okay, okay, first of all, hurrah, good purchase! Secondly a landrover is NOT
an SUV. A landrover is IMHO absolutely the best 4WD you could possibly buy.
I grew up with landrovers and range rovers becuase my parents lived at the
end of a totally inaccessible dirt track, and no other vehicles could get
there (we had to take our trash to the end of the road once a week)! I
learnt to drive in a '73 Series III that was decommissioned out of the RAF
straight to the dealer in 1990 or 91.... That's right the vehicle was in
military service for SEVENTEEN years. When i say i learnt to drive, i mean i
learnt to DRIVE, off-road, in mud, sideways on a 1 in 3 hill. I then
commuted 50 miles a day for two years in that car. I also learnt all my
basic car maintenance, and in that time NEVER had a serious mechanical
failure. Okay, I fib, I had the clutch fluid absorb a whole load of water
through a rotted seal on the reservoir cap at one point, and had to drive 15
miles through the arsehole of nowhere double-declutching like a bat out of
hell? Nah, just left the bugger in third all the way, oh did i mention, you
can start a landrover off in third easier than an MGB in second. hee hee
hee. That is now one of my wierdnesses when i check out cars (checking the
seal on the clutch reservoir). My parents finally sold the car last year. It
had been through a lot by then, someone who shall remain nameless (not me i
hasten to add) mamanged to drive it into a tree when they were learning to
drive. The tree fell over. The landrover was fine.
That incidentally is why series III landrovers, serious simple solid early
seventies technology, were still being used by the british armed forces and
police in the early 90s (Now you see our equivalent of the highway patrol
driving around in turbocharged landrovers and range-rovers). They are
incredibly solid machines, and unlike the more modern range-rovers had a
very low COG (solid iron chassis, aluminium superstructure) - my dad claimed
he used to drive it sideways on a 1 in 2 hill all the time. If you knew how
to drive them (i.e. use the low ratio gearbox, and locked diffs properly)
you could take them anywhere. A friends of mine who used to go diving a lot,
once claimed to have pulled a 20 ton trailer out of the sand in his! I
remember the japanese jeeps that came out around that point in time had
tilt-meters on them, being roughly twice the height they were wide.
At that point in time little crappy tin box japanese jeeps were becoming
fashionable, and so the landrove discovery was brought out as an upmarket
vehicle. This ousted the range-rover from it's spot as the landrover with a
nice interior, hence the super-plushness of the 90's models. (Sometime in
the early eighties my mum and dad traded their LWB Series III landrover in
part-exchange for an early model range-rover. I'm not quite sure about the
deal, but the garage kept the landrover and still use it as a recovery
vehicle!)
Okay, their are cons: the petrol engine models have hideous fuel economy
(although the later turbo diesel models will do incredible distances on a
single tank). The series IIIs need strong wrists to steer, there's no power
steering and you feel the road... actually you feel the road through your
behind too due to the zero effort spent seating!. The car has an innate need
to go in a straight line (well it is a heavy vehicle), like someone said you
don't so much steer it, you aim the bugger. and the other product of that
momentum is that it take a while to stop too! Oh yeah, and in the series III
you need a REALLY loud stereo!
Still I never thought that i would enjoy driving anything more than i
enjoyed driving that old landrover, but i'm glad i took the plunge and
bought Humphrey... he's winning me over!
So congrats, you now own the two coolest cars on the road. If you live in
the UK, then there are a whole number of landrover clubs and buisnesses
which will teach you to drive off-road properly (e.g. when crossing a river
that is more than however many inches deeper than the bottom of the door,
open both doors to allow the current to flow through the vehicle...
apparently but i've never tried it... again my dad tells tall tales) VERY
VERY VERY fun!
cheers
Joe
_________________
Dr. Joseph Garner
Department of Animal Science,
University of California,
One Shields Avenue,
Davis,
CA 95616
USA
tel: + 530 754 5291
fax: + 530 752 0175
_________________
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tomsaudi@aol.com [mailto:Tomsaudi@aol.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 9:12 PM
> To: mgs@autox.team.net; spridgets@autox.team.net
> Subject: LBC guy buys BIG BC
>
>
> I'm such a hypocrite. After all my anti-SUV feelings, I am
> actually buying
> one for myself. God help me.
>
> Quite by accident, I came across a particular SUV that caught
> my eye everyday
> at my mechanic's shop, which is just at the bottom of the
> exit I get off when
> I come home from work. Price was too high at first, but after
> a couple
> reductions, I mentioned it to my wife, and we decided to go
> for a ride.
>
> Before I knew it, I had agreed to buy a 1989 Range Rover. She
> ran well, the
> a/c blew cold, looked great with the exception of a couple
> rust bubbles, and
> everything worked (except the tach and foglights, which are
> being fixed).
> Interior was mint, and the usual Range Rover amenities,
> optional sunroof and
> Pioneer CD player hardly dissuaded me.
>
> So I now will own two British machines, curiously the
> smallest post-1970 LBC,
> the MG Midget, and the largest, the Range Rover (with the
> exception of the
> Range Rover LWB). I can't wait to take a picture of the two
> of them next to
> each other.
>
> Out of curiousity, are there any other MG & Land Rover owners
> out there? I'd
> love to know.
>
> Tom
> 1978 MG Midget
> 1989 Range Rover
> 1995 Audi 90
>
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