Camp Rover

Camp RoverBy Ed Aldrich and Steve Dick[Rovers North staffers Ed Aldrich and SteveDick became tired of snow in April so theyjumped into Steve’s Defender 90 and headedsouth to sunny Tennessee. Here’s their storyof a terrific event -ed.]Choosing aR a n g eR o v e rC l a s s i cBy Jeffrey B. AronsonThe Easter Bunny lookedlike he would be snowed infor the month in Vermont andwe kept hearing of warmtemperatures down south.When Camp Rover USA calledfor off-roaders to learn andenjoy their Land Rovers, wejumped into Steve’s Defender90 and headed forRange Rovers have been imported into theUnited States since 1987; grey market cars hadfound their way to the states in the late 70’s andMonteagle, Tennessee, which is about 40 milesnorth of Chattanooga.Camp Rover USA luredover 70 Land Rovers overthe long weekend of April 5- 9 from Vermont toCalifornia, Virginia toMassachusetts. Many moreLand Rover enthusiastsfrom the local area arriveddaily to participate in theoff road seminars and trailrides. This new organization,headed by Nashville’sDan Cagle, sought to provideLand Rover enthusiastsfrom beginner to advanced,with the intricacies of vehiclepreparation, off-roaddriving, recovery and extricationtechniques. Whiletime was set aside eachmorning for group instructionand demonstration,most of our time was spenton miles of trails in thehills of eastern Tennessee -in 90 degree heat.As added incentives toattend, the Camp Rovergroup invited Tom Collins,of Camel Trophy and LandRover Experience fame, tolead instructional sessionsin off-road driving andwinching techniques.Finally, the organizers createdevents, from the trailrides themselves to a nightnavigation section andtrails course that wouldculminate in the awardingof the Rover Trophy.The drive fromVermont took us18 hours, whichwe spread outover two days sowe could have arest stop inVirginia. So weContinued on page 5One Safari,Kid’s SizeBy Ladd Olson[Ladd Olson, Vinalhaven, ME, age 10, visit -ed St. Kitts, Virgin Islands this spring withhis father, Jack, and his mother, Angie, bothof whom work in commercial fishing. Afisherman himself, Ladd worked as a photo -journalist for Rovers North on this trip -ed.]I’ve loved Land Rovers ever since I wasyoung. My summer neighbor on Vinalhavenhad an old Land Rover, a red Series III. Andwhen I first met Jeff Aronson, he arrived onour island in his Series II-A Land Rover.My parents taught me more about LandRovers after Jeff hit a horse with his LandRover in 1996. My mother found this so funnythat she used to put my rocking horse out inthe driveway with a sign that read, “Don’t HitMe,” whenever Jeff would stop by. My fathertaped a plastic horse onto Jeff ’s hood one day.I thought they were very funny.Except for rides in Jeff ’s Land Rover, Inever rode on trails in one until we took aearly ‘80’s. By mass market, automotive salesstandards, a mere trickle - 1,500 - 2,000annually - arrived on our shores. For someenthusiasts, the Series Rover hasproven too utilitarian, too harsh,too risky for family use or tooslow for commuting. Whatcould these people, who careabout excellence in engineering andoff-road capability purchase that would grantthem the Land Rover experience? The originalDiscovery might still be too expensive for enthusiastsalso looking to use their cars off road, butthe Range Rover Classic offers an ideal alterna-The St. Kitts Water Services Department usesvacation in St. Kitts this March. We took acondominium with our friend, Sara Hopkinstive entry into Land Rover ownership.[her father once offered Jeff a bumper stickerRange Rover owners develop a strong that read “My Other Car is A Piece of ******,bond with their cars. Andrea Letorney owner of Too.”]. We spent most of our Continued time on on apage5Continued on page 4© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

Choosing a RangeRover Classic cont.Photo by Gordon Kalio“I find it perfectly maneuverable;it doesn’t seem like I’m driving a big car”Rovers North has owned three Range Rovers.“Our first Range Rover was a grey market, twodoor 1980 RHD with a Perkins Diesel. Sincethen, we’ve had an ‘88 and now I have a ‘93with 120,000 miles. I’ve never, ever brokendown. It’s been incredibly reliable. I drive mostlyon bad dirt roads, on icy roads or duringmud season, and it’s unbelievable. I find it perfectlymaneuverable; it doesn’t seem like I’mdriving a big car. I haul a lot of stuff - farm feed,garden supplies, and the dogs travel with meeverywhere. I know the gas mileage is not terrificbut the car is so versatile.”Prospective Range Rover owners now ben -efit from the fact that the Rangie was not oftenthe only car in the stable, so they tended to havelow mileage. If the Range Rover was the onlycar, it often accumulated highway mileage - theeasiest on a drivetrain. A beneficial financingtrend coincided with Range Rover importation -the growth of leasing. Most leases came withmileage penalties if annual driving exceeded 12-15,000 miles a year. Usually, clauses also calledfor additional charges that encouraged adequatemaintenance. All of this means that there are agood number of well-maintained, good condi -tion Range Rovers on the market.Range Rovers are exquisite designs whosetautness and solidity can lull the typicalAmerican owner into neglecting necessary maintenance,and fool the inexperienced mechanic.Inadequate preventative maintenance likelymeans you will pick up the tab after your purchaseof the car. So look for a car whichincludes a maintenance history. Talk to the previousowner to determine where the mainte -nance was performed. Remember, maintenancetakes time and attention. If someone promisesthat your oil change and fluid check should takeonly 30 minutes, you’ll only get thirty minutes ofattention - and that’s not enough for qualitywork. Look for a car that’s been maintained by aLand Rover dealer or by a reputable servicefacility experienced with Land Rovers.Pete Van Schaack of the 4 x 4 Center,Williston, VT, says “don’t buy one sight unseenunless it’s been tested and approved by an expe -rienced and authorized dealer or shop.” DaveSangerhausen of Rovers North agrees and rec -ommends that you “ask to see the maintenancehistory if the Rover was dealer serviced. Goodservice is vital for Range Rover owners. I have76,000 miles on our ‘94 LWB, and I haven’t hadto do anything to it other than routine maintenance.I’ve not had any electrical problems, norany system problems of any sort. It has an unbelievableamount of room in the back seat, andwe can get our one-year old, Jack, in and out ofthe back seat with ease. We tow a 15’ traveltrailer, but I’ve also towed other larger trailerswith it. With its length, brakes, and power, itsphenomenal when it comes to towing.”All US market Range Rovers started withthe same basic engine, the tried and true 215cubic inch V-8. It began in 1987 at 3.5 liters,grew to 3.9, 4.0, and later, 4.2 liters. Everyonehas their favorites and preferences among theRange Rover engines. The V-8 has proved to beas durable as the classic 2.25 liter Series fourcylinder,but with a lot more power and smoothness.Rovers North has worked on engines routinelywith over 150,000 miles and no apparentweaknesses. High mileage engines need regularoil changes, every 3,000-4,000 miles, to assurelongevity. Have a compression check and leakdowntest performed to assess the condition ofvalves, piston rings, and cylinder bores. Smalloil leaks at the main seals and valve cover arenot uncommon, but warrant your attention.Discuss the results of these tests, and of yourother findings, with the staff at Rovers North tohelp you judge the best buy for your needs.Similarly, other systems have provendurable over