What got you started in Land Rovers?

[msggunny]

Mine was a combination of my own maturation process as well as being immersed in the "LR" experience.

I started out with Jeeps, and actually remember in the early 90's when the D90 was crowned as the 4x4 of the year by a off road mag as being mad and thinking that Land Rovers were for snobs.

In the late 90's I did a training op with the Rangers when I was at Ft Knox. They had a few 110's that were tricked out and were far from what the image I had about Land Rovers. Started to do some research on Land Rovers as a whole and it started to change my mind.

A few years later when I was stationed in Uganda I came across an awesome deal on a 91 3 door Discovery. That started the disease. I took it all over Uganda and toured several National Parks in it. I bought the SIII 88, that I still have, and I ended up driving it more than the Disco. After having it shipped to Zimbabwe I had some work done to it there by my now father in laws shop and took it on a few trips in Zim.

After shipping it back to the USA, the SIII was my daily driver for quite a while. Even after buying a wrecked D1 and rebuilding it, which my wife quickly took as her own. I finally got the D1 when I found her a nice 04D2, all of which we still have.

Even with the ass pain that I have felt with all of my rovers I still love them. Guess I bleed green, and not just Marine Corps Green.....

91 D1


My SIII when I bought it:


The D1


04D2:

[derekchace]

Gunny if you netlike the Ranger Defeneders you should check out the SAS and Para recycle ones. A couple cool ones up for sale in the UK

[kwd509]

From the looks of that last picture it appears to have had some frame repair. I see so meany people replacing frames with galvi units and have been thinking that unless it were very far gone it would be much easier and less expensive to just weld plate in over the rusted parts. Is this what you've done and is it a common practice?

Actually, frame repair- none yet, it is quite solid, having never seen road salt in Tennessee.... Thus far simply cleaning surface rust and painting w por15. There will be some footwell repair to the bulkhead, but the sole frame welding repair will be to a relatively small hole 1.5 inches across, just below the battery/air breather.... At some point acid must have acted on the frame. Thus, the frame is solid and my restoration is driven by the desire for a serviceable truck, and also limited funds. Would love to have time, funds and energy to galvanize door frames and such, But I will take this only so far. I joke that maybe my son will take it a step further in the future.

[smukai]

Illness, I like that.

I caught the bug early in life. My father bought his 2a in late 63, had it shipped to Boston and drove it to Tennessee for use as a farm vehicle. It served as a utility vehicle but also was what my siblings and I learned to drive (after a tractor). My father loved the vehicle and the diesel engine. As a little kid I took up his pride and interest. As a teen I once drove it high in the mountains, above strip mines to the site of a long ago plan crash that had been 'inaccessible by rescue squad jeeps.......I've always wanted one, and wanted that particular truck.

I am very lucky to have had the unexpected opportunity to reclaim it after it stood abandoned for a little over 30 years. It is coming together as a project, slowly, as I l enjoyably learn..... and as the cleaning/repair is almost a reverent exercise on behalf of my late parents.

Two photos- one from 1964,- I'm six, and a second one from 2010 as my son and I first arrive at the long lost truck

This is a wonderful story!

[zayante]

It started with on of my favorite toys, a Dinky Toy 88 in Green. At about that time (1959?) I also got a Matchbox Lesney 4-1/2 Liter 1929 Bentley, now one of my other favorite cars. Funny how that works. I still have them.

Like a lot of you, those Fifties and Sixties travelogues and African safari movies were a big on me influence, too. I remember one featuring a British couple traveling all over Palestine in a LR and thinking how cool that was.

Out of college I was looking for a 4X4 station wagon to go hunting in, and wanted something more interesting than my buddy's 70's Power Wagon, so considered either a LR or a Land Cruiser. A '72 FJ-55 won out, mostly because parts were more readily available in Santa Cruz and marginally better daily drivers. I didn't count on the fact that the body of an FJ-55 was horribly rust-prone - it barely outlasted my ownership.

I've owned a number of British cars, and got interested in Land Rovers again at the El Camino Park Days on the Green in the Nineties. Talking to some Mendo Recce folks and looking at a number of LR web sites sealed the deal (special thanks to TeriAnn!)

[cedryck]

Drove to Maine with a friend in a series 3 88, did some four wheeling, drove back, helped some people on the highway with a busted rear brake line, they bought us gas, had a blast that weekend, bought an ex mod 88 soon there after, been hooked since. Cheers everyone!

[Billy5]

I watched the usual shows as everyone else and saw it there. But every documentary I see involving the dessert or jungle, 99 times out of a 100, its a Land Rover they use. So I said if its good enough and tough enough for there, than it must be for me. I like ( or love) the fact its spartan, no heated seats, heated mirrors, no radio ( at least mine doesnt have one). I had an FJ40 as well, and I like this better. So after much thought, I cashed in some 401k money and bought a 69 88 bugeye. From a member on here I might add. Sold the Volvo v50 and been driving ever since. I can work on it, parts are just about everywhere ( most), and I am in no danger of seeing another parked at the coffee house anytime soon. But having said that, there will be a get together next week that I dont know about...lol.

[LaneRover]

Though my older brother had a '66 88, that wasn't the first seed that was planted. My grandmother used to work for G Fox in Hartford and I remember one time she took me in the store and I was able to pick out a toy. So I got the zebra striped 109 Land Rover from Daktari. It also had the cross eyed lion and the monkey. I lost the other figures years ago but I still have that Daktari 109. Missing a couple wheels now . . .

[TedW]

So I got the zebra striped 109 Land Rover from Daktari. It also had the cross eyed lion and the monkey.

IIRC the crosseyed lion was named Clarence and the chimp was Judy...........

[willincalgary]

I sort of lucked in to a Land Rover. My family emigrated to Canada from Britain in the 70's when I was tiny and for years my father always had a hankering for a British toy car like an MGB or TR6. Eventually he realized that a Land Rover would be far more practical and easier to maintain with the added benefit he could drive it year round. He bought the Rover from a welder who had it stashed in a barn for twenty years. In 2000-2001 I helped my Dad with a substantial mechanical rebuild of the Rover starting with a new galvanized chassis.
In 2006 my parents parted ways and my father lost his garage space. He wasn't using the Rover and my mother essentially told him to offer it to me as I had helped out with the restoration. I had it shipped out West and have enjoyed it ever since.
I think the appeal of the Land Rover for me is it's minimalist utility. It sort of suits my character as I abhor excessive comfort when I camp, commute and do anything really. I am a geologist and the Rover also provides a means to reach some difficult to access areas. This spring I will be driving around the SW US, up through Canada and into the Yukon doing fieldwork in support of my Ph.D. Planning to sleep in the Rover to keep costs down. I guess in reality I am just shifting the costs from accommodations to fuel!
I must be too young because I have never seen any of the travelogues you guys mention. Perhaps I will take a look around on YouTube if somebody will post some titles.