Land Rover
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Street Sleeper
Street racing isn’t something you would out of the ordinary.‘I bought this as a toy and necessarily associate with Land Rovers of any description, nor is it a pastime that this well-behaved publication would condone.We all like to have fun in our toys, but with Land Rovers you’re more likely to think...
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Long Story
Back in the day, the only way of driving away from a main dealership aboard a four-door pick-up was by shelling out for a Land Rover 127. Many local authorities and utility companies did that – though even with the passage of time, not many enthusiasts have taken them on as...
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Top Cat
When Richard Johnstone bought a one-owner 200Tdi Discovery to use as an everyday runabout and off- road toy, he had no idea that one day it would be reborn – literally – as a brand new vehicle. And it all started with a small rust hole...
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Mud Max
Some vehicle builds seem to make a point of using parts from sources most of us have never heard of. But here’s proof that you can start with the sort of bits most workshops have piled up in the corner – and use them to create a vehicle that looks...
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Arctic Rolling
If you were planning a long trip, you might think twice about trusting a Discovery 1 to get you to the other end. But if the trip was 5000 miles long, your destination was north of the Arctic Circle and you were doing it in the depths of winter? Well,...
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Austerity Measures
Liam Riley bought his Discovery because it was cheap. Since then, he’s turned it into an off-road hero – without ever needing to spend much money on making it what it is…
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What Lies Beneath
Precious few of the Land Rover 90s that date from the first few years of production are still in anything resembling their original state. In some cases, that’s a bad thing. But every so often a Landy turns up that looks unremarkable – until you start digging beneath the surface…...
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A Bedder Disco
Land Rovers Discoverys often get turned into hardcore off-road toys as they approach their lives’ end – thus of course hastening the end-of-life process tremendously. For this 200Tdi, however, the opposite has become the case. Instead of being literally beaten to death, it’s been put to bed…
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What Women Want
Working out the fairer sex, particularly for some of the men out there, is no easy task. There’s no question that women are a complexity far more advanced than the average male brain can decipher, but there’s a secret to keeping her happy. Just give the lady a Defender.
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Parental Guidance
We pick up all sorts of habits from our parents, and for many of us who’ve fallen for the Green Oval machines, it’s our fathers to whom we owe this unhealthy obsession. It’s not all bad, though, and in the case of Kevin Jukes, his father has shown him the...
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A Champions Return
The 90 SV is a special truck, but this particular example is even more worthy of the label, having racked up countless accolades in the UK winch challenge scene. Many disapproved of the truck’s transformation into a loud and lairy competition motor – but it’s okay, because its owner was...
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A View To A Kill
Sometimes four wheels simply aren’t enough. And neither apparently are any of the traditional wheelbases Land Rover offered for the Defender. So, that can only mean that Chris Kill’s Defender 160” 6x6 must be quite the spectacle.
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Tray For Play
Trayback Land Rovers tend to be associated with the serious business of winching your way into seemingly impossible positions on challenge events. But they can make a lot of sense if all you want to do is go confidently on lane runs and playdays, too – though as it turns...
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Bombproof
Land Rovers are pretty resilient machines even in their standard Solihull suits. But for some of us out there who want to really use a Land Rover they can appear a bit soft around the edges. Shaun Myerscough’s Defender is different, because this 90 is as solid as they come.
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Two Into One
Land Rovers aren’t always renowned for their speed. But when The Landy travelled down to Whitecliff Off-Road to check out a certain Discovery 1, that view changed dramatically. This is one sure-fire way to have a party in a quarry…
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Big Boy's Toy
When Matt Unsworth was a little boy, someone gave him a bright yellow toy Land Rover. From that moment on, he was determined that when he grew up, he’s have a real one just like it
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Technicolour 90
Land Rovers come in all sorts of colours, especially once the aftermarket re-sprays come into play. Jason Redfern’s 90, though, must be one of the most colourful Landies around – and one that certainly puts the red in off-road ready…
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Money No Object
Discovery 2s are great: great for towing, great for being a family vehicle and especially great at going off-road. You don’t even need many accessories to turn them into a special truck when you do go off-tarmac. But we’ve come across a Td5 D2 that’s had over £35,000 spent on it.
