Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2021 i Land Rover Monthly

FOR those of you who made it to this year’s Festival of Speed you may have seen the INEOS Grenadier in action as it made its first ever run up the Goodwood Festival of Speed’s iconic hillclimb, with Esteban Gutiérrez from the MercedesF1 team behind the wheel, writes Patrick Cruywagen I was lucky enough to see it go up Goodwood hill on Thursday and it’s fair to say it turned a lot of heads. Up front, its flat, unfussy surfaces, round lights, tapered bonnet and upright screen reminded me of the retro G-wagons, while the vertical rear end and side-opening tailgate with external spare wheel is definitely more original Defender, as is the horizontal shoulder line, square side and Alpine roof windows. There’s also a hint of Willys Jeep about…

TRACK ROD ADJUSTING WRENCH PRICE: £20.69 CONTACT: lasertools.co.uk LASER Tools’ new track rod adjusting wrench is designed along the traditional pipe-wrench style, but with added features to make a comfortable and efficient method of removing and adjusting track rods and track rod ends. The 18in (457mm) rubber-gripped handle gives great leverage while the jaws adjust between 10-35mm. FLAT PACK BBQ PRICE: £175.99 CONTACT: maverick4x4.co.uk FRONT Runner just keep on rolling out the new products and in an overlanding world where space is at a premium, a flat pack stainless steel BBQ is the only way to go. Quick and easy to set up. We love the grid handles that will help remove the grid and turn the BBQ into a fire pit! WINDOW SURROUNDS PRICE: £266.45 CONTACT: johncraddockltd.co.uk THESE Defender…

THE five-cylinder 2.5-litre Td5 Defenders arrived in 1998 and are particularly popular with enthusiasts, because they were the last of the Solihull-built engines and are generally pretty long-lasting – as long as they are properly serviced, at the correct intervals. But you don’t have to be an enthusiast to appreciate the welcome boost in power – 122 bhp and 221 lb-ft – compared to the Tdis’ 107 bhp and 195 lb-ft. The new engine was the first of the common-rail type fitted to Defenders and it is noticeably quieter and more refined than the Tdis, although no more economical. Top-end 20s (mpg) is what you can expect with an unladen Defender – less if you’re fully-loaded or towing. Talking of which, Td5 Defenders with their ample low-down torque make great…

WHEN Land Rover launched the new Defender they called it the most capable Land Rover ever created. You and I both know that the ‘most capable’ will not be able to challenge for motorsport honours at something like the Dakar Rally, Finke Desert Race or Desert 1000 in its standard format. Enter into the fray Bowler Motors, founded in 1985 and recently acquired by Jaguar Land Rover, this British company has been building magnificent off-road racing machines for major events such as the Dakar Rally and French Baja. In the past few months I have spent a lot of time off-roading in the new Defender, this included stints in the new V8 (see page 64) as well as my favourite of the lot, the six cylinder diesel. Now I find…

FOR many years, Land Rover enthusiasts driving in the Scottish Highlands could look forward to the otherwise unremarkable junction between the A85 and the A827, between Crianlarich and Killin. This is the location of Lix Toll Garage, an independent Land Rover specialist that had a pair of eye-catching vehicles displayed on their forecourt. Both were Series IIs. One was a bright yellow Cuthbertson conversion fitted with tracked bogies, and the other was a Forest Rover. When the garage changed hands they were sold, and both are now part of Claudio Sabo’s collection in Brazil. The Lix Toll Forest Rover was one of what are believed to have been just nine examples built by Roadless Traction Ltd of Hounslow in the late 1950s and early 1960s in response to a specific…

HAVING retired and downsized, the next step was travel. Following the Aussie mantra, ‘Adventure before Dementia’, the idea to travel around the world was hatched. Liz made it perfectly clear that it would only happen if there was a high level of comfort, hence the decision to tow a caravan. A plan of sorts was agreed: to roughly follow the Pan American Highway south starting in Canada, going around Central America by ship given some of the challenges it poses – after all this is a retirement trip not an expedition – before ending up in Ushuaia, Argentina. From there we’d go by boat to South Africa and travel up to East Africa and then on to Australia and New Zealand. In May 2016 we shipped to Halifax, Nova Scotia;…

