Thread: What made you buy you 1st Land Rover

I'm a man of simple ideals......Big titties are Big titties....And a Defender is a Defender, it has a Presence of it's own, it evokes a thrill of an Adventure, a rush of Adrenallin just thinking about a weekend escape, and it pretty much explains why it takes me 45min to go down to the shops to get a packet of Darts......and it's only 10min by foot....
Drive into the Horizon.............................And pray nothing bloody breaks down !!!!!!!!!! .....ha ha ha ha

my old man rebuilt a series 1 (54 model) in the mid 70's and we used it for fishing trips from when I was about 10. Then he got a S3 and took it to cape york. When he died I could have had it but.............never really liked it becuase I dont like sitting with my knees up around my ears. My first fourbie was a 76 FJ40-capable enough but ROUGH, my kidneys still hurt and I have symtoms of trauma at the thought of leaf springs. Went on a trip with a few people in the late 80's and one had a 4 door rangie and I was completely besotted with it-the way it rode over rough ground, had a comfortable interior, had leg room and character!! and class and sounded great. I got rid of the 40 and got an 83 2 door, then a 76 2 door, then a defender (woops no leg room!), then an 80 2 door and now a 98 disco tdi. Something about lust for landys must run in the family........short answer is 40's suck and my dad had a landy.

Why a Landy for me:

Superb Curves
Chick Magnet
All the Accessories you could possibly want - Interior Light, Brakes.

Finally upgraded - to an interior lined vehicle that oozed charm, character and oil. Far more advanced than my old SIIA.

Not sure why I am single. hmmm.

Originally Posted by rangieman

it was my fathers fault .....
...... bought a s1 long wheelbase ute with a hard top back , man i hated my only sister she aways got the front seat and inwinter they had that tiny little heater in the front while the four boys out the back froze

but we had some good holidays , in all those years....

Hey rangieman.......are you sure you're not really me?

Apart from the 'only sister' and the 'S1 shorty'!!!

My dad 'traded' an old Rambler 660 for his SIIa!
( I suppose that 360 motor and 175 sized tyres made it less desirable on his hunting trips?? )

Only 2 problems I can remeber him having with that thing.....

On a family trip to Canberra and beyond (seemed like an eternity to us "other 4 kids" loafing around the back....my youngest brother was the "only sister" ).....the old bomb just died coming out of Yass, up a big hill towards Canberra.
The thing had 3 petrol tanks(190lt total) and I had the 'pleasure' of filling them up! while the other 4 had to put up with eating ice-creams!!

We got stuck back in Yass all day while carbies were pulled apart and fuel pumps were checked....etc...etc.....

The IIa eventually fired up and got us 10 meters up the road while dad was fiddling with a switch (fuel tank switch!) and the car died!

"Water in the fuel!" he thought.....back to the service station to get them to check/drain the tank......of course nothing came out!! I was too busy drooling over some pretty young thing, or ice-cream, or something.... to fill ALL 3 tanks!!!!!
(never trust a 12 year old!)



The other problem, HE had...... was ME!!
(teaching myself to drive at 12-13!!)


So I ended up with the Rangie bug too!!
(along with various rover cars....P6's..... SD1's!!)

17 years after my first (horrendously overpriced '79) still got it!
Actually 17 years is a bit of a record for me with one vehicle(by about 16 1/2 years!!)
They tended to get replaced more often than not.


It's last big trip was in '99 or there abouts.. to Darwin....got us home, etc....but used up way too much oil (with over 500000klms on an "original" ?? motor......except for the Bosch dizzy).

It's retired (hurt!!) at the moment, while I struggle to decide whether to part company with 'her........ the brain tells me what to do, but the brain resides in the hard head that reminds the brain who's in charge!!
(Now I know why I'm perpetually 'broke' )


Looking back on my Landylife...........my 'ol man has a lot to answer for!!

This is a great thread. Shows how much our landys are not only about loving the brand and heritage of the car but how they connect many of us to family and family history. You guys with kids...........in 20 years time there will be another thread in another forum cursing and thanking you for their landy obsession.

I grew up with them, mum and dad had a few in succession. They started their own 4WD club and their S111 landy and the Rangie in the group never failed to outperform all other vehicles off road. Also were the only two vehicles that never missed an outing due to breakdown.
Great memories of White hills and Tims thicket, Woroona Dam and places like Wedge island.
When we moved East we towed about 3500kgs of furniture trailer, we got all the way to the Victorian border from Perth when someone pointed out that one of the axles on the trailer was barely moving and we'd pretty much skull dragged the hole lot across the nullabour and up the Adelaide hills (Don't know how we didn't blow both the tyres, must have been moving just enough) What other vehicle could do that!

Just to start the hate mail!

Same with a Lada Niva. You put up with the bad points because every now and then

The guy at the landrover dealer (MLR) took me around there test track....

Matt.