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As Fresh As A Daisy
Mark Burston may own a Discovery that has covered nearly 700,000 miles, but it’s a Disco that just keeps on giving. And what it gives Mark is a four-wheeled machine he can use every day, yet still allow him to rule the roost at Silverdale too. It’s quite something...
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Down The Hatch
Here’s a little game you can play with your kids next time they’re bored: give them a piece of paper and a pencil and ask them to draw an off-road truck like the one Mummy or Daddy drives.
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The Green Shoots of Recovery
Andy Fleming bought a ‘smashed up’ Land Rover Discovery – then set about smashing it up some more. But then one day, with its back body starting to rot through, he popped out to the workshop for ‘a little play about.’ A few hours later, what was once a bland...
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Cracking On
After many years as a playday beater, Leigh Norminton’s V8 Discovery had bodywork that was riddled with stress cracks. Many people would just have weighed it in at that point, but Leigh simply took off the knackered bits – and set about building one of the most radical kit cars...
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Two Into One
Got a Range Rover with a dead engine and a Discovery with a rotten body? An heart transplant might sound like the obvious answer, but why just do that when a body swap would be more interesting? That’s the logic behind Paul Wood’s hybrid – which combines two everyday dead...
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Marshal Law
Carl Everett stumbled upon the 4x4 game by accident on a family holiday that happened to be next to an off-road site. Soon he was accompanying his dad to Land Rover shows as both embarked on a new-found life of modifying vehicles – though unlike most of us, who get...
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Into the unknown
The Loughborough Land Rover Club is based in Loughborough. “You think?!” I hear you say. Don’t worry, I haven’t become a complete and utter moron just yet, or at least not to that extent anyway.
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The Past Is Orange
Range Rovers are prestige cars. Things of discreet elegance, they lofting their way along country roads with their occupants wrapped in a luxurious cocoon of leather and exotic timbers from shores far away.
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Discovery of Old
I’d like to propose a thought to you, and feel free to smack me on the head with common sense next time you see me if you feel I may have got this wrong…
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Penfold Tomcat AK
Most 4x4 fans find themselves drawn towards one aspect of off-roading or another, but Shane Penfold is into the lot. The Disco 2 he uses for laning featured in TOR a few months ago, but he also runs something altogether more exotic.
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Like Son Like Father
Normally, it’s dads who get their sons into off-roading. But when Adrian Francis was bitten by the bug, it happened the other way round – which didn’t stop him from restifying a Discovery with an unusual past and an even more unusual colour scheme
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A Long Time Coming
David Longmore started building cars in the 1980s. But it wasn’t until a long list of vehicles had passed through his hands that he started getting interested in 4x4s. Even when he took the plunge and set to work on a 100” hybrid Land Rover, though, it still took a...
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Short And Sweet
There’s a lot of bobtailed 4x4s in the world – but not all of them look as pretty from close up as they do from a distance. When Sean Robb took on a crashed Range Rover with a view to turning it into an off-road hero, he was horrified by...
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Spot The Difference
It’s not rocket science as to why we see so many Land Rovers about in Britain – it is their home, after all. While this may not be revolutionary news to you, it’s still quite amazing to think that no two modified Land Rovers are ever entirely the same.
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Defenders Are a Girls Best Friend
Theresa Arnold has always been into cars. You might assume that that makes her a bit of a tomboy, and with a lifted, lockered, caged and twin-winched Defender 90 as her plaything she’s de nitely more Lara Croft than Hello Kitty.
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Show Strength
If you’ve got to have a major accident, you’d probably choose to have it in a 4x4. That’s what happened to John Lee when he rolled a Vitara: it was bad but, had he not been in a proper vehicle, it would probably have been worse.
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Lost In France
When your first ever off-road experience is described as ‘a bit of a play in the Land Rover,’ there are certain things you don’t expect. One of them is almost certainly a three-day drive across France for another three days of hardcore rock crawling.
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First-class travel
Prepping a 4x4 for overlanding can mean a lot of different things. In the case of the new Sherazee off-road camper from Footloose 4x4, it simply means getting the experts to do it for you
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Starting at the top
Steve Whiting has only been into off-roading for a couple of years. But in that time, he's built a Range Rover most people would be happy to call the result of their life's work. Well, as he puts it, he needed a hobby...
