Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2018 i Land Rover Monthly

How cool is Ivan Cooper’s D3 on the cover? Does it make you want to go out and get yourself one? Or if you already own one, do you want to beef it up and take it on an epic trip? Well that is exactly what this former British Royal Marines Corps Colonel is doing, along with his young family. Read all about it on page 46. As a history graduate and Land Rover fan, I really enjoyed doing the Tracing the Past feature on page 56. It’s something I have wanted to do for a while, drive from Red Wharf Bay, where the story of the green oval really began, to the Land Rover factory at Solihull, while taking in as much history as possible. It’s a trip that…

THE HUGELY popular and successful Classic Land Rover Show at the British Motor Museum will return for 2018 under the new name of Gaydon Land Rover Show. Now in its fourth year, it will take place on May 12-13 and is encouraging all visitors to display their vehicles to celebrate Land Rover’s 70th birthday. Tom Caren, Show Manager at the British Motor Museum told us: “This event is an absolute must for all Land Rover fans. Along with fabulous displays, there will be heritage parades, club celebrations and live music.” It will also feature some of the rival vehicles that were in development at the same time as Land Rover – so expect crews from the Austin Champ and Austin Gipsy clubs, in addition to guest speakers and commentary from…

FIFTY YEARS after Land Rover carved out the luxury SUV sector with the Range Rover it is now defining another new genre filling a gap in the market that nobody knew existed. Nicknamed the SV Coupé, the limited-edition two-door Range Rover was unveiled for the first time at the Geneva Motor Show. Created by Land Rover Design and Special Vehicle Operations, no more than 999 will be hand-assembled to the buyer’s own taste at the SVO Technical Centre in Warwickshire. And the price tag? A mere £240,000 – that’s three times the full-size Range Rover’s entry point. So what do you get for your money? Well, it obviously takes a reasonable amount of engineering to turn a five-door SUV into a three-door, but you also get a choice of colourways…

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THIS YEAR marks not only the 70th birthday of Land Rover, but also the 20th anniversary of arguably the finest model it ever built – the truly beautiful 1998 Defender 50th Anniversary Limited Edition. And today we’re meeting the owner of what is probably the best of them. That man is Greg King, for whom ownership means more than just being the custodian of one of the most desirable Defenders ever made. After all, Land Rovers are – literally – his life. As a boy, most of Greg’s pals fantasized of becoming engine drivers, fighter pilots or playing football for England. But Greg dreamed of building Land Rovers – and his dreams came true. “The Defender 50th was the first project I worked on as a newly-qualified engineer,” says Greg.…

AFTER A HARD day's desert driving through the red heart of Australia, adventurers Haydon and Me-An Bend settle back to enjoy a dramatic sunset at their impromtu campsite. There are no mod cons here, deep in the Australian Outback and hundreds of miles from civilisation. But they don't care because there is no light pollution and they know that tonight they'll enjoy the incomparable lightshow of a million stars in the ink-black sky of the southern hemisphere. Join them on their latest amazing overland travels on page 106.…

2018 started with a field-find of rare Range Rovers Classics in the Cambridgshire Fens, with no fewer than four two-doors and one early four-door. I was approached by a chap who had bought them all just to get a Series III Stage 1 V8 that was also sat with them, as the vendor only would sell as one whole lot. So the Stage 1 buyer was also stuck with five unwanted Range Rovers. “Would I be interested?” he asked. “Too true!” I replied. I was unable to go view them immediately, but he sent me several photos, from which it was obvious they were in a pretty poor condition, but mostly complete. The one that stood out for me was the early four-door, which was a 1983 3.5 V8, three-speed…

When Patrick, the editor, asked me what the subject for this piece was going to be about, before I had chance to reply, he quickly interjected: “It had better not be about the recent bad weather; that’ll be too predictable”. To be fair he had a point, but I’m British so I feel I need to use this opportunity to say how grateful I am for owning a Land Rover, especially during the recent snow fall. Half of my family originate from Cumbria, and my wife Louise’s family are all from the North East. Beast from the East? To them, it was just winter and all that was required was their “big coat”. It just so happened that, as the weather warnings came in, we had a few days booked…

