A Defender too nice to get dirty

[PeteC]

...."UK-based aftermarket outfit Overfinch has been upgrading stock Land Rovers — with unwavering good taste — since 1975. To mark 40 years of craftsmanship, the company has rolled out the entirely covetable Defender 40th Anniversary Edition."...... (Photos at link)

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20151217 ... 2015_autos

[Nereus]

Maybe Richard Hammond can afford one! Overfinch have been doing this for years, and seem to have a market.

http://stock.overfinch.com/vehicle/over ... y-edition/

[PeteC]

A chance to participate in story telling if you have or had a Defender. Pete

http://thailand.landrover-asia.com/unfi ... 20Regional

[Nereus]

Some interesting footage in some of the videos shown on the link. Some of the footage is of the recent “Land Rover Day”, which took place in Thailand last November over a period of 5 days, and was referred to as “AEC Land Rover Fest Thailand 2015”.

The convoy, or “caravan” as the Thais insist on calling it, spent part of it in Hua Hin. Lunch was held at Vana Nava Water Park, followed by a photo shoot at the new Ratchapakdi Park, complete with General “what’s-his-name”, and various other hangers on.

They are claiming 92 Defenders, and over 500 hundred participants. In fact, many of the cars were not “Defenders”, and I very much doubt that there were 500 people, even including all the hangers on. I counted at least 80 cars, and even allowing for 4 people per car, it is a lot less than 500.

However, it must be said that the event was pretty well organized, for a Thai event anyway!
For me, the most remarkable aspect was being able to communicate with a bunch of friendly people in ENGLISH! There were people from all over Asia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, many from Malaysia, and even a couple of blokes from Australia that spoke reasonable English!

I have been mistaken for Anthony Hopkins, and I wish it were true, but I sometimes play along with it and must have had my photo taken more times on one day than real fellow probably has! I always tell them that I did not bring my Indian today, as I did not want to get it dirty.

I am going to post a separate post about what is a “Defender”, as part of one of the videos also has a Hua Hin connection.

[Khundon1975]

Way back in the mists of time, I had an old long wheelbase Landy with two in line rows of back seats.
It was well beyond the knackers yard, smelt of oil, smoke and others things that I could never identify. I only used it on my own land and so never needed to tax or MOT it and ran it on red diesel.

It would occasionally throw me off the track into a ditch (front tracking and wheel alignment way out of spec) but I loved it. Wish I still had it.

Those Overfinch models are very expensive for what they are and most never see any mud in the UK, shame really.

Now, one of those Bowler land rovers would be a great garage filler.

[Nereus]

I post this here for those interested. It is far from being a complete history of the marque, but may fill some gaps:

What is a “Defender”?

I have owned a Land Rover in one form or another for just over 50 years. I have had a Series 1, Series 2, Series 2A,
2 Door Range Rover, and now a Discovery. But I have never owned a “Defender”. A personal thing I suppose, but it gets on my goat when the earlier “Series” cars are all lumped together and called “Defenders”.

Maurice Wilks original design was based on an ex WW2 Jeep. In fact, he used a Jeep chassis to build the first prototype. In the video entitled “Origin of the Species” in Pete’s link, there is film of a Jeep charging around the beach, probably at Anglesey, where Wilkes had a “cottage”. The video is narrated by the late Maurice Wilkes’s son.

The prototype had the steering wheel situated in the center of the cab. The reasoning being it could be exported to either RHD or LHD countries. It never went into production in that form. The main idea at the time was to get the factory back to production after the WW2 effort, and export the car overseas to generate badly needed foreign exchange.

The first production cars were simply called Landrover (one word), no series number was used, or even considered at that time. There is still argument about whether or not a hyphen should be used now, or two separate words as in Land Rover.

Series 1
First released at the Amsterdam Motor Show on 30th April 1948, the Series 1 was in production until 1958. Total production is listed at 218,327. During this time, it went through continuous changes: from 80" wheelbase (1948-1953), 86" (1953-1956), 88" (1956-1958), 107" (1953-1958) and 109" (1956-1958). Engines were the 1595cc (1948-1951), 1997cc (1951-1958) petrol and the 2052cc diesel (1957-1958).

Series 2
The first Series 2 Land Rover was released to the press on 16th April 1958. It was this evolution that led to the earlier cars being referred to as Series 1, but not by everyone!