the long haul. The automatic transmissionshave proven quite dependable. These,too, benefit from proper routine maintenance,which would include the changing of the transmissionfluids and filters. The transfer cases andswivel ball assemblies can be prone to leaks;determine the level in each by crawling underneaththe car, opening the cases, and stickingyour fingers in to determine fluid levels. Lowlevels are an indication that the car has not beenwell maintained. The hypoid oil in the axles,transfer cases, and swivel balls should be darkand clean, not milky (a sign of water) or gritty.While you’re examining the front end,check the power steering box for leaks; youmight need to replace the seals. Look carefullyat the front tires for signs of uneven tread wearthat could mean loose tie rods, front end misalignment,or other front end problems. All canbe repaired, but they should also affect the finalprice! The coil spring suspension of the RangeRover provides a superb ride, and with theclever axle design, great off road performance.However, springs can wear and your shouldcheck the car for level. The suspension bushings,rubber pieces that sit between the variousrods and arms, will deteriorate with time andallow the axles to shift slightly when underway.If, when you drive the car, it feels a bit squirrely,make clunking noises under gear changes, youmay find cracked bushings underneath the car.Try turning the wheels side to side and watchthe car body; does it move when the car is notin motion? Again, you might have bad bushings.Once replaced, the handling of the Range Rovercan feel transformed.The Range Rover braking system worksvery well, but four wheel disc brake systems areinherently more expensive than the Series drumand shoe setup. Look not only at the brakes inoperation, but also at the condition of therotors. Have they been scored and turned? Arethey thick enough to last another turning? Again,preventative maintenance of the previous ownercan save you money in the long run.The Range Rover has more steel piecesthan the Series Land Rover, and some RangeRover parts seem to corrode more than anyonewould like. The rear lift gate seems the mostprone to rusting; rocker panel pieces can rust,too. Check the wheel wells, front and rear, andthe door jamb in the rear door latch area, carefullyfor any corrosion; also. Replacement partsare easily available, but as prices of RangeRovers rose, they drag parts prices up withthem. Recognize that Range Rovers have alwaysresided at the premium end of the new car pricespectrum, and that parts replacement costs willbe higher than lesser vehicles.Pete Van Schaack of the 4 x 4 Center inWilliston, VT, said “that customers often ask usto help them find ‘94 -’95 models, which willcost them between $10 - $15,000. If at an auction,we can’t drive the cars, then we look forsigns of body damage, crawl underneath andlook for leaks. We’ll run the engine, listen fortransmission and driveline clunks, looseness intie rods, swivel balls and wheel bearing. Onolder cars, we also check that you can lock thecenter differential; often, people never usedthem. We have people who will drive into ourshop for a repair in the winter and haven’tlocked the center differential, even in a snowstorm.Also, on air spring models, we listen forthe compressor running while the car is underway;if you can hear it, there may be a leak inthe system.”Prices for Range Rover Classics now reston par with prices for restored Series vehicles,and reside well below those for Defender models.Discussions with Land Rover Centresrevealed that 1987 - 1989 models will fetchfrom $4,000 - $8,000 at the dealer; those priceswon’t let you buy a new Kia or Daewoo SUVassumingyou wanted one at all.Unique Range Rover models have a follow -ing all their own; the ‘89 Hunter, with its lessplushinterior and unique exterior markings,will fetch a higher price. The ‘91 Great DivideEdition also has a unique following.An online search of “Blue Book” prices forthe SWB [short wheelbase] models suggestedthe following prices:Year Private Sale Dealer Retail1990 $5,038 $6,1751991 $6,344 $7,6311992 $7,330 $8,6271992 $7,952 $9,4241993 $9,273 $10,8301994 $11,102 $12,6881995 $13,703 $15,549These prices assumed reasonable mileageand good condition cars; prices will be slightlyhigher for low mileage, LWB or special editionmodels. Some enthusiasts prefer pre-’91 modelsbecause they lack the Boge air suspension systemsand have coil springs all around.Since Range Rovers, particularly those after1991, found themselves in competition with lux -ury cars that were stuffed with amenities, theRange Rover came filled with verydelightful accessories and comfortableaccouterments. From power windows to heatedseats to ABS and air suspension systems. thecomplexities of these Range Rovers mean thatyou have to pay attention to the condition ofthese systems. Try each and every one of them;while they’re ruggedly constructed, they’re notinexpensive to replace. Make certain they allwork before you consider a purchase. Also,many first owners preferred not to work ontheir cars themselves, and that some non-func -tional systems lacked only some TLC; the RoversNorth BBS and other Internet sites are filled withstories of Range Rover repairs completed withjust a wire brush, patience and elbow grease.The value of Range Rover ownership isintensely personal, but it’s hard not to fall forthe engineering, style and immense competenceof the vehicle. The sales success of the RangeRover in the US means there are plenty of RangeRovers for sale. Mike Smith of East Coast Roversays “they can be as tough as a Series truck; Ibought an well-maintained ‘87 with 100,000miles, and I proceeded to put on 35,000 milesof no-maintenance, on and off road driving. Isold it to an owner in Chicago where it’s still inuse. Be careful, though, not to jump into a luxury4 x 4 and assume that it will have Chevy partsand repair prices. If you’re willing to do maintenancework yourself, you can really enjoy yourRange Rover.” Pete Van Schaack of the 4 x 4Center notes that “there are many Range RoverClassics in daily use in Vermont. We have hundredsthat come in for routine maintenanceevery year.” In summary, be fussy and particularand you’ll reward yourself with an elegant,rugged vehicle that will transport you for a longtime with great delight.© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

Camp Rover,missed the introductory off-roading session onThursday, April 5, which gave novices thechance to learn about vehicle preparation, thebasics of off road driving and vehicle recovery,and a trail ride. Although Steve’s Defender 90with its Tdi Rovers North conversion kit ransmoothly the entire trip, we wanted the rest aftera long week of work. As Rovers North technicalsupportstaff, it would be a genuine treat to meet someof the many people we spoke with or emailedregularly - and we didn’t want to fall asleep onanyone.We chose to camp close to the event, butothers chose cottages or more luxurious accom -modations at the Smoke House Inn. Event coordinatorDave Cagle and Administrator StacySmith had packaged quite a bountiful feast oflunches and dinners; we never went hungry. Oh,did I mention the very anti-Vermont weather?To encourage everyone tolearn about their Land Roversand take them off road, Cagleand his off road advisory teamof Michael Boggs,Charlottesville, VA, Dan Nutkis,Ronnie Reed and GregThompson, Nashville, TN, andChris Velardi, Hamden, CT, createdtrails that matched the dri -vers’ and vehicles’ capabilities.Level I trails rarely neededfour wheel drive, while Level IItrails offered moderatelydemanding stream beds andmud holes. Both were ideal forstreet