Any restoration is never really finished and I am always striving for better. With this in mind, I’ve gone thoroughly over UAO again over the last few months. Pedal heights were checked, clutch free play was re-adjusted correctly, brake action was adjusted, steering play adjusted, propshafts and pedal nipples greased, gearbox fluids changed, rocker gasket changed, valve clearances checked, and I silenced the one rattle on the car, in replacing the tiny anti-rattle spring on the transfer’box gear lever ball. Concerned about the new E10 fuel, I changed the no-brand rubber fuel pipes from tank to pump for smart cupronickel. There is now just a single, easy to inspect and change rubber hose from pump to carb. After the myriad tweaks, tools and cut knuckles, the car has never driven…

WEIRD and wonderful best describes many of the brilliant vehicles on show at this year’s Gaydon Land Rover Show. This event is normally the first of the year’s Landy shows, but due to lockdown this year’s was pushed back to the very end of July, which gave the show a welcome back-to-normal feeling. Outside among the Land Rovers, everyone was enjoying the freedom to wander around and enjoy the selection of some of the finest and unusual Land Rovers assembled. This year’s theme was 51 years of Range Rover, with the Range Rover Register assembling a superb collection of over 50 classics, including seven Velars, a 1970 press vehicle and the famous driveable chassis also from the press launch. Other notable models among the P38s, L322s and L405 was a…

“It’s taken him over 12 years of going to autojumbles to find that part, and he still wants to haggle” IAN WEST Ian’s been driving Land Rovers for over 40 years and drawing for LRM since issue 2. He lives on the coast of East Anglia and drives a Freelander 2 DISCLAIMER: The views expressed by contributors and advertisers are not necessarily those of the publishers. Every care is taken to ensure that the contents of the magazine are accurate but the publishers cannot accept responsibility for errors. While reasonable care is taken when accepting advertisements, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for any resulting unsatisfactory transactions. They will however investigate any written complaints.…

OFF-ROAD performance specialist, Bowler Motors, has revealed the Land Rover Defender rally car that will compete in its own championship. The Bowler Defender Challenge – a seven-series event in the UK – is based on the 90 model with a 300 PS Ingenium 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine. Using its long and successful experience of competition Bowler has transformed the new Defender into a very capable rally machine with a full roll cage, modified underbody, raised suspension, rally-spec 18 inch wheels and column-mounted paddle shifters, and much more besides. We bet our bottom dollar some of those modifications will filter through to new Defender owners, too. Michael van der Sande, Managing Director, Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations, said: “The development of the new Bowler Defender Challenge rally car perfectly illustrates…

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I always like to see a nice Lightweight, and the one which came in a couple of weeks ago was an absolute cracker, immaculately refinished in 1980s NATO green and black camouflage and with all its original features intact. I heard it before I saw it, and straight away thought that sounds horrible. It was set to a very fast idle, and pressing the accelerator resulted in a bad misfire and clouds of black smoke from the exhaust. The owner had driven it up from London – I’m not sure I would have trusted it to get me to the village post office and back. I see this time and time again… old Land Rovers with lovely paintwork and interior trim, but plagued with mechanical issues which make them a…

OCCUPATION: Former company owner MY DRIVE: 1953 80in Series I FAVOURITE TRIP: Family days out to the coast DREAM DESTINATION: The west coast of Scotland THE FIND OF A LIFETIME: As a lifelong car enthusiast, it’s no surprise that Adrian is the proud owner of a beautiful Series I (affectionately dubbed Dougal by Adrian’s family). ‘‘It feels like I was looking for a Series I for 40 years until I found Dougal,’’ he tells us. ‘‘I bought him from a dealer in Scotland around seven years ago, when Series Is were still relatively affordable. The owner sent it down to Southwold in a sort of ‘buy-or-return’ scenario. A very good friend of mine looked over it for about 15 minutes and told me that I just had to buy it,…

EVER since 1948, the Land Rover had been a massive success story. But like all successful cars, it was soon copied by other manufacturers and, by the 1970s, its position at the top of the 4x4 tree was getting wobbly, thanks to some very well-engineered rival models from the Japanese – particularly the Toyota Land Cruiser. Luckily, it was something that Land Rover’s owners, the nationalised British Leyland company, recognised and eventually cash was set aside to modernise the ageing technology of the slow, leaf-sprung Series models. It was too late to stop the onward march of the best-selling Toyota, but at least it allowed Land Rover to remain a key player. Stage I of that investment came in 1979 with the introduction of a powerful V8 petrol version of…

