Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2025 i Land Rover Monthly

ONE of the things I love most about editing Land Rover Monthly is getting out and meeting people. Whether on a greenlaning trip, at an event, spannering on a Land Rover, having a camp-out or picking up some parts, everyone has interesting stories to tell and cool vehicles to pore over. Needless to say, when I went to visit the legendary Norfolk Garage from these very pages a couple of weeks ago, I was not disappointed. Proprietor of the independent specialist and revered LRM contributor, Richard Hall, is not only a total gentleman and maker of an excellent cup of coffee, but his knowledge and experience in the older generations of Land Rover is enormous. As well as going for a catch-up and to record an episode of The LRM…

THE Discovery Sport line-up has been refreshed with the addition of a Dynamic S trim grade, two new editions, and a trio of extra accessory packs. The revised range is on sale now, priced from £45,440. DYNAMIC S: The family favourite is now available in Dynamic S trim, and distinguished by Gloss Black lower body sides and Discovery script in addition to a Gloss Black grille, wheelarches, lower bumpers and front claw detailing, combining to help it look more purposeful. At the heart of the centre console is a floating 11.4-inch curved glass touchscreen, while a digital instrument cluster and steering wheel-mounted gearshift paddles come as standard. The latest Pivi Pro infotainment system features permanently accessible sidebars, which provide shortcuts to key vehicle controls and functions. This allows users to…

“WHAT you need issome sea air,” I say to the Fella, bemoaning an inability to throw off a nasty bout of the flu. With typical rainy Bank Holiday weather predicted, I select some random coast with predicted sun, based on the UK’s weather map and, on Saturday morning, with no accommodation booked, we sally forth towards Norfolk. On the A11, I start noticing banger racing cars on the back of several flatbed lorries. Back when the Wimbledon Stadium still existed, I loved watching the racing there. In particular, the ‘Siamese bangers’ – two cars sandwiched together, with a driver in the upper vehicle doing the steering and another in the lower car manning the pedals – were insane. “Have you ever watched banger racing?” I ask the Fella, not least…

I have carried out a lot of diesel conversions on older Land Rovers over the years and seen a lot more. One of the things that annoys me probably far more than it should, is a vehicle where the fuel pump shut-off solenoid is on a separate switch independent of the usual key-operated ignition switch. It’s no big deal really, and arguably a useful anti-theft device, but it feels like a bodge. The same applies to glow plugs wired up through a push-button somewhere on the dashboard so that you need two hands to start the vehicle. I just want to be able to turn the key and go. So I was mildly vexed to find that my new Series III had a switch in the middle of the dashboard…

Watch Mark’s video on our YouTube channel now: youtube.com/@landrovermonthly7806 FOR Mark Gomer, the journey to buying his Land Rover Discovery was a meandering one. Having grown up around classic Range Rovers, thanks to his uncle who ran a parts business and did many adventures in his own Range Rover – including driving to Iceland in 1988 (more on this later) – Land Rover’s legacy and links to adventure were deeply rooted. With a history of owning various 4x4s including Range Rover P38s, Mitsubishi Shoguns and Pajeros, Jeeps and, like his uncle, classic Range Rovers, Mark says the Discovery 1 seemed the perfect all-round vehicle. Simple enough to work on at the side of the road, comfortable enough for those long European missions, and more capable than most 4x4s on or…

I’LL happily admit I’m a creature of habit. As I enter the car park in front of the huge glass-fronted JLR Classic building, I find myself smiling as I pull into ‘my parking spot’ at end of the row on the far left. It’s been over seven years since I left JLR, but today it feels like that was only yesterday. Feeling uncharacteristically nervous as I walk into the showroom reception, I need not have worried. I’m greeted by Lisa, who was part of the Land Rover branded goods team, but now acts as the first point of contact for Land Rover Classic clients and as a tour guide host. After chatting for a few moments, Paul Raynes, the Sales Manager for Classic joins us. We have something of a…

