming from the coolest thing Land Rover ever made.

And this 90 definitely is cool. It’s actually not as heavily modified as you might thing, which is a

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not all – because there’s something very muscular indeed lurking beneath its bonnet…

strange thing to say about a Defender with an LS3 turning its wheels via a six-speed auto box, but as is normally the case with Arkonik’s vehicles the main thing that stands out is the utterly overwhelming quality with which it’s been rebuilt.

The company takes all its Land Rovers back to a bare chassis, which is stripped back, repaired, treated and waxed to the point where it’s ready not so much to go again as to go again forever.

And when they go back together, they do so with quality touches like unique doors, designed not to curtain on the outside or drum on the inside, and an Arkonik-specific wiring loom which the company’s electrical specialists created from scratch to a standard that leaves the original almost literally in the dark.

That’s the stuff you don’t see, but it’s at the heart of what makes these vehicles so different from the Land Rovers the rest of us are used to.

Anyone with a few quid to spare can bolt a set of 18” Sawtooth alloys on to an old brush-painted nail, for example, and what they’ll get is an old brush-painted nail with Sawtooth alloys on it, but what you’re looking at here is something whose style matches its substance.

Those alloys wear a set of BFGoodrich KO2 All-Terrains, and they’re matched perfectly to the metallic AM Racing Green adorning the 90’s almost frighteningly straight panels. There’s a KBX Signature grille up front and a Puma bonnet shrouding the big Chevy lump, as well as Fire and

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Ice Ebony side steps and Optimill air intakes on the wing tops. Truck-Lite LED headlamps make the most of what that modernised wiring loom has got to give, and protection comes from a NAS Step at the back and a front steering guard finished in Raptor Black.

If this all goes together to create a 90 that’s clearly something special but still standard enough not to look like a freak, it’s when you climb into the cabin that you can really see what you get for your money. Arkonik knows how to create the best interiors around… which is, mainly, to get Ruskin Design on the case.

Up front, the Leicester-based trim specialist has upholstered a pair of heated Elite Sports seats using Nut Brown nappa leather with diamond quilting and a contrasting ivory stitch, and the same material also appears on the door cards, gearstick gaiters and cubby box. There are four inward-facing seats in the back, too, all trimmed to match.

Add in a 15” spoked steering wheel, again with a brown leather rim, and you have an interior to be exceptionally proud of. It’s augmented with black carpets, black anodised door furniture and a black suede headlining, and up on the dash there’s a Pioneer touch-screen media unit with reversing camera and smartphone pairing.

If you look carefully at our photos, you might also notice something incongruous about the 90’s interior. Which is that it contains a gearstick. Ei-

ther that or it’s the world’s longest transfer lever.

Which it isn’t.

There’s a reason for this. Arkonik sells its vehicles primarily to the USA, where the market for Land Rovers is tremendously well heeled compared to the way it is back home. In America, the guys in the workshop do Jeeps, the guys in the office do Land Rovers and the guys in the boardroom do Arkonik. Only problem is, America won’t let a vehicle in unless it’s chassis, engine and gearbox are all original.

It won’t have escaped your notice that the 6.2-litre LS3 engine was never fitted as original equipment in the 90. Which means Arkonik can’t fit them in the vehicles it builds before shipping them to the States. So instead it ships them to the States, gets them registered there – and is then free to modify them as much as its customer wants. It even has its own factory, called Arkoniik SVO, in South Carolina, which is where the Chevy engine and gearbox combos are installed.

And that’s when the Viper really becomes a viper. As with every Arkonik build, everything from the technical spec to the colour and trim is decided by the customer. The company tends not to do hardcore off-road builds, nor does it do back-to-original restorations. It does reimagined Land Rovers whose quality is matched by their uniqueness – and if your average car nut was to see this thing, he’d never think about the Dodge Viper again.

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THE MAGNIFICENT Prior to starting work on this ex-military Land Rover, Sam Morley had already built to bring together everything he had learned from those earlier projects – and yet was also a bit of a busman’s holiday Words: Gary Noskill Pictures: Steve Taylor

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SEVENTH six other modified 4x4s. This was set in a bizarre way, his seventh off-roader

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W

hen a guy who restores army Land Rovers as his job buys an army Land Rover for a project of his own, it sounds like a bit of a busman’s holiday. However it also sounds like the sort of scene that’s likely to end up with a very nice, very original looking old Landy.

And so it may, in most cases. But this isn’t one of them. This is the case of Sam Morley.

When we met Sam (and it was a few years ago), he was on his seventh modified 4x4. These had included a Mk1 Mitsubishi Pajero, a Daihatsu Fourtrak and a lifted Toyota Hilux as well as three Land Rovers, and each had been more hardcore than the last.

It won’t have escaped your notice that 1+1+1+3 does not equal 7. That’s because off-roader the seventh was another Land Rover – specifically, the one you see here. Before reading on, take a look and see if you can figure out what kind it is.

The answer is that it’s a bit older than you might have been thinking. Sam bought it from Anchor Supplies as a direct-release ex-MoD Series III which had been used by the Army as a bomb disposal truck.

A nice quiet retirement? Forget it. The Land Rover’s life was about to get more lively, not less.

Now, something you need to know about Sam is that he’s a self-confessed petrol head. And a former racing driver. See if you can guess what happened to the Series III’s 2.25-litre engine…

What you might find harder to predict is what he replaced it with. The answer is a 200 Tdi. A 200 Tdi which he had rebuilt. And tuned. And then off he went to play and while he was competing in the Mac 4x4 (a much loved and sadly missed event if ever there was one), the engine duly blew up.

Now, the Tdi has long since been known for how tunable it is. And for how much said tuning tends to make it blow up, but that’s another story. But anyway, having sunk a load of money into what was now a very heavy piece of scrap, Sam decided to stop messing around and lob in a V8 instead.

The V8 in question was a 3.5-litre job from a 110. There’s more get-upand-go there as standard, obviously, but equally obviously this is Sam we’re talking about and he wasn’t going to do anything as boring as leave it alone.

No. Instead, he had the head skimmed then put it back together using uprated cams from a 3.9. He also fitted Stromberg racing carburettors, with each of them fed by its own individual fuel pump, and fabricated a unique four-into-one exhaust using 3” pipe.

This runs through a modified Ford silencer before exiting through the nearside wing. The result is a lovely V8 burble and a nice, free flow of gases – so free, in fact, that at 3000rpm that side exit turns into a flame thrower.

Unlikely to be popular in car parks, but quality hod-rod cred right there.

Now, delivering power is not a job for faint-hearted equipment when you’re talking about an engine that spits fire. That’s why Sam opted for an LT85 gearbox rebuilt using Ashcroft internals, along with heavy-duty props and 10-spline Range Rover axles containing hardened halfshafts and 110 CVs. The result was the sort of bullet-proof transmission you need when you’re going in hard off-road. Which is what this Land Rover was built to do.

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Above left: The V8 engine is from a 110, with skimmed heads, cams from a 3.9 and twin Stomberg carbs, each of them fed by its own fuel pump. Behind it, a custom 3” exhaust spits flame from its side-exit tailpipe when the V8 hits 3000rpm Above right: 265/75R16 Insa Turbo Special Tracks provide bags of grip. The arches have been trimmed to clear them on full bump; this is necessary as, though the tyres aren’t the biggest you’ll see on a Landy with a 6” lift, they’re mounted using spacers for added stability Below: All-round protection comes from a Tornado roll cage with extra thick wing bars. Down below, the sills gave way to rock sliders and there’s a heavy-duty guard beneath the military fuel tank. Sam’s a big fan of ex-MOD Defenders: ‘Thicker chassis and better bulkheads,’ he says, ‘and half the battle to work with as the military look after them’

Above: Scorpion winch bumper (remember that name?) is home to a Goodwinch TDS 9.5i with an uprated drum and motor. It also carries a steering guard and front recovery points, as well as mounting points for the ground anchor. Fixed using wing nuts, these make it easy to access during events – and to remove for road use Right: An identical winch is housed in a recessed tray behind a custom rear crossmember.

Accessed via a lift-out panel in the chequer-plated rear, this pays out through a hawse fairlead on the back of the crossmember itself, meaning there’s no loss of interior space or departure angle. Both winches are operated using Lodar hands-free remotes

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Hence a suspension set-up, created with rock-crawling in mind, in which +6” Rock Stomper springs are complemented by Pro-Comp ES9000 shocks on -3” mounts. Sam fitted the coils upside-down, considering this to be better for tackling really large objects as it tends to push the body up rather than the axle down. This, he told us, creates a kind of ‘floating’ sensation in the cabin, and it’s not so good in deep mud, but for rocks the size of a car (or actual cars, as he was kind enough to demonstrate) it’s spot-on.

To let the suspension flex yet more, Sam added X-Eng dislocation cones at both ends. And with all that on its side, he had a Land Rover which hugged the ground so effectively that fitting ARBs in the axles would seem kind of superfluous. So, of course, he did what you and I would do too and fitted ARBs in the axles, along with a set of homemade guards to protect them from impacts.

This isn’t the only area in which the Land Rover is armoured. The original sills were removed in order to fit custom-built rock sliders, and Sam also fabricated a guard for the fuel tank – which itself is a military-spec double-skinned item. Up top, meanwhile, is a full external roll cage from Tornado Motorsport.

Which brings us, kind of, to the elephant in the room. As we mentioned, you’re looking at a Series III. But what you’re looking at is quite obviously not one. ‘The vehicle was in fair order,’ Sam explained to us. ‘But it needed some cosmetic attention. I eventually replaced the body with one from a 90, because I much prefer its appearance.’

Fair enough. If you spend your days flipping burgers in McDonalds, you probably won’t want burgers for dinner – so if your job is to restore old military Land Rovers for other people, why would you want to follow the normal rules when you’re doing your own?

And however much it looks like a 90, this is still a classic Land Rover. Kind of. It might have lost

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its engine, gearbox, axles and body to the cause, but the chassis underneath it all is still original.

At least, it’s original in the sense that it’s the one upon which the vehicle did its time in HM Armed Forces. Not in the other sense, though.

It might be the original one, but it’s in far from original condition.

Sam saw to that at the very start of the rebuild.

He stripped the Landy right down and went at the chassis with his grinder, removing the leaf spring mounts and the rear crossmember before welding on a fabricated winch tray and a full set of brackets for converting it the coil-sprung set-up described above. Mounted flush so as not to add to the vehicle’s departure angle, the tray became home to a Goodwinch TDS 9.5i with an uprated drum and motor.

There’s another of these up front, too, mounted on a tubular bumper from Scorpion Racing.

