vnx205
13th October 2008, 05:28 PM
I am convinced that the answer to the question of who buys Defenders (apart from a few very discriminating 4WDers in Australia) is- - - - - Scottish farmers.
How do I know?
Well I noticed that the further north from London I went last month, the more common Defenders became.
Then I noticed that as I got close to the Scottish border, that they were very common and obviously belonged to farmers.
How do I know the owners were farmers?
The first clue was the complete absence of bling.
The second clue was that they all had the standard rims and tyres.
However the most convincing piece of evidence was that they were liberally splattered with what had to be a mixture of mud and manure.
Something else that intrigued me and probably helps confirm that they were farm vehicles was that of the twelve Defenders I saw the first afternoon in Scotland, eleven were towing trailers. Every one of the trailers was dual axle and almost all were double horse floats. However one of the horse floats, I swear was long enough to hold four horses.
Another thing is that I didn't see any vehicle except for Defenders towing a trailer.
I did wonder about the trailers. At first I thought that Scottish farmers may have driven Series Land Rovers all their lives and were so terrified by the speed and acceleration of turbo diesels that they felt the need to drag a couple of tonnes of trailer behind them to slow them down.
Then I realised that it might just have been that the reason they were out on the main road with a trailer was that they had to transport stock or farming materials and equipment.
I must say it felt good to be somewhere where Defenders were so common that it was not unusual to see two in succession on the road.
Unfortunately I don't have any photographic proof of the proliferation of Defenders in Scotland as I was usually driving at the time I saw them. The best I can offer is a shot of one in Inverness that is a little different from the ones we see here. Well at least the paint job is different.:) As you can see it is not a farm vehicle.
How do I know?
Well I noticed that the further north from London I went last month, the more common Defenders became.
Then I noticed that as I got close to the Scottish border, that they were very common and obviously belonged to farmers.
How do I know the owners were farmers?
The first clue was the complete absence of bling.
The second clue was that they all had the standard rims and tyres.
However the most convincing piece of evidence was that they were liberally splattered with what had to be a mixture of mud and manure.
Something else that intrigued me and probably helps confirm that they were farm vehicles was that of the twelve Defenders I saw the first afternoon in Scotland, eleven were towing trailers. Every one of the trailers was dual axle and almost all were double horse floats. However one of the horse floats, I swear was long enough to hold four horses.
Another thing is that I didn't see any vehicle except for Defenders towing a trailer.
I did wonder about the trailers. At first I thought that Scottish farmers may have driven Series Land Rovers all their lives and were so terrified by the speed and acceleration of turbo diesels that they felt the need to drag a couple of tonnes of trailer behind them to slow them down.
Then I realised that it might just have been that the reason they were out on the main road with a trailer was that they had to transport stock or farming materials and equipment.
I must say it felt good to be somewhere where Defenders were so common that it was not unusual to see two in succession on the road.
Unfortunately I don't have any photographic proof of the proliferation of Defenders in Scotland as I was usually driving at the time I saw them. The best I can offer is a shot of one in Inverness that is a little different from the ones we see here. Well at least the paint job is different.:) As you can see it is not a farm vehicle.