It’s no wonder we’re the world’s best-selling Land Rover magazine – trusted by thousands for greenlaning adventures, expert reviews, restorations, buying guides, and unbeatable technical advice BEST OFFER 3 ISSUES FOR £3 SUBSCRIBE TODAY Join a community united by pride, enthusiasm and devotion to all things Land Rover – Just £3 for 3 Issues Visit bit.ly/lrmspirit25 Or call 01778 392 033 quoting LRM/SPIRIT25 SCAN ME *Subscription offer is £20 a quarter after your first three issues. Offer open to UK residents for a limited time.…

TO my embarrassment, it’s been almost a year since I last provided an update on the 1959 ‘Trans-Africa’ Series II, but that doesn’t mean it’s been idle – far from it, in fact. This time last year I was rejoicing at the fact that the newly rebuilt engine was pulling along nicely – aided by the fact that I’d finally got around to reuniting it with the original Solex carburettor that had been overhauled by Martin Lawrie at Fuggle’s Fettling some years earlier. It all felt wonderful, but the fuel gauge made for interesting viewing; a few calculations later and I had a petrol consumption figure in front of me: seven miles to the gallon. Surely that wasn’t right? The plugs were pretty sooty and so I leaned the mixture…

July 25-27 WELLAND STEAM AND COUNTRY RALLY Welland, near Malvern wellandsteamrally.com/ August 2-3 FESTIVAL OF WHEELS Trinity Park, Ipswich motorshowevents.com/ August 3 ELRC SUMMER DRIVING DAY Sudbury, Suffolk elrc.info/events-calendar/entry/2973 August 8 UK INDEPENDENT LAND ROVER EVENTS WEEKDAY TOUR Wensleydale, Route B uklandroverevents.com/events.htm/ August 16-17 YORK LAND ROVER SHOW RCM 4x4, Forest Business Park, York yorklandrovershow.co.uk August 23-24 4x4 TOURS NORFOLK offthebeatentrack4x4.co.uk/event-information August 25 S&S ANGLESEY COMP SAFARI – OPEN CSC ROUND 5 Brynteg Farm, Rhuddlan Bach Quarry, Anglesey saslrc.co.uk/event August 30 AN EVENING WITH GRAEME ALDOUS The Dunsfold Collection, Dunsfold dunsfoldcollection.co.uk/product/graeme_aldous/ September 2 TEA ON THE TAILGATE LANCASHIRE Ley Inn ///fence.excusing.club teaonthetailgate.co.uk/events September 6 S&S FAMILY GAMES WEEKEND Boundary, Cheadle, Staffordshire saslrc.co.uk/events/ September 12-14 THE MAJORS Green Hall Farm, nr Llanfyllin, Powys mroc.co.uk/the-majors-2025 September 13-14 GOODWOOD REVIVAL Goodwood Circuit, Chichester,…

BOTH the 3.9-litre Range Rover launched in 1990, and the Discovery that debuted in 1989, share the same troublesome heater box. After many years of service those motors are now starting to fail. Symptoms often start with the loss of a fan speed, a squeal when the motor is blowing, or just nothing happens at all when you put the heater blowers on. Be very careful if the latter occurs because the motors tend to seize up and, as a result, they do not always blow the fuse and can then start to smoulder. So if any of these three symptoms accrue, its definitely time for a replacement. This guide shows you how to split the heater box to gain access to the motor, change the heater matrix, and change…

IF you were at Goodwood Festival of Speed chances are you’ll have seen the new Defender 110 Trophy Edition, which made its public debut on the JLR stand and took on the iconic hillclimb. It’s now available to order, but you’ll need to set aside £89,810 if you want one. That includes the Trophy Edition Accessories Pack, though – more on that in a bit. It’s available exclusively in either Deep Sandglow Yellow – inspired by the international Trophy-style events, or Keswick Green, celebrating rural exploration in the Defender’s British homeland, and features a contrasting Gloss Black finish on the bonnet, lower body side, brake calipers and rear recovery eyes. Both colours can be finished with an optional matte protective film to provide an added layer of protection for those…