vehicles with normal tiresin good condition. Level IIItrails provided the likelihoodthat you would get stuck and recommendedwinches and underbody protection, such as skidplates. “Deep mud holes” and “arduous rockclimbs” were the rule. Level IV trails requiredrear air lockers, modified suspension and recommendedunderbody protection. Level V trailswere “the most demanding” and requiredwinches, front and rear air lockers, aggressive33” + off-road tires and modified suspensioncontinuedSteve Dick and his 1994 Defender 90.with at least a 2” lift. While all LandRover vehicles were capable of participatingat Camp Rover, your specificdriving experience and vehicle setupdetermined which trails were right foryou.Wisely, the organizers insisted on asafety check of each vehicle.Rovers without a factory hardtopwere required to have a roll bar,and the usual front/rear recoverypoints, tow straps, CB radios,good tires, brakes and seat beltswere also looked over by thescrutineers. Virtually every vehiclewas a coil-spring Rover;only one Series (Series III) andone FC 101 Radio body partici -pated in the event. Enthusiastscame from as far away assouthern California and as close by as Virginiaand Georgia.We poked around the off road instructionalsessions on accessories, beginning off roading,and advanced off road techniques, and then latein the morning, joined the 30 car group thathad signed up for Levels IV and V. Dan Nutkis,Nashville, TN, led our group on a serious hardcoretrail. Steve did most of the driving while Edjumped off, taking photos and helping spot cars.The toughest sections were the creek beds,where a complete trust in your spotter wasrequired to climb some very difficult sections.Greg Jevne, the founder of Safari Gard,drove his heavily modified Defender 90 [with a4.6 Rover engine] just ahead of us; while hisRover was a wonder to watch, we were delightedwith how well the 300 Tdi coped with the difficultterrain. There were many times when wecould just idle up hill when others had to reallyhit the accelerator. In fact, during one steepdescent, withour Defender 90using onlyengine braking,someone askedSteve if his brakelights wereworking - noone couldbelieve just howslow a Defendercould go!With ahigh number ofvehicles in ourconvoy, and with the challenging conditions wefaced, it took us a while to return to the basecamp and a sumptuous dinner. The food andconversation by the bonfire were well worth thewait, and we slept well that night. For the adventuresome,after dinner entertainment includedthe Night Navigation Course. Participants weregiven GPS coordinates and sent on their way insearch of Land Rover parts hidden in the woods.The points earned would count towards theoverall Rover Trophy, awarded at the close ofthe event to the winner of this section, the trialscourse and special task sections to be held onSunday. Lacking a GPS, we choseto sleep instead.On Saturday, we assistedTom Collins with his advanced offroad instruction segments onwinching and air lockers, andthen set off to join 20 Rovers in aLevel III trail day. The fun part ofthese trails was the water cross -ings. We seemed to ford streamsall day, and even found a mudholefor play. We resembled a herd ofelephants cooling ourselves off inthe mud! The ride went very welland we stopped only for anothergreat box lunch.We had to leave on Sundaymorning so we missed the trailscourse and the awarding of prizes and the RoverTrophy. It’s been reported that the coveted cupwent to Michael Boggs and his son,Charlottesville, VA. Along with other Land Rovercompanies, Rovers North provided a Jackall andgift certificates and prizes for distribution; con -gratulations to Dennis White, Boston, MA, andKelly Shinn, Roanoke, VA for winning the giftcertificates. Our trip back, which included anovernight stay in Pennsylvania, went withoutincident and the 300 Tdi ran flawlessly. Wecruised at an average of 70-75 mph even with acar top tent ballooning like a sail throughout thetrip. Even with this impediment, we were able tohave a range of 300 miles per tank. Of course,all semblance of Spring ended as weapproached New England. Camp Rover USA wasa terrific event and the organizers are planninganother in September, 2001. For information,write or call: Camp Rover USA, 3200 West EndAvenue, Nashville, TN 37203 (615-783-1727),or e-mail them at info@camproverusa.com. Theevent web site is www.camproverusa.com .One Safari,K i d ’s Size,continuedbeach, snorkelingandswimming.One day wechased anoctopusunderwater,andit keptavoidingus.OnLadd Olson, ourintrepid correspondent, takes a breakduring his rain forest expedition.our vacations, I found Land Roverseverywhere. There’s even a Land Roverdealer on the island, although it sells manydifferent brands of cars, too. One day, inthe town of Basseterre, we went to arestaurant called “Ballyhoo,” which was onthe second floor of this old building. It wasstrange; most of the restaurants are on thesecond floor, with shops on the first floor.We looked out over this square that wascalled “The Circus” in the center of town. Iwas sitting and waiting for my dinner whenI saw a Land Rover. My mom said, “you’dbetter get busy taking pictures for Jeff.” Itook out my camera and got to work.Then, one day, I joined Greg Pereira,the owner of Greg’s Safaris, a company thattook you to the rain forest in Land Rovers.I found out that Greg has 4 other LandRovers. He has a 1980 Series III petrol 109(hard covered pick up), two Defender110’s - one 1996 petrol with a regular“tray” on the back, and the other 1998diesel high capacity “tray” at back. Thefourth one is a 1994 Defender 130.We had a wonderful day. I rode aroundin a Defender 130 quad cab pickup, andthere were little benches in the back. It wascool. We went up the side of the mountaininto the rain forest, and then walked up therest of the way. The rain forest was likewalking through my woods here, except allthe plants were different. I sampled somenuts that we found on the forest floor, andit tasted like a banana. Later, we drove to aplace at a canyon, where the winds getchanging. It felt like the canyon was breathing.We started at 8:00 am, and then wesaw some aboriginal drawings. We saw oneof those Indiana Jones boulders, in themiddle of canyon. It was at least 30 feethigh! Sadly, it was the site of a terrible massacreof the aborigines by Spanish soldiers.I loved riding around and seeing all theLand Rovers. I’ve always wanted one. Ithink they’re cool. Hey, Mom and Dad - it’swhat I want for my 16th birthday.[Greg’s Safaris pioneered eco-tourism onSt. Kitts in 1986. This island native hasalways used Land Rovers for his tours.His Rovers are outfitted by Ken andJonathan Slavin [Quest, Ltd.],Lincolnshire, England, the exporters forthis part of the Caribbean. For moreinformation on Greg’s Safaris, visit theirweb site at www.skbee.com/safaris, oremail him at g-safari@caribsurf.com. -ed]© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

