Over and over… in video after video… you see and hear why this is not just about making an old truck look new. Why an old Land Rover? Listen to the voices, watch the faces of the people involved in this project.
Might be the best video yet on the Land Rover. A BBC piece that takes you back to the very beginning.
While I wait (patiently) for the restoration of my truck, I’m feeding my jones with YouTube videos. There is a lot of Land Rover porn on YouTube. Loving (amateur) restoration videos that bring a tear to the eye. Some are commercial in nature. But nobody matches the quality and creativity of the guys at Cool & Vintage. These are the folks in Lisbon, Portugal that first hooked me on Land Rovers. I’ll never know how good they are at restoration but they’re damned good at marketing. Whoever shot and edited this video knows what she/he is doing. You can see some of their photos here.
Mostly common sense items but some I wouldn’t have thought of. For my future reference.
1977 American thriller film directed and produced by William Friedkin and starring Roy Scheider. (Wikipedia)
I’ve never owned a vehicle with a diesel engine so I know nothing about them. Except that my Land Rover will have one (rebuilt). My first thought was “uh oh” but it turns out diesel is a good thing.
“Because they are more efficient, diesel engines release less waste heat while in operation. Diesel engine parts are generally stronger than gas engine components, and diesel fuel has superior lubricating properties. As a result, diesel engines tend to last twice as long as gas-powered ones.”
I’m told it will take a bit longer to start my truck if left parked in the cold while I sip espresso but that’s only an issue if one has somewhere one must be.
I started my search looking for a Defender 90 but a few weeks in fell in love with the Series model. This cheeky video explains why an old Land Rover Defender costs $70,000. My favorite line: “Jeeps are for people who get in arguments over iPhone vs Android.”
Today I learned my truck is being restored as a soft top, even though it started life as a hardtop. This might be a California thing since it’s being restored in San Diego. Nice and warm out there year round, why wouldn’t you want a ragtop? And I’ll be fine with that, Missouri winters be damned (and I’ll rarely be on the road more than half an hour). And it was soft tops that got me started down this (off) road. Every Land Rover that got me tingly (see below) had a soft top.
I included the hardtop for comparison. And the more I see the hardtops, the more I like them. I’m hoping there’s a way I can have both. These trucks seem pretty modular and a guy with the right set of wrenches could probably switch ’em out a couple of times a year. This guy seems to be having a great time without a top.