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Our extended family had a 109 series III hardtop for camping in the 70s (when I was but a wee chap). It stayed in the family all the time, even getting a full re-build with the rotten old chassis being re-dipped. I then needed a car when I started Uni so I bought a half share from my Dad's mate. Spent most of my uni years towing lesser student bombs out of the UQ potholed dirt carparks in the rain. Got many, many offers of beer.
I didn't realise how attached I had gotten to it until I was forced to sell it for numerous logistical reasons. Then spent the next 15 years idly ogling the ever evolving Defender until I finally managed to pursuade the domestic gestapo that it was a sensible option for our new car. And then I got another, and so on and so forth...
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O.K Considering I started the thread I better contribute
All good things are worth waiting for. 3 generations of winging Poms
From a very young age in the old Dart I have vague memories of my Grandfathers Series LWB don't know what year or anything like that, just the colour, yellow with a white roof.
Fast track years now to around the age of twenty three. My old man just got delivery of his brand spanka's P38 Range Rover Java Black with 18" tri spoke mags. I looked at it, then him (his face gleaming) and said "Ya can't go offroad in that! It's too low""
Bigger grin on his face"Watch this" he turned the ignition pressed the button in the middle of the dash, back goes up, front goes up, back level, front levels
I said smart **** and walked away.
$hit I was jealous but at the age of twenty three couldn't raise the 100k+ to buy my own. I can still hear mum screaming nagging tones through the window a few weeks later as she saw it parked in the back yard front wheels sitting on top of a 1 to 1.5 metre sandstone drop off in their back yard back wheels firmly planted on the lawn, car was on a 45 degree angle with the bags lowered for shock value. Or the time a extended family from Pom's ville went on an outing. Restricted seats made us drive two vehicles to Wollongong The Rangie and my trusty Valiant ute 40 degree day and guess what, the compressor on the Rangie was working O/T freezing the thermostat sending the climate control into a state of confusion resulting in the ambient temp outside reading of -4 and the heater automatically turning on and wouldn't turn off. it was so humerous for us in the Val with our steel dash and crutch height vents to see four windows lowering simultaniously heads poking out gasping for air . After a few short trips in the Rangie, easy ones (low profile tyres) and a holiday with the missus and her rello's in Arnhem Land, I was hooked on going bush and I had to have a 4wd . Old mans advice buy an ex army series that way when I dented it just pop rivet a new piece on. Nah I wanted one like his, like Beckham's, a Black sex machine, heaps of street cred massive mags (for the day) an a big V8.(Well I was young, dumb and full of you know) Couple of years pass and priorities change (with 2 kids and a preggo's wife) I was looking for an economical family mobile capable of a lot of highway kilometres, a diesel was in order, so up to Sydney and down Parra Rd I went, luxes, trols an bruisers. Then I saw it an aqua coloured disco 1 diesel, cargo barrier,dual batts spotties snorkel you get the idea I first looked because of the mods but upon sitting inside fell in love with it, the comfort, style , size (others were like B-52's in comparison) walked up to salesman and inquired, it was allready sold. I went back to my parents (stayed there while in Sydney) and told the old man, I want a Landie, and there new engines a beauty the TD5, he smiled. A couple weeks later we made a deal, he traded his beloved Rangie for a brand new Td5 disco, of course had to be Java black or similar settled for Bonotti Grey, auto, two spares mags with tyres. Then the hardest part I had to wait another 3 long years till his lease was up before I bought it from him. Well that happened 6 months ago a long wait of 6 and a half years was over. After waitng so long naturally I don't want to test my limitations as a 4 wheeler although the car is very capable I know my limits are far exceeded by the cars. I needed another a toy that if crashed and scratched will not feel like 6.5 years of Land Rover less solitary waiting being an act of futility. Hence yesturday I bought an old series III LWB with a colour sceam Yellow with a white roof, just like my grand fathers all them many years before.
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i had always owned a 4x4 since about 1979, mainly for towing stuff or going shooting. when i returned from an around Aust trip in 1995 i decided that the 80 series cruiser was just too much like a truck to drive and i could do more with the 35 grand i had tied up in it. i still needed a forby to tow so (somehow) i ended up with an 85 rangie and just loved it. today, if i couldnt own a land rover/rangie i wouldnt own a 4 wheel drive
norto
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Was going to get a Patrol, took a 82 2 door Rangie for a drive, end of story. Bought it on the spot.
Now on Rangie number 2, and looking at getting a D3 for the missus next year.
Rovers a addictive
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I loved the Disco look, it stood out, it had a V8 in it, 4 doors, plenty of room. 3 Disco's later I fell in love with a Yellow 90. Its such a cool looking thing. One day I will get it dirty, meantime its our tow wagon for the caravan, a job it does "Extremely" well.
Trev.
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Land Rovers have character. All of mine have the Disco, the RR and the Fender. Most of the rest are bland. I do like the new Jeep Commander though.
LRs are different and up until recently were significantly cheaper than any of the Nippons and had better options for the cost.
I do disagree that they are dearer to service than others. Some mechanics think it is ok to raise service prices when the words Land Rover or Range Rover are mentioned. Go and price parts and service costs for a 100 series.
Plus LRs go anywhere Nippons can't.
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I harboured early adolescent fantasies of kitting out a swb and driving across Australia. These prepubescent notions were fueled by the early Leyland Bros exploits....but there comes a time for boys to turn into men and fantasies change.
I had a brief interlude with a Mini Moke and that introduced me to fire trails and what could be found at the end of them...but testosterone and status aspirations resulted ultimately in a red Alfa.
I found that the rack and pinion steering and the low profile tyres didn't take kindly to back roads so I was confined to the tarmac...always wondering what I was missing as I drove past those side roads.
Mid life crisis, marriage breakdown and two fortnightly sons (aged about what I was when I first had LR dreamings) led me back to my true course and with a purpose: to share some special places with my sons...so what 4wd?...no question...no regrets.
It has made me a richer person.
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Me I was after a crewcab ute. Didn't like the running costs of the crewman as proposed by the lease company. I was about to buy a corer but thought I shold look through the other secondhand yards fst. Saw my beastie sitting there and Instantly thought I used t love hose things as a kid. After walking away as I coldn't afford one of those I went back and test drove it. Sold! from them on it had to be.
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we had a Land Rover when we lived in coffs harbour in the mid eighties. Always loved playing on the beach in it when we were kids. I have loved land rovers ever since. My want for one died down a bit for a few years but when i was 15 a girlfriends parent bought a jeep after test driving the Disco and the Jeep. They chose the Jeep because they didnt like the step in the roof of the disco. This fueled both my love of Land Rovers and my hate for Jeeps. So when i got my first car i looked around for a land rover but couldnt find anything within my budget or near enough to look at, so i went for the escort. Then at UNI i nearly bought a SIII SWB but was turned off when the guy wanted triple what it was worth so told him no. Bought my commodore when i was at UNI cause the long drives loaded with gear was killing the escort. The i finished UNI and wanted a Ute but held off to start the business, once the business was started i lived my dream out and bought the disco. Matt
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Some of my first driving experiences were in a S2 landy in the early 70s certainly the first off road driving was in a S2 plus 35 :) I then graduated to a S1 (neither of which I owned) around 1976/77 I was convinced I was going to buy a Daihatsu F10, but bought a Datsun 1600 instead.
Anyhow I had a trip down to the snow with a guy in a Bolwell Nagari and he scared the crap out of me to the point I wouldn't come back with him and got a ride back with a mate who had a Rangie, that trip convinced me I had to have one. I suceeded in 1981 and kept it through to 1998 when I traded it for the Defender.
Martyn