IF you want to get involved in Cross Country Vehicle trialling – one of the most cost-effective ways to get into motorsport – then you might be interested to know that Tomcat Motorsport is about to launch its new Tomcat Academy. The one-make off-road series caters for those who would like to participate in off-road competitive motorsport, but don’t have the time, confidence or facility to build and maintain their own car to compete in. It runs over two years, the first year is for beginners (Tyro), while the second year sees the introduction of the X class for those who have achieved four events in RTV and one in CCV, experienced a season in tyro or are experienced drivers. There will be six to eight events in the calendar…

STILL in the honeymoon period with the Range Rover – what an incredible vehicle. Since we’re planning on keeping it for a long period, we just shelled out on a full detail with paint correction and ceramic coating which will protect the paintwork from UV damage. I have to say, I am blown away by the difference it made. It took the guy three days to complete and I’m sure he won’t be volunteering for a Range Rover ever again – there is a lot of real estate and metallic black certainly isn’t the most forgiving surface to work with. I am led to believe the ceramic coating will last around five years depending on how well it’s looked after. I will let you know how it fares in the…

“I was just ten years old when I decided that one day I would own a Range Rover Sport,” Sasha Jones tells me when we meet in the car park at Gaydon before heading off on our photoshoot. “It was the middle of 2005 and my dad, Keith, had just come home with a newly acquired Discovery 300Tdi and he had copies of the latest LRM and LRO for me. Both magazines were covering the launch of the new L320 Range Rover Sport, and I thought it was the coolest thing! Seeing one in the flesh at the local dealer a few months later was really exciting, and when the salesman asked me if I’d like to sit in it, I was blown away. It really lit me up as…

AS it’s mid-summer – in the northern hemisphere at least – it’s only right that sand should feature heavily in this issue. We all like getting away from it, whether it’s just for a few days at the coast filling our lungs with fresh sea air, building sandcastles and playing the 2p machines or using our Land Rover to get to more remote places and turning the trip into a much greater and memorable adventure. While families often run to the sun in Devon and Cornwall, Land Rover owners migrate north to embrace the beauty of the Scottish islands and Theo Ford-Sagers met up with members of the Scottish Land Rover Owners Club on their recent jaunt up there (p86). Theo is lucky enough to have a house on Harris…

SUSPENSION can be thought of as the third fundamental aspect of an off-road vehicle. It’s the aspect closest in character to a road car since only a minority of road cars are 4x4s and few road cars have, or require, high ground clearance. The suspension’s main function is, of course, to cushion the bumps, to absorb the shocks. It should be noted that the spring is the actual shock absorber, while the damper ‘damps’ the spring’s action to prevent continual bouncing. Too many people who should know better (TV car restoration shows, for instance) give this second component the wrong name. The road car and off-roader share technologies here, but it’s useful in the off-roader to have large amounts of vertical wheel travel – suspension articulation – where in the…

Essential knowledge HANDBOOKS, PARTS AND WORKSHOP MANUALS From £25 brooklandsbooks.co.uk Tested by: Neil Watterson Owned for: 30+ years Some of the most common vehicle-related questions on social media are: “Should there be an X here?” or “How do I fix this?” And while it’s great that people are asking, most of the time they can get the answer (and a correct one at that) straight away from the Parts or Workshop manual, or even the Owner’s Handbook. Digital versions of many of the manuals can be found online, and if you want the full suite of factory books for a model, the Original Technical Publications digital versions are a cost-effective option. But for me, there’s no substitute for the printed version. Luckily Brooklands Books prints the relevant books for most…

