Hello all,
I'm Richard and I have Compulsive Heap Buying Syndrome. (You know you have this if you have ever bought a car from an auction site on a Saturday night after too much to drink. There is no cure and the condition is desperate. I am a chronic sufferer!)
Anyway, I decided to admit to myself last year that it was hopeless and the only way the 'finance Director' was ever going to permit me to indulge my opiate was to change careers and set up a business involving priceless classics or perhaps even hopeless bangers.
So in November 2012 I bullied another hopeless case into action and we bought an industrial soda blasting machine and set up business. Since then the company has grown rapidly and now has 3 divisions, Oil and Gas, Architectural and Automotive. We now employ 10 and have moved into industrial painting and coating and corrosion management. Our automotive services involve media blasting various parts panels and bodyshells and priming.
We've done a whole series of different vehicles over the last year.
So how do land rover's fit into this?
Well, thanks to the ridiculously confusing and draconian commercial drive train weight laws and thanks to my staff having passed their tests from 1990 (me) to last week shifting kit is a nightmare. About 6 months ago I made the call to move away from panel vans and towards trailers towed by 4x4s (trucks). We couldn't afford even the most tatty of Discos so we initially sourced and used Ssanyong Mussos, I usually buy cars on thier engines and the Musso used to have the spectacular Mercedes 3 lt that you can run on anything oily and abuse horribly. These Mussos were excellent however they were let down by electronics and especially the 4x4 selection system. When the last one died we moved to Classic Range Rover v8s running on LPG and we had a couple of those. However, our move into, ironically the LPG industry meant that we needed to move over to diesel vehicles, LPG and Petrol are not permitted on site at gas refineries or storage depots and as this was now our key business sector wee had no choice but to move away from the wonderful world of the Rover v8 :-(. So we then purchased 2 x M reg LWB Pajeros. These beasts have their plus points - cheap to buy if not to run (MPGs are horrific, you get better from the V6 Pajero than the tdi) Jap parts also scary. They will haul 3.5 tonnes and are pretty decent off road (we do have to access remote sites) We buy them, paint them (UK White - it's cheap) stick a decent set of ATs on them, front winches, emergency lighting bar and spot lights and job done. The PROBLEM with these vehicles is that being mid 1990s the electrics are now playing up and BOTH vehicles are off the road - one has no indicators or brake lights (an infuriating fault we have not yet had time to locate) and the second has decided to develop starting issues, again electrical and this time related to the ignition barrel - again we have not had the time to address these. So, 2 weeks ago I bought a 1998 Disco and a 2001 P38 and last week a diesel S3.
So far I have been very impressed with these vehicles, niggles aside. The Disco is a superb towing machine and in 300tdi form has excellent fuel consumption for such a vehicle. The P39 is not family transport and again the LPG system makes it cheaper to fuel than the Volvo V70 T5 it replaced (sold because it's cost me 6 points in 6 months). The P38 has obviously developed air suspension issues within the first few weeks of ownership. And then the S3 which is my personal favourite, a hoot to drive and I am a huge fan already.
So we will be moving the 'fleet' over to Land rovers as we can afford to. In the short term we will be adding another late Disco 1 and a LWB S3 and when we can afford to will purchase a couple of 10 year old defenders.
Very happy to finally have taken the land rover plunge and hugely impressed so far.
The current business fleet is:
1957 McCormick International B250 Tractor w loader and rear fork
1979 Series 3 Diesel
1998 Disco 300tdi Anniversary
1996 LWB Diesel Pajero x 2
1996 Transit box van
2002 Volvo V70
1993 Toyota Carina (staff runabout)
1998 Renault Clio (staff runabout)
My personal fleet is now:
1974 Triumph 2000 manual w overdrive
1974 Peugeot 304 Cabriolet
1985 Citroen CX Gti (my daily driver when not in the Disco)
1997 Volvo 940 Sport Estate (300 bhp Q car)
1980 Lancia Beta Coupe (in bits)
So as you can see, a hopeless case of CHBS
I'm off to the S3 forum now as I have some diesel cold starting issues to discuss!