Angle grinders are essential tools for DIY Land Rover enthusiasts. Reluctant fittings and corrosion can frustrate repairs and maintenance or prevent them altogether. Drastic measures, such as using an angle grinder to cut through seized bolts and remove corroded chassis sections are par for the course and, in many instances, the most cost-effective method deployed by garages and specialists. Mains and air-powered angle grinders have their limitations even in a workshop environment if safe access can’t be gained or where leads and hoses prove obstructive. Regular angle grinder users such as myself welcomed the arrival of cordless angle grinders in much the same way as home cordless phones meant not sitting on the bottom step in a cold hall trying to have a private conversation. The big leap for quality…

Q I have sold my previous Freelander 2 and bought a newer one, and I’d like some advice on preventing an old problem happening to my new one. The passenger footwell of my previous Freelander 2 filled with water and had to be pumped out. I concluded it had come from the sunroof, but there was no obvious path from there into the car. The Land Rover workshop manual shows a drain from the sunroof runners on each side of the car above the B-posts, leading down the C-post to just behind the back wheel on each side. I found if I parked the car facing backwards down my sloping drive the water ingress reduced, but there was still a wet patch in the headlining. During my three years of…

HAVING BUILT up and run Goodwinch Limited for many years now, David Bowyer has decided to start taking life a bit easier. In 1984, two years after founding Overlander 4x4 magazine, David moved from Andover in Hampshire to Zeal Monachorum in Devon. Some of you may know that when he gave up editorship of the magazine, he founded David Bowyer’s Off Road Centre, which led to his early involvement with winches and teaching people to use them. This experience gave him the inspiration to start up his own business that we all know and love as Goodwinch. “I love researching, designing and developing new products, especially winches driven by 12 and 24 volt DC, AC mains, and petrol and diesel engines for specialist applications. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed developing the company…

EVER WANTED TO break a world record? You don’t have to take part in the Olympics – just owning a Land Rover and turning up in a field in Northamptonshire in June should be enough. Land Rover Monthly and the Billing Off-Road Show 2018 are bidding to set a new Guinness World Record for the largest parade of Land Rovers. The record attempt will take place on Saturday June 30 at Billing’s Off Road Course and is being supported by Lancaster Insurance. Participants will be driving a three-mile scenic route on flat grass and tracks, finishing with a photo of all the vehicles parked in full view of the main show site. All Land Rover and Range Rover owners and lovers are being encouraged to attend the show and get…

AS THE PROVERB says, there are always a few bad apples. In this case, it is three tourists who drove a rented nine-day-old £100,000 Range Rover onto a protected beach and found themselves trapped in sinking sand. Populated with seals, South Walney Nature Reserve in Cumbria is protected under several conservation designations. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area. Despite prominent ‘No Entry’ signs and a log barrier, the three men, believed to be from the East Midlands and en route to Scotland, went to great lengths to get onto the beach before getting stuck. After unsuccessful attempts to free the car, it sank deeper as the tide came in. It was towed away the next day with its…

THE NEW Land Rover Legends show at Bicester Heritage on May 26 – 27 is generating huge interest, according to organiser Richard Grafton of Historic Promotions. “Most of the national Land Rover clubs have now booked stands and we are looking forward to an exciting display of vehicles. We have already received a large number of nominations for the inaugural Land Rover National Awards,” he says. Owners can nominate their vehicles for the Awards via the event website at www.landroverlegends.com. The owners of shortlisted vehicles will receive free tickets and VIP weekend passes. Tickets for the show can also be ordered online and 20% discounts are available for the members of participating clubs. Among the awards is The Footman James Land Rover Legends Award. The award will be granted to…