Lite Breaks -StormyWeatherBy Jeffrey B. AronsonMarch has seen several nor’easters poundmuch of the East Coast. During one storm, Ihad to drive my Series II-A through blizzardconditions between central Massachusetts andinto Maine. Very few vehicles were on thesnow-covered roads; indeed, the state ofConnecticut had banned all tractor trailertrucks from its interstate highways for theduration of the storm. Without question, I wasthe only 36-year old vehicle on the highwayfor the entire duration of the trip.The last storm started as a 34-degreemonsoon one night while I stayed in a motelin Portland, ME. The next morning, I went tostart the car. It would crank but not catch;there was no sound of compression at all. Iquickly realized I would get drenched, but Itook cans of PB Blaster and WD-40 out of theparts box, stepped outside into the cold rain,opened the bonnet, and sprayed every plugwire, the distributor, ground wire, and coil. Iclosed the bonnet, returned inside the car,counted to 10, and tried again - still nothing.I left the ignition key “on.” I stepped outagain and this time, I removed the distributorcap, which appeared quite dry inside,removed the rotor, and with a screwdriver,checked to see if I had a spark at the points. Idid, so I put everything back together. Ichecked that every plug and coil wire wasplugged in tightly. I tried to start the car - onceagain no result.Perhaps I had a defective cap and rotor, soI found the old ones I always keep in the partsbox [if you replace parts before they wear outcompletely, they become great emergencyaids] and used them as replacements. I carefullychecked the firing order [1-3-4-2] and???tried starting the car once more - and onceagain, no luck.Now, very wet and cold due to the lowtemperatures and high winds, I went into themotel room to defrost my hands. If I had aspark at the low-tension points, perhaps theproblem was in the high-tension end of theignition. That’s what produces the high voltagespark used by the plugs. The only piece leftwas the coil, but this seemed puzzling. Coilsusually show problems through electrical misfiresor “breaking down” under load. Carswith bad coils will often start, but notaccelerate. My car had been running quitefine. Still, what if the coil had a leak that permittedmoisture to enter during the intensestorm.I called Rovers North and spoke withArthur Patsouris, who confirmed that the coilcould be the problem. He suggested I removeit from the car and set it atop the heater in themotel room. That would dry it out. Themoment he said to “remove the coil” Iremembered that in the last issue ofthe Rovers North News, Dave Sangerhausenwrote of helping a stranded Rover owner withadvice on selecting the right type of ballastedcoil when forced to purchase one at a generalparts shop. I dug out my latest issue of theRovers North News and thought of buying onewhen I remembered that I had a spare coil inmy parts box. I ran back outside into the miserablestorm and found the old coil. I pluggedin the ground wires to the correct terminalson the new/old coil, and pushed the coil wirefrom the distributor into the hole in the coil.I rested the unit on the valve cover andreached it to push the starter button. The carleapt to life.Coil failures are uncommon, and whenthey do foul, the symptoms are usually quitedifferent than what I experienced. Thisbecame a situation that when the likely solutionsfail, you must turn to the unlikely. Sincethe coil was the last piece left, it was worth thetry, but I have to admit, I would never haveturned to it first. My new coil is on the wayfrom Rovers North, so I should be fine for along time.2001 Club Events ScheduleJ u n e1 6 Series Only Ride, GAS o l a r o s( w w w. s o l a r o s . c o m )23 – 24 17th OVLR Birthday PartyOttawa, CN( w w w. o v l r. c o m )J u l y20 – 22 Land Rover EnthusiastBilling ShowBilling Aquadrome,Northhampton, UK( w w w. l a n d r o v e r e n t h u s i a s t . c o m )A u g u s t2 – 6 Solihull Society RallyNationals - Ouray, CO( w w w. s o l i h u l l s o c i e t y. o r g )9 – 11 Steens Mtn. Run - WAP a c i fic NW Coast Rover Club( w w w. p c r c . n e t )11 – 12 Roverfest 2001Killington, VTW C R C( w w w. l a n d r o v e r c l u b . c o m )17 – 20 4th Annual Unofficial Te l l i c oRally - Tellico, NC Solaros( w w w. s o l a r o s . c o m )S e p t e m b e r14 – 16 8th Annual AppalachianExpedition - Solaros( w w w. s o l a r o s . c o m )22 – 23 British InvasionStowe, VT*( w w w. b r i t i s h i n v a s i o n . c o m )* This years event has been moved todowntown Stowe and does NOT include atrails course. A full car show is still scheduled.Rovers North has decided NOT to participateat this year’s event due to the lackof a driving trials area.22 – 23 British InvasionStowe, VT*O c t o b e r5 – 6 Mid-Atlantic Rally - Vi r g i n i aR O AV ( w w w. r o a v. o r g )SecondAnnual Series1 Club MeetJune 22-24th, 2001Silver Lake, Ontario, CanadaThe Series One Club invites all Series OneLand Rover owners to our second gatheringin North America. This event will be in conjunctionwith the OVLR Birthday Party heldevery year in Silver Lake, Ontario. Thisthree day event consists of camping, offroaddriving, tailgate swap meet, and achance to socialize. The meet will be part ofthe OVLR event, and will have a Sundaybreakfast meeting to talk about futureevents, discuss problems unique to ourvehicles. Bring your Rover and have a goodtime. This may be a one time opportunity tosee so many Series Ones together in oneplace on this side of the Atlantic. The infoabout the event can be found at:www.ovlr.org/events.Accomodations can be found at theSilver Lake Motel and Provincial Park. TheSilver Lake Motel is located about a quartermile west of Silver Lake Provincial Park. Itis between the main Event site and theProvincial Park on the south side ofHighway 7. For reservations, telephone(613) 268-2511or visit http://www.ontarioparks.com/silvl.htmlFor more informationyou can call Tom Bache 1-610-268-8008 orEmail him at tbache9248@aol.com Toreceive a full information packet. We hopeto see you there!Rovers North thanks Land RoverClubs throughout North Americafor the hard work and consider -able time that go into makingoff-road events possible. W einvite you to send us notices ofyour club’s upcoming events to:rovers@together.net .© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

Trek to The T rains[Mike Smith, Warren, ME, embodies LandRovers professionally and personally - profes -sionally as the head of East Coast Rover, andpersonally as the owner of a much-modified‘94 Defender 90 SW. He took the opportunityto enjoy his Defender in this expedition to thefar north of New England -ed.]If you live outside New England and you thinkof “winter,” you probably conjure up visions ofskiing, sleigh rides and similar picturesque set -tings. If you live in New England and you thinkof winters, you remember things like slush inyour boots, road salt eating your Rover and thenumber of times you’ve had to scrape the freezingrain off your windscreen in one day. Toomany Land Rover owners wait until winter haspassed by to go off road, but given New Englandweather, if you wait for summer to go off road -ing, you’ll waste more than half your life!Winter is a great time of year for four-wheeling.It means that you and your Rover have to bea little better prepared to handle the added complicationsthat Mother Nature can throw at you,but it really is a blast. Last February a group ofenthusiasts set out to find the abandoned trackageand a pair of antique steam locomotivesreputedly sitting in the woods of NorthernMaine.Only through hearsay and tall tales had wecome to know of these locomotives in the middleof the Maine woods. What could two vintagesteam locomotives be doing 100 miles from thenearest usable railroad tracks? The historybehind the railroad fascinated us. The areaaround Eagle Lake - indeed all of Northern NewEngland - has been extensively logged for 200years. Before trucks hauled the timber out, logdrives floated timber down the rivers to the millsof central Maine. The problem is that not all therivers flow south or east towards these establishedmills; about half flow north towardsCanada. Timber companies needed a practicalway to get the timber over the land to the correctwaterway and down to the mills. In the mid-19th century canals with lock systems weretried, but these proved slow and