You need to be a certain age to remember that name, but the company’s products are still to be seen on a great many Land Rovers today. Ensuring the winches are always ready to do their thing, Sam wired up an IBS split-charge system tying together not one, not two but three Optima Yellow-Tops. Well, you don’t ever hear people saying how great it is when 4x4s are under-engineered, do you?

Continuing on that theme, the axles’ original brakes made way for a set of four-pot calipers supplied by extra-long braided hoses. And on the inside, the crew are held in a pair of Cobra race seats by three-point harnesses.

You could say that these are the things you learn to take seriously when you’re on your seventh off-road build, and sure enough a lot of knowledge went into this truck. Some of it might have come from a Hilux, or a Pajero, or a Fourtrak – but as it turns out, those projects were all building up to this one.

By the time you’ve done seven modified vehicles, after all, you ought to have got a few things straight in your mind. And sure enough, when we watched this 90 in action it had all the hallmarks of a really well thought out motor.

Really well thought out but also interestingly lairy, though – in a cheerfully car-crushing, flame-spitting kind of a way. And on top of it all, still a classic ex-military Series III Landy.

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UP, UP AND AWAY The sort of road test you don’t see in mainstream car magazines gives the Defender 90 Words: Olly Sack Pictures: Richard Hair

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a chance to prove itself at the sort of altitudes that are almost as high as its price

W

hen the new Defender was launched, Land Rover promised that it would be the most capable off-roader the company had ever made. The most capable, and the most high-tech.

There’s certainly no denying the fact that in terms of the way the Defender deals with the business of tackling terrain, never before has so much technology been thrown at the problem.

But does this alone make it more capable than a simpler, more basic solution?

Here’s where we find out. Sort of, at least. We have the entry-level Defender 90 – still a high-tech off-roader, to be sure, but equipped with straightforward coils rather than the height-adjustable air springs that hold up the rest of the range. It rides on steel wheels, and wrapped around them are 265/70R18 tyres – the highest profile you can get on a new Defender.

And we’re going to take it laning.

We’ve previously driven several different versions of the Defender at Eastnor, including the Hard-Top version of this same vehicle. Our conclusion then was that it was probably our favourite out of all the various Defenders we’ve experienced. But launches can be deceptive, and that’s why we’ve travelled up to North Yorkshire to pit the 90 against a set of lanes we know well.

Of course, however well you know a lane, you’ll only know what it was like last time you drove it. We had that brought home to us a couple of years ago on the Cam Steps, a lane south-west of Hawes, when we got to the eponymous steps and they weren’t there any more. Now it’s just the Cam Gates. So we knew it wasn’t going to ask the Defender any searching questions.

North of Askrigg, however, is Hogg Gill. This isn’t a technical lane as such either, but in the direction we’re going it’s a long, steep descent towards a place called, we kid you not, Crackpot.

Long, steep and on very loose pebbles which

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in places are almost like scree. A place where control is essential.

Here, a Land Rover Experience instructor would immediately start telling you about Hill Descent Control. What the Defender has is a very clever system which lets you govern the vehicle’s maximum speed using the cruise control buttons.

Cruise control is standard on all Defenders, in case you were wondering, even our base-speccer (which, we’d add, is very generously equipped as standard, even if the one we drove was carrying £7670’s worth of options).

It’s a brilliant set-up and it’s very, very effective.

But we’re always saying that a vehicle with low range should be able to go down hills without needing electronic aids to keep a lid on its speed, so we’re going to do this the proper way.

Just shifting the transfer case is a culture shock, because instead of wrestling with a little stubby lever, more often than not having to put it in gear then ease off the clutch until the cogs finally line up and the whole thing comes in with a shuddering clang, you just drop the auto into neutral and turn one of two multi-function electronic dials and bingo.

We start off in low first, to be on the safe side.

It’s far too deep, so we flick it up a gear into low second and suddenly it’s trying to run away. Back into first, ho hum, what do you fancy for dinner… let’s try second again, crikey we’re off.

There’s a big gap between first and second. It’s not evident at all in everyday driving, but off-road it becomes apparent very quickly. And so now we’ve got a reason for using hill descent control.

Set it to sensible miles per hour and flob the box into Drive, and it takes you down a treat. You can adjust the speed up or down with a finger and, unlike on older vehicles you might have driven with earlier versions of HDC, the peace isn’t wrecked by constant chattering noises as the system jumps on and off the brakes like your granny playing Grand Theft Auto.

Normally, what goes up must come down. But this is the Yorkshire Dales, so what goes down must come back up again. And further north, just to the far side of Reeth, is Fremington Edge.

This isn’t quite as technical as you expect on the way up. But it’s a hell of a climb and the views are immense – glorious, expansive and, when the sun is in the mood, just spectacularly lit. Best of

all, the floor of the valley below is so distant, it’s like being in a plane.

But first, we’ve got to get up it.

Now, we’ll come and clean and point out what might be obvious from the lush sunshine in the photographs. This all happened last summer.

Why are we telling you this now? Because our 90 was a D200 model, with Land Rover’s entry-level engine to go with its (comparatively) modest spec level. Now, six months later, the D200 has been discontinued on all but the Hard-Top commercial version of the Defender. So if you want a base-speccer now, your only choice is the D250 six-pot – a sensational engine, we’re pleased to report, having experienced it in a 110, but the bucket of cold water is that whereas the 90 we drove listed at £44,260 at the time, when you go shopping on Land Rover’s website the base price has somehow now jumped to £58,875.

With that rather unwelcome digression out of the way, let’s get back to the D200 engine. The least powerful in the range, it may be, but with 200bhp it’s still packing more output than people used to get by wringing their Td5s into a great big cloud of smoke.

Independent suspension is not the stuff of traditional off-roaders. But at least this version of the Defender has coils rather than air springs – and they give it a character that will be instantly recognisable to anyone who’s driven a 90 of the original vintage

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So it’s no slug. It has already shown us that on the motorway as we travelled up to Yorkshire, and again as we bowled along the A and B-roads leading towards Fremington. It grips, it steers, it handles and it takes off out of corners – yet it also has that gung-ho feeling of body movement and pivot-about-a-point cornering that puts you in mind of the great days, when a 90 was a 90 and anti-roll bars were for people who needed to be driving things that didn’t roll instead.

In short, it drives like a 90. Which we didn’t think we’d ever be able to say about a truck with an eight-speed auto, but it really does. If anything, it feels more authentic, more liberated than the old Defender used to after they started having to pin it down with the anti roll-bars it both

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desperately needed and really, really didn’t.

That authenticity comes riding into town on a set of independent wishbones, too. It might be coilsprung, but there’s not an axle to be seen.

There is something else here, though – which is the latest version of Terrain Response. But what are we going to choose, rock crawl? It’s a rough, stony trail, for sure, but we’d feel a bit silly using a mode named after the sort of stuff people do in America that makes Fremington look like Pall Mall. Grass, Gravel, Snow? It’s hardly that, either.

So in the end, we didn’t select any Terrain Response mode and elected just to drive the thing.

And it started easing its way up the hill very confidently indeed. It always feels a bit like cheating, but this is an area where automatic transmission gives you so much confidence – not that you’d expect to be stalling a vehicle with low range and lots of torque, but the ever-present worry of a frightening failed hillclimb is happily absent and you can just concentrate on picking a line and enjoying the view. Even if, in this case, the view is behind you (if you’re going to drive Fremington Edge, and it’s highly recommended, north-to-south is better).

Things got rougher as we got higher, with some erratic rocks and axle-twisters to test the 90’s tractability as it picked its way over them.

Note we didn’t say articulation – it has some, but it’s limited by the independent suspension layout. That classic image of a Land Rover with a wheel hanging down by a seemingly impossible distance is one you’ll never associate with the new model – even if, to be honest, it’s one that was created largely by modified examples of the old one. The difference being, of course, that people won’t be able to modify the new one in the same way.

As it is, ours has been ‘modified’ to the extent that it was fitted with an optional locking diff in the rear. There’s a screen that comes up where you’re in low range which monitors the drivetrain, and this showed us that the rear locker was in

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almost the whole way up the climb. We’d have expected an old 90 to chug its way up without any dramas with just its centre diff engaged, which may say something about the difference between the two vehicles; either way, for sure there wasn’t a hint of wheelspin, not even a chirrup on the way off a rock, for the whole of the ascent.

The next lane on our route isn’t quite a continuation of Fremington Edge, but it feels like it. After passing through the other-worldly landscape of abandoned mine workings surrounding the village of Hurst, you carry on east on a road which becomes ever more open before simply running out of tarmac and there you are, descending towards a river crossing via a valley side which ends in the sort of axle twister even a modified old-school 90 would struggle to cross without waving a wheel.

You can see from the pictures how the new one reacted. But dramatic though it looks, with low range taking the strain and a bit of judicious work on the anchors at the right time, it simply eased its way off the step and carried on. A little bit of driving technique, we’d say, but mainly just a very good vehicle.

That could be a verdict on the new Defender as a whole, actually. It does the job for you – but doesn’t leave you unengaged by the experience.

In that way, it’s similar to the old one – which was very engaging indeed but actually did still do a fair bit of the work for you when all’s said and done.

To read some of what’s been said about it, you might think that driving the new Defender off-road is basically like being a passenger. It’s not. The rawness of the old one isn’t there, but the sense of involvement is. And though it shares so much technology with the Discovery and Range Rover, you feel closer to the action than in either of those vehicles.

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These are reasons why, for us, the most basic 90 is the best. We understand what air suspension brings to the party, both on and off-road, and we know most of the Defenders Land Rover sells will be models that have it as standard. But to us, the coil springs on this base-speccer add a dimension to its character which makes it the one we’d have.

We’ve been round Eastnor several times in 90s and 110s over the last year or so, and some of

them have been worth a lot more money. But the truck we took up Fremington and beyond feels like the real deal. It’s the closest you can get to an old-shape one now – and, far-fetched though it may sound, it’s close enough to feel like they’re two vehicles from the same bloodline. We’re traditionalists when it comes to the way a 4x4 should be – but we’ve got to hold our hands up and say that in this form in particular, the Defender is a completely convincing Land Rover.

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DAKAR THE CLASSIC WAY A host of Land Rovers took part in this year’s Dakar Classic – though not one of them was

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entered by a team from Britain Words: Gary Martin Pictures: ASO, as credited

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esert racing could never be accused of being cheap motorsport. But in this era of multi million pound works teams with bespoke prototype vehicles, highly paid superstar drivers and vastly resourced support crews, the romantic image of plucky privateers in a gritty dash to be first to the bar has never been further from the truth.