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Unconventional Wisdom
Dave Cooper has some interesting things to say about off-roading, and some of the reasoning behind the things he’s done with his Land Rover 90 is unusual – but still very sound. The vehicle itself is a one-off, too, with its unique king-cab design – but again, there’s no denying...
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'The Best Thing I've Ever Done'
Rob Berekis only found his way into off-roading by accident through a friend of his wife. But having rediscovered his childhood love of mud, he’s become a devotee of Land Rovers in particular – so much so that he now reckons buying one may be the smartest move he’s ever made.
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Bone Machine
Ian Hitchen’s Land Rover looks tough, but it’s not what you’d call pretty. These days, though, it’s a lot nicer than it used to be. That’s because it spent some time in the hands of someone who collected dog bones – meaning that when it came to be sold on,...
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Pull The Other One
Paul Rose likes nothing more than a good winch recovery. The only problem was that the Suzuki SJ he used to own was so light, he tended to drag himself forward rather than pulling the other guy out.
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Evolution, Not Revolution
Land Rover’s motto used to be ‘evolution not revolution.’ Jamie Kelly’s own Landy has followed that path to where it is today, through several body shapes, any number of technical specs… and countless broken halfshafts. If he was doing it all over again, might he be bolder with the big...
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Shining Example
When we vowed never to feature another shiny in Total Off Road, we reckoned without Ade Bayley and his spectacular TD5 90. Its detailing and presentation put many a show car to shame – but he’s not scared to push it big-time when it comes to what it was built for.
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You Only Live Twice
Paul Mellor’s Land Rover had been stripped and condemned when he bought it. All the parts on it are other people’s cast-offs. And while he was building it, he was accused of trying to do the impossible.
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Flesh and Blood
Look at Andy Jackson’s Land Rover from above, and the first thing you’ll see is a large expanse of female flesh. When it comes to the kind of body that’s held on by nuts and bolts, though, it’s a truck that’s been bloodied by the passage of time – but...
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A Short In The Dark
Steve Taylor’s Discovery spends a lot of time on the road in the dead of night. But the local police have long since stopped checking him out – after all, nobody who was up to mischief would do it in a caged, lifted trayback with an 82” wheelbase, would they?
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Runs In The Family
Matt Hubbard and his dad Paul only got into off-roading after taking a friend on a 4x4 experience for a birthday treat. Now they own a 90 whose life story includes at least two engine swaps, a spell on the challenge scene and a future as a family heirloom…
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May The 4xForce Be With You ♦ Tested Product ♦
A lot of the Land Rover suspension systems on the market are basically variations on the same theme. Taller springs, longer dampers and some combination of castor correction, shock towers and modified links – there are some excellent options around, but it’s not every day that someone comes along with...
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Big Boy's Toy
Back when Jordan Farrell’s mountain bike was his biggest toy, he bought a Land Rover 90 to carry it around in. But he’d always wanted an off-roader, ever since seeing them on telly as a kid… so it wasn’t long before his new 4x4 was turning into his biggest toy yet.
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Little By Little
Neil Witt wasn’t in any hurry to modify his Discovery. Instead, he just kept an eye out for the right bits when they came up on eBay – and his patience has been rewarded with a practical fun truck that owes him less than a month’s salary and looks set...
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My Other Car's a Land Rover
You know those old stickers that used to say ‘my other car’s a Porsche’? Well, John Duerden don’t need no Porsche, cos he’s got a Ferrari. But it’s his other car that’s the interesting one…
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Special Brew
When Jim Marsden bought his Defender 90 SV, little did he know that one day he would drive it to a string of successes in Britain’s top winch challenges. But even as he was doing so, there was one thing he did know: that the day would come when he...
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Trayback To The Future
Jason Farr’s 90 had already spent many years as a mildly modified green laner before its first challenge competition. But when the bug bit, it bit hard. Enter stage left Martin Lewis, builder of one of the UK’s first traybacks – which provided all the inspiration Jason needed for the...
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Big Daddy
Toby Barnes-Taylor is every kid’s dream dad. When he left the army with a resettlement cheque, he didn’t sink it into the mortgage – he bought a Defender 130 and prepped it for overlanding. From now on, every family holiday is going to be the adventure of a lifetime.