The change to Series 2A occurred in September 1961 with the introduction of an upgraded diesel engine. Total production of an amazing range of different wheelbases and body styles, including a forward control model, was around 500,000 units combined total.

Series 3
The series 3 was released in 1971 and continued production up until 1985. Around 440,000 were produced. During this period the 1,000.000th Land Rover rolled off the production line in 1976. Many changes were incorporated during this period, but the vehicle remained true to its original concept with a solid chassis, leaf springs and drum brakes.

Also during this period from 1979 to end of type in 1984, Land Rover introduced a “Stage 1” model. This car used some components from the Range Rover, including a de-tuned V8 engine, but retained the same old leaf springs and drum brakes. (stage 1 referred to the first stage £200 Million investment by the British Government in an attempt to prop up the company)

And that could, with a bit of disregard for actual facts, be called the end of the “Series” Land Rovers. However, it is not correct.

The next designation was the 110 and 90, both these numbers referring to the wheelbase measured in inches. The Land Rover 110 was introduced in 1983, and the Land Rover 90 in 1984. It can be correctly claimed that these two models replaced the “Series” models, but they were NOT called “Defenders”! At the time of release, the only other model on sale was the Range Rover, and from 1985 an extended wheelbase model called 127 was introduced.

Although the body was very similar to the Series models, the mechanicals introduced coil springs and the constant 4WD transmission from the Range Rover. A one piece windscreen was also introduced.

It was the introduction of the Land Rover “Discovery” in 1989 that led to the change of name to “Defender” in late 1990, early 1991.The 110 became “Defender 110”, and the 90 became “Defender 90”. The 127-inch wheelbase model name was also changed to “Defender 130”, although the wheel base remained 127 inches.

From then, until the proposed end of production in 2015, the ‘Defender” morphed into a bewildering range of body styles, engine options and applications. All of which is deserving of its own history, just as the “Series” models are entitled to be called just that, NOT Defenders!

[STEVE G]

The last Land Rover I owned was a MkIII Half Ton, often referred to as the lightweight or airportable. It was a modified military version that was specifically designed to be stripped down and carried as an underslung load by a Wessex helicopter or dropped on a pallet out the back of a C130. They had a less boxy look that made them popular with enthusiasts when they were sold off in the 80's and 90's.
I've found one on an Australian website so some of them made it out there:
http://www.justauto.com.au/justcars/car ... xt=Results

[Nereus]

As far as I am aware the Australian Army did not use the lightweight. But for sure there are some there now. They were mostly used by Nato Forces, but the first ones that I came across were in Brunei in the late 1970s.

There are several ex DOD low mileage units listed for sale for 9,000 GBP on a dealers website in the UK.

[Bluesky]

I am not 100 percent sure but from memory I was working out of Amberley Air Base QLD from time to time in the 80s early 90s and I think there were a couple parked up in the rear of a building.

I also remember visiting my brother in law who was skippering the HMAS Success (a supply ship) on deployment to East Timor at the time and and once again I did notice some Land Rovers palletized that looked strikingly similar to the mark111 in the half light in the hold.

As far as I am aware the Australian Army did not use the lightweight. But for sure there are some there now. They were mostly used by Nato Forces, but the first ones that I came across were in Brunei in the late 1970s.

There are several ex DOD low mileage units listed for sale for 9,000 GBP on a dealers website in the UK.

[Nereus]

Worldwide there seems to be an ever increasing interest in old cars. It even seems to me that the local True Visions cable TV would have very few programs to repeat over and over again, if it were not for the proliferation of car restoration programs. The cost of some of the restorations is staggering. On one particular USA program there have been restored cars sold for an amount that probably exceeds a small countries GDP!

And the Land Rover has not been forgotten with this surge in interest. In 2014 the UK television program “For The Love of Cars” restored a 1956 Series 1 86 inch basic canvas top Land Rover, which sold at auction for a world record price of £41,100. Shortly following this sale, it was advertised online at “offers around £59,000”. It was sold, but the price has not been disclosed.

To complement the thread on Land Rover Defenders, I will endeavor to take a look at Series Land Rovers, and in particular, a couple of Series 1.

Again referring to the link posted by Pete, there is video of a couple of early Series Land Rovers charging about, in particular at 0.09-0.11, and 0.17, amongst others. Although the video is a blatant advertising gimmick, the two cars depicted there have a very interesting history that includes Thailand.

