Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i Land Rover Monthly

PRIDE comes before a fall, as the old adage goes, and I have been guilty of being rather smug (and perhaps even a little boastful) about the benefits that come with driving a 47-year old vehicle. It’s no secret that the tax-exempt, MoT-exempt and Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ)-exempt status of the historic vehicle is a money-saver. Indeed, in the run-up to London’s ULEZ expansion, several British publications extolled the virtues of driving an historic vehicle as a way to beat ULEZ. I would counter it’s more a lifestyle choice than an evasion tactic and, when I meet anyone considering the purchase of an older vehicle, I do point out that these demand both money and time to maintain. On top of those exemption benefits, I’ve always thrown in the…

1 The 50th Anniversary Edition is the only special edition in Land Rover history to span all the models in the range – Defender, Discovery, Range Rover and Freelander 2 Despite being the most expensive of the bunch now, the Defender 50th was cheaper than both the equivalent Range Rover and Discovery to buy new, with an on-the-road price of £25,995. 3 1071 50th Anniversary Defenders were built, and many made their way overseas to lucky buyers. The UK was only allocated 385, and they all have numbered plaques. 4 The engine electronic control unit (ECU) mounted in the engine bay was fitted with a bright white cover, to deflect heat from that silky-smooth Rover V8. 5 Despite being badged a 4.0-litre, the V8 petrol engine does not have a bigger…

HOT off the Solihull production line on 31 March 1958, and with some urgency, chassis number 142800001 was on its way by sea to the port of Melbourne, where it arrived sometime between the middle and latter part of May. It was the first RHD Export Market Series II and the very first Series II to arrive in Australia. Carrying the Commonwealth of Australia registration number C67999, it was swiftly handed over to the Army Design Establishment (ADE), which several weeks earlier had begun an urgent multi-vehicle assessment and evaluation exercise. The prize for the trial’s winner would be significant: a contract to provide the replacement for the Australian Army’s fleet of elderly GPW Jeeps. Although the Land Rover had by then been around for ten years and made significant…

Charles Fawcett is the founder of Twisted. Born in 1978 in Yorkshire, he is a hugely passionate Yorkshireman and dedicated Land Rover fan. Charles has been driving from a young age, first on the farm and then later at his father’s off-road training centre based near Thirsk, where they used two ex-Camel Trophy 110s. Charles has been running Twisted since the early 2000s. In his own garage is a 2007 Td5 90 and a new model Defender 90 D250. “There was a new-model Range Rover P550e briefly. But unfortunately, I’ve since rejected that car,” he adds.…

OKAY, I admit to being a bit cheeky – the Range Rover Sport P510e I’ve been driving this month isn’t actually mine, but one of two 2023 model vehicles from Eastnor Castle’s Experience Centre stable that I’ll be driving to get to grips with the latest technology to join Land Rover’s off-road repertoire. Obviously, things have come a long way from the days of red and yellow-topped levers and stubby transfer ’box knobs, but it’s encouraging to hear these old faithfuls referenced by Mike Smith – Land Rover’s All Terrain Capability Manager of seven years – in the morning briefing before we’re allowed out to explore the tracks and trails around the Eastnor proving ground. Mike also talks about the introduction of Hill Descent Control on the Freelander in 1998,…

How long have you owned it? Since 2006. What made you want to buy this particular Land Rover? My parents came to me just before my 17th birthday and announced they would buy my first car for me. They asked what sort of thing would I like, within a budget of course, and my instant reply was, “a Land Rover please,” to which my dad replied: “Really, a Land Rover?” My dad has always been one for the more reliable cars in life. We started looking around and it came down to a hard top 90 and a Series I. At the time I was commuting to college and back weekly so the 90 was the more suitable choice. As soon as I saw the advert in Auto Trader it…

DUBBED ‘the next chapter in the Classic Defender story’, well-heeled buyers can now commission Land Rover Classic engineers to build an original Defender to the spec of their dreams. Based on quality donor vehicles from 2012-2016, each will be powered by the 405bhp 5.0-litre petrol and eight-speed ZF gearbox combo that has been proven in the 70th Anniversary Works V8, Trophy I and II and Islay editions, but that’s where the formula ends. Clients can option their Defender in 90 or 110 wheelbases, and kit it out to their tastes. They’ll have access to an extended choice of materials, interior and exterior colour combinations, finishes, accessories and upgrades, using the new digital Land Rover Classic configurator tool and with personalised advice from the specialist team at Classic Works. You’ll need…

WOOD REAR FLOOR From £1794 Website: lucari-solutions.co.uk Treat your classic Defender to a new rear floor with one of these wooden decks. Iroko teak versions are available for 90s and 110s, while the walnut version shown (£2034) is only currently available for 90s. They’re held in place with stainless fixings, and built with caulk allowing some natural movement in the wood, before being sanded and oiled for long life. STEALTH STEERING WHEEL £280 Website: optimill-uk.com Give your Land Rover’s helm a stylish makeover with this all-black Momo Prototipo steering wheel. With a hand-stitched premium leather grip and matte black finish, it features a classic three spoke design. Couple it with one of Optimill's removable steering bosses for enhanced theft protection. MULTI-HEAD RATCHET SPANNER SET £88.39 Website: lasertools.co.uk Most toolboxes are…