With this in mind, perhaps, last year the ASO, organisers of the legendary Dakar Rally, introduced a new event. Running parallel to the Dakar itself, the Dakar Classic is a rally for the gentleman racers of the off-road world – and, being open only to vehicles built prior to the year 2000, it presents an image that’s altogether more familiar, and approachable, than the serious business of the main event.

As befits such a global event, the Dakar Classic featured a very wide range of vehicles from manufacturers as diverse as Lada and Toyota, Porsche and Skoda.

Among these was a small but heroic group of Land Rovers, entered by teams from a number of European nations – albeit none of them British. The only crew from the UK this year, Richard Worts and Nicola Shackleton, did it in a Mitsubishi, leaving it to France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and the Czech Republic to fly the Solihull flag.

Of these, most took to the dunes aboard Range Rovers. But let’s hear it for the Czechs: Frantisek and Dusan Randysek, Albert and Stepan Pance and Petr and Tomas Fiala,

Pic (top): ASO / Ricardo Leizer / FOTOP Main pic: ASO / FOTOP

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Above left: Land Rover specialist Lionel Guy, who previously entered his Range Rover in the Dakar proper, also owns a Bowler Wildcat. But he explained that ‘my partner Isabelle is not a fan of speed,’ making the Classic a much more suitable event – as a creditable 44th-placed finish demonstrates Pic: ASO / FOTOP Above right: Having been persuaded to take part by his old friend Frantisek Randysek, Petr Fiala teamed up with his son Tomas to tackle the Saudi desert in an 88” Series IIA. The Classic is about regularity, not speed, but even then the image of an old leafer ploughing through the dust and sand couldn’t be any further detached than that of the multi-million protos doing it on the main stage Pic: ASO / V.Cabral / FOTOP all representing the appropriately named Vintage Racing Team, did it in 88” Series IIAs. It’s easy to assume that if you’re doing it in the Classics, it’s because you can’t do it for real. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Dusan Randysek has previously entered the main Dakar five times; he bought his Land Rover shortly after finishing the rally in 2020, on two wheels, then last year drove the PH-Sport assistance truck as part of a team featuring such luminaries as Cyril Despres and Kris Meeke.

‘The idea popped into my head over breakfast at the last Dakar,’ he said. ‘I’ll be going with my 18-yearold son, Frantisek; it’s like a 50th birthday present to myself.

‘We’ll be going in expedition mode. It’s all about not getting left behind and keeping the car alive.

The Dakar Classic certainly isn’t

about speed – it’s a bit of a racing game, but it can still be quite fun.

It’s like playing cards for matches rather than money, but you still get nervous with every match you have to give to someone! For me it will be wonderful, simply because I’ll be driving with my son in this old car.’

Also driving with his son, Petr Fiala has for many years combined circuit racing with a love for classic cars. He had been toying with the idea of the Dakar for many years before finally bowing to the inevitable when his old friend, a certain Frantisek Randysek, more or less told him to go for it.

‘We don’t really know what awaits us,’ he admitted at the starting line in Jeddah. ‘But we’re looking forward to it. We’re expecting some big life experiences!’

In the event, Petr and son Tomas came 121st out of 129 finishers,

two places behind Frantisek and Dusan. The third of the Series IIAs in the event, crewed by brothers Albert and Stepan Pance, had the distinction of being 129th. ‘We’re going to enjoy it no matter what happens’ was their promise before the event, which is definitely the right spirit for a regularity rally in the Saudi desert. ‘Old cars always have issues. But it’s actually the days when you have to solve problems that stick in your memory.’

For Tommaso Castellazzi, a somewhat unusual problem ahead of the event was that his 1994 Defender 90 only had one seat in it. ‘I was born in a car,’ he says. ‘So it was inevitable that I would be obsessed with cars!

‘In the last twenty years I have always rallied. But always alone – because I am a loner.’ Stefano Dalla Valle was the man he chose

for the honour of navigating, not just because he was good at it but because he shares Tommaso’s philosophy of racing.

‘I hope to find an atmosphere that is now a bit difficult to find,’ he explained. ‘At the beginning, anyone could register for the Dakar by any means. And then we all helped each other to get, or at least try to get, to the end.

‘I am still like this – a gentleman driver who stops to help anyone in difficulty. Since the Classic is less frantic, at least on paper, I hope to find a lot of complicity and solidarity among everyone.’

Having fitted his 90 with an Iveco engine and gearbox, Tommaso approached the Dakar with a kind of optimistic realism.

‘The history of regularity, with average speeds, is all new to me,’ he commented. ‘Yes, that is

Tommaso Castellazzi is a true gentleman racer, who will always stop to help a fellow competitor – a spirit he believes has been lost from the main Dakar. For him, the Classic was mainly about racing amid beautiful landscapes, though a very decent 66th place suggests he and navigator Stefano Dalla Valle were pretty competent at the competitive side, too Pic: ASO / Ricardo Leizer / FOTOP

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Despite never having driven off-road before starting her training for the Dakar Classic, Rebecca Busi gave up a place on a masters course at university to take part. ‘I’m putting my future on the line,’ she said. ‘I want to build a solid reputation, with facts that I hope can be used to find a regular drive and make this passion a full-time business.’ A final placing of 114th illustrates that the learning doesn’t stop when the competition begins, but she did well to start, let alone finish Pic: ASO / R.Leizer / FOTOP something that I will have to learn quickly. But at least we will do it in places that they say are magnificent.

I can’t wait to see them!’ In the event, a minimal penalty score suggests that he learned very

quickly indeed, with a 66th overall a very credible final position.’

Of all the Land Rover teams, however, the leading result was returned by Miquel Angel Boet and Guillem Aleix Cabarroques in their

190bhp, 3.9-litre EFi Range Rover.

The vehicle was first used in the 1985 Dakar by Salvador Cañellas, then last year it finished its first Classic in the hands of Pere Maimí and Andreu Vidal.

At the same time, Boet was finishing 8th in a Unimog. So the Range Rover probably felt quite small. His aim, however, was simply to see his uncle, Avall Competicio team-mate Francesc Guillem, at the

Left:Philippe Marechal and Jean-Francois Baud dragged their Range Rover out from under a tarp and prepped it for the 2019 Paris-Beijing, then entered it in the Dakar Classic hoping it would hold up. Which it did, finishing in 107th place – despite Marechal’s admission that he’s ‘not the best’ at regularity and is not a very competitive person Pic: ASO / R.Leizer / FOTOP Right: Dusan Randysek has entered the main Dakar five times, and last year drove the support truck for desert racing legend Cyril Despres.

Teamed up with his 18 year old son Frantisek, he described the Classic as ‘a 50th birthday present to myself’ Pic: ASO / Vinicius Cabral / FOTOP

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Above left: Rest day at the Dakar must be one of the most inappropriately named things of all time. Perhaps if you’re a highly paid works driver in the main event with an army of mechanics to look after your vehicle, but for privateers in the Classic it’s time to get on the spanners yourself and make sure your truck is ready to make it to the finish line Pic (left): ASO / C.Lopez Above right: Still beats having to get those spanners out in the middle of a stage, though, even if it is just for one of the inevitable wheel changes Pic (right): ASO / FOTOP finish line – a goal he achieved, with the two vehicles coming in 21st and 47th respectively.

Two places further back was another Spanish Range Rover, that of Diego Ballester and Enrique Conti Penina. The latter, a veteran of six Dakars, met his driver during lockdown and asked him to take the wheel after a regular member of his team became unavailable. ‘At first I thought it was a joke,’ says Diego.

‘But here I am!’

Here too were Javier Basagoiti and Alfonso Masoliver, yet another couple of places further back in 25th in yet another 3.9-litre Range Rover. Friends for something more than years, they have previously competed in endurance track races as well as taking part in rally raids

aboard a Fiat Panda 4x4. But both had dreamt for years of taking on the Dakar – and in addition to Javier’s Rangey, they bought a historic Iveco 4x4 to run as their assistance truck.

‘We have disassembled the car piece by piece and we have reassembled it,’ explained the driver. ‘We wanted to know what could go wrong to try to prevent the breakdowns that you may have.

‘This year there will be more dunes. We’ll see how the car handles on that terrain. We have worked to reduce the maximum weight of the car to make it more agile in the dunes.’ Safe to say the Range Rover got them to the finish in a better time than they’d have expected in that old Panda.

Basagoiti also had a simple but very telling comment to deliver on the event as a whole: ‘The Dakar can always surprise you.’ Perhaps it surprised Rebecca Busi, who gave up her place on a Masters course at university in Barcelona in the hope that an eye-catching result in the Classic would be the launch pad for a career in rallying.

‘I want to give my best to do the best possible race,’ she explained, ‘so as to build a solid reputation with facts that I hope can be used to find a regular drive and make this passion a full-time business. The Dakar will be my first race ever; I hope to make it my springboard.’

Driving a 3.9-litre Range Rover with little more in the way of mods than a GRP bonnet and

tailgate and some simplifications to the electrical system, Busi was navigated by seasoned veteran Roberto Musi – who had recruited her after advertising on Facebook when his regular team-mate became unavailable. ‘I have schooled many riders in my life,’ he said of his rookie driver, ‘but I have never worked with anyone capable of learning so much in such a short time. When we arrived in Morocco for our first tests, she had never done a metre off-road – but after only two days she was already able to climb very demanding dunes with ease.’

‘I expect to see breathtaking landscapes and have fun,’ added Busi. ‘But I’m putting my future on the line and so I want to do well.’

After such a build-up, 114th place overall might sound like a bit of an anti-climax, but for anyone to even start the Dakar, let alone finish it, after so little experience off-road is a worthy achievement.

The Swiss team of Philippe Marechal and Jean-Francois Baud were altogether more circumspect in their approach. ‘I’ve done a lot of historic rallies and therefore regularity,’ admitted Marechal. ‘But I’m not the best. I even struggle a bit with regularity – I’m not picky enough. I do it for fun.

‘I’m not a very competitive person.

If I see a broken down car at the edge of the track, I’ll help it out. That doesn’t bother me – we know very

Pic: Jose Mario Dias / FOTOP

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Pic (left): ASO / V.J.Branca / FOTOP Pic (bottom): ASO / FOTOP

well that we will never be first. We come to the Dakar to have a great adventure, and above all to have a good time with our friends.’

Their car, a 1984 Range Rover 3.5, had spent many years under a tarp before the team, both of whom are retired mechanical engineers, decided to prepare it for the 2019 Paris-Beijing. ‘That was a stroll compared to what awaits her,’ said Baud. ‘It’s been two years since the Range Rover was driven – we hope it will hold up!’ Hold up it did, and a 107th placed finish was the reward for what they admitted had been a long slog in the workshop to get the vehicle in shape to meet the technical regs for the Dakar Classic.

