Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2018 i Land Rover Monthly

This is the time of the year when you go to the shed to check that all your camping gear is present and correct. I normally take it all out on the first bright and sunny day of the year, open up the tents, check that all the tent pegs are there, see if there is enough gas for the BBQ and air my sleeping bags. Everything normally smells a little musty after a long winter like we’ve just had. Talking of camping, I really enjoyed doing our cover feature (page 46) this month for the very simple reason that everyone in attendance had a great story to tell. Although they own very different types of Land Rovers, all their rigs were kitted for comfy camping and overlanding. No hotel…

ORIGINALITY IS king, in my book, and I was reminded of that during my recent visit to Cooma in Australia for the Land Rover 70th anniversary celebrations. I was asked to do a bit of judging at the show, and had to award prizes for Best Restoration and Most Original Vehicle in my category. But how do you define most original? Do you choose something that’s hardly been used but is in near-perfect condition, or a vehicle that has patina – the scars of a hard-working life, proudly displayed? In the end I had no trouble in giving the prize for Most Original Vehicle to the Series I 86-inch truck cab, pictured above, with original Bronze Green paint that had been weathered almost down to the bare metal. The owner…

“Some might say I’m obsessed with G4, but all I can say is that I enjoy it” WHEN THE G4 Challenge was launched in 2003 it captured the imagination of a generation of adventure fans who followed the progress of the teams as they ran, swam, cycled, kayaked and drove off-road in some of the most challenging places on the planet. The event was short-lived, with Land Rover’s new owners Tata pulling the plug in 2008, on the eve of the planned 2009 event, but by then it had a legion of enthusiastic followers – and none more dedicated than Richard Stock. The 64-year-old garage owner literally lives the G4 dream and there’s nothing he loves more than driving into the countryside in one of his four G4 Land Rovers,…

FORMER AIRCRAFT technician Dave, 70, admits he has a flair for inventing and precision engineering – and his amazing Sankey trailer conversion proves that is no idle boast. A flick of a switch is all it takes to set in motion a superb hydraulics system that converts the trailer into a home-from-home in a matter of seconds. But this example of engineering excellence came about through necessity nine years ago, when Dave suffered a series of health setbacks that culminated in heart bypass surgery. “I was at a loss with what to do with the rest of my life,” he says. “I needed a hobby and I’ve been building it ever since, under a three-metre marquee in my back yard.” Once erected, Dave’s trailer tent boasts a double bed, as…

Instagram launched on October 6, 2010. Within three months it hit one million active users. By September 2017 that number had grown to 800 million, with many experts believing it will reach a billion this year. If you couldn’t care less about social networking apps, bear with me, because I will be talking Land Rovers very soon. To be honest, until recently I had no bloody clue what Instagram was about. I just assumed (like a lot of things now I find myself creeping towards 40) that it was some trendy thing for cool kids. It was only when editor Patrick asked me to chase up a lead for a feature he found via Instagram, that I thought I’d better look into it. It turns out Instagram is pretty straightforward:…

If you are into your Land Rovers and live in Australia, there really was only one place you could be over the Easter long weekend. We are, of course, talking about the 70th anniversary celebrations held in Cooma. Now, to the uninformed, Cooma may seem like a bit of a random place to hold such a celebration, but when you look at the history of the area it is clear to see why – it is the largest town in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales and between 1949 and 1966 some 715 Land Rovers were put to work on the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme. It is for this reason Cooma is regarded as the birthplace of Land Rovers in Australia for so many enthusiasts of the marque.…

The heat of the day drives us out of our tent by 7.00 am and we crack on with the remainder of the Holland track before heading to the oldest city in Western Australia, Albany. We take the time to freshen up with a shower at Middleton beach before exploring the south-west coast of Australia. With the sun setting, we go in search of a camp spot. As we haven’t seen the coast for a while, we fancy an ocean view. The Aussies do love the outdoors and especially motor camping. As a result, there are many spectacular free camp spots dotted around the country. We pick a place on the map that looks good and head down a red dirt road towards the coast. A few kangaroos are frolicking…

IT’S BEEN a bleak spring this year, with winter reluctant to release its grip on the landscape. The heavy snows of March were followed by torrential rain in April, which is bad news in the Northamptonshire valley that I call home, with the swollen and swirling waters of the River Nene bursting their banks. It’s at times like this that my dependable Ninety is my vehicle of choice. Throughout the worst of this weather, a very determined gang of Polish workers carried on building the water turbine down by the river, working outdoors in conditions that most Brits would consider impossible. It involved digging a new bypass channel and installing the turbine – a giant Archimedes screw about six feet in diameter and ten feet long – in a new…