MY LIFE IN LAND ROVERS Since having a Series IIA back in the mid 1980s, I think I’ve had most of the proper motors: Series I, SIIA, SIII (Lightweight), Discovery, Range Rover Classic, Defender 110 XS and, finally, YD64. This is the culmination of my life in Land Rovers. I spent a lot of time deciding how and what I wanted to end up with. YD64 has elements of various bespoke Defender houses and I’ve been asked quite a few times “Is that a Bowler?” or “Is that a Twisted?” – which I take as a huge compliment as the sticker on the back says it all: Built by Land Rover, Improved by Me! YD64 was bought new in September 2014 and the future-proofing started straight away. Within hours I…

MOST ENTHUSIASTS know by now that a Discovery 1 with a G-WAC registration, or a Range Rover P38 registered M-CVC, was likely used on the press launches for these models, and as such they’ve become quite collectable. Even early Freelanders, with their R-BAC or R-BDU factory registrations, have their followers. But what about all the Land Rovers that have come after them? At the moment, there are several pre-production or former press fleet vehicles from the late 1990s and 2000s turning up for sale that are going totally unrecognised. To most buyers and sellers, they’re just ageing 4x4s that can be picked-up cheaply and possibly discarded when something major goes wrong. But these are just as much a part of Land Rover history as all the Series vehicles and Range…

Are prices for older Land Rovers starting to return to earth? Just lately, whenever two or more Land Rover enthusiasts have gathered together the conversation has quickly turned to the seemingly insane prices being demanded for not-very-good vehicles. Series III values in particular seem to have doubled (and more) which is all very well if you already own one, but not such good news for young enthusiasts in particular. I know of a young lad who has been trying to pick up a halfway solid old Series III as a rolling restoration project and become very disillusioned with going to view vehicles (invariably described as “good condition for the year”) which are almost beyond help, yet priced at what a tatty but roadworthy Ninety would have fetched a couple of…

As Land Rover enthusiasts, we take an avid interest in where we have come from and where we are going. My love of Land Rovers began in 2003 when I attended the African leg of the inaugural Land Rover G4 Challenge. For a week I cruised along South Africa’s Garden Route in a bright orange G4 Defender, observing as competitors from all around the world battled it out for glory. I was hooked and not long after this I bought my first Land Rover, a Defender 90, of course. This was followed by an insatiable thirst for Land Rover knowledge. I read several books such as Born in Lode Lane by Roger Crathorne and First Overland by Tim Slessor and I religiously attended various Land Rover shows, but there was…

“The resto took a lot of time and money, but it was worth it” Carnoustie is a seaside town located on the shores of the North Sea. It is also one of the regular homes of Golf ’s premier tournament, the British Open. Once the golfing circus has packed its bags and moved on, the only birdies you are likely to see are flocks of seagulls. But if eagles are suddenly thin on the ground, the same can’t be said for Land Rovers. Dave is a mechanic by trade, and owns Carnoustie Tyres based in Barry Road, close to the town centre. He was born and bred in Tayside, and has lived in the Carnoustie area since he was 17 years old. “I started the business back in 1993, and…

DISCOVERY SPORT is the latest vehicle to be built at Jaguar Land Rover’s body and assembly plant at Halewood in Merseyside, just a few minutes drive from Liverpool’s historic river frontage. It shares the production facilities with Range Rover Evoque, which has been built here since 2011, but this plant has been assembling cars since 1963 when Ford Motor Company began building the Ford Anglia. In 1969, I visited this plant as a young engineering student to see Ford Corsairs rolling off the production line, and I remember being astounded to learn the plant built 1000 cars each week. Today, JLR are turning out almost that number of Discovery Sports and Evoques in a single day. Against the engineering complexity of these modern Land Rovers, the current production figures are…

I’M WRITING this on the (official) first day of spring, but you’d hardly believe it. The temperatures are way below zero, there’s snow everywhere and the weather is so cold that meteorologists have coined a new phrase for the icy-cold blast from Russia: the Beast from the East, they’re calling it. Mind you, I know a few unreconstructed off-roaders out Norfolk way who would answer to that name, too. Because of the weather, the roads are quiet now, as sensible folk stay indoors. But Land Rover fans are nothing if not unsensible, of course, and you have to admit there’s something special about taking a leisurely drive through the deserted, snow-white countryside. The once-frigid heater of my 1984 Ninety is a lot warmer since I had the 300Tdi engine installed…