OWNER: Libby Wiliamson, quarryevents.co.uk VEHICLE: 2015 Defender 90 TDCi 2.2 I bought it in July 2020. It was fairly basic spec but it had electric windows and was very tidy with low mileage (11,000 miles). I wanted it for greenlane and overseas trips to Morocco etc., so I needed something fairly reliable. I think I paid £28,000 for it. The first thing I did was remove the bull bar. I then changed the grill and light surrounds to black gloss ones and fitted new lights all round, apart from the headlights which had already been upgraded. I fitted white ZU alloy wheels and General Grabber X3 tyres, which I knew were good on- and off-road. The seats have been changed from standard vinyl to a set of Exmoor Trim Premium…

THE Defender shared the Meccano-like construction of its Series predecessors, which means that all models are extremely versatile and are in effect blank canvases on which owners can easily bolt on the bits to express their own individuality. It also means that Land Rover themselves have created plenty of special editions over the years – some for special tasks, some just to add a few creature comforts. There are literally hundreds out there, but here are just a few of our favourites… BMW 2.8i Land Rover South Africa answered local demand for a petrol-engined model with the legendary straight-six 2.8i between 1997 and 2001, when Land Rover was under BMW ownership. The power (192 bhp) and torque (207 lb-ft) were a welcome change from the Tdi engines of the period…

The caravan had to be suitable for hot and cold climates and rough dirt and gravel roads in South America, Africa and Australia. So a European caravan wasn’t going to be suitable. As luck would have it we were visiting Australia, the home of off-road caravans, for the wedding of our niece in New Zealand. Unfortunately this didn’t identify a suitable caravan; hence the decision was made to build our own. The chassis is deep C-section steel, running on trailing arms using Discovery 2 air suspension, hubs and anti-roll bar, hydraulic overrun brakes and a Bradley hitch. The chassis accommodates three automotive 30 litre propane tanks, and two 100 l water tanks plus a 100 l grey water tank. This keeps the centre of gravity low. The body is a…

EVERY summer Cornwall and Devon Land Rover Club hosts an annual charity RTV (Road Taxed Vehicle) off-road challenge, in which it has raised over £44,000 for good causes over the years. Every summer except 2020, that is, because last year’s event was cancelled due to Covid-19. But this year the club decided they could host the event in line with government and Motorsport UK (MSUK) guidelines. It was a two-day RTV team Interclub event open to all ALRC-affiliated clubs, with teams of three drivers taking on ten sections each day across two sites within the Newnham Park Estate at Plympton, near Plymouth. Every year there is a different theme to the event: this year was Cops and Robbers. The entry was a little lower than normal, but teams travelled from…

How did you find this Series I? It was a sort of accident really. I tend to keep certain items in my watch list on a particular online auction site and I’d had a Series I on it for years, waiting for a bargain to come along but not really expecting to find one – then this showed up. The current bid was low, so I stuck in a silly maximum offer about £3k less than similar ones were going for and ended up winning the auction. Then I had to tell my wife… How long have you owned it? Well, I won said auction literally the day before the first Covid lockdown was announced so it was a couple of months before I could even collect it. Shout out…

SPECIALIST Land Rover Defender dealership LR Motors, founded by Charles Fawcett (of Twisted Automotive fame), has been purchased in a management buyout to boost sustainability. The car dealership has been acquired by Ross Munro, who has been running operations since November 2015. The business remains in Thirsk, albeit a few doors down from the original premises, with a showroom and workshop facility at Severfield Close. Previously known for selling used Defenders, LR Motors now want to shift their focus to the classic car market, thus giving each vehicle a new lease of life. A stronger online presence has already been established, with Defender owners across the UK keen to order LR branded accessories and LR surplus parts for their vehicles during lockdown. However, Ross is now seeking to move core…

