What started your Land Rover obsession?

For Me it would of had to have been when i was 11, so not that long ago!!.

I was 11 wandering around a classic car show mostly looking at sports cars etc etc

until i caught a glimpse of what looked like a Miniature tank. I wandered over and it a Pink Land Rover, i think it was called the Pink Panther don't know if it was a replica or the real thing but it was there,

I poured over this thing no one could get me off it!!

50cal machine guns, smoke grenade launchers! all had me leeched.

Eventually i was dragged away from in it.

Later that day i caught a glimpse of yet another land rover at that time i didn't recognise it!

When i walked upto it on the back it said Range Rover and next to that was the green oval!!

This thing had me smitten and gobsmacked, the owner came across after seeing me pour over it and asked if i would like to look inside and hear it run!

How could i say no??

He unlocked it and let me look around inside he even let me start it!!

And i still remember the noise that 3.9 v8 made! i have never forgotten!

The interior i loved, infact everything about it i adored..

It was a red Vogue.


After that experience i became obsessed with everything Range Rover i started collecting books about them, i even acquired a haynes manual for one even though i didn't own one i still had to have it..

I drew endless pictures of them everywhere!

Printed up pictures and pinned them to my bedroom door and glued them all over my walls!!


Eventually a few months ago i started looking for a project, and RR came straight to mind..

But i was heartbroken when i discovered the prices had rocketed, when i was really your RRC could be piced up from £500 - £1100 but those days had long gone...

Now even rubbish examples were selling for 2-4k and that was out of my league...

So i went to choice number 2 the P38, another car i was smitten by.

Stupidly i thought these would be extortionate compared to the RRC but that wasn't the case thank god...

The first one me and my Dad viewed was a 1997 2.5DSE me with my mind set on economy thought that would be better for future me.

Anyway,..

This car turned out to be a complete scrap heap.

The previous owner had threaded a metal bar through the dash which controlled the Blend flaps, that was a put off.

And the engine was running very rough....


The next car was a 1995 4.0 HSE and what endeared me to this car was the side steps and flared arches!!
something i've always liked on the P38

this had a big issue though...
Waterloss!!

it ate though it's expansion bottle after a short test drive so that was a nope! + it had done 189k

Now came the one you see in my avatar..

This car was a lucky find on Ebay...

We went to the gentlemans house and it was parked in his drive next to a Jaguar XKR another favourite of mine!!

Anyhoo i looked round it, the bodywork was rough but the engine was sweet and drivetrain was good'ish.

So i settled on that car..

Seeing it on the drive is a dream come true for me and i plan to have it for as long as possible.

Hopefully adding another beside it one day...


Anyway thats my Story..


whats yours??

Probably the land rover model car i had (and still have). My grandfather and uncles all owned a series 2, uncles having done their driving tests in them and grandfather going on honeymoon in one, grandfather had a world war 2 scammell, an amphibious vehicle, a tank of some sort, a half track and a few other things. He was offered a Delorean and said no because it was "a piece of **** car". He either had or was offered a spitfire at one point. As in the plane, not the MG. Just loads of **** all over the place.

Nan had a farm, somebody there stored a few defenders on her land. As a toddler i was taken to steam shows and met the guy who wrote the Gumdrop books. I guess that's why.

I got bored at work one day (every day) and got on ebay, i figured that after becoming single and having a decent job i had money to actually enjoy so found one nearby, similar or maybe even the same year as my uncles one, met the owner, he said he'd rather it went to someone young that would drive the **** out of it and love it rather than a dealer or someone who would strip it. So yeah, now i have one. She smells so good too.

With maternal grandparents like mine i think it was inevitable.

Henry_b said:

I wandered over and it a Pink Land Rover, i think it was called the Pink Panther don't know if it was a replica or the real thing but it was there,

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Yes it's called Pink Panther, it's a 2a 109 and it's larrrvvvly

Also i'm glad you're actually interested in Landys for real. Most 17 year olds would want a new rangie with all the rapper trimmings. If i'm honest, i don't like range rovers, unless it's a classic. Good on you though, we'll get you in a series/fender eventually.

