Got a job at a land rover dealership when i was a mechanic. They were so bad that i quit being a mechanic for good.
Mostly worked on newish vehicles at the time (95 to 98 models). oil leaks, doors that didnt fit and had to be redrilled, mix of metric and imperial nuts and bolts on the same vehicles sometimes even on the same part, and that was new from the factory.
It only got worse when they got a few km on them (50000km) gearbox input shaft damage, broken timing belts on the diesels and even more oil leaks, would fix things under warranty when they were getting a service without telling the customer.
Was a few years ago so maybe they have improved.
Even though im not a real landy man. Im the same Suba, wish i had kept it.Heaps of character. many missions in the old girl. Rebuilt the the 186 and it went oright. Drifted around a bit. When the gearbox went it cost a ****eload but spose they all do.
^^
The guy that looks pretty lost on the left is an old mate of mine who now lives down south. The other two were a couple of Vicos we met up there. Had some good sessions with them. And some good surfs. Cant remember there names, was nearly 20years ago. If anyone knows them let me know.
Had to do the tacky king waves photo. Sorry
Here's one for all you luddites:
www.manheim.com.au/ttpm/Item/ItemUnavailable?itemID=000000000003166137
Better hurry, tomorrow's the big day.
Love those old 70's ones.... a time when 4WD were actual 4WD, not like the 4WD's today that look like Taragos that have mated with Rav4's......
Those pics above remind me of Malcolm Douglas, Alvie Mangels (sic) and those early day laricans adventuring... keeping it real...
I learnt to drive in one of these bad boys:
It was amazing the places we could go in it...... good times :P
That's not a Landrover
This is a Landrover :
Thats definately a land rover. The give away is the recovery strap on the front!
I learned to drive in a Landrover. After I left school I went to work for De Beers in the geology department and our company vehicles were series 3 Landrovers.
I figured out that if they gave us 4wds they did not intend us to walk. In the Kalahari the roads are all sand and everyone other than De Beers drives Ford 250's. Wider wheel base meant that in a landrover you had one wheel in the rut all the time. This not only farked the road up but caused them to overheat constantly as they shaved the grass seeds into the radiator. I used to drive up to the nearest reservoir and bucket water onto the engine to cool it.
In Namibia in the rainy season the roads would collect three foot deep pools of water 300 meters long. We would floor it (80ks) and hit the puddles full on much to the disgust of the laborers on the back.
I have had them virtually disappear down ant bear holes whilst spring hare hunting and taken them where vehicles have never been before in Zululand's valley of a thousand hills..
You could not kill them. We had to do all our own maintenance and the worst I ever had was a snapped suspension bolt. I reckon that if my life depended on it I would go for series three with a winch which we never had!
Sure they are slow but off road they were magnificent and would go where a landcruiser would not. It is imperative to watch grass build up above the exhaust though. A new bloke in Namibia, Vulcan, had his catch alight. He took some great photos. The whole body including the glass had completeley melted. Brand new it was too!