Lionel Guy takes a very different view to that. ‘My 1986 Range Rover is my baby. I’ve had it since 1998; no one touches it except me.

‘It participated in the 1991 Dakar and then in the Rallye des Pharaohs, the Atlas, Tunisia, Dubai,

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Bajas in Portugal and Spain… it did everything, it raced everywhere.

I also have a Bowler Wildcat, but my partner Isabelle is not a fan of speed!’

A garage owner who specialises in historical Land Rovers, as well as renting out Landies to customers participating in adventure tours he organises in Morocco, it’s fair to say that Guy is a man with Solihull in his blood. He previously took on the full-fat Dakar a couple of times, swapping the Rangey for a 110 on the second occasion, but admits that ‘it was clearly not for us – we were not well enough equipped, and were too alone.’ Even with his Range Rover still running its vintage shock absorbers, he was more confident that the Classic’s concentration on regularity rather than pure speed would allow his to finish – which he did, in a creditable 44th place.

In addition to his own vehicle, Lionel Guy also prepped the

3.9-litre Range Rover in which Gilles Espinosa and Laurent Milbergue took 102nd place. And if Guy has Solihull in his blood, Espinosa has it all the way down to his bones.

When he was five years old, his dad bought an old Series IIA and started taking him off-roading; then when he was 13, his dad sold the Land Rover… and young Laurent ran away from home.

Thankfully, it was just for the one night. And having come back, he went on to become a salesman for a Land Rover dealership – the start of a career that’s so far seen him spend three decades working for the green oval. He made it as far as national selections for the Camel Trophy in 1994 and 1995, as well as using Defenders and Range Rovers in North African rally-raids, and in 2005 he moved over to take charge of his area’s Land Rover Experience.

On top of that, in 2017 Laurent started restoring a 1985 Rangey

for desert events – with the Dakar Classic providing the perfect incentive to complete the project.

And how does a true Land Rover man theme his build? ’It is a replica of the 1981 Classic model with which René Metge won the Dakar. Outwardly, she really looks like it. But under the bonnet I opted for a 3.9-litre V8 from the years 1989-1990. And the metal doors and the rear glass parts have disappeared in favour of fibreglass.

‘Now that it is built, it must be used! If it doesn’t come back broken, we’ll see what happens next…’ The Rangey did indeed survive intact, finishing in 102nd place, so watch this space…

With the winning team of Serge Mogno and Florent Drulhon a long way distant in their Toyota, the Land Rover contingent in the Dakar did in the main embody the traditional sprit of the gentleman racer. Which is very appropriate in an event that’s all about celebrating the great 4x4s of yesteryear. All the same, it would be wonderful to see Solihull represented in future by a crew from the homeland. Richard Worts and Nicola Shackleton had a successful event as the sole Brits, bringing their Mitsubishi home in 61st overall – but wouldn’t it be great to one day see the flag flying from aboard a home-grown vehicle too?

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TAKING THE HIGH ROAD To visit the Scottish Highlands for the first time is to fall in love. The landscape is unlike Words: Mike Trott Pictures: Mike Trott and Lizzie Bates

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t’s often said that some of the best things in life can be found right on your doorstep. Perhaps not your daughter’s new boyfriend, or that flaming bag of dog poo that appeared after you refused those kids some treats last Halloween. Think of this in a more metaphorical sense.

For example, Wales is just a few hours’ drive away for many of those

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residing in the UK. And when you’re there you can be treated to some stunning vistas, with hills dotted by sheep, woodland sitting beyond open fields and rivers twisting through sleepy valleys.

But if Wales can be found on your doorstep, then you should take a look at what lies at the bottom of your drive. The Scottish Highlands are some several hours further away for most of us – but wonderful

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anything else in Britain, and so is the driving – perfect for a Defender-powered getaway!

though Wales may be,, it is unquestionably worth those extra miles.

The Highlands really are next level, both in terms of the magnificence of your surroundings once up there, along with the literal scale of these sky-scraping mountains.

Every direction you look in you’ll find a landscape flexing its grandeur that can only have been created by the brute strength of Mother Nature over millions of years.

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Mountains stand like elders of the realm above dense forests, broken up by vast lochs that stretch far beyond the eye can see and meadows swaying softly across the floors of the valleys. It is one of the most mesmerising places in the British Isles… no, make that the world. And fortunately, Scotland has the roads to match.

Head north for a few hundred miles and you’ll soon arrive at Inver-

ness, the gateway to the Highlands, where just a few miles from the city centre there is a company that can help you experience the Scottish Highlands to the fullest.

Back in 2016, James Munday and Rosanna Moore started something called WildTrax after relocating from South East England, having fallen for the area themselves. And it was this love of the Scottish Highlands that the pair just had to spread.

‘We really wanted to share this place with people, as it became obvious we weren’t the only ones who hadn’t truly appreciated the Highlands,’ explains James. ‘We had a Defender 90 sat on the driveway looking pretty, and a heap of guests staying at our lodge park in Drumnadrochit – Ancarraig Lodges – who we felt weren’t necessarily making the most of the Highlands by staying in one place.’

The solution involved some camping kit and a rooftop tent in order to make their XS 90 even more attractive to adventure seekers and WildTrax was duly born. Before long, James and Rose were adding more Land Rovers to the fleet, complete with state-of-the-art equipment, and the result is a thriving business providing one of the best ways possible to explore the Highlands.

To see what all the fuss is about, we decided to head north and spend a few days discovering the Highlands for ourselves. As mentioned, James and Rose also run Ancarraig Lodges, a collection of cosy cabins situated a couple of miles up into the hills above Drumnadrochit, overlooking the majestic and legendary Loch Ness.

Given the fact that we arrived in mid-winter, and with camping being a little less appealing when there’s the prospect of frostbite, we used one of the lodges as a base camp. Thus ensconced, we put our hands up to commandeer one of the WildTrax Defenders to do our exploring throughout the days.

And that was fine by us. The cabins are all tucked away in their

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“It’s the scale of things that leaves you in complete awe. The size of the mountains, the distance to the horizon and the sense of just how big planet Earth really is” own little corners of the landscape, and to improve things still further they come with a log burner that really makes the place feel like a home from home. Each lodge has a fully kitted out kitchen which you can use for preparing your own meals; the only thing you have to do is bring the food you want.

Alternatively, you can use mealtimes as another reason to get out and investigate what the Highlands and neighbouring towns have to offer. Inverness, which at one point was Europe’s fastest-growing urban area, is a hive of eateries – absolutely nothing like you might remember

it if you’ve not been there for a couple of decades.

If you’re after a personal recommendation, may I suggest the Rendezvous Café, an establishment themed around vintage cinema that can set you up for a day in the mountains with the Full Scottish Breakfast. And for dinner, try the Thai Dining restaurant – literally the best Thai cuisine I’ve experienced this side of Chiang Rai. Before you head off into the heart of the Highlands, a couple of useful things to consult are the information booklet found in each lodge, but also the route suggestions found

within the other booklet located in the cabin of each Defender. The former helps you get familiarised with the local amenities, whilst also offering suggestions for places to visit and where to eat. The latter expands further into some of the road trips you can enjoy, from scenic drives along the choppy lochs, to roads that you will relive years down the line for both their challenges and their rewards.

So what makes the Scottish Highlands such a good place for a road trip?

‘Breathtaking, unspoilt and rugged landscapes, teeming with wildlife

and big skies. We have beaches, mountains, lakes, rivers, moorland, valleys – you name it, we have it,’ smiles Rose. ‘Added to the natural beauty is the rich history and unique architecture provided by the castles and stone-built bothies scattered amongst the heather.’

There is much to see and very quickly you’ll find your heart being captivated by the region. A top priority for many visitors is the famous Isle of Skye. It’s the sort of place where your eyes struggle to comprehend the beauty of the landscape draped out in front of them. But as James and Rose tend

We loved everything about Ancarraig Lodges (apart from having to leave at the end of our stay). The couple who own the complex, which is located near Inverness in Drumnadrochit, also run a fleet of Defenders kitted out for adventure and available for hire – and we can’t think of any better way to explore the Highlands

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to encourage, there is a whole lot more besides.

One of our early ventures took us along the B862 from Inverness, eventually reaching Fort Augustus after journeying the length of Loch Ness. It’s important to remember that in the Highlands, every route is a scenic route – but some are more enchanting than others. Along the B862, you’ll encounter single track roads and tranquil lochs inches from the wheels of your Defender, there will be silence in the air and a sense of pure oxygen when you breathe in the Highland atmosphere. You’re breathing in life.

There’s a few attractions to be found en route as well. We stopped at the Falls of Foyer, a 165-foot torrent of tumbling water that flows into Loch Ness and can be viewed from both an upper and lower viewpoint. If you head beyond Fort Augustus on the A82, passing both Invergarry Castle and the Commando Memorial, you’ll reach Fort William – posted near the foot of Ben Nevis, which stands menacingly over the town and stretches up beyond the clouds on most days. If you’re not up for the climb, you can always punt for nearby spectacles like Neptune’s Staircase on the

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Caledonian Canal, just down the road at Banavie.

By this point, the Defender has already shown its brilliance. Not only is it the usual practical tool you expect a Land Rover to be, but because the Defender is so old school, you get an engaging driving experience whatever road you’re travelling down.

‘We’ve always loved Land Rovers,’ explains James, ‘we’ve owned a number personally before now and getting our first years ago was a milestone. Defenders are the ultimate exploration machine due to their ability to go anywhere, and with their cult-like following, they really are the perfect vehicle for the job.’

With no green lanes up in Scotland like we have further south, you might wonder if there’s enough to keep you entertained. But you needn’t worry.

‘Many of the more remote roads can be enough of a challenge to drive on anyway,’ continues James.

‘For example, you could be forgiven for thinking that the road to Plodda Falls in Glen Affric was a forestry track taking you deep into the woodland, but it is in fact a legal road to one of the most beautiful sights in the area. There are plenty of off-road

centres up here in Scotland, too, so there is still rough driving to be had if die-hard fans are keen.’

I challenge anyone to not get a little fidgety whilst navigating the Bealach na Bà, though, a mountain pass extending high up into the Applecross Peninsula and on this occasion taking us up into thick cloud with hairpin bends cropping up just 20 metres in front of you.