Trench Rat said:

Also i'm glad you're actually interested in Landys for real. Most 17 year olds would want a new rangie with all the rapper trimmings. If i'm honest, i don't like range rovers, unless it's a classic. Good on you though, we'll get you in a series/fender eventually.

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Ha i do want a series 2a 109 with the IOE 2.6 but that will be impossible lol

Or a 109 2.25 safari!

P38 is the most modern i'll probably go, later LR's do nothing for me tbh..

My Dad bought a totally rotten 2a when I was 3, and bought a half chassis for it, the bulkhead had been bodged with flattened baked bean tins and all sorts of hideousness. He managed to do all the work to it in a tiny garage where he'd have to move the vehicle all the way to one side just to be able to squeeze past! He used a V8 from an sd1 so had a powerful high compression motor in it. There's lots of photos of me as a toddler putting bolts into chassis holes (where they shouldn't be) and various other things, they used the Landy to transport all their stuff from Claygate (Surrey) to mid wales!

Dads had a few different Landies, a two door, puke yellow rangie, which made our extremely steep snow covered drive seem easy to access, and tons and tons of building materials were towed up this fairly inaccessible track to the top of the hill where the cottage was!

Then there was another RRC, which had and extra long wheelbase and two rows of rear seats which we drove down to France in for the millennium, I distinctly remember being very impressed with being able to go in the fast lane, where everyone else was stick I the other two lanes because of snow....

Lots of very good impressions made, and we were always helping him do repairs to his and friends landies, from chassis repairs, to painting suspension components and engine conversions....its no surprise really that I caught the bug!

I've owned a series 3, which now sits on a cut down 2 door chassis (that I also own,)but neither is on the road yet, and my daily drive is a td5 90!

It makes me realise that the apple hasnt fallen far from the tree!!! Which is a scary prospect sometimes!!

Henry_b said:

Ha i do want a series 2a 109 with the IOE 2.6 but that will be impossible lol

Or a 109 2.25 safari!

P38 is the most modern i'll probably go, later LR's do nothing for me tbh..

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Good taste.

I want a 109 so that i can stick a hammock or cot style camp bed in the back and do some cosy trips.

Trench Rat said:

Good taste.

I want a 109 so that i can stick a hammock or cot style camp bed in the back and do some cosy trips.

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Sounds like a plan!

Phwoah!!
exactly what i want!!

Henry_b said:

Sounds like a plan!

Phwoah!!
exactly what i want!!
View attachment 146976

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that's not a safari though :O?
I want to put 750s on mine, just no real need at the moment. got to change the fuel tank and water pump, and due to it being a military underseat filler, the tank is nice and pricey compared to the normal ones...

I'd love an early series 1. The front grille is gorgeous.
Here's a nice 109 safari, station wagons are just too gorgeous.


that! or...


The above, though i doubt admiral would give me a decent quote on the recoilless rifle in the back...

Trench Rat said:

Good taste.

I want a 109 so that i can stick a hammock or cot style camp bed in the back and do some cosy trips.

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A single air mattress fits nicely between the seat boxes in the back of a 109, and it is comfortable to sleep on. I often used to do that when I had my 109.

Turboman said:

A single air mattress fits nicely between the seat boxes in the back of a 109, and it is comfortable to sleep on. I often used to do that when I had my 109.

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Good shout, though i'm in an 88, i guess i could stick my feet out the back door...

Trench Rat said:

that's not a safari though :O?
I want to put 750s on mine, just no real need at the moment. got to change the fuel tank and water pump, and due to it being a military underseat filler, the tank is nice and pricey compared to the normal ones...

I'd love an early series 1. The front grille is gorgeous.
Here's a nice 109 safari, station wagons are just too gorgeous.

that! or...

The above, though i doubt admiral would give me a decent quote on the recoilless rifle in the back...

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Beautiful machine that Safari!