MY Defender 90 is back on the road again, despite the setbacks I faced when I tried to drive it out of storage after all those years, with the clutch hydraulics and steering box balljoint failing (see June 2025 issue). Maybe I should have known it was too good to be true when the engine started almost on the first turn of the key. What followed dragging it out of the barn was the indignity of having it transported on the back of a recovery truck – but a bit of work and couple of hundred pounds spent on a new clutch master and slave cylinder and also a new steering drop arm, the Defender was ready for an MoT test – or so I thought. I later found the…

In this issue we take a look at what can be achieved when rebuilding a classic truck. It’s rewarding to bring an old vehicle from the clutches of the scrapman to being a pristine and fully working example of its type. It’s easy and encouraging to see the starting point and to imagine the finishing point. What’s difficult to fully comprehend is the journey between. It’s a journey that often needs far more time than we anticipate, and far more cash than is budgeted. It’s one reason why the market is full of unfinished projects waiting for the next optimist to take on the problems. It doesn’t have to be that way. The successful outcome of a restoration project depends not just on planning the work, but in accepting that…

THERE’S a genuine enthusiasm running through the Britpart business with many employees driving and cherishing their own personal trucks, such as Steve Grant’s 110 Defender which doubles as a support truck at off-road motorsport events. Managing director, Paul Myers, has his own collection of restored classics, and Britpart itself runs two specific fleets: one comprises rebuilt trucks that demonstrate parts and accessories, and another represents all model types and is parked outside Steve’s workshop – these are the hard-worked mules to which new spare parts, modifications and accessories are fitted and test driven. Inevitably, some of these are eventually stripped for investigation and/or cannibalised for the next in-house build project. The current project in Steve’s workshop is a 1990 Discovery 1 V8 undergoing a chassis-up rebuild. This isn’t a restoration,…

ALSO unveiled at the Goodwood Festival of Speed was an expansion of the Range Rover Sport SV line-up. Building on the success of the limited-edition Range Rover Sport SV Edition One and Edition Two, the new variants are themed around black colourways and have extensive standard specifications. RANGE ROVER SPORT SV BLACK: Land Rover describes the SV Black as featuring a ‘Dipped in Black’ exterior and interior treatment, including Narvik Black bodywork, Gloss Black exterior accents, a black painted carbonfibre bonnet and black ceramic SV roundel: inside there are Ebony Windsor leather seats, illuminated SV treadplates, and a Gloss Grand Black finish throughout. The monochrome aesthetic is complemented by gloss black forged 23-inch wheels, black brake calipers and quad exhausts. Under the bonnet, the Range Rover Sport SV Black is…

Jolly good show Hi LRM. Massive thanks to everyone involved in putting together the LRM Live event at Malvern this year. Living only 30 minutes away from the Three Counties Showground it was a no-brainer for me to pop along in my 21-year-old Defender 90 (which I have owned for 17 years). A high point of the show for me had to be getting to speak to Neil Watterson and bask in his exuberance as he explained the witchcraft – er, I mean physics – behind a 90 towing itself backwards, using its front-mounted winch. Cracking show and can’t wait for the next one. Richard Wall MARTIN REPLIES: Many thanks for getting in touch, Richard. Really glad you enjoyed it. Neil’s ability to calculate and demonstrate things like winching is…

JLR has announced its April 2024 to March 2025 financial results, and there was a lot to be pleased about. Profit before tax and exceptional items was £2.5bn, up 15 per cent on the previous year and the strongest result in over a decade, while revenue was £29bn, the same as last year. Part of this success came by the simple expedient of halting Jaguar sales. For as long as I have been following JLR’s fortunes, the Jaguar side of the house has always been propped up by the Land Rover side, so it’s hardly surprising that not selling loss-making Jags will have had a positive impact on the bottom line. JLR has also focused on building only its most profitable Land Rover products, almost doubling the profit on each…

WE all like getting something for nothing, especially when it comes to old Land Rovers. Yet I’ve noticed that features which someone paid thousands for when their Land Rover was new are now worthless – and might even lower the value on the used market. When I’m scrolling through the car auction listings, my saved searches are obviously ‘Range Rover’, ‘Discovery’, etc, and I arrange the listings with the oldest showing first. This means I get to see the stuff I might actually be able to afford rather than a nearly-new model which a dealer wants rid of in a hurry. As I’ve been concentrating on the older stock, I’ve missed out on a fascinating innovation on the listings from British Car Auctions. On some of the posher models they…