On a clear day, the sights you see from the driver’s seat are simply incredible – and even on a drizzly Saturday it still beats most other places in the UK. ‘We always recommend a trip to Applecross,’ says Rose. ‘The Bealach na Bà has the steepest ascent of any road climb in the UK and is much like an alpine road with plenty of hairpins.’ It’s the scale of things that leaves you in complete awe. The size of the mountains, the distance to the horizon and the sense of just how big planet Earth really is – these adventures really do give you a change of perspective.

It’s not all mountains, either. Both James and Rose love the islands of the Hebrides, especially some of the beaches you’ll find there.

‘If it weren’t for the nip in the air (and the distinct lack of parasols

and sun beds!) you’d think you were in the Caribbean – crystal clear turquoise waters with pure white sands and even starfish. It’s out of this world,’ exclaims James.

You need only be in the Highlands for a few minutes and you can feel something telling you you’ll need to return at a later stage. And with WildTrax offering the perfect transport and accommodation solutions, there’s little need to wait until your next Highland encounter.

‘Scotland is a magical and unique place,’ adds Rose. ‘We have wild lands steeped with ancient history (both made famous by various film and TV series of late). Fantastic travel links make all of this accessible, and visitors will find bustling towns and cities alive with culture, or they can immerse themselves deep into the barren wilderness without seeing a soul for days. Add incredible food, local customs, world renowned traditions (and legends!) and you can’t get much better than an adventure in the Highlands.’

Needless to say, we wholeheartedly agree. It’s like being on a different continent, exploring the Highlands – and as always, a Land Rover is the perfect way to discover this wonderful corner of our land.

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ANIMAL KINGDOMS Safari drives are great. But when you see elephants from the main road on the way from A Sponsored by

Words and pictures: Raymond and Nereide Greaves

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here are many reasons for going on an expedition. There’s the landscapes and environments you’ll see, the people you’ll meet, the sheer joy of the road… all of them go together to make overland travel one of the best things you can ever do.

Most of all, though, when your travels take you into the world’s wild places, you’re sharing them with the

wild animals who live there. And this is never more evident than it is in Africa.

Now, it would be very easy to make a joke here about Nairobi.

While making our travel plans, we heard endless dire warnings about the city people refer to as ‘Nairobbery.’ If you’re taking the classic route through Africa, you’ll almost certainly fetch up here at some stage, so you’ll hear the

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to B, your expedition is really going places…

stories too, but we spent a week in the Kenyan capital without even having our wallets lifted. It’s not too hot and humid, being at 1800 metres above sea level, and if you’ve travelled from Britain you might actually find it quite comforting, because its supermarkets may well be the first you’ve seen since leaving Europe.

This is all worth knowing, because Nairobi is the travel hub for

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overlanders heading into Tanzania.

And this in turn is the nation with perhaps the best game reserves in the world.

Having stayed longer than we had planned in Nairobi, courtesy of one or two little road-related matters including the need to replace the first wrecked tyre of the trip, we were running about ten days behind schedule as we left the city and headed south. We weren’t going to

let that concern us, though. As well as game reserves such as Serengeti and Ngorongoro, Tanzania is also home to Zanzibar, one of the world’s most exotic tropical islands. So we had no intention of rushing through the country!

It seemed reasonable to assume that there would be a decent, signposted road between Kenya and Tanzania. But no. Heading out of Nairobi on the Mombasa

Road, we looked in vain for signs pointing south to Tanzania. After much head scratching, we realised there weren’t any. No signs, and not even a junction either. Instead, we needed to improvise and do some impromptu off-roading to pick up the right road.

And then there were the infernal roadworks. Mile after mile of the road was dug up and traffic was simply diverted into the bush on rough, dusty tracks. What was supposed to be an easy journey was becoming slow and tedious.

Never mind, at least in Tanzania the situation would improve…

Ha ha.

The border crossing was fairly efficient, but we really needed to get our skates on if we were to reach Arusha (the first town of any note in Tanzania and the base for safaris) by nightfall. And we had long since learned that driving after dark in Africa was to be avoided at all costs.

But sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it. The sun already hanging low in the sky as we left the border, but almost immediately our hopes were dashed as the curse of roadworks struck again. Decent tarmac frequently gave way to rough side tracks; slow, tedious and mindnumbingly dull.

One bright spot was that we got our first sighting of Mount

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Kilimanjaro, its snow-capped summit glowing orange in the setting sun. But then then it was dark. Really dark. The small towns we dragged through seemed not to have electricity (a first on our route so far) and as our headlights lit up the unexpected comings and goings by the roadside, we wondered how the locals could see what they were doing in the pitch black.

Thankfully, the going improved the following day. We had decided to make for the Ngorongoro Crater, and this time the road was a smooth one as we cruised through undulating savannah until the abrupt wall of the Great Rift Valley reared up out of the landscape.

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We wound our way up the escarpment, the temperature dropping and the flora becoming ever more lush until we reached the entrance to the Ngorongoro Conservation area. After being relieved of a fair number of dollars we continued the ascent, this time on a good unpaved road.

Then, all of a sudden, we were at the top and on to the rim of the crater. And what an amazing view!

From our vantage point the entire crater was visible, and it’s beyond words to describe it; although the Ngorongoro is probably one of the most photographed sights in Africa, it still takes your breath away when you see it with your own eyes.

Almost half a mile below us, on the crater floor, we could make out hundreds of small black dots that were in fact grazing animals.

We excitedly took some photos then set off for our lodge, also on the rim, to organise a game drive for the following day. The lodge was refreshingly basic, decorated with Masaai-style fabrics and well stocked with fascinating books on African animals and pioneering expeditions within the continent.

Just as a game lodge should be.

We had considered driving ourselves around the crater in the Range Rover. However, while there would have been a certain amusement value to doing this,

we (correctly) surmised that our ineptitude at spotting game and not knowing where to go would severely limit the experience. So the following morning we piled into our guide’s Land Rover – and literally only ten minutes after dropping down into the crater, we had already seen lions, zebras, a jackal and some warthogs!

Our driver proved to be amazingly good. There were several others in the crater that day but rather than aimlessly follow them he would strike out in his own direction and we were well rewarded. Near the middle of the crater, he suddenly stopped and whispered ‘lion!’ We looked the way he was pointing and

07/11/2022 18:09

Right: The authors’ Range Rover overlooks the Ngorongoro Crater, a vast volcanic caldera that’s home to an equally vast array of iconic wildlife Below: The Landcruiser is king in Africa, but when you’ve travelled all this way aboard a Range Rover it seems only appropriate when the bloke you’ve hired to take you on safari turns up in a Defender

strained to see anything then all of a sudden we saw not one, not two, but three lionesses wandering through the long grass.

The next wonderful surprise was discovering that they had two cubs with them. As we watched they sauntered closer to our Land Rover and we almost burst with excitement as they walked literally right up to the car and behind it to drink at a large puddle five yards away. This was the sort of close game viewing you always dream of – and thanks to our guide, we got to enjoy this spectacle all to ourselves.

We went on to see a herd of elephants, a black rhino (super-rare) with a baby which had apparently only been born in the last 24 hours and a pod of hippos in the lake.

We also saw scores of the more common inhabitants of the crater; zebras, pink flamingoes, wildebeest, buffalo. After a long, hot day, we returned to the lodge elated.

When planning our expedition, we realised that we would meet the rains somewhere as they travelled north and we headed south and we reckoned it would be in Tanzania that our paths would cross. This did indeed prove to be the case, and heavy rain was never far away as we travelled through this large country. It was, in fact, the day after our safari that they arrived – it was as we drove around the crater rim to say goodbye to Ngorongoro that the heavens opened. We had been very fortunate!

Luck was on our side again as we drove past Mount Kilimanjaro en route to the capital Dar es Salaam.

As we approached, the mountain was shrouded in mist – but then, just at the right moment, the clouds parted to give us a superb view.

We were less lucky with the Tanzanian police, who pop up all

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over the place brandishing speed guns. They even found an excuse to stop Nereide, who had never previously been pulled over in her life. You’ll be assuming that they were after bribes, but in fact they were all very easily won over by some charm and smooth talking and we were soon on our way, wallets intact.

We had arranged to leave the Rangey at the Land Rover dealership in Dar es Salaam while we caught a ferry to Zanzibar for a week’s break.

It was stored safely and washed for our return, and then the chap who ran the dealership invited us

to his home for dinner with him and his wife. Now, that’s what you call customer service!

Leaving Dar after our ‘holiday’ on Zanzibar, our route now took us around 600 miles across Tanzania towards the border with Malawi.

This was pleasant rather than spectacular, though we saw zebras, giraffes and elephants from the road so it certainly wasn’t unremarkable!

We didn’t intend to spend much time in Malawi, but since our expedition was named after its capital city we felt that we at least had to check in there. We crossed the border with some trepidation,

though, having been warned that the Malawian police would try to extort money at every turn – even to the extent of making up traffic offences on the spot.

To avoid becoming an easy target, we needed to buy a set of reflective stickers. Utterly pointless if your car has lights, but these are the rules. We couldn’t find them on sale anywhere, so we had no choice but to run the gauntlet.

Malawi is also the name of a lake – which takes up 15% of the area within the borders of the nation. At its northern end, it also has shores in Tanzania and Mozambique;

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Above left: The roads in rural Malawi are very quiet, used mainly as footpaths by women who, as is the tradition in Africa, seem to do all the heavy lifting and carrying Above right: Anyone who saw this picture being taken must have wondered why a couple of Brits were so interested in a road sign…

Below: The guy in the crocodile farm near Livingstone thought nothing of jumping in to their enclosure and poking them with a big stick.

Probably safer than poking them with a little stick, but there’s definitely a school of thought that says Just Don’t Poke Crocodiles driving south, it becomes so wide that you feel as if you’re looking out to sea, with white sands, empty beaches and hot humid weather.

The green and blue colours in Malawi have a unique vibrancy, the light an incredible clarity. It’s absolutely beautiful.

The scene at the first police roadblock, on the other hand, was ugly. A car in the queue ahead of suddenly lurched forward towards the barrier then, after a lot of angry shouting, a policeman dragged the driver out and welted him across the face. We realised the guy was drunk and had tried to make a run for it. The officer hit him again, hard, on the back of his head and cuffed him before dragging him away into a brick office at the side of the barrier.

We reckoned the policeman would have been charged with GBH if this had happened in Britain. But, somewhat grotesquely, luck was still on our side – because after all this excitement, no-one noticed that we didn’t have reflective stickers!

There were virtually no vehicles on the road at all, but as we drove further along the shore of the lake we saw a lone minibus with two huge fish tied to its windscreen wipers. Very African! We also saw a long, thin black snake sunning itself in the middle of the road.