This 2008 L322 Range Rover with the 3.6-litre TDV8 engine suffered complete drive failure after the transfer gearbox seized due to loss of oil. We suspect the oil had been leaking out of the transfer box for some time, unnoticed. The oil had leaked out through a hole in the transfer box case caused by corrosion where a steel transmission support insulator is bolted onto the cast aluminium transfer box. As the oil level dropped, the remaining oil would have become overheated and caused the transfer gearbox itself to overheat and then seize. The transfer gearbox on the L322 Range Rover does the same job as on other permanent four-wheel drive Land Rover vehicles, in providing drive from the gearbox to the front and rear axles, while also allowing for…

PRACTICALLY FROM the moment the first Discovery rolled off the production line in Solihull in 1989 this versatile model has been regarded as the very best tow car in the world. And that’s not just the opinion of biased Land Rover fanatics like me – all five incarnations of the Discovery have been voted best tow car in all the automotive awards. Discovery and towing are synonymous. They go together like fish and chips. So it comes as a big shock to the system when you suddenly learn of a flaw in the tow bar system of the Discovery 3 and 4, as well as first-generation Range Rover Sport. It certainly came as a shock to my sheep farmer mate, Martin. I’ve known Martin for over 20 years and he…

THE BEAST from the East shut schools, disrupted trains and flights and emptied supermarket shelves, but it also brought out scores of 4x4 heroes who worked tirelessly to help stranded drivers. In Kent for example, people were praised as snow heroes for coming to the rescue of hospital staff and carers by towing, or pushing, their trapped vehicles out of the snow; some even gave lifts to those with no way of getting to work or making it back from their shift. In Wiltshire, one good Samaritan helped tow 50 cars and several buses to safety after finishing his shift doing deliveries for Tesco around Trowbridge. According to the Wiltshire Times, Harry Veal (23) spent nearly five hours helping people up the hill of Sally in the Woods in heavy…

THE DUAL-CARRIAGEWAY is streaming wet after heavy rain as our pair of Defenders pull up at the traffic lights: black 110 in front, white 90 following. Alongside, a new Jaguar XF eases to a halt. The road is straight and clear, so when the lights change the temptation is too great to resist. Nail it! The all-terrain tyres briefly scrabble for grip before the traction control kicks in, and then with a mighty bellow the two Land Rovers launch themselves at the horizon, rev counter needles sweeping past 6000 rpm as their eight-speed auto boxes seamlessly keep their V8s’ massive torque and power fed to the tarmac. The Jaguar, which had doubtless been expecting an easy kill, has rapidly dwindled to a spec in the Defenders’ rear-view mirrors. Childish? Undoubtedly.…

Ever since childhood I’ve been fascinated by internal combustion engines of all shapes and sizes. There’s something magical about the way an engine converts fuel into forward motion. The variety of ways in which this can happen is almost endless – petrol, diesel, rotary, four-stroke, two-stroke, supercharged, turbocharged. Everything from a single-cylinder lawnmower engine to the 28-cylinder, 3500 hp Wasp Major aero lump operates on the same basic suck-squeeze-bang-blow principle. As soon as I was old enough to walk I was helping my father to repair whatever scrap yard refugee we had as our family car at the time. Helping, at that age, consisted mainly of picking up some oily bit of Ford Anglia or Bedford Beagle that my father had placed on the ground, gazing at it in wonder…

They’re calling it the new Defender – and no wonder. Some enthusiasts are switching allegiance to a Land Rover that’s every bit as capable as a 90 or 110, but twice as comfortable, though it doesn’t go rusty). We’re talking about the Discovery 3, of course. When it was launched in 2004 , Land Rover fans were bowled over by like a few years down the line, we wondered? enjoying the advantages of D3 ownership. This includes seasoned off-roaders and dedicated adventurers, who are eager to embrace the benefits of the third-generation Disco. What are those advantages? Well, let’s list them: • Value for money: Defenders for the price of a Discovery 3. These days you could buy two D3s for the price of a Defender. This is because collectors…