IN a world that increasingly values convenience and ‘curated’ experiences, there remains a breed of enthusiast that bucks the trend – people who chase the raw, unfiltered freedom of the open road, the solitude of the mountains, and the hard-won reward of a campfire under the stars. For these hardcore few, the thought of being assigned a designated pitch, parked up alongside countless tents, caravans and motorhomes in a cramped campsite, is enough to make their skin crawl. For them, the only true escape from the daily grind is to literally get away from it all, to a place where there’s only the wind rustling through trees and the call of distant birds for company. One such individual is 62-year-old retired entrepreneur, Craig Mawlam. Craig is the owner of a…

I’VE often written on these pages about how astonished I am that new information about Land Rovers and Land Rover history continues to emerge, but when a friend suggested to me that evidence had been found of a previously unconfirmed Range Rover pre-production vehicle, I have to say that initially I was very sceptical. So much has been written about the early Range Rovers that it scarcely seems credible that one might somehow have slipped through the net. Back in March 2012 I acquired AOY 289H, the sixth of the seven Interim 100-inch Station Wagon Engineering Prototypes, from a dealer in London. I had to trade-in YVB 162H in order to secure 100/6, but I realised I would probably never get another opportunity to become the custodian of the oldest…

MY series IIA Land Rover, ‘Bluetit’, flew through his MoT at the end of April. Technically exempt, I’d decided to get an inspection and certificate following some welding work and ahead of an upcoming trek to the Western Isles. There was one advisory: ‘Oil Leak, but not excessive’. At least it’s not empty, right? I’d also managed to fix the collapsing bed situation, simply in the end, with an additional piece of hardwood forming a wedge to stop the passenger seat-back from slipping into the footwell when the base was removed and perched on top to form the flat(ish) bed, so all that remained was to fill the fuel tanks (approx. £120) load up the duvet, food, G&Ts, cooking equipment and mozzy spray, print the ferry tickets and head off.…

JENS-PETER Siegel’s motorsport project began with an ex-military Land Rover 90, which had been stationed in his native Germany and had endured a hard life since it was manufactured back in 1986. Jens-Peter’s aim was to take on the dunes of Morocco, and participate in the Tuareg Rallye in March 2025. The 90’s original driveline was not without its faults – the engine and gearbox had bad oil leaks, the transfer box whined, and, being ex-MoD, there was no power steering. The solution to these ailments lay in an old 300Tdi engine and gearbox from a Discovery, plus a power steering box from the scrapyard. The conversion was completed over a weekend or two, but the transformation into an endurance rally car was far from over. The differentials, front and…

WE’VE all heard the expression ‘every 20-minute job is just one snapped bolt away from a three-hour ordeal’ – and if you haven’t, you might not have been working on Land Rovers for very long. It’s a true statement, and a great example of this logic is replacing your beam-axled Land Rover’s front and rear dampers. But before we get into that, it’s worth explaining why you might need to change your dampers in the first place. As explained later on, a damper does its damping by using a valved piston that moves through a body of oil inside a tube. Its valving determines how quickly the piston can move as the damper closes (compression) and opens (rebound), and controls the action of the suspension spring. While it’s fairly uncommon…

How long have you owned it? I bought the Defender in June 2024. What made you want to buy this particular Land Rover? I have lived in the same property in Driffield for over eight years now and this Defender had been parked up next door and never moved. In 2018, I put a note on the windscreen asking if the owner would ever sell the vehicle and to give me a call. I did receive a call but the owner wanted too much, so I had to leave it. Then, out the blue, six years later I received a new message from him saying due to health reasons he would like to sell the car if I was still interested. I went to inspect the 90 as I knew it…