ROBERT COUCHER

The Driver

Car blokes have loved early Land Rovers for yonks Landies are lousy at most things – no grunt, no handling, no roadholding, no refinement – yet they are absolutely at home in the British countryside, small enough to nip along narrow country lanes while piled with all sorts of rural stuff such as logs and farming supplies They’re brilliant at Britishoff-roading,too Maybenotoff-roadinginAfrica, Australia or the Middle East, but just the job here in our slightly less demanding muddy and wet conditions, as envisaged by chief engineer Maurice Wilks

And no matter if you ’ re a car bod who has two left thumbs, because all you need to keep a Landy running is a hammer, screwdriver and adjustable spanner and no real mechanical nous A Landy is deconstructed and simple and, once you have fuel and a spark, it should run And, like bucolic country houses, a Land Rover should always look as wellused as your favourite Barbour jacket,sononeedforanyexpensive restorative bodywork or trim The rougher, the better

Older Landies were cheap for many years, bought as fashionable toys (alongside the Labrador and fishing tackle) as real working farmers got shot of them in preference for pick-ups with heaters Like all good things in life, as enthusiasts discovered the joys of these simple off-roaders they became ‘lifestyle’, so no longer cost hundreds of pounds but rather thousands. The good news is that a scruffy old Landy can now be made to go and stop extremely well, thanks to specialists who offer the full mechanical and dynamic works, without interfering with the all-important careworn looks from Hampshire to the Hamptons…

In the late 1960s, before old Landies took off in the UK, the same thing happened to Porsches in California. New Porsches have long been owned by demanding professional types so, as soon as pristine 356s started to show signs of use, they’d offload them in preference for a shinynew911.Ratty356sweretakenupbythecounterculture hippy lot (who revelled in their cars’ hard-used appearance), proudly becoming rat-rods in the extreme, or Outlaw Porsches, customised by their owners with the focus on mechanical performance and not tedious Kardex concours originality.

I was late to this Porsche thing when I wrangled a 356C off my father in the 1980s. Unfortunately, I’d not realisedtheobviousattractionsofthisoriginal,patinated 356, so spent an inordinate amount of time repainting the faded metallic silver coupé gleaming white I should have left the poor thing alone and just fitted a roof-rack Historic endurance rally competitors have long understood the opportunities classic cars offer serious drivers who want a sporting machine with attitude and capability OldLandiesaretooagriculturalunlessyougo the full transplant, and pretty, delicate Porsche 356s are sufficientlycollectabletobereturnedtoperfectconcours condition But what about ratty old 911s? For many a year Francis Tuthill has been constructing rally-spec 911s to take on African Safari rallies His son Richard has developedice-racing911salongside the rally-winners. Then some imaginative dude thought: ‘I’ve got this boring, four-wheel-drive, automatic Porsche 964; what the hell am I to do with it? I know, let’s jack it up, shove on some fat offroad tyres and emulate the allconquering 959 for a few dollars.’

Anditworked.ThecoolPorsches are now those tough ’ n ’ scruffy 4x4 964s, as effective in LA canyons as they are in the snowy Alps. Even super-serious Singer has ‘re-imagined’ an All-Terrain Competition Study (ATC)withthehelpofTuthill.Reallyallyouneedisthe correct tyres for the conditions and the Porker will do the rest. But guess what Porsche has just launched? Its own, new, off-road 911 – the Dakar!

If you can’t quite stretch to a rugged 4x4 911, the next logical step is the currently unloved Cayenne. Zuffenhausen’s bosses looked at the car market evolving into the 2000s and realised that SUVs were what consumers wanted, so its engineers built one. And a very good one at that. But an elderly Cayenne is still a suburban family run-around that lacks the laissez-faire hipness of an Outlaw 356. Not cool.

Except one can be: yes, bigger alloy wheels shod with chunky all-weather tyres, the removal of front and rear bumpers to increase approach and departure angles, the addition of some spotlights, sill-bars and a roof-rack, and soon your bargain-priced Cayenne (the boggo, 3.2-litre V6 is just fine for this task, no need for an expensive Turbo) can be transformed into a fit-forpurpose, active Dakar rep, capable of challenging any early Land Rover…

Both off road and – most certainly – on.

Robert Coucher

Robert grew up with classic cars, and has owned a Lancia Aurelia B20 GT, an Alfa Romeo Giulietta and a Porsche 356C He currently uses his properly sorted 1955 Jaguar XK140 as his daily driver, and is a founding editor of Octane

The ancient kingdom of Jordan is the crossroads between Asia, Europe and Africa, as well as being a crucible of culture since the palaeolithic era, and next autumn it will be the staging point for one of the most exciting adventures ever unleashed by HERO-ERA, the Badawi Trail to the Last Oasis

The Badawi Trail (Badawi is Arabic for Desert Dweller) winds its way from Aqaba to Dubai, over 16 days of discovery this is a route that will channel your inner Bedouin, from desert floor to soaring mountains, travelling in tracks cut into the sand by pilgrims, armies, explorers and nomads, and through landscapes, that until recently, have seldom been seen by the western world It’s time to throw on your Thoab and discover the wonders of the roads that lead to Liwa.

The route will pass by these wonderful places: Aqaba, Petra, Dead Sea, Amman, Wadi Rum, Tabuk, Al Ula, Madinah, Jeddah, Taif, Al Wahbah, Riyadh, Liwa Oasis, Hameem, Al Ain, Jebel Akhdar, Sur, Muscat, Fujeirah, and finally Dubai