In 1955 six young undergraduate friends at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, planned and carried out the first overland car trip from the UK to Singapore. They called it the: “Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition”.
Having very little apart from enthusiasm, they cajoled the Rover Car Co. into providing two brand new 86-inch
Series 1 Land Rover Station Wagons for use free of charge! They also cajoled a then young Richard Attenborough, whom at the time, was the producer in charge of the BBC`s Exploration Unit, into giving them a £200 advance to buy a camera.

More than 80 “sponsors” either donated or “lent” equipment to the group, plus a multitude of both private people, and companies, donated consumables. The outward journey took 6 months 6 days, and covered around 18,000 miles, arriving in Singapore on 6th March 1956.

The epic trip is well chronicled in a book written by Tim Slessor, one of the participants, entitled: “First Overland”. First published in 1957, the book was re-published in 2005 with a foreword by Sir Richard Attenborough.

Of local interest is the section traversed in Thailand. The expedition entered Thailand at the “Frontier Village” of Tachilek from Burma. As the only bridge had been bombed by the RAF towards the end of WW2, they had to ford the river, which resulted in water flowing through one door and out the other, but did not stop the cars.

I guess that they forgot to hang a Buddha image up in the cars, because after an accident free trip halfway across the world, things started to change after crossing the border.

Leaving Chiang Mai after a couple of days of rain the unsealed road was deep slush. One car skidded off the road without much damage, and the winch was used to get it back on the road. Half an hour later an approaching lorry, loaded with a couple of huge teak logs, side swiped the other car, which was now in the lead, causing some damage and a broken side window.

By the time it was dark the road had mostly dried out, but the car that was now travelling second, hit a slippery patch, spun around facing the way it had just come, hung at an angle and then slowly toppled on to its side! Nobody badly hurt, and when the lead car came back the winch was again rigged up for recovery. Before being able to get the car back on its wheels, a bus carrying a crowd of Thais came along. They very soon rallied around and heaved the car back on its wheels! After everything was restowed, they resumed the journey.

But it was not over yet. Then, just as now, about 20 miles further on a bus had skidded right off the road and into a ditch! The winches were again called into play, and after about two hours work they were able to get the bus back on the road for the grateful passengers.

They spent a bit of time in Bangkok and took in a bit of R&R. With about 1,000 miles left to go they now faced the problem of there being about a 100 mile “gap” in the road south to what was then Malaya.

Enquires had revealed that a “road” was in the process of being pushed through from Renong(sic), but it was regarded as an “elephant track” and not suitable for any wheeled vehicle. The only other alternatives were either; by ship(unthinkable), or along the railroad.

The decision was made to attempt the “elephant track”. So they headed off south on the dusty unsealed road, through Hua Hin and on to Chumporn(sic), where they headed west to Renong.(sic).

The 100 odd miles remaining south through the jungle really sums up the determination and resourcefulness of this group. They eventually made it to Takua Pa, a small village in Phang Nga Province, including a night river crossing by ferry right at the end.

From there they were able regain the “road” and eventually cross into Malaya and on to Singapore. It should also be mentioned that at the time there were still bandits left over from the “Malaya Emergency” roaming around the country to add to the excitement!

The book is a good read, and does not go into great detail about the cars per se, but rather the countries they passed through, and the people they met along the way.

[Frank La Rue]

GReat Link! - some really great Toys for Boys there. My personal favourite:

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20131028 ... s-for-sale

The OshKosh

[Frank La Rue]

GReat Link! - some really great Toys for Boys there. My personal favourite:

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20131028 ... s-for-sale

The OshKosh L-ATV

[pharvey]

A sad day indeed.....

Land Rover Defender Production Comes to an End

"On 29 January 2016, the last ever Land Rover Defender rolled off the production line

Today marks an important moment in history, as the last ever UK-built Defender rolls off the production line at Solihull. Although the first Defender model went on sale in 1990, the model is a development of the original Land Rover, which has been in production for 67 years in one form or another.

Over the years, the Defender become a true British icon, and is recognised around the world as one of the most capable and rugged off-road vehicles. Despite the vehicle remaining in demand, the Defender had become increasingly expensive to build, and due to incoming safety regulations production eventually had to come to an end."

http://www.classicandperformancecar.com ... -to-an-end

[PeteC]

Here's some more story and photos of the last Defender. Pete

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20160129 ... r-defender?

[PeteC]

I picked up some words from the TV while passing by today to the effect...."The Defender stopped production due to EU regulations coming out of Brussels...." Is that true!? That would be enough for me to vote "out". Pete