1995 Range Rover P38 4.6 HSE - Cool Running

Stop procrastinating man and get one sorted. You'll either be very glad, or very sorry

To be fair, given what they go for in the UK, it's worth taking a punt anyway.

And talking of cooling systems, it had another workout yesterday. I had to pop over to Tondo in the morning to drop my little bottle openers off for an ex-classmate's birthday party. It took just shy of 15 minutes to do the 5.2kms from Malate. It then took a shade over 2 hours to do the return. It could be said that I wasn't too happy, but the bright side is the temp gauge never moved, nor has the water level dropped, so I'm calling the exercise a success.

Arggh, my eyes! 



And I thought the 19s on mine were bad enough.

To be fair, the rest looks okay from what you can see (ding on the front wing, or just the picture?), got the correct engine and the price is heading the right direction but yes, those wheels would have to go. If the roads are as you describe, it must be pretty much undriveable.

Got to be worth a look though at $6k?

There'll be a tool update later on when the second half get delivered.

How is it over there Georgeb? Any involuntary swimming lessons?

So last month I mentioned that I got my insurance renewal notice through, as this year's expired on 21 October. 

As we've seen before, some things in the Philippines are really, really difficult to do. This, amazingly, is not one of them. Normally a little man on a motorbike arrives before expiry, drops off the documents and swipes your credit card, all without you having to leave the comfort of your living room/bar. Easy peasy.

Anyway I decided, just in case, to let them know about the change of wheels and the fact that it was now on air suspension again. I pointed out that the wheels were specifically sized for the Range Rover and that, at 16", were basically the same as a factory fit option. I also informed them that all the EAS parts used were genuine LR as well and had returned the Range Rover to original standard. I backed all this up with photographs and the invoice for the rims.

I got an immediate reply from the lovely Bernadette (maybe some Celtic blood in there?) saying that was all smashing and would have no effect on premiums. Thank you, me little Colleen.

On October 22nd, I mailed her to ask what was happening, due to expiry and was told, "Oh no worry, we renew your policy yesterday, so we send documents and collect premium next week. You good customer now". Remarkable!

This weekend I was going to delve into the mystery that is the P38's central locking system. It's never worked since I got it, but now I have a strange phenomenon following replacement of the drivers door latch. Locking and unlocking from the driver's door has no effect on the others but, if I lock the passenger door from the inside, the driver's door also locks. Hmm. So there's obviously some vestige of a connection there, I just need to hunt down the rest.

So yesterday morning, I went down the Pit of Hell to do battle. The torch immediately flickered and died. Not in a you need new battery way either. Just refused to do the one and only task ever asked of it namely, illuminate the gloom. Looking on the bright side (see what I did there?) at least it didn't wait until I had door cards and locking guts strewn around, so a little saving grace. Okay, so we need a new torch, but the shops don't open 'til ten. Fine. Go back upstairs and have a brew and a bit of a surf whilst I wait a couple of hours.

Just to go back a bit, I thought I'd been a right clever dick last time by getting a torch that not only had a swivelley head but also a magnetised bottom. Brilliant! Except it won't stick to half the '38, due to it being alloy. In addition, it was too small a diameter to stand upright under the car, so the slightest nudge sent it over. So pretty useless in reality! 

Anyway, arriving at the incomparable Ace Hardware, mainly due to the stunning sales girls, I find exactly what I wanted. A dirty great big thing, LED, rechargable and with a spotlight at one end (visible from Mars, apparently) and flip up flood at the other meaning I can stand it up on end under the motor and have good spread of light from the flood. It then took them an hour to find one that a) worked, b) wasn't cracked and c) had all the charging bits with it. To be fair though, they did do it for half price in the end, and the views were pretty.

After all that ballache, Adriatico was the only sensible destination for a few calming cold ones, so that was yesterday written off.

This morning? I found I'd developed a huge NFI overnight, so I had a sort out of the new tools I'd acquired instead.  

There's always next week.

Crikey. I wish there was some amazing way of getting them from here to there because the profits would be incredible.

Work on teleporter commencing.

I reckon teleporting would be the only sensible solution! Let us know when it's complete 


I know, frustrating isn't it.

So for those of you who missed out last time around and are wondering why I don't stop mucking around with railways and start the wholesale shipment of P38s into the Port of Manila, let's have a look.

Say we buy our '38 in the UK for 1,500 quid and then spend the same again on shipping and insurance. The vehicle (which must of course be a left hooker) will then stand us at three grand when it hits the docks. Then the fun starts. That lovely Mr Philippine-Customs will immediately hit us for 40% import duty, taking us to 4,200, providing he accepts the vehicle value of 1,500 in the first place. The actual purchase price is irrelevant, so he may decide it's worth more, and tax accordingly. Note this tax is on both the vehicle value and the shipping + insurance. He then sticks 10% VAT on top of that, bringing us to 4,620, then comes the killer.

This is the Ad Valorem Tax on top of the lot, which runs from 15% to 100% and is based on engine displacement. Bearing in mind they class anything over 1.6L as a 'gas guzzler', I think we can guess where our 4.6 V8 Range Rover's going to get stuck, can't we children? But let's be optimistic and stab at 75% or GBP3,645. This takes us to a nice round eight grand and right slap bang into the normal selling range. We'd probably make more money working at 7-11 for a week. 

Add to this several other factors such as you can only import one vehicle at a time, you must have owned it for six months overseas before you can import it, you have to prove it was bought with money made overseas, not here and in addition, you can't then sell it for three years.

All this without even thinking of the hassle of dealing with Philippine custom and import departments (oh yes, you need permission to import even before you start - not automatically forthcoming and I guess they'd question the need to import a 15-20 year old vehicle), let alone getting it registered once here.

Also let's not ignore the nice customs guy at the port who's always wanted a Range Rover as well, and decides that now is as good a time as any to realise his dream. In fact yes, let's ignore that shall we? Otherwise our little head will start to hurt!

I'll stick to mucking around with railways I think

How about importing 2 one to sell and one for the nice man at customs/ tax dept to stamp the appropriate papers for you....

Well they turned up to deliver my insurance documents yesterday, but he forgot to bring his credit card swiping machine, "No problem Sir George, I call again next Tuesday", so I have the policy and they have no money, amazing. Anyway, having declared the non-OEM new wheels and informed them that I've returned to air suspension, the premium was 17 quid cheaper than quoted above.

Nice one and it'll be converted into San Miguel before you can say 'cheap insurance'!

On another thread last week I stated that I was parking her up from Sunday until the following weekend. The reason? The APEC conference being held here means major road closures lasting all week and if we remember, when they did this for the Pope's visit, Manila was gridlock. So once bitten twice shy and all that, we stocked up on vittles and vowed to only venture out as far as Adriatico, to which I can walk. 

Anyway, it seems that your average Filipino has taken things one step further and buggered off out of the city completely. Malate's like living in a quiet sleepy backwater at the moment and getting around is a doddle. We should have these things more often!

Still looking on the bright side and every cloud having a silver lining; Would it be worth making sure the troublesome family members are securely belted into the back should this unfortunate occurance come to pass