Don't tell me it's stupid - I know it's stupid...

Stalker62

Well-Known Member
I am not, and never really have been, much of a 'petrol head'.

I have never really had a 'nice' car, and, truth be told, that has never bothered me. My first car was a sky-blue Vauxhall Viva, and things went pretty much down hill from there.

For many years I had a variety of 'company' cars. Smarter than I could possibly afford, and whilst it facilitated me doing my job, I never used them for 'private' purposes.

Actually that is not strictly true. I do remember using the car to collect some logs I 'liberated' from a local wood that one time...but that was the only time. Much less dramatic than a colleague I caught, being 'pinged' coming back from France in his 'company' car.:rolleyes:

Anyhoo.

I digress.

When logs, dogs and guns came into my life, I ventured into the world of 4x4. We had a couple of 90s but they did not last long.
A short-wheel Landrover for a long-bodied bloke, is a poor combination and they had to go.

Just over twenty years ago, we bought an ex-military 110. We have criss-crossed the UK with her. I have calculated we have done 125,000 miles in her. She has been like a dirty love affair. She has certainly been dirty.

She spent many years dragging me up to Sutherland on the Sika. It was what she was meant for and where she truly belonged.

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She was the first car my Grandson 'learnt to drive' in...

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She took me all over the Home Counties for shooting and gamekeeping.
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She even acted as the perfect larder/gralloch premises - seen here with my @Stuart Mitchell knives.

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As much as it is possible to 'love' an inanimate object, I have loved her.

She is getting older. I am getting older.

The long trips up and down the length of the UK, are starting to take their toll on both of us.

My wife has been telling me to get something more 'sensible'. I have raged against it for too long; but finally I have come to the conclusion that (as always) my wife is right.

Today things have been set in motion.

This weekend, I once again head North - this time in my wife's Volvo.

I know that when I return, my beloved Landrover will be gone.

I feel an inexplicable sense of guilt and of loss.

I also feel a deep sense of sadness that I do not fully understand.

Don't tell me it's stupid - I know it's stupid.

"Goodbye old friend"...


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I had Defenders for years, used as an everyday car and off-roading, garden duties etc. Since I became self employed I have run a Ford Ranger super cab and for the last 7 years an Isuzu extended cab which have been great - comfortable, warm, economical, reliable, good size, easy to drive. But I still ogle every Defender I see and think there is,literally, nothing like them.
 
not at all ,i have owned my discovery 2 td5 auto for 20 years but i think this will be its last year the discovery has covered 156000 miles and has never let me down on road off road up and down some very steep hills and through a few large streams and carried over 600 deer in its time plus dogs, children and even let the wife drive some time, mainly to bring the vehicle closer to me and any culled animal.it has been very good. not looking forward to a "car" ! good luck with your new wheels
 
There must now follow a week of mourning - I have been there 💔

Then get yourself one of these from your nearest Japanese car importer, it’ll be rust free & best of all have a burbling V8 under the bonnet. Have it professionally under sealed, get the sunroof frames cleaned up & re sealed & it’ll see you out! Electric heated leather seats, electric windows, electric sunroof, front & rear air conditioning, legroom for a tall person, a huge boot for the dog cage & dogs. Including shipping, duties, registration fee & first years rfl this one cost me less than £4k 😎

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Nothing wrong with loving your shooting vehicle sir, regardless of … err….pedigree.
More mongrel than pedigree by comparison perhaps but April last year my 19 years old Jimny with only 137,000 miles on it was heading for the MOT which I fully expected to be a mere pit stop en route to Suzuki Nirvana. Indeed I was so certain that I bought another younger, fresher Jimny with a full MOT, in anticipation of her, and it is a female, impending demise.
Well being a female and blow me down she passed leaving me with two real ladies at my command and only an occasional rather barbed “Well……?” from a source much too close to mention - so wot was a boy to do?
Suffice to say that regardless of what I am currently driving I can proudly say “my other car’s a Jimny….” with more than a modicum of truth. It is almost worth the earache!
I love my Jimnys…..
🦊🦊
 
Totally understand the relationship between man and machine - was gutted to have to sell my tricked up Disco - simply an amazing machine that would go anywhere in complete comfort (not a problem in 5 years ownership)

For weeks I had scumbags regularly on my property trying to steal her so had to go. 😭

A chapter closes, another one starts - what you going to get?


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I am not, and never really have been, much of a 'petrol head'.

I have never really had a 'nice' car, and, truth be told, that has never bothered me. My first car was a sky-blue Vauxhall Viva, and things went pretty much down hill from there.

For many years I had a variety of 'company' cars. Smarter than I could possibly afford, and whilst it facilitated me doing my job, I never used them for 'private' purposes.