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Reaching Lilongwe was a big milestone for us. Not only because the city had given us a name for our expedition, but because when we arrived there we had covered almost exactly 10,000 miles since leaving London. Cause for celebration, we felt – and, in yet another example of fortunate favouring the brave, it had the best Italian restaurant we’d found since Italy!

So good was our lunch, in fact, that we were forced to stay in Lilongwe for the night rather than continuing in Zambia as originally planned. With time on our hands, we checked out an auto spares shop across the road from the restaurant – and finally found those reflective stickers! It was all going well.

The following morning, we crossed into Zambia – where we had to pay a ‘carbon tax’ of $20 at the border. Good to see a government that puts the environment so high up its agenda and obviously isn’t just using it as an excuse for raising a bit of revenue.

At least that revenue is being well spent, though. We found Zambia to be quite similar to rural Kenya and Tanzania – with the one being difference that its roads are really good, with little traffic, few potholes and no speed bumps. The latter were a particular menace in

Tanzania, but here we were able to cover the 350 miles to the capital, Lusaka, in less than six hours Some African towns can be depressingly messy, but Lusaka was a credit to its residents – who, we noticed, tended to be much better dressed than in some other cities. Even the ugly ends of town and the railway station were clean and tidy. With all the supermarkets, clothes shops and cafes we began to feel we were leaving the bush and approaching the home straight into Southern Africa.

First, though, no trip to Zambia would be complete without a visit

to the Victoria Falls. Right on the border with Zimbabwe, this is one of the wonders of the natural world and there are many different ways to enjoy them. You can bungee jump, swim towards the edge (if you’re mad), take a helicopter ride, walk to the Zimbabwean side and view it from there or walk into the Victoria Falls National Park. We’re both interested in flying, so we booked a helicopter trip.

If you’re a hardcore overlander and you think adventure should cost zero and involve as much suffering as possible, you might turn your nose up at this idea. But while it’s

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undeniably touristy, it proved to be a brilliant way of seeing the falls and the surrounding area. And anyway, we had driven 10,000 miles to get this far, so we felt like we’d earned it.

The same can be said for the quaintly colonial experience of taking afternoon tea at the nearby Royal Livingstone Hotel. Salmon sandwiches, scones and Earl Grey sipped from fine Royal Doulton cups. If a thing’s worth doing…

All the while, the seasonally swollen Zambezi was throwing itself over the Victoria Falls at the rate of 750,000,000 litres per minute, or 11,000 tons per second. You can’t really describe it using words, or pictures – these are man-made things, and they can’t convey the sheer sense of awe it gives you at the overwhelming power of nature.

Talking of the power of nature, after our chopper trip we visited a crocodile farm nearby. We definitely weren’t expecting the Zambian guide to jump into the enclosure

with the crocs and provoke them with a large stick. These animals have amazing reactions – almost as amazing as the local approach to health and safety, evidently!

The following day, we drove back to Victoria Falls to see them from the road bridge crossing into Zimbabwe. The view really was breathtaking and we got covered in spray even this far back.

Having soaked up the falls from every angle, and in every sense of the word, it was time to move on. This was to be our farewell to central Africa, as our next destination was to be Botswana – gateway to the south of the continent.

First, though, we had to cross the Zambezi on the Kazangula Ferry – a rickety old, smoke-belching thing with enough space on its deck for a few cars at a time. With the river being in full flow following the rains, we wondered if the ferry would have enough power to grind its way

across to the other side… it did, but with precious little to spare.

So, having reached central Africa via one dodgy ferry, way back north on Lake Nasser, here we were leaving it via another. From the bandit-infested wilderness of the Marsabit Road to the perfect white

sands of Zanzibar, from chatting up Tanzanian traffic cops to gazing into the eyes of baby gorillas in Uganda, we had seen sights and had experiences that will stay with us for as long as we live. But as it does on an overland expedition, the lure of the road called us ever onward…

Raymond and Nereide drove their Range Rover from London to Cape Town in the first half of 2010. You can read the full story of their expedition at www.lilongwedown.com

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BUYERS’ GUIDE Series I (1948-1958)

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f you want to be the owner of a vehicle that oozes heritage like no other, then surely a Series I Land Rover is the way to go.

The Land-Rover, as it was known until the Series II came along, is the most sought after Land Rover for purists and collectors alike – particularly in its original 80” guise.

Its 1940s’ engineering gives it a real charisma, but consequently, parts aren’t as readily available as they once were. Restoration

£5000-£75,000+ projects require deep pockets, but then a finished example will fetch mega bucks.

Gone are the days where you could use a Series I as an actual Land Rover, because with restored and cherished examples now retailing where they’re at, preservation is the aim of the game.

The rarer and earlier the vehicle, the higher the price tag gets. But can you really put a price on such an icon?

Pros: Heritage, charm, a true classic, the original Land Rover Cons: Availability of parts, no such thing as a cheap one

Series II/IIA (1958-1971)

£2500-£40,000

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n 1958, the second-generation Land Rover was born and along came the barrel sides which we continue to recognise on even the very last Defenders.

Today the Series II or IIA is a more affordable prospect than a Series I, yet it still carries much of that early charm that makes it a hit with enthusiasts.

The prices are on the increase, however, as these 50-year-old vehicles start to come into their

own as a collector’s item. A 2.25 petrol 88” would be our pick, as the diesel engines, certainly the 2.0-litre diesel, were underpowered and noisy.

The Series II/IIA carries a wider stance than its predecessor and adds an extra (albeit thin) layer of refinement over the Series I. While the engines have excellent longevity, however, they do need to have been maintained properly. Be thorough in your checks.

Pros: As a resto it’s a sound investment, some examples now MOT exempt, more desirable than SIII Cons: Bulkheads very prone to rotting, check suspension leaves for seizing

Series III (1971-1985)

£2500-£35,000

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ollowing on from the Series IIA, the Series III emerged in 1971 with a few cosmetic tweaks to freshen up the model.

Headlights were shifted out to the wings in-line with new legislation and the dash received a bit of padding to hide the new safety bar across the top of the bulkhead – not sure it’s a five stars on the Euro NCAP scale, though.

The Series III wasn’t too dissimilar to the Series II in mechanical

terms, keeping the same 2.25-litre engines throughout its production, although in 1980 the 2.25 motors switched to a more durable five bearing setup.

The transmission also received syncromesh on all forward gears, which helps make it that bit easier to live with.

They still carry the simplicity of earlier Land Rovers, but can be obtained for a fraction of the price... for now.

Pros: Most affordable way into Series ownership, still has the Series pedigree, parts still widely available Cons: Not as desirable as earlier Series models

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Series IIA/IIB FC (1962-1971) £2500-£15,000 BUYERS’ GUIDE

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orward Control Land Rovers are a cult within a cult. In fact, with the later 101 getting most of the attention here, the Series IIA and IIB are a cult within a cult within a cult.

They’re a genuine rarity, too – with all the cachet, pride and immense awkwardness that comes with this status.

By ‘rare’, we’re talking about less than 2500 Series IIA FCs in total.

And they tended to have a very hard life, so not many have survived to tell the tale.

Forward-Control models differed from everyday Series IIs by having heavy-duty ENV axles, but engine-wise they had the familiar 2.25 petrol and diesel lumps in addition to the later 2.6 petrol unit.

There’s an awful lot in the way of unique parts here, though.

So, don’t expect Foward Control ownership to give you an easy time in the workshop. If you’re up for it, though, the pleasure you’ll get from owning one of these classic old trucks is off the scale

Pros: A Land Rover like no other Cons: Especially brutal to drive, and to find parts

Lightweight (1968-1984)

£3500-£22,000

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ossibly the ugly duckling of the Series Land Rover family – but that doesn’t mean to say you’ll struggle to find any love for the Series Lightweights.

These military-derived vehicles can be easily distinguished from the regular Series Land Rovers, with visibly more angular wings and a frontal appearance that does divide opinion on occasion.

To mimic the Series machines from civvy street, the SIII Light-

weight – built from 1972 onwards – also had its headlights switched out to the wings.

The Lightweight used to be popular for trialling, as it’s narrower than a standard Series II or III. Today, though, they’re classics – whose military heritage adds an extra dimension to Land Rover ownership.

It means you get a Land Rover that could have a few more stories to tell – and you have something that stands out from the crowd.

Pros: Not like all the other Series Land Rovers out there, military background, 2.25 petrol is lovely and reliable Cons: Styling isn’t to everyone’s taste, can be pricey owing to their rarity compared to other Series IIs and IIIs

101 (1972-1978)

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nly ever sold to the Army, the 101 became a cult vehicle when the time came for demob.

They were flogged off at what now looks like throwaway prices and mainly turned into knockabout offroad toys – definitely not something you’d do with one today, given the rarity and classic value they’ve taken on.

Compared to the IIA/IIB FC, the 101 is more fun thanks to its

£7500-£26,000 V8 engine and more sopisticated chassis. They used to be popular as expedition trucks, too, with all sorts of DIY conversions to be found.

This is still a military tool, though – which means some still have fixtures and fittings from their Army life, something that can be a real talking point. This is definitely a vehicle for enthusiasts – with costs that are sky-high even by classic Land Rover standards.

Pros: Master of the road. Lovely V8 soundtrack. Everybody who sees one loves it Cons: Monumental running costs. Expensive to buy, too

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BUYERS’ GUIDE 90/110 (1983-1990)

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he icon of the 4x4 world. This is Land Rover at its best: a no nonsense workhorse that can also take you just about anywhere in the entire world.

Early examples of the Ninety and One Ten are worth keeping hold of, providing they’re in good condition – but you’ll be searching far and wide for examples that are.

This was the birth of the Defender, despite not being christened offi-

£3000-£26,000 cially until 1990, and as such these Land Rovers had coil-sprung suspension, new engines – although they were still terribly underwhelming – and off-road capability that has still yet to be matched today.

A very early 2.25 petrol 90 is a rare thing, and a beautiful one too.

But perhaps try for a 2.5TD version with low miles and good history.

They’re robust and as simple as they come.

Pros: Good ones are now worth saving, same ability as Tdiengined Defenders Cons: Engines underpowered, not many left in good condition

127 (1985-1990)

£7500-£25,000

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he 127 was built on a special production line in Solihull which took 110 chassis and stretched them. It was designed for military and commercial users and came in standard form as a high-capacity double-cab.

These days, it’s very rare to find a 127 that hasn’t been hammered, restored and/or converted, or all three. People looking for a work truck tend to go for a later 130, so the 127 is more of an enthusiast’s

motor. It’s popular for home-brewed overland conversions, too.

