Our fun vehicle is a 1982 Range Rover built by Landrover in England, which Noeline and I have owned for 10 years. She has spent a lot of her life in the Southland area and at one time owned by King Allen owner of the Glenorchy Pub a few years back.
The registration shows a registration date of 1979, but in actual fact she is a 1982 model. This was changed to avoid import duty, a tax applied by the government of the time on imported vehicles beginning from 1980, so as a 1979 was exempt from the tax.
The alloy panels make this quite a light 4WD, by the time a roll cage is added, rocksliders, side bars, winch mounting and tow hooks, the weight is right back up there again. The 24 volt Toyota high mount winch has plenty of power to move the old girl when fully stuck. ARB diff lockers have been fitted front and rear, along with chrome moly axles with hardened c.v. joints. Rims are white spoke 16 x 8 with a plus 12 off set and Silverstone Scorpion 33 inch tyres.
An air conditioning pump has been modified for compressed air, this works the lockers and air for the tyres, it’s not electric so there’s nothing to get wet and short out. The body has been lifted 50mm along with the four coil springs, with extra long travel shocks and an all metal snorkel fitted.
The original petrol V-8 of 3.5 litres has been replaced along with the 4 speed gearbox, replaced with a 4 cylinder 2.5 litre turbo charged diesel (300)and a LT77 five speed gearbox, all Landrover. Of course this means road tax now but still works out as a saving and is more convenient as we are not stopping for fuel all the time.
The V-8 had a torque of 310 nm and the diesel 295 nm but the turbo makes up the difference and actually goes better than the V-8 with more lift. There are no electronics or computers to get wet, which is just as well considering some of the immersions she has had. The fuel tank holds 80 litres and gives around 700 km’s of travel so economy is good but, and there is always a but, I do miss the throaty thump of the V-8, oh so nice!
There are still a few tracks in NZ that I haven’t been on, especially in the North Island which I am sure she would love to do in the near future. She is tough and reliable, so much so I have entered her in several winch challenges in the Mainland series, including our own one here in Queenstown. With my winch man Luke Sergent we managed to get a first place in the Clubman Class at Hanmer Springs and a second in Timaru 2010. This is quite a feat as competition is fierce and she is not a purpose built competition truck. She gets used for every day type use, plus club trips, getting firewood pulling a tandem axle trailer a lot, plus the odd hunting trips etc.
I will not put her in any more competitions, she will do just fine as a club truck, I intend to build a purpose built truck for now I know what is required for this.
The Range Rover is very tuff and a capable vehicle for having lots of fun, and that’s what it is all about, also with the back seat removed she is an excellent tent. She was all rust treated for the roads in England before arriving in NZ, so rust is not a problem here in the Wakatipu, she is almost 30 years old now. I have thought about changing to something more modern, but I don’t think we would have as much fun as we have had with her.