Send your letters to 🖰 patrick@lrm.co.uk Anyone know where ADT 117T is? WHEN you see my surname, it’ll be no surprise to hear my husband has been a Land Rover fan since long before he could drive. His first car has been a topic of speculation for years, and so I thought I’d turn to LRM readers for help. We’d love to know where ADT 117T ended up. It was a 1979 SWB 2.25 petrol Series III in Marine Blue. It was a hard top and, during my husband’s ownership, the passenger side window was always broken. Inside, it had the deluxe black vinyl trim, but Adam put a Trackers high back seat with headrest in cloth on the driver’s side and he made (yes, made) a centre cubby box…

I recently attended the excellent Land Rover Legends weekend at Thruxton race circuit in Hampshire where, in addition to sharing time with fascinating and historic Land Rovers and their owners, I enjoyed watching some classic car racing on the adjacent track. For me, the lasting impression came from a bunch of 1960s Lotus Cortinas. That may come as a surprise considering glorious 1930s Bentleys were also racing, but I have a soft spot for Cortina Mk1s, because a 1964 model was my very first car, back in 1973. Fast forward 48 years and I couldn’t believe how small they look these days. Back in the day, Cortinas were larger than average compared to the Minis, Anglias and Morris Minors driven by most of my mates. And that got me thinking.…

OCCUPATION: Retired MY DRIVE: 1976 Series III FAVOURITE DESTINATION: The beautiful Gwent Levels EX-FIRE SERVICE LANDY: Having owned an ex-army Lightweight in the 1980s, Peter was looking for another trusty vehicle to tow his canal boat following a move to South Wales. ‘‘I saw a 1976 long wheelbase Series III which was due to be sold at auction. It was an ex-service vehicle for the Hampshire Fire Brigade, so it had spent its life waiting patiently for shouts in fire stations. I thought it’d be a great buy because they were notoriously well-maintained,’’ Peter tells us. ‘‘It was perfect. There was loads of room in the back because it held a galvanised water tank. I had to convert it back to civilian use for it to be usable, but it’s…

OCCUPATION: Runs an Aston Martin restoration company with partner Mike MY DRIVE: Series II, named Grasmere FAVOURITE TRIP: The Simply Land Rover show in Beaulieu DREAM DESTINATION: North Coast 500 FROM OLD TO NEW: Maria Harvey’s Series II was always destined to be a restoration project. ‘‘My partner Mike originally bought it to restore it, but didn’t get round to it. After it had been sitting there for a couple of years, my son Kieran asked if he could buy it. He stripped it down, but because of work commitments he couldn’t keep travelling from Cardiff to Westbury (where our unit is) to finish it. That’s when I took it over as my own project, along with Mike’s help,’’ explains Maria. Maria has been very hands-on with her Landy’s restoration.…

OWNER: Dave Phillips, Wadenhoe VEHICLE: 1984 Ninety I bought mine from a friend about seven years ago for a little over £2000. It was standard mechanically, but tired. When the transmission failed (worn driveshaft splines) I took the opportunity to swap the sluggish 12J naturallyaspirated diesel engine for a 300Tdi from a scrapped Discovery Commercial. Norfolk Land Rover specialist Nigel Hammond did the conversion for me. Under my ownership, my Ninety has also had a new rear crossmember, new footwells and welded outrigger and bulkhead repairs. The tatty and rusted original steel wheels have been replaced with new old-style Defender steels. I’ve also fitted a new galvanised front bumper, suspension and bushes all round and upgraded the lighting. At present the original and tatty vinyl seats are masked by Britpart…

THE introduction of the TDCi series of Defenders in 2007 was controversial – and it was mainly down to the origin of its new engines. The TDCi was actually a mildly-modified version of Ford’s 2.4 diesel Duratorq engine, part of a family of engines that had already appeared in a whole raft of vehicles, dating back to 2000 when it appeared under the bonnet of the Ford Mondeo saloon car. It was also the engine that powered the White Van Man’s Transit, which was something of a culture shock. After all, previous Defender diesels had been designed by Land Rover, for Land Rover. As always the change was necessitated by the EU moving its emissions goalposts yet again. This time around, owners Ford – knowing the venerable model was reaching…