The 127 pre-dates the advert of Land Rover’s Tdi engines, meaning they were either TD or V8 powered and therefore excruciatingly slow or cripplingly expensive. As a result, almost all have had an engine conversion by now, too.

Overall, then, there’s a lot to be wary of when buying one of these.

Do so wisely, though, and it’s a whole lot of truck for your money.

Pros: Enormous size means limitless character and potential. Perfect for turning into your overlanding dream home Cons: Unwieldy. Sure to have had a colourful life

Defender 130 (1990-2016)

£12,500-£30,000

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hen Land Rover introduced the Defender name, it was actually the 130 that changed the most. That’s because unlike the old 127, it was built on a proper chassis of its own rather than a stretched 110 frame.

The advent of the Tdi engine was the making of the 130, too. At last, Land Rover could make them pull properly without returning ghastly single-figure fuel economy by using a hard-worked V8.

As a result, you’ll find many more original(ish) 130s than 127s. Some are even still in service with the utility companies they were built for.

There’s the danger that you’ll find yourself looking at a site motor that’s had dozens of drivers and they’ve all left the maintenance to each other. But by and large, 130s have been well looked after and make a very sound investment. And if you want a Defender for overlanding, look no further.

Pros: A proper truck with huge capabilities in every area, and still surprisingly agile off-road Cons: It’s a big lump if you don’t actually need that much size

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Defender 200 Tdi (1990-1994) £4000-£35,000 BUYERS’ GUIDE

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he Tdi engine, which arrived with the Defender name, can last for decades if it’s looked after. Find one that’s had all its oil changes (a tall order) and it’ll go round (and round) the clock.

The good thing about the earlier 200Tdi is that it’s simpler than the later 300. What you gain here you lose in refinement, but this is seen by many expecrts as the best Defender of them all.

The LT77 gearbox in the 200 Tdi is more truck-like than the later

R380, with a noticeably heavier clutch. They’re doughtily strong and reliable, though, making them very well suited to the Defender.

When buying a 200 Tdi, you need to be sure it’s an original engine you’re getting, not a conversion using an old Discovery unit. This is most common on pre-1990 vehicles, but Land Rover didn’t fully discontinue its earlier engines until well into the pre-Tdi era, so don’t just assume what you’re getting is what it seems to be.

Pros: Superb off-road. Very simple, especially the electrics. Arguably the last truly DIY-maintainable engine Land Rover ever made Cons: Lots of battered and/or dishonest ones around

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BUYERS’ GUIDE Defender 300 Tdi (1994-98)

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he 300 Tdi engine is very different to the 200 unit it replaced, though the two are related. It’s much more refined and smoother to drive, though there are more electronics involved so later versions in particular are less of a DIY fix.

The arrival of the 300 Tdi also brought with it the R380 gearbox.

This used to have a terrible reputation for relability, but most have been put right by now and they’ve become sought after for their light clutch and better shift action.

£4500-£40,000 It was during the 300 Tdi era that Land Rover started making the Defender available with things like metallic paint and alloy wheels.

Obviously, anyone can replicate this now, and almost all 90s and 110s have been modified or rebuilt in the decades since they were new – but it does mean that if you find a one-owner example with the lifestyle kit, there’s a chance that it might never have been off-roaded.

In which case, it’s worth whatever the seller is asking and more.

Pros: Strength and simplicity. Engine still very basic compared to what followed it. Perhaps the definitive Defender Cons: Sure to be very different to when it left the factory

Defender Td5 (1998-2007)

£6000-£35,000

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ollowing on from the Tdi era, Land Rover issued the Defender with its new Td5 engine from 1998 to 2007.

The engine is arguably Land Rover’s most reliable unit and it’s a strong performer out of the box, although it does lend itself to being tuned. So make sure that any mods have been done properly.

Remaps, EGR valve deletes and uprated intercoolers are a few examples of what many of these Defenders have been subjected to.

Lots of power doesn’t always mean happy faces, especially when you’re the one mopping up after somebody else.

The rear of the chassis has frequently been called into question, too. So be prepared to treat the rear crossmember with kid gloves if it’s in good shape – or else face the consequences.

With minimal electrics, the Td5 Defender is still a DIY machine and you’ll be working on one of Land Rover’s most notable masterpieces.

Pros: Off-road capability, power, reliability (generally) Cons: Rear chassis, premium prices at the moment. Late ones cost a fortune in road tax

Defender TDCi (2007-2016)

£9500-£195,000

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he last of the Defenders were fitted with Ford Transit engines – first the 2.4 TDCi, followed by the 2.2 TDCi, which were brought in to meet Euro V emission standards and keep the Defender alive for another few years.

Sadly, these engines denoted the Defender’s swansong, the twilight of its days. They were fitted with six-speed Getrag gearboxes, still had phenomenal off-road capability and even made the Defender a nice

place to be. But they were still very much Defenders.

The era of blinging had also begun by now, and you can find special editions and boutique conversions costing obscene amounts of money. You will pay a premium for any these Defenders, and prices have rocketed upwards since the end of production. But if you can grab a 2.2 TDCi and start preserving it now, you may well never see depreciation.

Pros: Better emissions (marginally), more creature comforts, same off-road prowess Cons: Price, more electrics, last of the breed

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Defender (2020-on)

£45,000-£135,000

BUYERS’ GUIDE

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f the subject of the new Defender comes up in enthusiast circles, try to steer it away on to something safer. Like Brexit, for example.

Much as it may infuriate purists, however, the Defender is actually a very wonderful thing. It’s kind of like an old one, only with space, comfort and equipment.

It’s tough, rugged and capable, too, and the 110’s interior has a degree of practicality that puts the old model in the shade. It’s closer

in nature to the Discovery 3 in this way, which is no bad thing at all.

The 90, meanwhile, drives with the same brash verve as the old one.

The big difference is that you can’t work on it yourself. This goes for maintenance and, crucially, making modifications – a market Land Rover wants to take back and have for itself. It won’t hold its value the way an original-shaper does, either.

Be in no doubt, though – this is a superb vehicle.

Pros: Comfortable, capable and fit for purpose. Wonderful to drive.

Reminiscent of the Discovery 3 in its all-round ability Cons: Expensive, and a million miles from the DIY fixability that made the original Defender so popular

Freelander 1 (1997-2006)

£400-£5500

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e haven’t always held the Freelander 1 in the highest regard here. But as market prices constantly change, so too can our opinion on certain vehicles.

With examples attainable from as little as £500, the Freelander 1 represents a cheap gateway into Landy ownership.

There are plenty of issues to be aware of, though. The viscous coupling is expensive to replace

and can be upset by simply having mismatched tyres on your axles.

The 1.8 petrol used to be notorious for head gasket failures, but today’s replacements are much more robust.

The V6 is thirsty and the 2.0Di is gutless, so opt for a TD4 – but check the condition of the injectors first. Buy an FL1 and you even get a Landy that’s decent off-road and doesn’t rust after five minutes.

Pros: Cheap to buy, no major rust issues, surprisingly good off-road Cons: There are better Land Rovers out there, FL2 showed the FL1 how it should have been done

Freelander 2 (2006-2015) Versions: 2.2 4cyl turbo-diesel, available in two- or four-wheel drive, 3.2 V6 petrol (‘07-’09)

£2000-£18,500

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ost people will turn their noses up at Freelanders because they’re not properly recognised as true Land Rovers. But while you should turn your nose up at the FL1, the Freelander 2 actually makes for a much smarter proposition than you may think.

Because of it being replaced by the Discovery Sport, the FL2 is now an affordable option that still offers good levels of refinement, a strong 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel

engine and a level of practicality that means it can make for a great family vehicle. Plus it’s become one of the most reliable Land Rovers out there.

Prices are now falling, thanks to the Freelander name having disappearing from Land Rover’s current showroom line-up. But for £10,000, you can now get a capable all-rounder that is actually pretty adept off-road and yet still economical to run.

Pros: Better off-road than you may anticipate, reliability, refinement, economy of diesel engine Cons: Transmissions can wear quickly if used for towing

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BUYERS’ GUIDE Range Rover (1970-1996)

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he Range Rover Classic is one of those vehicles that you could theoretically still use everyday in the 21st Century.

If you’re running a V8, however, that may not be such a wise idea.

Classic Range Rovers still provide a relatively refined and great drive today, but they can be thirsty if you’re not in one of the various turbo-diesel examples.

That said, if you own one and it’s in good condition, look after it, as it

£5000-£265,000 will only appreciate. These vehicles are popular with collectors, and values are going up all the time.

Unfortunately, however, many have succumbed to corrosion or have been abused off-road to the point of no return – and parts have started becoming a problem.

Still, while an early 70s Classic may not be attainable for everyone, tidy examples of the late four-door versions can make for an equally tidy investment.

Pros: Most usable classic Land Rover, V8 power, ride quality Cons: Rust (again), availability of parts for early models, V8 thirst

Range Rover (1994-2002)

£1500-£25,000

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any people believe the P38A Range Rover to be a bit of a menace – and often it’s completely justified. Lights on the dashboard, air suspension failure, head gasket failure... the list can really continue.

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom with the P38. In fact, if you find one in good working order, it’ll be sensational. While it remains that way, at least.

Service history is a must, and if you’re going to own one then some

diagnostic equipment is going to be a better companion than a spanner.

Avoid the diesel variant. The engine was adopted from a BMW saloon and isn’t anywhere near up to the task of the extra weight a Range Rover carries.

Go for a 4.6 HSE, or a special edition with the same engine. It’s actually more economical than the 4.0 V8 and you’ll get all the toys.

They might not be working, but at least you’ll get them…

Pros: Luxury, price, a Land Rover that doesn’t rust. Could even P38 prices rise soon?

Cons: Electrics. Nuff said

Range Rover (2002-12)

£2250-£28,000

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ompared to the P38, the L322 Range Rover was a saint.

Generally. Its electronic aids were far less temperamental and it delivered a new level of luxury to four-wheeled motoring.

The Td6 engine receives mixed reviews: some say it’s underpowered while others say it’s the best of the bunch.

Common sense would steer you towards a TDV8, either the 3.6 or later 4.4, but these are the L322s

holding out for strong money. The petrol V8s, on the other hand, are lingering with very appealing price tags – but don’t think running one would be cheap.

As with many 21st Century Land Rovers, they have lost their accessability for the home mechanic.

Drivetrain faults are becoming more frequent, so you need to look for that all-important FSH. As a car, however, it’s probably everything you’ll ever need.

