Love 'em or hate 'em, everyone has their opinions - series 3 - the BL years, what else is there to say...
I bought my first one in the early 1990's a 1960 SWB petrol Series 2 soft top; an afternoon in the workshop had it stripped down to the bare essentials and a list of welding jobs made. After evening and weekend tinkering it was back on the road with not much more than the welding and a set of new tyres - oh and a set of seats out of a Cortina Ghia as some scrote pinched my nice original grey 'elephant hide' vinyl seats out of it.
Since then I have always had at least one Landrover of some description and at the moment my shooting truck is a 1995 90 Station Wagon that I bought in 2002.
11 years on and that 90 (don't like the name Defender it's a marketing gimmick) is still going strong, yes it needed a clutch fork at the usual 80,000 odd miles but it was easy enough to do; rear cross member replaced 5 years ago and aside from the odd light bulb nothing else replaced (so far... fingers crossed... tempting fate here...).
Enough room in the back for three spaniels (yes I know...
) sitting on a wooden shelf supported over the seat frames and room enough for the carcass box underneath (it's a closed lid one so no dog slobber on dead fallow before anyone says anything about best practice etc.)
Last year on the shoot where I pick up there was me in the 90 with the game/beaters trailer on the back and two others in L200s, one of which was almost just out of the showroom, all on similar all terrain tyres. I went first along the side of a field - imagine a side slope on an uphill incline covered in mud... was a bit slippery but not so as to require use of the diff lock (can't recommend Grabber AT2 tyres highly enough).
Having got to the point where we park up there was no sight of the L200s behind me. Looking back across and down the field there they were, both L200s sat with the wheels all spinning - couldn't go forward, couldn't go backwards. That's traction control for you - all four wheels going the same speed, computer says the vehicle must be going forward...
Being the kind and considerate person I am
I laughed and left them to it! Eventually they both managed to reverse out of field and the dogs got a nice long walk to the drive!!
Yes, you need to open the drivers window to get your elbow out, yes they are a bit on the noisy side, etc. but at 6'3" I can get in and out easily even wearing the wet weather gear and bush hat. My mates have a variety of Mitsubishi's, Toyotas, Nissans etc - one even had a Ford Ranger till the medication started to work
, but none of them go anywhere I can't follow and I used to hate to have to drive an '04 plate Hilux on a shoot I went to as leg room and driving position in it was appalling.
Personally I think that Landrover have missed a trick, they kept the old Defender going too long and stuffing a Transit engine in it rather than developing a new version to compete with the various 4 door double cab offerings on the market today was plain daft.
The 'new' Defender looks carp IMO and if and when I ever need to replace the old 90 (why would I when I can buy a galvanised chassis and galvanised bulkhead together with all the other bits that simply unbolt when they're worn out or rusted through from any number of specialist suppliers) I am afraid it will not be for anything Japanese - current favourite is a VW Amarok.
Now there's a thought, why did the design team at LR not think of doing a vehicle like the Amarok... car comfort and performance, economy to boot, large load area, sensible styling, practical to use, etc.
Hmmm, end of an era; I remember when I was a boy and Landrovers had corners and flat sides...
or don't know how to work a non synchro gearbox
land rovers are so basic anyone with half a mechanical mind can bodge a get you home fix