Is it the only one of its kind in Ireland? I have asked around on a number of the obvious Land Rover forums and so far I have not been able to find any other Defenders with the factory fitted BMW 2.8i six-cylinder petrol engine›››. On the one hand, the idea that I have something unique is great, but on the other hand it would be good to know and meet other owners. My recently-imported Defender 90 Station Wagon was purchased from the former owner in South Africa almost six months before it eventually landed in the British Isles. I had completed the deal on the unseen (other than in lots of photographs) Land Rover by transferring the required (large) amount of money to the vendor, found through the Defender…

I had been planning for more than three years to rebuild a Defender 110 onto a new chassis, with a full mohair soft top to use on the green lanes of County Donegal. It would be stored at my bolthole near one of Ireland’s most northerly points. While getting the parts and money together to build this project, I had been using my old left-hand-drive 88in V8 as my Donegal Land Rover. This had been in my ownership for a long time, but was no longer used for the activities which I had developed it for – fairly extreme off-roading with the Northern Ireland Land Rover Club (NILRC). These days I enjoy my off-road driving at a more sedate pace on the country lanes of Donegal, but the old 88…

Tell us about Sophie, your project Series IIA... A good friend was looking for a Series Land Rover for himself and his two sons. He found Sophie, a rebuild in progress, and purchased her. Once he got her home he realised she was still a long way from being finished. So, when another complete and original SIIA came up for sale, he bought it as well and put Sophie up for sale. I managed to convince Greg (my boyfriend – and avid Land Rover lover) to embark on another rebuild – this time for me. So I sold one of my motorbikes and bought Sophie. What sort of condition is the engine in? We’ve only been busy on the project for five months so the engine is a bit of…

BEAULIEU WILL be celebrating 70 years of our favourite 4x4 with its Simply Land Rover show on Sunday June 24. Highlights include Simply Rummage, an autojumble for all those essential and hard-to-find spare parts and accessories, and an off-road Forest Drive. Held in association with Land Rover Experience West Country, this separately charged feature will give enthusiasts the chance to try their vehicles on the challenging course and practise their off-road driving skills. Those without their own Land Rover have the option to drive or ride in a Land Rover Experience vehicle. Visitors to the show can also expect to see hundreds of Land Rovers, of all ages and models, parked up in the grounds of the National Motor Museum, giving visitors the chance to catch up, compare vehicles and…

SOLIHULL’S FIRST-ever festival of Land Rovers, LR Fest, will take place over the weekend of June 22-24. Featuring rare vintage cars, such as Huey the very first Series I (pictured), a 4x4 enthusiasts’ area, off-road driving experiences, outdoor cinema and family entertainment, there really is something for everyone. To add to the festival feel, there will be street food and bars, too. Melanie Palmer, Director, Solihull BID, said: “We are thrilled to be working with Jaguar Land Rover to bring an amazing community experience to the people of Solihull and beyond. There will be lots of surprises and activities for everyone to enjoy, including off-road demonstrations for visitors to understand how these iconic vehicles handle challenging terrains.” More details about the Solihull LR Fest will be released over the coming…

The Land Rover landscape is changing faster than the asking price of a half-decent Defender. By 2020 all Land Rovers models will have an electrification option. If you said that to a Land Rover engineer at the launch of the original Range Rover in 1970 they’d have you locked up in an institution. They have named this new plug-in hybrid luxury Range Rover the P400e and prices start at £86,965. According to the sales execs at JLR, 20 per cent of all orders for the current Range Rover options are for this latest variant. Soon one in five new Range Rovers on the road will be hybrids. Remember what I said about changing landscape? So how does it work? The 2.0-litre four-cylinder Ingenium petrol engine works in conjunction with an…

GROUNDHOG TENT PEGS PRICE £5 We are all missing a few tent pegs so why not upgrade yours to these ten-inch extra-strong pegs that are great to use when the ground is rock-hard. You can use the green plastic hooks to attach the guy lines. Eight per pack. halfords.com HANDHELD CB PRICE €139.99 The K-PO PANTHER is a pro handheld CB radio that has all the Euro and UK channels pre-programmed, so you just have to switch it on, and its own Lithium-Ion battery pack. Features include 4 W output, backlit LCD with signal meter, dual watch, scan function, frequency display and roger beep. k-po.com ARB GLOVES PRICE £28.24 Protect your precious hands and fingers during a recovery, lane clearing or general Land Rover work with these robust ARB recovery…