BLEEDING brakes! In my last column I spoke about the brakes on my 80in and some of the issues I had faced in getting them to work. Well, I eventually got them sorted by jacking up the rear by about half a metre. It was all looking a bit precarious but it worked and, dare I say it, the brakes are now very responsive. So when a client brought his newly purchased 80in in for its road safety assessment I felt pretty confident we could sort the brakes. Unfortunately my new trick of jacking the rear up had the reverse effect and actually made the brakes worse. What followed was a solid three days trying to get the brakes to work. As it turned out, the issue was because of…

IT seems to be Series diesel month here at the Norfolk Garage. No sooner had the Series II left the premises running on all four cylinders for the first time in ages, than a nice little Series III turned up on a recovery truck. I saw this vehicle a few months ago: it had been left standing for a while and when the owner tried to start it, nothing happened. I did a bit of poking around with a multimeter, hit the starter motor with a lump hammer which freed the sticking solenoid that had caused the problem, found it now behaved perfectly, and sent it back out with a warning that if it did the same thing again the starter motor would need to be changed. The vehicle was…

Phillip Tuckey owns and operates SouthWorks 4x4 in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire. Those who have background with Rover and Land Rover as a company will recognise the apt name Phillip has given his business; it refers to the production building at Solihull, that housed the assembly line for the 1948 Series I model right through to the end of Defender production. Having previously worked at Land Rover for 15 years, Phillip saw the launch of 300Tdi Discovery and was later responsible for such projects as the drive-by-wire throttle pedal and pedal box in Discovery 2, the first fly-by-wire (electronically-controlled) accelerator pedal to be fitted to all Land Rover Td5 diesel-engined models. He later became a Brakes Development engineer, specialising in foundation brakes, including developing the Brembo brakes as used on supercharged…

JOHN Dyke and his father Ian are the proud owners of what to me is one of the most inspirational and interesting private Land Rover collections anywhere. The fact that they have acquired many of their vehicles through meticulous sleuthing over many years amazes me, but what really sets them apart is the incredibly high standard of their restorations, all of which are completed in-house. John and Ian have featured in LRM before, in our December 2022 issue, when we wrote about their remarkable Judge Dredd City Cab, a vehicle that exemplifies what John describes as their particular fascination with “oddball and interesting Land Rovers.” While I was visiting them to talk about the 101-based Dredd film prop, I was intrigued by the APGP that was part-way through a seriously…

lrmtechnical@gmail.com SPARE parts and tools are high up on the packing list when preparing for a significant overland journey, but the reality is that a truck can break down around the corner from home and still cause a problem if there’s no way to fix or move it. In this case, something made me check the coolant level in our Freelander, 50 miles from home in a remote area of Cumbria. The expansion tank was empty, and the red stain on the ground suggested a leaking radiator. I carry a litre of water, just in case, and that all went in and I set off, stopping at streams to replenish the system, slowly unscrewing the filler cap with a towel over it (though the leak prevented any pressure building up).…

LAST month we left Team RS frantically racing the clock to get the Discovery ready to race. With just a day before packing and taking the car to the event, they had another type of race to deal with – getting the car through an MoT test, achieved in the nick of time. Now road-legal, the Discovery racer should have had a thorough shakedown but the team had to make do with a blast around the back roads the evening before they packed for the race in Scotland. “It all came together the day after LRM’s last visit,” Reece explains. Fourteen-hour days enabled them to push on to fit everything from mud flaps, graphics and suspension check straps, and then to troubleshoot any wiring issues, tweak the Kenlowe fan settings…

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AND before you get too carried away, I’m not talking about the RAC that is the esteemed and very well-respected institution in London’s Pall Mall, where RAC stands for Royal Automobile Club. I’m talking about the RAC as in recovering you when you break down, the RAC that allegedly manages to upset, irritate, stress-out, fail to deliver, and rip-off large numbers of motorists who pay a lot of money for their membership. The RAC that nowadays seems to be one of the most vilified institutions in the country. The RAC used to be part of the Royal Automobile Club until 1999, when it was sold off. I joined the RAC breakdown and recovery service in 1993, and I’ve remained a loyal member for over 30 years despite a few hiccoughs,…

I was wandering around a music festival earlier this week, mainly admiring the Defender-based campers while licking an ice cream and listening to some bands in the sunshine. Other than the inflated price of the beer and the queue to get into the campsite, it was idyllic. Then it suddenly struck me that this would have been a dream four years ago. Thankfully we have now gone back to normal mode after a few tumultuous years. There are many of us who lost loved ones in the pandemic and that will take time to heal, but it seems like a lifetime ago that we were all keeping our distance and nervously wearing homemade masks in Tesco. There is one hangover from those days which is still affecting us all though…