I can dream

Trench Rat said:

that's not a safari though :O?
I want to put 750s on mine, just no real need at the moment. got to change the fuel tank and water pump, and due to it being a military underseat filler, the tank is nice and pricey compared to the normal ones...

I'd love an early series 1. The front grille is gorgeous.
Here's a nice 109 safari, station wagons are just too gorgeous.

Click to expand...

That is exactly the vehicle I ran for many years, except mine was Bronze Green.
Just as a matter of passing interest, the term "Safari" was never actually used by Land Rover.
It is simply a colloquial expression that has come into usage to refer to the 109" Station Wagons with the double tropical roof.

Trench Rat said:

Good shout, though i'm in an 88, i guess i could stick my feet out the back door...

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You could, and you could also rig a small tarp from the back of the roof and over the open door, and pegged onto the ground, keep off rain.
Seen a few people do that.

Turboman said:

You could, and you could also rig a small tarp from the back of the roof and over the open door, and pegged onto the ground, keep off rain.
Seen a few people do that.

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I did think of doing exactly that. Might get a little nippy and bitten by mossies though. Alternatively, a few wooden boards that slot together so that they cross the benches and are high enough to reach the top of the seatbox. storage underneath and a bed on top, sounds okay to me. Could even be folded away.

Turboman said:

Just as a matter of passing interest, the term "Safari" was never actually used by Land Rover.
It is simply a colloquial expression that has come into usage to refer to the 109" Station Wagons with the double tropical roof.

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Okay that's cool, i didn't realise it was a coloqualism. Not sure i'd want one in the UK though...

For me - a combination of growing up on a farm and reading first overland.

A series one, 86”, which was the workhorse, and I probably drove across fields from the age of seven, I have pics of me rowing up hay with a fordson major, age four, so we now run John Deere’s, never learnt my lesson with Land Rover !

The cost of prostitution.

It just got too much to pay someone to tie my dangly bits to an electrode whilst beating me over the head with a studded club.

I plumped for the next best thing.

A series

Think it was driving the British Red Cross 110 Ambulance on duty that did it for me. The go anywhere ability with all the kit and the “pull all the stuck ambulances out the field” fun.... it was always my favourite vehicle to be assigned to and seeing as many didn’t like working on it I got it all the more!

My story starts when i was very young, I grew up on a farm, not a working farm though, the huge stone barn was converted into a small factory where my father ran his farm machinery business following on from my grandfather. If anyone on here is a farmer you may remember JWT Weston tankers which was my grandfathers company and TST self loading tankers which was my fathers company and where i did my apprenticeship as an engineer.

Anyway I grew up around landrovers, my dad had a series 2 LWB ex military job which we used to collect parts, tow trailers etc and this was the first vehicle i drove on the road after passing my test.. . We used to have farmers come round on a daily basis to have parts fixed or welded etc.. The number of times i would see a farmer in sh**ty clothes with string as a belt holding his pants up driving a brand new merc with a load of hay in the boot and a dirty oily part covered in cow muck sat on the hay.. funny people farmers.. but one day probably around 1990 one farmer arrived in a brand new weird looking 4x4, but it had a landrover badge... split level roof with windows on the sides of it, it looked like something out of a futuristic sifi movie to me.. It was of course an early Discovery.. I was completely smitten.. of course as time went on more and more farmers got them and i saw them all the time..

been in love with them ever since but never been able to afford one.. Then 2 years ago, now aged 45 I got a 2003 D2 in mint condition.. oh man it was everything i dreamed of.. loved it loved it loved it... leaking sunroof, who cares, had to replace an airbag, so what its a landrover discovery... had it for 6 months and then we ran into financial difficulties and my precious landrover had to go... that was 18 months ago and i've been in mourning ever since.. until that is last week when i bought the one shown in my avitar... I am again a D2 owner and as happy as a pig in muck .. just seeing it on my driveway fills me with nostalgia and happy memories of my youth..

Nige

Having this model...


And watching "Daktari"