troublesome. Inthe early 1900’s a rail-based tramway was builtacross the 3000 foot stretch of land that dividedEagle Lake and Chamberlain Lake. The tramwayconsisted of train style axles attached to a cable,driven by steam engine and large sprockets.Logs rested on the axles, then dumped into thewater for the trip downstream. This worked wellfrom 1903-1909, until the timber harvest wascompleted.The use of steam engines and railway hadmade their mark. When the huge new mills ofMillinocket, Maine, needed timber for paperproduction, Edouard Lacroix, a Canadian indus -trialist, set about building a rail line exclusivelyfor timber. In 1926, his company began laying arailroad from Eagle Lake, near the old tramway,Steam powered“Lombard” log hauler .west across Allagash Stream, down the shores ofChamberlain Lake to the head waters ofUmbazooksus Lake. The 13-mile railroad createda swath through the forest. Once the lakeshad frozen over, steam-powered Lombard loghaulers carried all the materials, includingenough steel for a 1500 foot bridge across theAllagash, to complete the project. These massivesteam powered snowmobiles brought in all thematerials over the ice for the railroad, includingthe switching engines and two steam locomo -tives, weighing over 90 tons each. The two locomotives,steam engines purchased from theRutland [VT] Railroad and the New YorkCentral, were converted to run on oil.The new railroad, first named the U&EL(Umbazooksus and Eagle Lake Line)became better known as the Eagle Lakeand West Branch Railroad. The railroadoperated for over four seasonsuntil the supply of timber was onceagain exhausted from the area. In 1930the engines were backed into therepair shed that housed them and theirboilers were shut down for the lasttime. And yes, we wanted to find theseabandoned engines.For a winter expedition, we checkeditems like snow chains and installed acomputer based GPS system into myDefender. Luckily, my traveling companion,Geoff Cox, just happens to havea PhD in this field and fitted the D90with a state-of-theartsystem thatbasically put ouractual positionwithin a meter. We would bejoined by Jason Tyler in hismuch-modified Range RoverClassic, and Ian Cooke in hisSeries II-A 88” coil sprunghybrid.We left the coast of Maineearly in the morning to get agood deal driving completedduring the day so as to be ableto set up camp that evening inthe daylight. Our trip took usthrough the middle of Maine, onmostly back roads from coastalWarren to Greenville, on the southern shores ofMoosehead Lake, a famous summer sportingregion. Moosehead Lake is also home to the oldpassenger vessel “Katahdin”. In the summermonths the vessel operates passenger tours ofThoreau’s favorite lake, but at this time of theIt’s true - we do have Moose in Maine!year the ship sits solidly encased in ice. In thewinter, Greenville becomes a snowmobilers paradise,and our plans to take trucks north ofEagle Lake in February received more than fewdoubting laughs by the snowmobile riders wemet at the Greenville gas station.From there, we began a long trip on dirt andgravel roads used solely for logging operations.You never quite know the conditions of theseprivate roads and you won’t find gas stations orstores for hundreds of miles until you near theCanadian border. This meant extra fuel for theRovers had to be carried on board just to makeit in and out.We headed northeast out of town and out ofcivilization towards the settlement of Kokadjo,and then on to Eagle Lake. As the crow flies theGPS told us we only had about 70 miles to gountil we reached Eagle Lake, but even the bestoutfitted Rover can’t drive as the crow flies inNorthern Maine, so that meant we’d drain ourfull fuel tanks and our spare gas cans before wereturned to Greenville. For those of you whoknow the range of a Defender 90s that meansupwards of 300 miles before we’d see a townagain. After Kokadjo the roads become narrowerand narrower until you reach the “GoldenRoad.” The “Golden Road” is a year-round dirtroad that crosses the state of Maine from theeast to the town of Millinocket, a river townthat’s the home of two huge paper mills.Outside Kokadjo theviews became breathtaking. At a crest in theroad Big Spencer Mountain loomed in the distance.A few weeks before, we had completed ascouting trip to the logging roads aboveGreenville, Maine to recon our route. However,the eastern route around Moosehead Lake had© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

ecome buried in snow; even our Rovers withchains and air lockers could not make itthrough the snow on the way to the GoldenRoad, so we had to head back for Greenvilleand attempt to use the western approacharound Moosehead Lake to points north. Onour return toward Greenville one of the locals, ayearling moose, decided that he preferred thecleared road to trudging through deep snow. Ittook him a few minutes, and a lunge at theDefender’s wing, to let us pass.Once we returned to Greenville we headedwest on a glare ice road to Jackman and thennorth to pick up the Golden Road. The extradriving meant that we had fallen behind schedule;the Golden Road was not even the halfwaypoint for this leg of the trek. We had to push oninto the evening and make it to Eagle Lake. Wehad to have a full day for the trip in and out ofEagle Lake, and if we couldn’t make camp nearEagle Lake, we wouldn’t have enough daylight tosafely make the hike in to find the trains. Westopped to check our distances, confirm ourETA, and plan for increased speed. So we drovehard to recover the time lost on the failedattempt up the east side of Moosehead Lake; the“spirited” ice driving tested our winter drivingskills at the limits of our vehicles. Geoff Cox calculatedthat we would arrive well after dark,and he proved right. We did manage to setcamp effectively by our vehicles’ lights.Winter camping isn’t as bad as you think.You quickly get used to it and with the rightequipment it can be a great experience. Geoffand Jason set up the tent while Ian and I gatheredfirewood. The peacefulness of the Mainewoods in the middle of winter is a wonderfulexperience. While winter camping means youdon’t have to worry about the bugs, coyotes areanother story; in themorning we foundevidence - in theform of a partiallyeaten moose carcass- that coyoteshad dined on a littletoo close toour campsite forcomfort.That nextmorning wepacked up campand headedtowards EagleLake. Rovers canhandle a lot offroad, but thefields approachingEagle Lakehad over threefeet of snow. No matter howmuch you equip your Rover, once they sink in 3feet of snow you are probably walking home.We attacked the snow for as far as we couldwith the Rovers, put on our snowshoes, andbegan our hike to the lake.According to the GPS we faced a 4.5 milewalk. Compounding our problem was theunusually warm weather. Around 10 am the sunbroke through the clouds. As the snow compactedeach step brought with it a clump ofheavy, wet snow. The snow conditions variedA photograph of our capable Land Rovers, taken on Golden Roaddepending on whether it lay on open land orcovered by trees. At different times, we all foundplaces on the trail where the snow gave wayAs we approached the shore of the lake, we spotted this oldsteam boiler. It lay alongside the old track, perhaps used as aswitcher of some type of stationary power unit.beneath us and sucked us like quicksand. Wewere thankful for our walking poles and theyproved invaluable in assisting you on everysinking.As we approached the shore of the lake, wespotted this old steam boiler. It lay alongside theold track, perhaps used as a switcher of sometype of stationary power unit.One of the most haunting feelings I will everexperience