What got you started in Land Rovers?

[Ross72SIII]

In Iraq in 2006 somehow my team was able to beg/borrow/steal a few brand new 110's. One even had an ambulance conversion. We drove them everywhere and it was my first experience with Land Rovers. The vehicles were the most sturdy, well designed, and besides a HMMWV, the best off road I had ever come across. Last summer after coming home from overseas again an Army buddy showed up with his Ex Mod 72 SIII. The steering wheel had about a half a meter of play in it and the thing was a dog but I loved it...so did my girlfriend (minus the 90wt smell!). He and I drove down to NH to look at an SIII 109 which had been nicely refurbished by a private collector. It had sat for about 5 years but fired right up. After a test drive and some bartering I paid cash, jumped in, and drove it 300 km home...No problems, all smiles. Been in love ever since. Yes, it has its quirks from time to time, and some parts are quite expensive, but what the hell...anyone can own a jeep right?

[printjunky]

Between the Air Force and college I was living with my parents in Conway, NH to save some money and I needed to replace a recently totalled CJ7.*

I went looking for an affordable, work-onable (in fact, preferably needing work) 4x4. My first choice was FJ-40s. Loved 'em, but couldn't find anything without a TON of rust. Didn't even know much about Rovers at the time, really. (though I'd recently lived in Burlington for a year, so had some exposure). Somehow I learned that a guy that worked at Bob Duncan Camera in N.Conway had an SIII 88" about 85% restored in a barn in town. Fell in love enough to somehow scrape up the $2,500 and bought it. Worked on it for several months (full engine rebuild - pistons, bearings, etc). Coincidentally, right before I had it on the road, I found another SIII trop top behind a barn in Chatham for $50 (!!) that ran after about 8 hours of tinkering. I parked the first one, and drove the second to college.

Tragic sidenote, the first one ended up (loaded with THOUSANDS in spare parts) getting towed to a salvage yard when my buddy sold the business it was parked at (and I was 4 hours away at Umaine). And the second one (after blowing the rear main) as far as I know, is still behind an ex-girlfriends father's barn in North Dakota. Luckily, a few years ago, I found a 73 in Wisconsin and was able to buy it. Now my daily driver.

* (Southbound tractor trailer hit a moose on 16 in Ossipee and jackknifed across the road - I came around the corner 2:30am, bit misty, and saw a guy waving at me in coveralls on the side of the road, thought "What the ... !?!?" He was trying to warn me, but what he actually did was distract me from the road. When I turned back to the road, there was the box across the road with no lights on it. Too late. Plowed the jeep into the front left corner of the box hard enough to splay open the block. Woulda been skewered on the column without that seatbelt!)

[Jazzop]

It was around 2001 or so when someone ran a red light and totalled my immaculate 1991 Honda CRX Si. I searched for a few months trying to find another CRX that hadn't been riced beyond recognition, and after no luck, I decided to spend my insurance check on something British to complement my MkI Mini Cooper S. I almost pounced on a Triumph GT6 locally, but it had too many issues. So, I looked for an affordable, pre-1968 British contraption with a reputation for ease of repair, and came up with the Rover.

I ended up buying a 1965 IIA 88 RHD located 350 miles away. It was in worse shape than I thought, and the drive home took 3 consecutive weekends (I was in college and couldn't miss classes, plus the time lag in ordering parts from RN for the roadside repairs). After a month of heavy-duty sorting, I got the IIA in daily-driver condition, and used it as such for over a year, until I got another Honda.

[dabawei]

What got you started in Land Rovers?

Childhood friend start driving it and learning on manual gear when I was 14years younger, and wish my son do the same so I decide to get same vechile since it is available not yet sold