Actually that is not strictly true. I do remember using the car to collect some logs I 'liberated' from a local wood that one time...but that was the only time. Much less dramatic than a colleague I caught, being 'pinged' coming back from France in his 'company' car.:rolleyes:

Anyhoo.

I digress.

When logs, dogs and guns came into my life, I ventured into the world of 4x4. We had a couple of 90s but they did not last long.
A short-wheel Landrover for a long-bodied bloke, is a poor combination and they had to go.

Just over twenty years ago, we bought an ex-military 110. We have criss-crossed the UK with her. I have calculated we have done 125,000 miles in her. She has been like a dirty love affair. She has certainly been dirty.

She spent many years dragging me up to Sutherland on the Sika. It was what she was meant for and where she truly belonged.

View attachment 405196

She was the first car my Grandson 'learnt to drive' in...

View attachment 405197


She took me all over the Home Counties for shooting and gamekeeping.
View attachment 405198

She even acted as the perfect larder/gralloch premises - seen here with my @Stuart Mitchell knives.

View attachment 405199


As much as it is possible to 'love' an inanimate object, I have loved her.

She is getting older. I am getting older.

The long trips up and down the length of the UK, are starting to take their toll on both of us.

My wife has been telling me to get something more 'sensible'. I have raged against it for too long; but finally I have come to the conclusion that (as always) my wife is right.

Today things have been set in motion.

This weekend, I once again head North - this time in my wife's Volvo.

I know that when I return, my beloved Landrover will be gone.

I feel an inexplicable sense of guilt and of loss.

I also feel a deep sense of sadness that I do not fully understand.

Don't tell me it's stupid - I know it's stupid.

"Goodbye old friend"...


View attachment 405200
After we moved house 20 years ago Mrs G told me it was silly to keep renting the garage where the Series 1 Landy (107" LWB, TDV663) was stored.

Like you, I came to realise that she was right, and so the car was sold.

Still the biggest regret of my life, and even Mrs G has come to agree that we should have kept it!
 
The beauty about old Landrovers is that they are eminently rebuildable. Even if you do not do it yourself, for the cost of a very basic newish runabout you pretty much zero time them and give yourself another 150,000 miles of whatever. They will never be high performance vehicles. They just plod along. But if you started with 100 series Toyota Landcruiser ad did the same??.
 
My Disco 4 costs me as much as it is worth, each and every year, in garage bills. Only done 110K miles. Last car was a Freelander, did better, costing only ¼ the value each year. Range Rover (old one), did OK until 100K then its value each year so sold it. Landrovers post 2010, are the most unreliable cars on the planet.

Worst, was when I picked it up from the local garage recently for just replacing the rear brake pads, I asked my wife to open the invoice and tell me the damage. Expecting a couple of hundred pounds, when she told me it was over £1000, I said, "What", looked at the invoice, and promptly reversed into a post. Another £300 to repair the rear corner lights. It was £1000 as disks had to be replaced and a caliper.

Just this year, it has had a new torque converter, new brake disk, caliper & pads, 2 new tyres, new air compressor, new starter motor, new battery, new alternator, air suspension fix, new pair of plastic inlet manifolds (at £800 !!), a couple of new hoses that fray on the plastic that covers the engine, replaced coolant tank but the sensor a month later is back to giving me spurious low coolant errors, a suspension arm, and a few other bits and pieces. I has to go back in this coming week, as it thinks it is a great idea to disable emergency braking and then the suspension assist: when the latter is disabled when one has a heavy item in the boot, the car is transformed in a split second from a nice handling machine into a machine that has no idea which way is forwards, as it searches for the nearest obstacle to hit.

Oh, another trick it does, it comes up with spurious warnings then disables all ride heights except normal (i.e. low). Wonderful when one is up a track with tyres in ruts, the car goes down, grounds on the ridge in the middle of the track, leaving the wheels off the ground, just as the rain sets in.

Such a shame they are so nice when they work, otherwise I would have shot it long ago to put me out of its misery.
 
Honestly I've never understood this fixation people have with landys, I've never owned one, thankfully, but have done thousands of miles over the years in other people's, hot in the summer, cold in the winter, leak from every corner, free oil leak when you buy it, hideous ride over 50mph, best summed up by the old saying " landrovers, been making mechanics out of motorists for over 60 years!
 
As one gets further into the ride that is one's life, it's inevitable that, at one time or another you reminisce about bygone things. I'm prompted to look back on the vehicles I've owned by this thread, both with 4 wheels and 2 and I conjecture what they would be worth had I been able to keep them all. Pointless, I know. But yes, there's a few that were a real wrench to let go.

Apart from a brief dalliance with a Reliant Regal saloon, strangely the first car I owned was also a light blue Vauxhall Viva. It blew it's head gasket more than once.
 
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