I'm Richard and I have Compulsive Heap Buying Syndrome. (You know you have this if you have ever bought a car from an auction site on a Saturday night after too much to drink. There is no cure and the condition is desperate. I am a chronic sufferer!)
Anyway, I decided to admit to myself last year that it was hopeless and the only way the 'finance Director' was ever going to permit me to indulge my opiate was to change careers and set up a business involving priceless classics or perhaps even hopeless bangers.
So in November 2012 I bullied another hopeless case into action and we bought an industrial soda blasting machine and set up business. Since then the company has grown rapidly and now has 3 divisions, Oil and Gas, Architectural and Automotive. We now employ 10 and have moved into industrial painting and coating and corrosion management. Our automotive services involve media blasting various parts panels and bodyshells and priming.
We've done a whole series of different vehicles over the last year.
So how do land rover's fit into this?
Well, thanks to the ridiculously confusing and draconian commercial drive train weight laws and thanks to my staff having passed their tests from 1990 (me) to last week shifting kit is a nightmare. About 6 months ago I made the call to move away from panel vans and towards trailers towed by 4x4s (trucks). We couldn't afford even the most tatty of Discos so we initially sourced and used Ssanyong Mussos, I usually buy cars on thier engines and the Musso used to have the spectacular Mercedes 3 lt that you can run on anything oily and abuse horribly. These Mussos were excellent however they were let down by electronics and especially the 4x4 selection system. When the last one died we moved to Classic Range Rover v8s running on LPG and we had a couple of those. However, our move into, ironically the LPG industry meant that we needed to move over to diesel vehicles, LPG and Petrol are not permitted on site at gas refineries or storage depots and as this was now our key business sector wee had no choice but to move away from the wonderful world of the Rover v8 :-(. So we then purchased 2 x M reg LWB Pajeros. These beasts have their plus points - cheap to buy if not to run (MPGs are horrific, you get better from the V6 Pajero than the tdi) Jap parts also scary. They will haul 3.5 tonnes and are pretty decent off road (we do have to access remote sites) We buy them, paint them (UK White - it's cheap) stick a decent set of ATs on them, front winches, emergency lighting bar and spot lights and job done. The PROBLEM with these vehicles is that being mid 1990s the electrics are now playing up and BOTH vehicles are off the road - one has no indicators or brake lights (an infuriating fault we have not yet had time to locate) and the second has decided to develop starting issues, again electrical and this time related to the ignition barrel - again we have not had the time to address these. So, 2 weeks ago I bought a 1998 Disco and a 2001 P38 and last week a diesel S3.
So far I have been very impressed with these vehicles, niggles aside. The Disco is a superb towing machine and in 300tdi form has excellent fuel consumption for such a vehicle. The P39 is not family transport and again the LPG system makes it cheaper to fuel than the Volvo V70 T5 it replaced (sold because it's cost me 6 points in 6 months). The P38 has obviously developed air suspension issues within the first few weeks of ownership. And then the S3 which is my personal favourite, a hoot to drive and I am a huge fan already.
So we will be moving the 'fleet' over to Land rovers as we can afford to. In the short term we will be adding another late Disco 1 and a LWB S3 and when we can afford to will purchase a couple of 10 year old defenders.
Very happy to finally have taken the land rover plunge and hugely impressed so far.
The current business fleet is:
1957 McCormick International B250 Tractor w loader and rear fork
1979 Series 3 Diesel
1998 Disco 300tdi Anniversary
1996 LWB Diesel Pajero x 2
1996 Transit box van
2002 Volvo V70
1993 Toyota Carina (staff runabout)
1998 Renault Clio (staff runabout)
My personal fleet is now:
1974 Triumph 2000 manual w overdrive
1974 Peugeot 304 Cabriolet
1985 Citroen CX Gti (my daily driver when not in the Disco)
1997 Volvo 940 Sport Estate (300 bhp Q car)
1980 Lancia Beta Coupe (in bits)
So as you can see, a hopeless case of CHBS
I'm off to the S3 forum now as I have some diesel cold starting issues to discuss!
Last edited:
