Hey there,
It's me again. Some may know that I have a rather demanding story with my daily driven '78 924, which by the way is still around and that topic will get a massive update very, very soon.
But this is about something else. This first post is, at least for the most part, not even about a particular car.
This story starts back in July 2016, as I got onto a plane to Iceland. Two weeks of production and straight after that my girl was going to fly in as well and we would be off in a loaned Land Rover Defender for a week. We even got a roof tent fitted, just for us.
After that week in the most insane places in the car we both loved from the very first second on it became pretty obvious that we discovered something that would stick with us. I mean I had been around Defenders before, but even by icelandic standards this machine was pretty mean. The owner is a mad car guy too and my film about him and his MGB GT just went live here.
After coming back me and the girl had a hard time and it became a memory. Until...
September. I was sent to the UK for a production. The main guy coordinating it over there happened to be the bloke seen in the film. And the owner of this 2-door Range Rover Classic. I had never been near one, let alone sat in one so this was new. I knew that they have the dual action tailgate which I adored but as the early cars were all V8s I didn't even think about it. The thought of go-anywhere was back though.
I then stumbled upon a lot of photographers from the Pacific North-West, Oregon-Washington kind of area and madly fell in love with the scenery and the overall mood they conveyed. As a bonus, they all drove offroaders, mostly Land Cruisers. So I started to look into those, especially the J6-series. I scheduled a timeframe, a budget and went on with my life. These aren't cheap and there was a substantial lack of money in my pocket to fund one in drivable condition that doesn't need work immediately. As time went by the distant goal became a little closer I posted in another forum to see if there are any bottlenecks I didn't account for. And within 48h I got at least six offers for different vehicles, none of which I could afford. And a rather unexpected mail offering me a Range Rover Classic, way under what I intended to spend.
So I started researching those... Three dozen rusty rebuild threads later I was both concerned and tempted. The girl looked at both and liked the Range over the Cruiser so I decided to at least give it a shot. If it's rubbish, I'll just leave and continue my path to Toyo-town. So I grabbed the girl and off we went.
Honestly, I had little hope. The pictures didn't look promising. Interior looked very worn, the paint looked bad and the backstory was both uplifting and worrying. The reason there is no model year in the title is because technically, this isn't a Range Rover. It's a Discovery. The original car was so badly corroded that someone took time and effort and not only welded most of the car back together but replaced the frame with a Discovery one. Clever people would've swapped the VIN's, he didn't. So right now this is a Land Rover Discovery with a Range Rover chassis. A Frankenstein, but one with fairly little rot, and one with a well running 300 TDi in it - which is the main reason it was appealing in the first place.
I never thought this would happen, but the car looked much, much better in person and proved to be mostly solid. Sure, there are spots of corrosion. And sure, not all the stuff works. But for what could've been a disaster this was a really pleasant surprise. Both me and the girl immediately liked it and after a thorough look, a test drive and a little chat we went for it. I didn't mention that the car comes with a boatload of spares, did I?
Right now the car is still tucked away in the barn, but I have all the necessary paperwork to get me the plates and then finally bring her home.
And that is where this story will continue.
It's me again. Some may know that I have a rather demanding story with my daily driven '78 924, which by the way is still around and that topic will get a massive update very, very soon.
But this is about something else. This first post is, at least for the most part, not even about a particular car.
This story starts back in July 2016, as I got onto a plane to Iceland. Two weeks of production and straight after that my girl was going to fly in as well and we would be off in a loaned Land Rover Defender for a week. We even got a roof tent fitted, just for us.
After that week in the most insane places in the car we both loved from the very first second on it became pretty obvious that we discovered something that would stick with us. I mean I had been around Defenders before, but even by icelandic standards this machine was pretty mean. The owner is a mad car guy too and my film about him and his MGB GT just went live here.
After coming back me and the girl had a hard time and it became a memory. Until...
September. I was sent to the UK for a production. The main guy coordinating it over there happened to be the bloke seen in the film. And the owner of this 2-door Range Rover Classic. I had never been near one, let alone sat in one so this was new. I knew that they have the dual action tailgate which I adored but as the early cars were all V8s I didn't even think about it. The thought of go-anywhere was back though.
I then stumbled upon a lot of photographers from the Pacific North-West, Oregon-Washington kind of area and madly fell in love with the scenery and the overall mood they conveyed. As a bonus, they all drove offroaders, mostly Land Cruisers. So I started to look into those, especially the J6-series. I scheduled a timeframe, a budget and went on with my life. These aren't cheap and there was a substantial lack of money in my pocket to fund one in drivable condition that doesn't need work immediately. As time went by the distant goal became a little closer I posted in another forum to see if there are any bottlenecks I didn't account for. And within 48h I got at least six offers for different vehicles, none of which I could afford. And a rather unexpected mail offering me a Range Rover Classic, way under what I intended to spend.
So I started researching those... Three dozen rusty rebuild threads later I was both concerned and tempted. The girl looked at both and liked the Range over the Cruiser so I decided to at least give it a shot. If it's rubbish, I'll just leave and continue my path to Toyo-town. So I grabbed the girl and off we went.
Honestly, I had little hope. The pictures didn't look promising. Interior looked very worn, the paint looked bad and the backstory was both uplifting and worrying. The reason there is no model year in the title is because technically, this isn't a Range Rover. It's a Discovery. The original car was so badly corroded that someone took time and effort and not only welded most of the car back together but replaced the frame with a Discovery one. Clever people would've swapped the VIN's, he didn't. So right now this is a Land Rover Discovery with a Range Rover chassis. A Frankenstein, but one with fairly little rot, and one with a well running 300 TDi in it - which is the main reason it was appealing in the first place.
I never thought this would happen, but the car looked much, much better in person and proved to be mostly solid. Sure, there are spots of corrosion. And sure, not all the stuff works. But for what could've been a disaster this was a really pleasant surprise. Both me and the girl immediately liked it and after a thorough look, a test drive and a little chat we went for it. I didn't mention that the car comes with a boatload of spares, did I?
Right now the car is still tucked away in the barn, but I have all the necessary paperwork to get me the plates and then finally bring her home.
And that is where this story will continue.
All Iceland ones and most of the films from the UK and Germany were made by me.
