Thread: Trusty

Originally Posted by MrLandy

Love your 'decadence' John (anyone who doesn't is just jealous) ...it would be great to hear more about Tanzania too. How often do you get over there now?

Thanks Mr Landy. Yeah, well, I guess there are greater extravagances in the world than a spare intercontinental Land Rover.

I worked in Tanzania most of the time from early 2002 to mid-2009 (with a year or so in Botswana and a six month stretch in Australia thrown in for good measure at some points along the way). When I left my last job there, I couldn't bring myself to part with Trusty, so I put her out on agistment at some friends' place indefinitely. Mind you, it has been a bit more indefinite than they were expecting. I thought I'd be away for about eighteen months, then didn't get back until late 2014 (for only a few weeks). Trusty was (is) still fine, having been well cared for in the meantime (though at one point a flood came along and threw her around the countryside for a little while).

I'll get back there eventually. I would rather like to do a long-ish safari one day...but that may be a pipe-dream. We'll see.

Anyway, between '02 and '09 Trusty went on a few little adventures, so I will get around to posting a bit here soon.

John

Originally Posted by wally

Oh go on... you know we're all interested. We wouldn't be anoraking around here if we weren't.
It's the only way I'll get to hear about Trusty or Tanzania.
And it's not really that decadent is it? It's a Land Rover. It's not like you're getting around in a Mercedes Benz or anything.

Heheheheheheehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe..... ..

Originally Posted by Johnno1969

Thanks Mr Landy. Yeah, well, I guess there are greater extravagances in the world than a spare intercontinental Land Rover.

I worked in Tanzania most of the time from early 2002 to mid-2009 (with a year or so in Botswana and a six month stretch in Australia thrown in for good measure at some points along the way). When I left my last job there, I couldn't bring myself to part with Trusty, so I put her out on agistment at some friends' place indefinitely. Mind you, it has been a bit more indefinite than they were expecting. I thought I'd be away for about eighteen months, then didn't get back until late 2014 (for only a few weeks). Trusty was (is) still fine, having been well cared for in the meantime (though at one point a flood came along and threw her around the countryside for a little while).

I'll get back there eventually. I would rather like to do a long-ish safari one day...but that may be a pipe-dream. We'll see.

Anyway, between '02 and '09 Trusty went on a few little adventures, so I will get around to posting a bit here soon.

John

Cool. Maybe I should bring my 98 Defender over and park him next Trusty, then we should drive the continent! Long term dream for me too.

Jeez Mr Johnno, You're never in a hurry are you??

Where's the Trusty story?

Originally Posted by OneOff

Jeez Mr Johnno, You're never in a hurry are you??

You've followed his series rebuild thread then?

(I should add that it's actually one of my favourites here!)

Originally Posted by OneOff

Jeez Mr Johnno, You're never in a hurry are you??

Where's the Trusty story?

It would appear that I'm not, as I have just come back to this thread this evening....

Trusty started life (I think) with the local water board (the governmental body, not the form of torture) in Iringa in southern Tanzania. Well, that's at least what I heard. She began life (I think) as a styleside ute, and that was what she was on the evening when I leapt joyously and drunkenly into the back tub in the carpark of Lui's chinese restaurant (just around the corner from the Impala hotel..... can't miss it) sometime in 2003. She was owned by a Scottish girl who drove Trusty up and down between Arusha and Nairobi quite a bit and, without a spanner to her name and no irony implied, gave the brave little motor car her moniker. Naturally, when I bought her (the Land Rover, not the Scottish girl), the name came with her (Trusty, not Jenny).

Trusty was a life-changer. Instead of my movements being limited to when I could cadge a company car or a lift, suddenly I could roam far and wide, visiting friends, going bush and having debauched evenings of unhinged revelry. Often, I combined all three.

She was also a revelation, in that, after years driving my IIA, I was amazed at how quiet, smooth and fast the Defender was (stop laughing). Of all the cars I've ever had, Trusty is my favourite to drive (though the IIA is pretty nifty and I have this Charger which is a bit of fun too). She does it all: up hill, down dale, tracks, highways, dust, mud, snow (alright, made that bit up) - and occasionally at the heady speed of ninety kilometres per hour.



Now......that's it for the moment. I will post more of the tale soon, complete with piccies, when I get back to my other computer (which has 'em all).

Originally Posted by eeyore

You've followed his series rebuild thread then?

(I should add that it's actually one of my favourites here!)

Hehehehee.... yeah, funny you should mention that: there's more coming on that thread soon(ish). "In the fullness of time... at the appropriate juncture", as Sir Humphrey would have said.

In my defence, sometimes I have let my membership lapse and can't post until I get myself organised to do a bank transfer, sometimes I get distracted by other things, sometimes I forget and sometimes, er, I dunno. Oh, and this one time they closed the bank in my town.

The defence rests, m'lud.

Trusty was in pretty good nick. I gave her a good check-over, replaced the drive flanges and the timing belt and she started life with me, pottering around Arusha, visiting friends in Kenya for Christmas, ferrying the local cricket team's equipment to games and having a few bush trips here and there.

It was during all this that I started to sort out the hardtop so I could travel and sleep in the back. I also had some really nifty safari hatches cut into the roof....