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Better Than New
Fresh from a two-year apprenticeship at Qt Services, Jack Fielder is setting up in business to create Land Rovers he says are better than new. How? By rebuilding old ones from the 200Tdi era so that this time, they’ll last forever.
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Land Rover Defender ♦ Vehicle Test ♦
Launched late in 2011, the 2.2-litre Defender will be the last version of the vehicle as we know it. An all-new vehicle previewed by the DC100 concept is due in 2014 – and used values for the existing model have been spiralling upwards ever since this was announced.
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Land Rover Freelander ♦ Vehicle Test ♦
Land Rover's well-known Freelander is put to the test.
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The Long Story
Dan Hickling’s Land Rover 90 is still a Land Rover 90. But it’s a Land Rover 90 with a 100-inch wheelbase. That apart, its resemblance to the vehicle it once was is, well, pretty much zero...
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A Friend Indeed
The moment David Coast laid eyes on a cheap Land Rover that ‘wasn’t a rust bucket,’ he knew he had to have it. And not just because he wanted a cool truck, either. Because he was a man with a friend in need...
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Blank Canvas
Agricultural engineer Nick Mills is one of those people who always needs to have a project on the go. For his latest creation, an ex-utility Defender 110 provided the blank canvas for what an art critic would surely call his blue period.
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True Colours
When Brian ‘Scotty’ McIvor built his 90 from scratch, he painted it grey with a grey roll cage. Don’t be fooled, though. Because when you get underneath it, this Land Rover is very colourful indeed.
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Land Rover Discovery ♦ Vehicle Test ♦
What’s new? Eight-speed auto box and updated diesel engine
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Lumbering Around
Simon Cooper bought a nifty 90 with an interesting past, and treated it to a seemingly endless series of collisions with trees. But he’s not barking mad, or a complete sap, so he quickly twigged that he needed to branch out into the world of body protection.
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British Beef
Malcolm Smith decided to lose some weight. So he took an angle grinder to his Range Rover...
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Homecoming Hero
When it was first built, Rick Agutter’s Defender 110 was shipped straight out to Afghanistan. After a decade of putting up with who knows what, it came home… to be lifted, bobtailed and turned into a stand-out off-road machine for all the family.
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Second Helpings
Jonathan Bird’s Land Rover has appeared in TOR before. But you’d be hard pushed to recognise it, because with a new frame and body, new engine, new suspension, much taller tyres and a whole lot more besides, it’s changed a lot.
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Industrial Relations
Like all good relationships, Ben Halls’ with his Land Rover has required a lot of money and hard work. Unlike most relationships, a lot of that work was with an angle grinder, but at least that’s one way of making sparks fly…
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Land Rover Discovery ♦ Towing Test ♦
If you're a traditional Land Rover Discovery driver, you might well have been drawn to the vehicle because although it’s much more of a family car than the Defender, it’s still a truck at heart. Even the Disco 3, with its independent suspension and gadgets-to-the-max design, still had the doughty...
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Seeing Red
A P38a Range Rover 4.6 Vogue isn’t the obvious choice on the hardcore off-roading menu. But Paul Goldring has added some scary spice…
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Russian Spies and Fireflies
It was a strange mixture of bullet-holed Eastern Bloc buildings and close encounters with nature that met us on our journey through Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria on the Roof of the World Rally. And this was just a small portion of a fundraising adventure on which Charity Road...
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The Real Deal
Want to see a prime example of a real-world Land Rover? Look no further than James Watt’s Series IIA. It might still have its original leaf springs – but it’s not short of a trick or two in the rough stuff.
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Twisted Firestarter
Flame-throwing, car-crushing, CCTV-recording… it’s all in a day’s work for Sam Morley’s hybrid Land Rover. Go beyond the thrills and spills, though, and you’ll find a brilliantly sorted ex-military truck that adds off-road basics like an enormously flexible suspension set-up to fun stuff like a fire-spitting exhaust.