It is a common saying among Land Rover owners that our vehicles don’t leak oil, they just mark their territory. Or to quote another well-known Land Rover saying: “If it isn’t leaking, that’s because it’s empty”. It is true that older Land Rovers can be a little less than oil-tight. There is a lot of very old-fashioned design and technology in the drivetrain of even a last-of-the-line Defender, dating from an era when all British cars, trucks and motorcycles leaked a little bit of oil and no one was much bothered by it. I would class this not so much under “leaks” as “seepage”. The gaskets between components become damp with oil; ditto the edges of oil seals, and from time to time enough oil accumulates in one place to…

IT’S SUMMER TIME and the living is easy… provided you’re in the best places to enjoy it. Happily, location is never a problem if you have a Land Rover to get you there. We all know that Solihull’s finest will take us to places that other vehicles can’t reach – and if you add a camping rig to the equation you really have got the best of all worlds. Today, in a grassy meadow in the picturesque Great Ouse valley upstream of Bedford, we’ve assembled five very different Land Rover camping combos, ranging from a small but perfectly-formed ex-G4 Challenge Freelander and its adventure-orientated accessories, to the imposing bulk of an ex-military 101 Forward Control that has been converted to a go-anywhere home for a celebrity bouncer. Also here for…

Yes, it looks a wreck. But this long-lost and sorry-looking Series I is one of the most important Land Rovers to have surfaced in recent years. In fact, after HUE 166 – the first pre-production Land Rover to have been built after the fabled Centre-Steer – it is possibly the most important vehicle in Jaguar Land Rover’s own collection. How come? Because this example, chassis R07, is believed to have been exhibited outside the 1948 Amsterdam motor show, the first event at which a Land Rover appeared in public. It’s one of three vehicles that are thought to have been displayed there. L05, a mobile welding unit, was on the Land Rover stand indoors; L03 and R07 (which at that time was left-hand drive and numbered L07) were outdoors, giving…

We are lucky to live in the UK, home to some of the finest and most diverse countryside on planet Earth. One minute you can be bobbing along the rocky tracks of the Lake District and then a day or two later you can be wild camping on an isolated beach on the Scottish coast with only your Land Rover for company. We are also fortunate to have a fairly conservation-minded government, so forests and wildlife do enjoy more protection than some of their counterparts in other countries. For this month’s greenlaning experience we are in Thetford Forest, the UK’s largest manmade lowland forest. It covers an area of about 19,000 hectares, so you can easily fill a day laning along these seemingly never-ending tracks. The forest was established by…

Famous for its chocolate, beer and waffles, Belgium also has a terrific network of greenlanes that will take you into the very heart of this small nation. Bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and the North Sea, Belgium covers an area of 11,787 square miles and has a population of about 11 million people. The country is divided into three regions, two of which, the Flemish and Walloon regions, are in turn subdivided into provinces; and the third region, the Brussels Capital Region, is neither a province nor a part of a province (though you will still find a decent network of greenlanes). Finding Belgium’s network of dirt tracks requires some research and the extent of those tracks varies between those regions. Generally, throughout Belgium you are allowed to…

Series bonnets use the time-honoured construction method of an aluminium skin over a steel frame secured by rivets. Inevitably, the steel and aluminium succumb to electrolytic reaction between the metal types where paint or other protective coatings have broken down, allowing moisture to undermine them where they meet. In addition to corrosion between the metal types, the steel frames will happily rust out on their own, as was the case with mine. Years of being stood outside meant condensation had built up inside the frame as ambient temperatures changed and humidity levels rose and fell. Without the rising heat of a running engine to dry out the metal channels, they rust through. Inactivity due to the bonnet remaining closed for extended periods also allows moisture to pool inside the frame…

LAND ROVER has paid tribute to the moment when the engineering director of Rover, Maurice Wilks, first drew the shape for the original Land Rover in the sand of Red Wharf Bay, with a 250-metre wide outline of a Defender in the French Alps. Snow artist Simon Beck, who specialises in creating geometric outlines on foot, drove a Defender to get close to the top of La Plagne and then walked 10.2 miles to create the sketch. Beck said: “Making my snow art requires endurance, accuracy and strength – all attributes shared with the Defender. Its iconic shape is so simple and recognised across the world; this must be the most recognisable piece of art I’ve ever made.” Enthusiasts of the Land Rover brand will celebrate World Land Rover Day…

Send us your shot email patrick@lrm.co.uk  to feature your photo in LRM…

“Is this the ultimate camping set-up? Just to make sure the couple have some serious travel plans” THE PROFESSIONALISM with which Dave and Jo have converted their ex-military Pulse Defender into a camping combo to die for should come as no surprise, because this talented couple run Freedom Trailers – a company that specialises in building bespoke trailer-cum-roof tents. “We talked for ages about getting a Land Rover camper,” says Dave. “Should we get a 6x6? Maybe a Foleys conversion? Then I found this for sale and Jo said: ‘Let’s just do it’.” That was two years ago. The 1998 300Tdi Defender 130 ambulance conversion had been retired from active service in Afghanistan and Iraq. It had 71,000 kilometres on the clock, sand and dust everywhere and original stretchers and…

