With a wheelbase of 80", and a 1600cc engine this was a neat little vehicle. In production the central steering position ws lost, and the little car became one of motoring's legends. Fifty years later we have not just one model, but a whole range, from the 'Freelander', a (relatively) low cost 4x4 car, to the Range Rover, an expensive 4x4 luxury limo. In between (in price) lie the Discovery and the Defender.
Its a fact that the many Land Rovers in this country get little farther than the supper market car park, but then there are the rest.
Designed for a tough life the King Off the Road has to be the Defender. Available in three wheelbases, 90 (actual about 92"), the 110, and the 130 (about 127"). Each has its own uses, strengths and weaknesses. The 90 is an agile little vehicle, the 130 a very capable load carrier, and the 110, well, its the best for me.
Asked the question 'Which is the best off the road?' my answer is 'Which has done the most Camel Trophies?' The 110 is the pack animal supreme, with a payload of about a ton, good departure and approach angles, good ground clearance, and that legendary articulation it goes where it needs to, and gets the goods there as well. Driven with guts they will almost keep up with the much faster 'Freelander', as in the 1998 Camel Trophy!
Winter of 2007/2008 Its been a few years since I lst added anything to the story. Nessie ended up having a heart transplant, the 2.5 TD being replaced when its crank brke big time with a tuned 3.9 V8 with an R380 gearbox. To say Nessie was quick is putting it mildly, and the off-road performance was spectacular.
Then some low life knicked her and cut her up for bits.
The replacement was one of the last non-airsprung Range Rovers, and my first V8 on an auto box since the States, very comfortable after Nessie, nice on and off road.
Followed about three years later by a P38, a great car, but often felt a bit wooly on the road, so I decided to bite the bullet, and only a few weeks ago along came "PapaJon", a Disco 3.
Some might say that a Disco after a Rangie is downward move, well it is a bit less expensive, but in terms of space, comfort and running costs thus far its a winner.
I've only had PapaJon a few weeks, and off road a couple of times, on the part-worn rubber ther just now it takes mud in its stride, and the electronics doing their thing to move the goal posts into another field. As yet I've no pictures of PapaJon in the wild, so you'll have to settle for the pack animal images I've taken while loading up the PA gear, and a bit of video taken when I had a dealer supplied half day at Eastnor in a Land Rover Land Rover.
