Land Rover Owner

‘All that was missing was the UN lettering’ Reading through Theo’s excellent Defender buying guide (page 46) brought back memories of the longest time I’ve spent with a Defender, back in my earlier years on LRO. A dealer lent the mag a used 90 Td5 windowed hard top for a few weeks, and I had the keys for most of that time. It was resplendent in white – all that was missing was the big ‘UN’ lettering on its flanks. It was just as it left the factory – no mods whatsoever. I loved it. To me, it was like driving a Series III that didn’t make you fear potholes or end up knackered after trying to reverse-park into a tight space. It was a great daily driver – I’d…

Land Rovers and overlanding are as inseparable as strawberries and cream or bacon and eggs; you can’t think of one without bringing the other to mind too. And having been to see this beautiful creation, it’s difficult for me to think of how an overlanding Land Rover could have been done any better. David Kettles grew up around Land Rovers in rural Kinross-shire – and as soon as he got his driving licence, he took over driving his dad’s 110 double cab. ‘I caught the bug from him,’ says David. But it wasn’t until about five years ago that he bought his own Land Rover Defender. This one, in fact. He saw this 2003 Td5 Defender 130 advertised on Gumtree, the classified ad website. ‘I thought it was a good…

WIN!each Great gear in issue of LRO This month’s prizes: 1st PRIZE Goal Zero Lighthouse Mini £54.99 (goalzero.co.uk) 2nd PRIZE Stanley Mossy Oak Easy-Fill Wide Mouth Flask, 0.23-litre £29.99 (stanley1913.co.uk) Send your pics to wolr@LRO.com. Include a description of the vehicle and where the photo was taken, along with the names of anyone in it. Please send the biggest image file sizes you have – the bigger the better! This issue, it’s congratulations to firs-tplaced James Ross and runner-up Jonathan Snell. Your outdoor goodies (see above) are on their way, fellas.…

Fluctuations in Land Rover values are raising questions over where the market is headed. Prices for old-shape Defenders have been consistently strong, and in recent months we’ve reported on high demand for collectable Land Rovers and imported Disco 2s. But since then, some Defenders have dropped noticeably while some others are experiencing a new lift. ‘Demand was really strong over Covid, but there has been some cooling-off lately,’ says Mark Calzoni, MD of Defender specialist, Simmonites. ‘It’s normal to see some drop in demand after Christmas but, with bills going up, people don’t have so much to spend at the moment. The American market is still good. We recently bought 15 ex-Italian Defenders with rust-free chassis that we’re restoring for export.’ Ben Hallam, director of Hallam Brothers, which specialises in…

LRO was saddened to hear of the death of Matt Henchcliffe, chairman of the Green Lane Association and a pillar of the Land Rover scene. Matt’s friend Sam Helliwell writes: ‘At school, Matt was regularly told he would never get a job staring out of a window all day, yet in his 20s he became a train driver. For Matt this was a dream job. ‘He had many Land Rovers over the years, including a Range Rover, followed by a modified Discovery that he found more capable and robust for off-roading. His latest are a Td5 110, a TDCi 110, a £99 eBay 90 (possibly the most rotten Land Rover I’ve ever seen) and a new-shape Defender, his daily. ‘In 2016 he sold his home in Northampton and began creating a…

Land Rover has sprinkled some updates over the Range Rover Velar. The radiator grille now has a sharper look (inspired by the full-sized Range Rover), and candlepower is upgraded with new Pixel LED headlamps. The changes are more obvious inside, thanks to a 11.4in curved-glass touchscreen and the elimination of all physical buttons and rotary dials from the dash. Under the skin, the PHEV has a redesigned battery pack that gives a 40-mile range in EV mode – an increase of 21 per cent. It’s a subtle refresh, but it should help the six-year-old Velar retain its ultra-modern aesthetic.…