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Low Profile
Julian Read’s latest race truck looks like a Land Rover. In many ways, indeed, it is a Land Rover. But get beneath the skin, and you’ll find that it’s much more than just a Defender with a big engine…
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It IS Big And It IS Clever
With six inches of body lift, Ian Redway’s Range Rover is very big. But with belt-and-braces electrics, no end of custom parts and a bespoke three-link suspension system, it’s very clever too. So it should be, after the amount of time and money he’s put into it – just don’t...
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West Life
West Mids 4x4 is a comparative newcomer to the off-road industry. But the company’s demo truck shows that it already has a wide variety of products to show off – and the vehicle’s owner, co-director Ian Moulsdale, has many years’ experience of modifying, off-roading and Land Rover re-inventing behind him.
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Big Cat
Pete Littler’s Discovery has the roar of a lion and the agility of a leopard, the power of a Jaguar and the grace of a Tabby. However you choose to put it, this off-roader is no pussycat…
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Hit For Six
When Tony Vincent bought the Discovery he’d always wanted, it didn’t take him long to start turning it into… the Discover he’d always wanted. Cue six inches of lift – with the same again still to come.
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Better Than Cure
An expedition along Africa’s East Coast in three Land Rovers, two inflatables and a 35-ton dhow sounds challenging enough. But when your goal is to distribute thousands of mosquito nets to remote villages in the battle against malaria, getting there is just the beginning... Before you start reading this article, here’s...
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Roll With It
When Brian Crabtree bought a comprehensively rolled 90 as an insurance write-off, he thought it would be an easy job to rebuild it for the road. It wasn’t – so he decided to turn it into something altogether more interesting…
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Bad Influences
Richard Green used to be into drag racing. But then he fell in with the ‘wrong crowd’… and next thing he knew, he’d been converted to the righteous path of off-roading.
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Shape-Shifter
This is the story of a Land Rover 90 that was once a hard-top, then became a truck-cab, and has finally ended up as a 100-inch trayback. Even its owner, Paul Hooper, is happy to admit that he got ‘a bit carried away’…
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Worth The Weight
Ian Jones’s 90 weighs in at a hefty 2.5 tonnes. That’s hardly a surprise when you consider that the Chevrolet V8 engine beneath the bonnet displaces 5.7 litres; but at least there’s plenty of power to shift the bulk.
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Play Station
If you think the Land Rover Tomb Raider is rather lacking in the hardcore off-roading stakes, you’ve obviously never met Ian Woolley. His example of the marque is one of the most tricked-up Solihull vehicles you’re ever likely to see.
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Knocked For Six
What do you do if you need to carry a tonne and a half of water across a slippery field? For Andy Webb the answer was obvious, and it lay in a rather imaginative conversion of a classic off-road vehicle…
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Discovery Deception
Andrew Woodhouse’s Discovery may look like nothing more than a heavily modified Land Rover, but its bright G4-influenced paintwork hides a dark secret – its front and rear axles are borrowed from a Mercedes G-Wagen. Furthermore, the whole concept of the hybrid actually came about by accident as the Disco...
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Perfectly Formed
Steve Green is a great believer in giving his business to small British companies. The Land Rover he’s built as a result is anything but small… but it’s definitely perfectly formed.
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Genetic Engineering
Kevin Jukes’ Discovery is a classic example of an everyday workhorse that’s turned into a passion. No one should be surprised at the work of engineering art he’s turned it into, though – because modified Land Rovers are definitely in his genes…
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Devon On Earth
Devon 4x4 is well known for preparing extreme off-road vehicles. But the company is steadily building a presence in the overland expedition market – and as its latest demo truck shows, it’s putting the experience gained in challenge competitions to ever-wider use…
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JE Whizz
JE Engineering has a formidable track record when it comes to making Land Rovers go faster. As its luridly decorated Defender 90 Td5 shows, however, it can do a lot more besides…
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Changing Places
Dafydd Belton is one of Britain’s most successful challenge event co-drivers. But now he’s about to move over and take the wheel… of one of the best presented modified 90s you’ll find anywhere.
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Family Fortunes
Chris Leake has only been off-roading for a short while, but he’s the owner of one of the tidiest Land Rovers you’ll ever see at a 4x4 playday. It’s also a vehicle with an unusual history – both close to home and shrouded in the mists of time…
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Toy Wonder
We sometimes get accused of featuring too many ‘loadsamoney 90s’ in this magazine, but you don’t need to spend masses of money to turn Land Rover’s finest into a seriously capable off-roader. Just a few well chosen mods, in fact, and you’ll have a top toy that’s ready to take...