WHEN Land Rover showcased its potential Defender replacement concept vehicle at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011, enthusiasts recoiled in horror. The Tonka Toy lookalike DC100 and its topless version, the Sport, were a dismal flop with Land Rover fans everywhere and thankfully the company binned them and went back to the drawing board. Nine years later, new Defender was the end result. Here at LRM we describe the new Defender as JLR’s Marmite car, because people tend to either love or hate it. It was never going to be easy for the new model to be loved, because the original Defender was such a hard act to follow. Nothing new there: exactly the same resistance to change came in 1994 when the original Range Rover Classic was replaced by…

IT certainly doesn’t get much better than the UK’s Lake District if you are looking for somewhere to go for a weekend packed full of outdoor adventures and some of the most scenic lanes on our beautiful mud island. The lovely Lake District is home to the UK’s biggest national park and England’s highest peak of them all, Scafell Pike. Its glacial lakes are an absolute pleasure to paddle on or swim in or even just to look at from a lovely viewpoint on a greenlane. I recently had a weekend in the Lake District with some good mates and we spent the Saturday driving some of its better-known lanes: the stunning Old Coach Road that we did was a first drive for most in our group. It’s a track…

In partnership with HERITAGECARINSURANCE.CO.UK WELCOME to LRM Classics. This month we bring you the latest instalment of our Land Rover Legends series, featuring Iain Chapman, the man who ran the Camel Trophy during what were its golden years from 1989 to 1996. Iain began his career as an Ordnance Survey cartographer before applying for a short-service commission in the British Army that ended up lasting ten years. He left as a specialist Royal Engineers Diving Officer and, game for anything, joined IBM as an office equipment salesman. This was followed by a stint at the Underwater Training Centre at Fort William before he branched out on his own and founded a diving company with a colleague. He spent time on a fascinating and rather controversial project off the coast of…

IN 2021, if anyone does anything, you know. Any activity, no matter how small becomes content for their social media channels. If you didn’t shoot it from 15 angles and tell the world how thoroughly amazing it was: it didn’t happen. Sometimes, I wonder if the shouty, look-at-me social media world is missing out. Yes, it is vital to have a record of something interesting or memorable you did, but – and I say this as someone who has spent a lifetime recording things with a camera – there is joy to be had in putting the camera down, and simply enjoying the moment. I’ve done this a lot lately, and can’t recommend it enough. I had to meet up recently with LRM publisher John Greenwood and technical supremo Ed…

WITH lockdown easing, motorsport has started to return, many clubs are running their activities again and the larger national events are once again starting to happen. Its great as some of us have been desperate to get out and immerse ourselves in motorsport again, be it as competitors, event officials or marshals. It’s also good to get the Discovery out again, doing what it does best on off-road events. As a result, I’ve been to three events in three weeks! The first at the end of May was the second round of the Northern Off Road Club’s comp safari championship. Not only was I looking forward to seeing a comp safari again, I was excited about having a day out in the Disco doing what it does best – comfortable…

Sat 21 Aug – Sun 22 Aug SLROC TYRO & RTV TRIAL TBC, Scotland https://www.slroc.co.uk/ PROMO EVENT Sudbury, Essex https://www.elrc.info/ JTV & PROMOTIONAL EVENT Northampton http://www.muddyduck.org.uk/ Sat 21 August SAE EVENT Clinty, Northern Ireland http://www.landrover-club.com/ Sun 22 August CCV TRIAL Uppingham, Leicestershire https://www.lrlrc.co.uk/ BAD CCV TRIAL Stoke On Trent https://www.badlrc.co.uk/ CLASSIC CAR & MOTORSPORT SHOW Penrith, Cumbria https://www.wigtonmc.co.uk/ LAND ROVER TRIAL New Dersingham, Suffolk http://www.slroc.uk.com/ LAND ROVER TRIAL New Dersingham, Suffolk http://www.slroc.uk.com/ Wed 25 Aug – Sun 29 Aug 19EME FOIRE DU TOUT TERRAIN Vallorie, France https://www.foiredutoutterrain.fr/ Thurs 26 Aug – Sun 29 Aug BAJA POLAND Czarne, Poland https://www.bajapoland.eu/en Fri 27 Aug – Sun 29 August 3RD FESTIVAL REVISTA OVERLAND PORTUGAL Albufeira Do Maranhao, Portugal https://www.overlandportugal.com Fri 27 Aug – Mon 30 Aug OFFROADING WEEKEND Market Harborough, Nottinghamshire http://www.nottslrc.co.uk/ 31ST…