Pros: Great off-road, luxury, image, TDV8 powerplants Cons: When things go wrong, they don’t tend to do it cheaply

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Range Rover (2012-on)

BUYERS’ GUIDE £27,000-£180,000

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f you want the very best in automotive luxury, then you need look no further.

The latest incarnation of Land Rover’s flagship Range Rover weighs a whopping 400kg less than its predecessor thanks to the use of an aluminium body, which helps on mpg – although owning one of these suggests that your cash flow isn’t particularly an issue.

This is the last word in elegance and majestic motoring. All the

engines supply copious amounts of power to your right foot, while the L405 hasn’t lost any of its off-road pedigree... even if taking one offroad is like asking your alcoholic friend to a wine-testing session.

They could comfortably partake, but probably shouldn’t.

Prices are still only right for Premier League footballers and people with a link to the royal family. If you fit into that category, then we envy you.

Pros: Styling, engines, capability at pretty much everything Cons: Price. A certain type of person will resent you for owning it

Range Rover Sport Mk1 (2005-2013)

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uch of the Range Rover Sport was borrowed from the Discovery 3. In fact it shared virtually identical underpinnings, whereas today’s RR Sport uses actual Range Rover foundations.

Nevertheless, Land Rover put a Range Rover in a tracksuit and attempted to make a handler out of it. To some extent they succeeded, although it’s no sports car despite what it says on the back of the vehicle.

£3250-£25,000 It can play the leisure vehicle very well, though, and will go off-road like the best of them.

If you’re going to buy one, then you need to love it for itself, because a Discovery of the same era is more practical – while a full-fat Range Rover is always going to carry an extra layer of prestige and less of a proceeds-of-crime image.

They’re still a good all-rounder, though, and have now become relatively affordable to buy.

Pros: Decent performance from both engines and chassis, a lot of car for your money Cons: Not as practical as a Discovery, not as prestigious as a proper Range Rover

RR Sport Mk2 (2013-on)

£22,500-£160,000

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he second-generation Range Rover Sport has also been on a diet to save over 400kg, just like the daddy Range Rover.

That means that even this big bruiser is relatively economical when spec’d with the SDV6 motor.

Some won’t like the vulgar and flamboyant posture, while others will adhere to the smart, yet mean styling. But no one can knock the

Sport for its performance. It feels incredibly light for such a big car, and if you’ve robbed a bank and can afford the monstrous SVR version, it’s as good round a race track as it is on a green lane.

The only stumbling block with such a fine motor is going to be how to pay for it. Removing limbs is possibly the most feasible option, or wait ten years and see if the prices

Pros: Feels light considering weight, engines, almost as luxurious as its bigger brother Cons: You’ll need deep pockets

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BUYERS’ GUIDE RR Evoque Mk1 (2011-19)

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hen the Evoque was launched, it signalled JLR’s intent on hitting the masses.

And given that the Evoque was, and still is, their fastest-selling vehicle, they clearly hit the brief, even if it wasn’t for the traditional Land Rover owner.

They don’t much like the Victoria Beckham connection, nor that it is the polar opposite to a Defender.

It’s actually still a capable thing

£9500-£47,000 off-tarmac, but it would rather not go down that route.

Nevertheless, it is economical by Land Rover standards and because there are so many out there, they have decent residuals.

The Convertible was launched in 2016, and the are three and fivedoor version. We say stick to the latter, and avoid the 2WD model.

What’s a Range Rover without fourwheel-drive?

Pros: Economy, handling, beats its rivals off-road. Still mainly bought first and foremost for its concept-car appearance Cons: Practicality and rear-seat space are remarkably poor

Range Rover Evoque Mk2 (2019-on)

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new Range Rover Evoque has hit the roads of the UK, but you’d do well to tell the difference between the new model and the outgoing Evoque.

Most Range Rovers all look the same at the front now, but the new Evoque has adopted a similiar back end to the larger Velar.

It’s not just the exterior that mimics the larger Velar, however, as the

£31,600-£55,000 Evoque has gained the latest Touch Pro Duo tech and an improvement in quality.

The main highlight of the new Evoque is the fact the majority of the range is made up of mild hybrids, available with diesel and petrol engines combining to an electric motor. Only the base frontwheel drive D150 Evoque escapes the electrification.

Pros: Feels much more like a proper Range Rover to drive and to sit in than its predecessor Cons: Petrol engine is disappointing on economy, even in hybrid form

Range Rover Velar (2017-on)

£30,500-£95,000

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nd so the Range Rover family welcomes its fourth model, confidently making it the most prominent among Land Rover’s family of sub brands.

The Velar’s styling has won several awards, and it is indeed a fine-looking vehicle. It’s based upon the same architecture as the Jaguar F-Pace, which is a good start.

All things being relative, it has greater off-road ability than the

aforementioned vehicle, which may be good for Green Oval enthusiasts.

It’s available with a wide choice of engines, too, most of which combine good economy with usable everyday performance.

The interior is enormously stylish, in a classily minimalist kind of a way. Even by modern Ranget standards, though, it doesn’t feel like being in a Land Rover – and you do pay a premium for those looks…

Pros: Very stylish, interior, choice of engines, right now one of the freshest vehicles on the road Cons: Feels less like a Land Rover than possibly any other vehicle the company has ever made

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Discovery 1 (1989-1998)

£800-£18,000 BUYERS’ GUIDE

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he earliest version of the Discovery was aimed purely at providing a middle ground between the agricultural Defender and the luxury, upper-class Range Rover.

With underpinnings that made it just like a 100” Defender, it carried much of that model’s capabilities.

But it built on those with more refinement and a driving experience more suitable to families. What it didn’t have, though, was a Range Rover price tag.

Blessed with the same wonderful Tdi engines, the Discovery saved Land Rover and hit back at offerings from other nations by being an affordable all-rounder. And that still holds true even today.

Early Discovery 1s in fine condition are now classics and will continue to appreciate. We would recommend trying to find a tidy and later 300Tdi example, but watch out for body rust – the boot floor, arches, door shuts and footwells.

Pros: Almost as good as the Defender off-road, but cheaper to buy, nicer to drive and more practical as an everyday car Cons: The body rusts like it’s been doused in sea water

Discovery 2 (1998-2004)

£1000-£12,000

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ollowing on from the firstgeneration Discovery, in 1998 Land Rover gave its family SUV some minor cosmetic tweaks and a whole new power unit in the shape of the Td5.

The engine is arguably Land Rover’s most reliable unit and it’s a strong performer out of the box, although it does lend itself to being tuned – just make sure any mods have been done properly. You can also buy a V8, but the fuel bill isn’t

going to be welcome, plus they’re more temperamental. As are the electrics on all examples.

Unlike on the D1, its the chassis that’s the problem, not the body.

We all know that Discos make for a great tow car, and consequently many of the rear chassis on D2s have dipped their rears into the sea.

Not all of them live to tell the tale...

Get a later example for more creature comforts and a locking centre diff, too.

Pros: Td5 power and reliability, great all-rounder, better comfort than D1, diff locks standard for ‘03 onwards (model dependent) Cons: Rear chassis redefines the term ‘rust prone’. Dashboard warning lights (the infamous ‘three amigos’) are but a puddle away

Discovery 3/4 (2004-2017)

£2450-£34,000

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he Discovery went through a dramatic revamp for its launch in 2004, but it came out the other side as one hell of a vehicle.

Greatly improved in terms of power and refinement, the Disco 3 received the relatively economical 2.7 TDV6 engine (although the thirsty 4.4 V8 petrol was an option) and became the first Land Rover to be given Terrain Response. If you need one vehicle in your life, this

could be the one that ticks the most boxes at once.

Be wary of maintenance costs, especially as you approach the 105,000-mile/seven-year mark that means the timing belt is due – in many cases it’s a body-off job.

The 3.0 TDV6 and SDV6 engines are even better, with monumental amounts of torque. Luxury has also increased significantly in later examples. A later SDV6 model is best.

Pros: Off-road capability, usability for every occasion, luxury on later models, torque of 3.0-litre engines Cons: Maintenance costs, air compressor on D3s, D4s not so cheap

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BUYERS’ GUIDE Discovery 5 (2017-on)

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aunched a couple of years ago, the Disco 5 has received high praise for taking the utilitarian Land Rover into new territory.

Land Rover needed to improve economy in particular with this edition of the Disco, and having chopped 480kg from the kerbweight, along with introducing new engines, they’ve taken one huge step towards doing so.

Having driven the latest Discovery, we can confirm that it has

£24,500-£80,000 lost none of its versatility and is comfortably the most capable Land Rover currently on sale.

All of the engines have great flexibility and, along with its increasingly upmarket interior, the new Disco 5 is one of the best machines to cover long distances in, whether that’s on the road or not.

It’s easy to overspend on options, but any Disco will do all you ask of it. The high-speccers really are fabulous to sit in, though.

Pros: Immense blend of comfort,class and practicality Cons: The first Disco that doesn’t feel in any way like a truck. Range Rover style luxury may discourage you from using that practicality

Discovery Sport (2015-19)

£13,000-£33,000

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rought in to replace the Freelander 2, the Discovery Sport was the vehicle that turned the Discovery brand into a family.

It has come to be so much more than a re-badged Freelander, though. For starters, the Discovery Sport has seven seats (just), drives better than a Freelander 2 and is now more refined thanks to the Ingenium Td4 engine.

Land Rover is now churning out substantial units of the baby Disco,

now even matching the Evoque for pace as one of the fastest-selling vehicles they make.

It’s a more usable vehicle than the Evoque, though, and you’re less likely to find yourself on the receiving end of mocking banter for driving a car designed by one of the Spics Girls.

Grab a cleverly-spec’d SE Tech for a car that can be as practical as a daddy Disco, but for a more attractive price.

Pros: More practical than an Evoque – and less vulgar. Seven seats, capable enough off-road Cons: Back seats only for small mammals, price of high-spec models

Discovery Sport (2019-on)

£21,000-£52,000

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he second-generation Disco Sport came along only four years after the first. That’s because once again, it’s related to the Evoque, which was ready for a full new model in 2019.

The Sport is a premium midsized SUV with seven seats and, by the standards of its class, a decent level of off-road ability. It’s a massively popular choice for the school run – and, with the arrival of

a plug-in hybrid option last year, as a company car.

The Discovery Sport is a highly refined vehicle to drive – smooth, quiet, responsive and generally streets ahead of the old one. Cabin quality has taken a step up from the first model too – it’s now a totally convincing premium vehicle, and the range offers enough choices to suit anybody with the means to buy one.

Pros: Classy and practical cabin, all-round good to drive, PHEV model is a go-to tax-buster Cons: For the price of some models, you can go 100% on-trend and get a new Defender

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