THERE are certain models, and certain specifications or editions of those models, that Land Rover got just oh-so right over the years. And to many, the 50th Anniversary Defender is a halo car – the very best of the best. Great engine, great colour and great styling, it’s no wonder that they remain so sought-after by enthusiasts and collectors alike. But, as with any 25-year-old vehicle, few have survived this long without needing at least some tender loving care. And the 50th you see before you is perhaps an extreme example of that. “You should have seen the state of it when the owner, Alastair, first dropped it off,” smiles Phillip Tuckey of South Works 4x4, the man behind this stunning 50th Anniversary Defender, number 196 of the 385 that…

THE path of the watershed divide through Scotland, which we followed in 2022 in Rabia our trusty Discovery, finished at a high spot, on Hadrian’s Wall. To reach the end of the Scottish watershed divide here, we had driven the more remote corners of the Cheviot Hills and into the beautiful wilderness of Kielder Forest, and finally across the Northumberland National Park. We completed the journey almost entirely off-road after we had obtained permission from land owners, as well as the Forestry and National Park’s management. Two years later we tried to find if a similar watershed divide could be mapped out going south. Could the Kingdom Divide (as we are calling it) be reliably identified through the countryside of England? The answer, after some research, was yes, and we…

As Land Rover enthusiasts and owners, we are privileged to have a vast number of skilled and knowledgeable companies across a whole range of aftermarket segments; probably more than any other brand in the world. In this new series, I will be going behind the scenes of specialists in different fields – from modifiers to parts suppliers and restorers and everything in between. First up, Twisted Automotive. I pull up outside the Old Cinema in the centre of Thirsk, Twisted’s HQ. Walking in, past the merchandise and vehicles on display, there is a cafe in the showroom, the only coffee venue in Yorkshire, possibly the UK, to house a speed-boat. Whilst wandering around the Defenders on display, receptionist Helen makes me a latte. Owner and founder, Charles Fawcett, arrives and…

THE weekend of the Series One Club National Rally finally arrived, and SXF 733 was all ready to join around 275 fellow Series Is at the event including some of the most historic and finest examples around. More importantly – to me anyway – there would also be a number of other SXF-registered vehicles. The plan for Friday was for me to go on ahead in the Discovery 4 with the camping gear and get set up, while my son Adam would follow on in 733 after finishing work. I sorted out the tent, sleeping bags, food and cooking equipment, plus a few essentials for 733, such as oils and water if it required a top-up over the weekend, and crucially, a jerrycan or two of E5 petrol. As I…

NOISE, vibration and harshness (NVH) is the phrase used by vehicle designers to describe anything that intrudes the peace and quiet of the driver and passengers. It’s something to be eliminated, and the tools include sound-deadening material, careful design of suspension bushes, and elaborate engine, transmission and body mountings. Basically, anything that can transmit road, engine and driveline vibrations, body resonance and wind noise, needs to be dealt with, even to the extent (in some vehicles) of using audio systems to cancel out unwanted noise, and large steel masses bolted to the underbody to damp out unwanted vibrations. In this feature we’re talking about a different kind of NVH: the type that’s caused by worn or broken components as the vehicle suffers the effects of a high mileage and a…

TOP SWAP I know changing from hard to soft top is well documented, but I’m interested in whether the SIII 88in County Station Wagons can have their hard roof removed? I assume they can, provided the interior headlining is removed, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with a soft top. How easy is it to do? Andrew Whyte MARTIN DOMONEY REPLIES: Yes, the roof and sides can be removed from an 88in Station Wagon although there’s a bit more to think about than with a basic hard top. The trims around the fixings and any wiring to interior lights will need to be removed first and, if the vehicle has three-point seatbelts in the front, then the upper mounting point will need to be unbolted and a seatbelt…

MORE AT LANDROVERMONTHLY.CO.UK/EVENTS/ September 12-14 COAST-TO-COAST 4x4 ADVENTURE TOUR Cumbria 4x4adventuretours.co.uk September 13-15 CROSS COUNTRY HILLRALLY York, North Yorkshire theyorkshirehillrally.com UK CHAMPIONSHIP DEFENDER RALLY SERIES Yorkshire Hill Rally, Yorkshire bowlermotors.com/bowler-defender-challenge BXCC BRITISH CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIP York, Yorkshire crosscountryuk.org TYRO, THE MAJORS TRIAL Green Hall Farm, Llanfyllin, Powys, Wales mroc.co.uk September 14 PUBLIC OPEN DAY The Dunsfold Collection, Dunsfold, Surrey dunsfoldcollection.co.uk EDEN DISTRICT LAND ROVER TOUR Kendal, Cumbria uklandroverevents.com September 14-15 ADVENTURE OVERLAND & CAMPERVAN SHOW, THE GRAND FINALE Stratford Racecourse, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire adventure-overland-show.com 4x4 TRIAL Weston Coyney, Stoke on Trent awdc.co.uk 4x4 TRIAL Lothersdale, West Yorkshire facebook.com/NCORTC/ CCV & RTV TRIAL Herstmonceux, East Sussex sroc.co.uk TYRO & TIMED TRIAL TBC slroc.co.uk September 15 TRIAL Staveley, Cumbria penninelandrover.co.uk RTV & CCV TRIAL TBC wwlrc.co.uk 4x4 RTV TRIAL Haworth, Bradford, West Yorkshire…