is driving and hiking this deep intothe woods of Maine and finding two antiquesteam locomotives left in the woodsover 70 years ago.Looking like it was still ready to go, one of theengines still pointed directly down the imaginarytrack and, with the front cover off the boiler, theominous black eye of this engine watched as wewalked towards it.The two engines sat side by side in a smallclearing in what used to be a repair shed; withfire damage on both engines, we guessed thatthe shed had been burned 70 years ago. Afterthe long hike we took a break near the trains;Geoff can’tresist gettingbehind thecontrols andplaying “engineer”with hishead out thewindow ofEngine One.Our thoughtsturn to restorationsanddreams ofmaking theengines liveagain, but aftera few minutestalk we realizewhy theengines wereleft here in1930 and wesit back to just enjoy them before we have tostart back out before dusk.As we headed out along the bank of thefrozen lake we came across a spur line from therailroad and found the remains of thetimber cars fromthe operation.Their wooden cars have long since rottedoff, but the axles and framework still lie onthe tracks. The hike back was long andtook a lot out of us, but finding the trainswas well worth the effort. We were treat -Heading home...Eagle Lake to the left, and one of the frozen intime engines above.ed to a wonderful sunset on the drive out, butthe unusually warm day had led to portions ofthe frost being unfrozen in the road. The roadwould suddenly turn to deep mud under ourwheels and create ruts that yielded instant lanechanges and fishtails.After battling through the ruts and mud toGreenville, where the tarmac begins again, wefound that the entire area was without powerand the one gas station in Greenville was closeddue to no power at the pumps. Fortunately wehad reserves with us in case of the worst on ourtrek in the woods, so we could continue southward.A few minutes outside of Greenville thewarm night had combined with the cool snowcovered ground to produce a dense blanket offog that limited our speeds to roughly 25 mphfor the return trip to East Coast Rover, buteveryone made it home safely. That night I thinkwe all dreamed of playing with trains again likewhen we were kids; the only difference is thatthe trains we like to think about now are thetwo that sit as hidden 90 ton reminders of anabandon railroad tucked away deep inNorthern Maine.© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

A Wheat FieldMechanic GoesD i e s e lBy Jeffrey B. Aronson[Kermit Krantz, Leawood, KS, works as a cur -rency trader but really lives to be “an inveter -ate inventor”. Never afraid to create some -thing new, Kermit ordered the Rovers North300 Tdi conversion kit and created a veryspecial Land Rover -ed.]“I’m a wheat field mechanic,” said KermitKrantz in a telephone interview. “I like the Rovernotion that you can become a field engineerwith a Land Rover. What other’s see as trash, Isee as opportunity.” That’s how a ‘93 NASDefender 110 became a very special Land Rover.Kermit has been into Land Rovers ever sincea college-years trip to Kenya, Tanzania andUganda in 1973. He had been a biology andeconomic development major at WestminsterCollege, where Winston Churchill made hisfamous “Iron Curtain” speech. Although he wasin Africa only for a couple months, the experiencemade quite an impact.He once had a ‘67 Series II-A 109”, whichhe rebuilt, installing a Chevy 6-cylinder toreplace a tired 2.6 Rover engine. “I wanted torebuild one again, but when the Defender 110’scame in, the carseemed right tome”. I asked fordiesel initially,and the dealersaid no. The onlyoption you couldorder for the 110was a winch kit.”With a largefleet of LandRovers on hand,Kermit wanted tooutfit each car tohis needs. A ‘95Discovery handlesfamily trips andcommutes; a ‘64Series II-A HTtakes care of utilityconcerns. Forentertainment,he’s rebuilding a‘73 Series IIIdiesel. The V-8driven Defender110 became aconcern; as hesaid, “11 - 14mpg is notenough for me. Igot out of the hot rods years ago.”The Defender 110 seemed perfect to takethem to their ranch, the Impulse Ranch, nearSaguache, CO “where the sky meets the earth.”It’s 14 hours from Kansas, has one spring andno electricity. “We use wind power and propaneheat. We’ve found a lot of arrowheads. “The 4-5mile long uphill climbs strained the Defender,particularly pulling a long trailer, so Kermit firstinstalled a Rimmer supercharger to the RoverV-8. “It didn’t feel right,” he said, “the engineKermit in the foreground with Lee and the newly updated 110.often seemed to ping, no matter what the fuel.”When he saw the announcement of the 300 Tdikit in the Rovers North News, “it was done. Icould sell my engine and supercharger.”“Rovers North shipped the kit out in lateAugust, 2000. I picked up the full kit and took itto Lee Garrett, a teacher at our local vocationaleducation school in Leavenworth. Lee has usedLand Rover projects as a way to help teach highschool students. After work and school, I wouldtry and keep working on the car. Working parttime,I completed itjust beforeChristmas. I tookthe time to put in anew gas tank, newaxle seals, u-joints,replaced all fluidsand brake pads,too. Now I start outwith a brandspankingnew vehicle.”“I’m reallyhappy with the R-380 5-speed thatcame as a part ofkit, which was verycomplete. I’ve beendriving the 110since January 1st.It’s wonderful todrive. I changed thetiming belt to theZeus timing gears. I consider that step part of along term maintenance issue that will ensure thecar runs well and reliably.”“The performance of the 110 with the Tdi iscomparable to the V-8, and maybe even quicker.First gear feels quicker, 3rd gear is very strongas the turbo kicks in. Passing on the highway isequal and cruising is superior. I’m routinely in5th gear even on those long hills. I run 255/85-16 tires. For mileage, I get 22-23 mpg in townand better on the highway - unless I’m towingthat heavy trailer again! Occasionally, I runsome soybean oil as an alternative fuel; I lose alittle power, but I believe that I’m increasinglubrication and decreasing emissions. Here inKansas, it’s used all the time in combines andtractors. Really lubricates the upper end ofengine - or as hair cream!“The Rovers North kit came with a catalystand straight pipe; I chose in install a flex jointin the straight pipe. I’ve also added a boostgauge and VDO parometer [which measuresexhaust gastemperatureat the exhaustmanifold].”“My Rover isan expeditionRover, not thehigh lift Stage3 equipmenttype. I’veadded an OldMan Emu suspensionkit andmade my ownlimb risers androck sliders. Iinstalled a higher-amperagealternator for awelder and airtanks for the ARBlockers. We constructeda trailerto use principallyas a chuck wagonfrom a rottenSeries III. I tookthe tub sectionand sliced at angle so that when it opens, itbecomes a supply closet and a kitchen.”Krantz tends to keep cars for a long time,and this Defender 110 certainly sounds like akeeper; his wife, Cyri, and their two teen-agechildren like the results. The same guy whopatented disposable VHS cassettes andergonomically-correct playing cards may haveadditional custom features for his Land Rover inthe future.Custom rear tool box© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