“Guy Ritchie was fascinated by my 101 and came over and chatted with me about cars for hours” THIS CONVERTED Forward Control is different to the other Land Rovers in this feature, because it’s where owner Teddy lives. His 101 is the place he returns to every evening after putting in a shift as a security officer in the film industry. It’s a big car for a big man. Teddy, 36, is a bouncer to the stars, but to him the star of the show is his beloved Forward Control. “I’m ex-army and ever since I passed my driving test in 1998 I’ve driven nothing but Land Rovers. Discoverys, Defenders, you name it – but the one I had always dreamed of was a 101.” That dream came true four…

The Range Rover Turbo D has always been seen in the UK as a bit of a lemon, the poor relation to its V8-powered brethren. This is still reflected today in typically lower values, even when immaculate and low-mileage examples come up for sale. But back in the day it was a significant sales success in continental Europe, and now it’s time to reappraise the Turbo D and its contribution to the success of the first-generation Range Rover. So here I am, piloting a 1987 Range Rover Turbo D that has recently been acquired by the Dunsfold Collection from its first and only owner in Somerset, driving to Solihull to meet many of the key players in what was at the time perhaps the most significant initiative taken by Land…

GETTING THERE P&O Ferries sail from Hull to Zeebrugge; the ferry runs seven days a week and takes approximately 13 hours. Other ferry routes from the UK to France include Dover to Calais, Dover to Dunkirk and Poole to Cherbourg. You can also take your Land Rover through the Channel Tunnel. GREENLANING Belgium boasts a wide variety of greenlanes that meander through the landscape, though exploring this network of tracks does require some research so that you can determine whether you are allowed to drive on them. Most of the tracks are public, but avoid any with No Entry signs! Here are some useful inks to greenlane tracks and maps: • wikiloc.com/trails/offroading/belgium • offroad-belgium.be/ • greatwar.co.uk/places/sommecamping.htm down to the narrow pathways; even barns, rivers and springs. If you know where you…

“Whatever happens, just make sure you call me when you get there!” James Holmes drills into me, just before I finally pressed the starter button and left for home in my Series I. We’ve spent a year looking at the car in absolute bits, then just tootling around a farmyard. I was now about to drive it properly. What would it drive like? How would I get on with it? Would I like the car? I was about to find out one way or the other. So, what was it like? In short, fantastic. James and I had spent the morning finishing small little bits, checking this and that, mainly in nervous silence. We’d waited a long time to see the car leave the workshop, and now the moment was…

We all know the Rover V8 is a great engine. Smooth, quiet, with ample power and torque, it is the perfect partner to an automatic Range Rover or Discovery. It is, by and large, a fairly reliable unit, and problems are now well known. Crucially they need oil in good condition, so regular oil and filter changes are the best thing you can do to maintain the health of your engine and prevent issues around the camshaft and top end wear. Other major issues like slipped liners are a little less easy to prevent, as some units suffer from this, others don’t. Most of the other potential problems on later Efi versions of the engine will be sensor-related. This is another area where accurate diagnosis of symptoms can help pinpoint…

With the finishing touches being put to the new V8 engine at V8 specialist ACR in Deeside, workshop time here has been spent in preparing the Ninety to receive its engine and modified transmission. And to begin with, there was a feeling of going over old ground as we started removing the transmission for the second time around. The first time was many months ago when we removed the gearbox and transfer box to fit a higher ratio transfer box from a Discovery. At the time, it was not certain whether the vehicle would finish up with its 200Tdi diesel still, or whether a petrol V8 would be installed – either way, the Discovery ratio transfer box was always going to provide the higher gearing that would suit my mainly…

LAND ROVER must be the only marque in the world that’s most highly regarded by folk who have never actually owned one. “They’re tough and they go on for ever,” they’ll tell you, “and they don’t rust like normal cars because they’re made of aluminium.” They’re kind of right in their first assertion – they are indeed tough – but the main reason some of them don’t go on for ever is because on most Land Rovers there’s a lot more steel than aluminium – and that steel rusts spectacularly. Most modern cars are designed with anti-corrosion in mind, so rust isn’t a problem. But it is still very much an issue on all Series and Defender models, as well as first and second-generation Discoverys and Range Rover Classics. Chassis…