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True Colours
Jason Garrett’s 90 has been through two body styles, four engines and five different paint colours in its life. No wonder he’s thinking of making some major changes to it, then…
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Survival Kit
Unlike most people, when Greg McGuire set out to build a modified Discovery he didn’t intend to create the ultimate off-roader. Instead, he fashioned a vehicle that could teach a thing or two to everyone who thinks that’s what their next project is going to be…
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Giant Green Jollies
When Tony Whitelock bought his Range Rover, it was just another bobtail. A few short months later, it’s gone a long way up in the world – and is set to be one of the first superstars of the British rock-crawling scene.
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Adult Entertainment
Mark Wilson describes his 1996 Discovery as ‘adult Meccano.’ It’s an appropriate verdict on a vehicle that’s been getting put together and taken apart again almost non-stop for the last two years.
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We've Only Just Begun
When Pete Smalley decided to take up off-roading, he knew there was only one vehicle for him. Within months he found a 200-series V8 Discovery, fitted a two-inch lift and was planning his first green lane trip. Not bad for starters, eh?
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The One And Only
Alan Davis says his Land Rover Series IIA is the only 4x4 he’ll ever own. He bought it seven years ago, and in the intervening period has turned it into a hardcore mud warrior. It’ll go anywhere, he reckons – but it will never stop being a work in progress…
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Banking On Success
Mike Bullivant thinks the Land Rover Discovery is one of the best off-road vehicles going, provided you invest wisely in making the most of its potential. And he should know all about the importance of judicious investment, what with being a bank manager…
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All Change
Ian Paterson’s Land Rover 90 started life as his family car. But it was always destined for off-road greatness – even if almost everything about it has been modified in the process…
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Something For The Weekend
Everyone dreams of having a vehicle that would enable them to set off on an adventure at the merest whim. Ian Daly’s Land Rover 130 camper is just that truck…
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Cannonball Run
Pather Cannon is proud of the fact that his Series IIA Land Rover retains its original appearance. That hasn’t stopped him equipping the vehicle for daily use in the 21st Century, though – and turning it into something very special in the process.
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Spoiling Tactics
The Triangle Vert is always one of France’s most popular randonnees with British competitors. And this year’s set a record in having more British than French participants – even if a little local difficulty resulted in them having to drive up a series of spoil heaps in between the usual...
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Rake's Progress
When Jim Malkin decided to base his latest extreme off-roader on a Land Rover 90, he was eager to make it stand out from the crowd. By the time you’ve read this far, you’ll already have seen that he succeeded.
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Double Top - The Extreme Off-Roader
Think double cab pick-ups are a recent craze? Think again. A certain Midlands-based manufacturer has been in the crew cab game for years. And, as we discovered, there are some lovely examples out there…
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Double Top - The Tow Barge
Think double cab pick-ups are a recent craze? Think again. A certain Midlands-based manufacturer has been in the crew cab game for years. And, as we discovered, there are some lovely examples out there…
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First Things First
Jack Peters started modifying his Discovery because bits of it went rotten. Since then, a budget build has become an object lesson in taking the subtle approach – though all that may soon be about to change…
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The Future's Orange
Nick Walker’s Range Rover has a number of distinguishing characteristics: it’s a bobtailed four-door that’s also been turned into a pick-up, it’s a Southdown demonstrator and it’s loaded with off-road goodies. Oh, and did we mention it’s also bright orange?
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Land Rover Discovery V8 ES 7-seat
When Land Rover first launched the Discovery, escalating petrol prices meant that the 3.5-litre V8 engine available at the time crawled out of the dealerships. By comparison, the then-new Tdi was selling like hot cakes.
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Bite Me...
Bob Webster’s Land Rover has jaws. All the better to sink its teeth into the Malaysian Rainforest with – and that’s exactly what it was built to do.
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Nothing But The Best
What you’re looking at here is a championship class-winner that beat every comparable machine, and a lot more besides, to climb to seventh place overall in the Tout-Terrain rankings.