From WalesTo WestfordThis is a picture of us at a place called Hay Bluff. We had wonthe Welsh heat of the “Search for a Legend” competition. bot -tom left; John Mathews - the original owner, bottom right;myself, top left; Lynne, my partner, top right; Chris Lake -Land Rover dealership in this area, middle right; AdrianMorris - Land Rover management.By James Powell[James Powell lives in Crickhowell, Powys,South Wales, UK. In a “coals to Newcastle”measure, he has become a Rovers North cus -tomer to find parts for his Series LandRovers. We asked him to tell us about hisLand Rovers - ed].This has been a difficult year for farmers inthe United Kingdom, but then, I’m genuinelyattached to our farm and our animals. With mypartner, Lynne, Iown and operateLlwyncelyn Farm,where we also dobed and breakfast.Our’s is a typicalhill farm; I keep400 ewes and afew cows. I used tobe an intensivefarmer, but I’ve cutback and now Ienjoy it more. The Godley House Bus as it is today .Not surprisingly,we have many old Land Rovers which seemto go perfectly with our 16th century farmhouse.All my Land Rovers are Series II’s andII-A’s, although I did pick up a FC 101, too.I’m embarrassed to say how many I own.Some are used for spares and some I hope torestore. I’ve always liked them and used them.The basic reasons are the nuts and bolts, andthey have character. In America, you haveHarleys - in England, we have Land Rovers!I always look for a Land Rover in eitherunusual or original condition. We found thislatest addition, an 88” Regular Land RoverStation Wagon built in December, 1962, at alocal antique dealer’s yard. Everything lookedfine but we had a bit of a job finding the originalback door. The antique dealer was lessthan honest about the previous owner butdid say that the back door was in a farm inStanton. He didn’t knowthe name of the last ownerand all we had to go onwas the name on the origi -nal log-book, which wasJohn Matthews. Weassumed that John lived inStanton and that we couldfind him.When we arrived inStanton, we found that thedirections the dealer gaveus were impossible to follow,so we asked a fewlocals if they knew a “JohnMatthews.” No one everheard of him, not surprising,as he had never livedthere. We drew a blank, butthen met an agriculturalcontractor and describedthe Land Rover to him. Hethen remembered seeing itlocally and gave us directionsto get to the farmerwho had once owned it. Wefound the farm and,although the farmer knewnothing of its history that hecould tell us, he did still havethe back door.He said that the LandRover had belonged to hisgrandfather and that he hadsold the Land Rover withsome other vehicles as a jobcar to “Danny the BangerMan” [“Banger Men” buyand sell cheap or scrapcars]. We decided to try our luck and write toJohn Matthews at the address in the old logbook, not knowing if he was still there, oreven still alive. Some time later, we received aletter from John’s sister, who said that Johnwas abroad.Upon hisreturn, he thenwrote to us,expressing surpriseand delightthat the LandRover was stillaround! He wasable to give us itshistory for the first five years of its life, whichwas spent in Pakistan. He had ordered itdirectly from the factory in Solihull, withoptional extras such as 16” wheels and anaccompanying speedometer, fuel filler locks, asecond windscreen wiper, and twin jerrycanholders on the front bumper. At £785, it wasover £200 more than the small sedan of itsera, but its export to a former colony meant areduction in tariffs and a reduced cost. Thecolor was “Mid Grey;” the same color it holdstoday.John was a geography lecturer at AitchisonCollege, the “Eton” of Pakistan, between 1962-1967. He flew over to Pakistan but had theLand Rover shipped over from the factory. Ahired driver then had to take it from the coastto the college, but the seats were all packed upin boxes. So he found a concrete block and saton that for the entire trip. As John served asthe master of a student boarding house at thecollege, it quickly became known as “TheGodley House Bus.”He drove the Land Rover all over Pakistan,Kashmir and Afghanistan. From a photoarchive provided by John, we know it followedcamel caravans in Afghanistan and tackled thesnows of Salang Pass in Hindu Kush. It crossedthe Thar Desert. Near the border of Kashmir, itpassed another camel caravan on a narrowtrack where a load fell off one camel andcrushed part of the safari roof. In Punjab, itneeded a team of water buffalo to pull it outfrom a failed fording of the Cherab River. Neara huge poppy field, John stepped out of the carto take photographs and heard a warning shotfired at him; he returned to the car and droveaway.In one memorable trip through centralAfghanistan, the engine froze solid [antifreezewas an expensive luxury -ed.] and strandedhim. John had to abandon the vehicle in themountains and walk for three days to the nearestroad to get out. He hiked to Kabul, wherehe knew the Deputy Prime Minister. Thisfriend’s considerable clout resulted in anarmed guard surrounding the vehicle andarranging for a tow to Kabul for repairs. Someweeks later, John picked the car up at theAfghan Consulate in Peshawar.Petrol was a problem; fillingstations were few and farbetween and there was only oneHighest road in Asia. Salang Pass,Hindu Kush Mtns.grade. If you found a station, therewas no guarantee that it wouldhave petrol there. Spare partswere also a problem. Once, a localcraftsmen also repaired thedynamo with a bit of copper wire.At another point, the Land Roverdeveloped gearbox trouble and, inthe absence of qualified mechanics,John received advice to take it totwo old brothers who had a reputa -tion for being able to fix suchthings. He called on them a fewdays after leaving the vehicle withthem and was horrified to see hisgear box in pieces, all over thepath in front of their house. Oncereassembled, the box worked perfectlyand continues going strongtoday.Fording a river, Punjab. Minutes after this photo wastaken, we were pulled out by water buffalo.When John returned to this country, hetraded the vehicle in for a Range Rover, preferringthe speed and comfort of this new model.Since then, it seems to have spent the next 30years in the farm in Stanton, before being soldto Danny the Banger man where it was therebought by our antique dealer. To complete theCoals to Newcastle or...Wales To Westfordcircle of the car’s history, we now have theoriginal registration number -557 EUE- whichis the one it had coming from the factory. Johneven gave us the original jerry cans.Not long ago, when I was coming backfrom a trip to London, I stopped at a servicestation and a gentleman from Pakistan cameover to see me. He had recognized the Arabicscript on the side of the car and knew it said“Godley House Bus”. His children are in collegeand are boarding the Godley House. It’s asmall world.Until the recent quarantine because of footand mouth disease, I had continued on page 18© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

