Following on from another thread the topic of off roaders came up, so rather than send that off topic (as it's current other cars) I thought I'd start this for Off Roader type stuff.

This is my Land Rover history...

In 2003 I bought this, a 1998 300TDI ex Balfour Beatty van from a commercial auction I was at looking for minibuses.

Seemed like a good idea at the time because it has a bit of damage and was cheap. £5k for a five year old Defender.

Then my (now) ex didn't want to be left out and bought a 90, which is in the background.

After a year I traded it in (for £8k) against this, a Frogs Island built challenge spec 90 with twin winches and diff lockers, plus rather long travel suspension.

Which I pushed to it's limits and rolled (twice).

I started to remove all the ballast, like the Roo Bar, to get better articulation balance and manouverbility. Then I started trialling with local LR clubs.

Also experimented with a centre mount winch that worked in both directions.

At the end I had it very well set up, it would go almost anywhere as long as you didn't catch the undercarriage.

I kept "Top" for seven years, by far the longest time I've owned any vehicle.

At this point in 2005 I was using "Top" as my daily driver still, it was the only vehicle I had!

So I borrowed a few £££ and bought my first new vehicle.

I was also lucky enough to get the plate on it from the DVLA at extra cost.

Then I decided to build something with even better ground clearance.

Enter "Taz" with it's Volvo 303 portal axles off a Swiss military 5000kg truck.

This pic is from a magazine feature in August 2006.

Shows the extra ground clearance well, it was roughly an extra 6 or 7 inches.

Taz on a few winch challenge events.

Still needed a little help from the winch occasionally on the most difficult sections.

BossFox green laning.

Sadly I had to give up Defenders at his point, I did 57k miles in BossFox in 18 months and it killed my knee and shoulder.

So I bought something more... comfy. Which I took to Morocco.

And had some fun in the sand...

...and along the Atlantic coast.

I then moved up to top spec ES Premium Disco II.

Then after I had it two weeks I went to a Land Rover show.

Then went back to a Defender, even though driving it was a pain, as I had another daily drive.

And after a short while sold it to buy the Camel. Official 1997 Mongolia Camel Trophy support vehicle.

Yes, I also went soft and bought a Range Rover... which after a short while I chopped in for a later one, that wasn't as good.

The Camel in action.

In the undergrowth.

Climbing hills with ease.

Then I kind of ran out of time and enthusiasm.

Had done a lot over the 10 years of Land Rovering and work was getting busier and busier... so I moved onto other things.

No longer had the time to tweak, repair, modify my own stuff anymore.

Got married again and started a family, which took up most of my non-working time.

My favorite pic ever is this one from Wales 2005.

We were going up a mountain stream on private land.

Absolutely amazing experience, the car was balanced like this for over half an hour as we drove up.

Thanks for reading.

Will have to dig out some pics of my old Disco

Chris

Cracking stuff Richard, you have great taste in vehicles!

Unfortunately I don't own a 4x4 (will do one day as I absolutely love off roading). Always go out with friends at weekends when we can, exploring and finding new lanes - great fun!

Here are a couple of snaps I have taken last time we went out, testing out my new camera too.

Minature Landy's

Boss Fox.... once again I'm astonished by how epic your car history is!

Why didn't you like the Range Rover out of interest?

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Boss Fox.... once again I'm astonished by how epic your car history is!

Why didn't you like the Range Rover out of interest?

Thanks, it was pretty bad until I got into Landrovers at 27. All sierras and Mondeos other than a Scoob which I loved, but had to sell as it made my drive like a loony.

But with work I've been quite fortunate and do feel lucky I've been able to have certain cars as I've got older.

My first Range Rover was a 2005 6cyl diesel. It was amazingly comfortable but a bit noisy and slow.

I made the mistake of trading up to a 2008 TDV8, which although it was quieter and much quicker had cheaper seats.

The bean counters had been in and remove some of the seat functions.

Even the last of the current shape (2012) still don't have as good seats as the pre 2006 models which had a back rest cut in half and you could move each section seperately. From 2006 it was fixed like a normal car seat, and no more comfy than my Yeti.

Also seeing it doing potentially 20k miles per year at 22(ish)mpg scared me in terms of running costs and depreciation. So I ended up with a Skoda, that does 95+% of the things the RR did at less than half the cost.

Epic. Lucky man to have done all ofvthat.

I actually think I could talk cars with you for hours lol

My first Landrover was an ex military 109 series IIA, it was camouflaged and a rag top, bought for a couple of hundred quid and it had a huge amount of parts in a box in the back, good job as we drove just a few miles when it boiled, it had a 9 inch crack in the block! Engine was replaced with a 2.5 five bearing crank motor and I used it for about a year, sold it to a mate. It still had the gun rack on the dash!

My second was a 90 County, 1989 with a 2.5 TD, this I had for four years and it went everywhere, this has to have been one of my favourite cars, however my job changed and I had a 65 mile each way commute on the M62 and the Landrover had to go.

I will scan some photos and post them up.

As for the images above, what can I say, quite simply a stunning array of Solihull's finest being used for what they were intended.

I used to do a bit of off-road stuff at a local club but it got a bit too expensive for me, I'm currently helping somebody build a tray back based on an old discovery 100" wheel base, I'm no expert on the but apparently it's more stable than a 90 because it doesn't get stuck in holes as easy, what I've done is moved the engine back by 9" as well to make the centre of gravity more neutral, what you can do is when the engine moves back 9" you can just swap the front and rear propshafts around, I'll have to dig out the pictures, ive got them on a stick somewhere.

Yes Tom, the 100" wheelbase is pretty much perfect for a Land Rover size/weight vehicle.

More stable and less bogging in holes, but not too long to compromise the break over.

As a 90 is really around 93" and a 110 is 110" it's the way to go if starting from scratch.

The later engines were all moved forward in about 1994, so there is always space to move them back as the engine bay was not really changed.

By The Way, I have a 1996 Range Rover P38 4.0 for sale, it is spares or repair.

Condition is good and it passed an MOT two years ago and then got parked up and has not moved since. Sensible offers and its yours.

I also have a full set of Land Rover wheel nuts and a genuine 90 tool kit! Offers.

Epic!!.........................lots of things that i would do in my dreams!!!!

Like the portal one "taz".................place nearish to me called portal rover??...........which puts unimog axles on LR's......................I've also seen their six wheeled version!!.............Beast!!!

Thing is i used to work for the Hydro board in Inverness and the big unimogs and tricked out LR 130's made me drool a bit........

where is George, thus thread is meant for him - missing in action!!

Have been know to do a little offroading in my time.

Then the second Disco,

Then had one of these put on,

Had some really good times off road, but the fuel costs were on another level!!

1 year bump :P some truly amazing machines in this thread!

1 year bump :P some truly amazing machines in this thread!

Nice one. Havent seen this one before!

Must have passed a club yesterday, big bunch of mutant Discos and Defenders, some on trailers some being driven. Does look like fun.

Must have passed a club yesterday, big bunch of mutant Discos and Defenders, some on trailers some being driven. Does look like fun.

Theres quite a few round here. Been made higher, bigger wheels, always covered in dirt and smoke like a chimney etc etc.

They look mega. I wouldnt mind havin a go at all