Early Land Rovers were made for the Scottish Borders, and there are still plenty of old vehicles knocking around earning their keep. One such example, is situated in Oxton, 25 miles south of Edinburgh, deep in farming country. The village sits astride the old medieval Royal Road, which acted as the main Anglo-Scottish highway for hundreds of years. Surrounded on three sides by hills it is also one of the staging posts on the Southern Upland Way. The villagers often get snowed in during the winter, as the council gritter truck cannot gain access from the nearby A68 trunk road. The locals have learned to fend for themselves and 4x4s like Morag Cunningham’s IIA certainly come in handy. “Our family come from a farming background and have been using Land…

Eighteen months ago, we set off from Greenwich in the UK with the sole goal of reaching the other side of the world, Australia. Now, on a short budget airline flight from Auckland to Melbourne, my wife and I are only four hours away from achieving our goal. But there are three of us on Operation Long Drive and our goal will not be truly met until Mary, our beloved Land Rover, is also in Australia. After meeting with our shipping agent in Melbourne to hand over some paperwork for customs clearance, we anxiously await the arrival of the ship containing our car. The plan is to get Mary released from quarantine before Christmas. We appreciate there is not any room for complications and any delay will mean that we…

Vehicle meets aren’t anything new, I’m guessing since the car was first on the roads meets have been organised by owners right down the years. Car meets are normally thought of as something classic car or single marque car enthusiasts hold. Or when it comes to Land Rovers mostly for Series models or even more specialist models. But of late they seem to have become more popular with enthusiasts of all makes and models of Land Rover, from the older to the newer ones: they are all turning up together. I must admit I do like these meets – they are a great way to spend a relaxing day. Talk green oval with other like-minded enthusiasts and look at Land Rovers. What is there not to like? And as a…

There is no such thing as bad weather, only a poor choice in gear. I missed the recent Beast from the East cold snap in the UK. I was on leave and no I was not on some sunny island enjoying cocktails while soaking up the rays. My wife Alison loves to ski and so we were in the French Alps, staying in a lovely old chalet that is managed by some good British friends of ours. As an African I am a little out of my depth when in skis and on the slopes. Still, I try. My family and I were in the basement apartment which has its own outside entrance but with temperatures reaching minus 27 degrees during our visit, we instead took the shortcut through the…

Did I tell you about my classic Range Rover? No, I don’t think I did, because although I have technically owned it for a year or so, this fine truck has only recently come into my possession. This time last year I was replacing the chassis in my good friend’s Discovery 2, and carrying out some other work at the same time – welding up rusted wheel arches and fitting centre differential lock, among other jobs. Matthew had purchased the D2 from LRM Editor, Patrick Cruywagen and was very pleased to be getting a family car on the road, so that he could take his growing boys off-road in safety. The Range Rover had been dry-stored in Matthew’s barn for three years, and he viewed it now as a true…

The basic engine blocks fitted to early Ninety models – the 12J 2.5-litre NA diesel and the 19J 2.5 turbodiesel – are very similar to the later 200Tdi and 300Tdi engines. This means that upgrading to a later engine, such as the 300Tdi conversion being carried out to the Ninety here, is fairly straightforward. The 200Tdi upgrade using a Defender engine is the easiest of all, and Land Rover actually offered a complete conversion kit, which could be installed in about one day. The 300Tdi conversion is a little more involved, particularly if one does not want to carry out welding to the chassis, as was the case with this project – the Land Rover had been rebuilt on a new galvanised chassis and the owner did not want the…

It seems a long time since we removed the original headlining material from the Ninety in preparation for dismantling the body prior to painting. We knew then that it was badly stained by mildew and airborne dirt around the rear roof vents, and was sagging in several places where the lining had pulled away from the rigid backing material. Even the backing had collapsed in places. Years of moisture inside the vehicle, coupled with heat and vibration, promotes mildew growth and causes the failure of the adhesive holding the lining to its backing material. Now, with the body repainted, the headlining was far too scruffy to be refitted, and that created quite a problem because the headlining components are no longer available for this 1989 model. Linings for later Defender…