The coveted Rovers North Sightings MugSightings is a team sport and many playerscompete fiercely to make the big leagues. Withthe completion of our Spring training, a rookiehas joined the Sightings team. We thank Jac’KiyeMcCollett, Augusta, ME, for her help in compilingthis issue’s column.With the immense snow pack in NewEngland slow to recede, we’ve “enjoyed” a longmud season so far. That’s kept us out of somefavorite fields and woods as effectively as footand mouth disease had closed off the Englishcountryside.Happily, though, we’ll be emptying more ofthe crockery cupboards with this issue of theRovers North Newsletter. As always, it’s importantfor you rookies to review the rules forSightings - and it wouldn’t hurt if some veteranswould take a look again, too.Rule #1 - All Sightings receive recognitionand our appreciation, but not necessarily amug. We reward only those Sightings that cap -ture the unique qualities of Land Rovers andtheir owners, and display them in a uniqueway .Rule #2 - If your Sighting does not reallysurprise you, it won’t surprise us, either, andyou won’t get a mug. We’re delighted, but notsurprised, that Land Rovers appear in Britishtelevision programmes, British publications,films with British themes, and shows aboutAfrican safaris. You shouldn’t be surprised,either, and should consider looking for otherways to get a coffee mug.Rule #3 - At an ever-changing date beforepublication, we close off the Sightings. Ifwe’ve mentioned the Sighting in an earlierissue, we won’t mention it again. If you’renew to the family of Land Rover enthusiasts,you may not have seen your Sighting in anearlier issue.Rule #4 - We’re not outfitting your kitchen.If you qualify, one mug per Sighting per issue.Rule #5 - Sightings that are Land Rover ref -erences in books go to our Literary LandRover editor for mention, but only whenspace permits.Rule #6 - Psst... if we can’t read you nameand address because of atrocious penman -ship, we can’t recognize your Sighting norsend you a mug. Psst...E-mail submissions -remember we can’t send a mug by e-mail.Send us your real name and shipping address,too.Rule #7 - Grudgingly, very grudgingly, theEditor admits he might make an error. Let meknow if you think you’ve been jobbed, but alldecisions of the Editor are final.SIGHTINGSRegarding Rule #7, the Editor must grudg -ingly, very grudgingly, admit that he neglected tolist John Oswald, Asheville, NC, as a Sightingswinner in the previous issue’s Sightings of anInternational Motorsports catalogue. A mug ison its way.Of course we’re never happy to see a totaledRange Rover, which *Terence Allen,Kinthersville, PA, saw in the movie “ExitWounds”, as well as, *Matthew Smith,Cranston, RI. watching a woman test her crashabilityon the wrong side of the road in a LandRover Discovery, in the children’s movie “LittleVampire”.A Land Rover is a dog’s best friend? *GregCoffman, Coshocton, OH, reports seeing aBoxer sitting at the wheel of a Series II 88 in the2001 issue of Men’s Journal magazine while*Mike Bross, Hendersonville, NC, caught aglimpse of a “modified hardtop model” whilebrowsing Elle magazine. *Kevin Kelly, MillValley, CA, found a Discovery Series II with dualmountain bikes mounted on the roof rack as thecentral image in a Cisco Systems ad in RealEstate Forum. Steve Bradke, Niskayuna, NY,sent us a Sighting of a Defender 110 on an articleon African aid organizations in QST, theamateur radio fan’s journal.While the children are away the dads mustplay! Barry Greenhalgh, Pawcatuck, CT.,watches the “bad guys” cruise around in aSeries III 88 soft top inthe video game “DeltaForce II”. Keith Frank,Salt Lake City, Utah, spotteda Series I included inthe instruction manualfor the video game “TombRaider”. Not owningvideo games, we entrustthese readers to tell thetruth, the whole truth,and nothing but the truth- and it’s a great way tosell video games.7 year old*Hannah Thayer,Abingdon, VA., enjoys ridingin her fathers LandRover Pickup as well ashelping him search for“Sightings; she spottedone in a Reese’s PeanutButter Cup commercial.This next “Sighting” isnothing to sneeze at;*Jon Villanti, Williston,VT., views a black RangeRover during an antiallergycommercial forAllegra.An episode of TheSimpsons features Homer and the gang drivingto Africa. Their guide drives them around in a109” Series II; both Bob McCreary, Houston,TX, and Chuck Moffit (see Rule # 6) also spot -ted the poachers driving an FJ-40. A “Rover” inthe city? *Jeannie Peeler, Appomattox, VA.,watches as the heroine from the TV seriesProvidence dreams she is driven off in a limestonecolored Series II-A. *William DeVizia,Keyport, NJ., and Matthew Smith, Cranston, RI,watched as one of the TV show’s Sopranos sidekicksbuys himself a brand new black RangeRover 4.6. *Brian Lang, Los Angeles, CA[which he wrote as “LA” - how CA! -ed] found aNAS Defender 90 in an episode of the programSheena.*Nick Jacobs, New York, NY., spotted aSeries II-A in the Travel section of the New YorkSunday Times, being used for tourrides in Cumberland, GA; KevinHealy, Massapequa Park, NY,found the same article.A Series III outfittedas a RedCross ambulance inthe Winter 200-2001issue of the NATOReview was spotted by HenryQuisenberry, Enterprise, AL. JohnKountz, wrote to us after seeing a“Defender” in an issue of “Defense News”.Some bank tried to entice *ErnieAschenbach, Richmond, VA, to take a SouthPacific cruise by putting a photo of a Defender110 in the mailing. We’ll find out later if itworked. *Peter King, Signal Mountain, TN,spied a Defender 110 in full military kit in aHistory Channel special on the US Army’s GreenBerets - as Peter asked, “where are theHumvees?” *Arlene Kountz, Laguna Beach,CA, found that a Discovery is used as a “mobilemummy mover” by the Carlos Museum at EmoryUniversity in Atlanta - great photo in their alumnimagazine!As an April Fool’s closer, *Brian Riley,Minneapolis, MN, noted that theJanuary/February issue of Toyota Trails, the magazineof the Toyota Land Cruiser Association,featured a Land Rover on page 12 of thatissue.Winners:Arlene KountzLaguna Beach, CABrian LangLos Angeles, CABrian RileyMinneapolis, MNErnerst AschenbachRichmond, VAPeter KingSignal Mtn., TNKevin KellyMill Valley, CAJon VilliantiWilliston, VTMatthew SmithCranston, RI.Barry E.Pawcatuck, CTNick JacobsNew York, NYJohn OswaldAsheville, NCJeannie PeelerAppomattox, VAHannah ThayerAbingdon, VAJohn KountzLaguna Beach,CARon WardColumbus, GAKevin KellyMill Valley, CAKevin HealyMassapequa Park,NYPat HarrisWilton, CTJohn BradkeNiskayuana, NYWilliam DeviziaKeyport, NJGreg CoffmanCoshocton, OhioMike BrossHendersonville,NCTerence AllenKintnersville, PA© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

Hello Rovers NorthFriends,Thank you for yourtime and the Rovers NorthNews, too. It’s very interestingto know about Rover enthusiasts in theStates. I’m from Costa Rica, and we were thefirst Latin American country to import SeriesLand Rovers in 1950 or 1951. We have tons ofstories about them. Costa Rica is an agriculturaltradition country and you can see Land Rovers(Series , Discoverys, Range Rover Classics or 4.6HSE’s, Defenders) everywhere in tropical forest,beaches, agricultural zones, and every city in thecountry.I have an 88”Series II-A, whichcrosses the hardest andmuddiest conditions ofour rain forest (thesame as some of theCamel Trophy events).We have every kind ofmud in existence (grey,brown, black, yellow,white 100% sticky lime and the worst, the redone). I saw a Mercedes Benz G class stuck inthe red mud (it is like molding paste) with threedifferentials locked and a turbo dieselengineblowing up the bonnetand it couldn’t getout. Then, after two hours oftrying and trying, a nylon ropeand an 88” soft top Series IIIpulled it out the first time. Itfound traction in the same mudwithout diff locks or snowchains [which we call mudchains here].That’s a little example of what Land Roversdo every day in a country where the big majorityof old 4 x 4’s are Rovers. I also believe thatCosta Rica has the worst highways and streets inall of the America’s but Rovers can go everywhere,making new ways and destroying reputa -tions of newer SUV’s and 4 x 4’s.Maria Jose Araya, Costa RicaDear Editor,________ P ________In Steve Harvey’s Only In L.A. column, there’s aphoto of a Range Rover Classic driving down theroad with a gas pump nozzle dangling from thefiller pipe. The column notes that a service stationowner in Manhattan Beach, Mike Reynolds,Letters tothe Editorreported that “over 4 years, customers drove outwith the nozzle still in their car 118 times. Onecustomer did ittwice. Twice a carleft the propertywith the nozzle stillattached. Once, afemale customerdrove out with thenozzle just beforeclosing at 10 p.m.A male returned thenozzle at 3 a.m. toour doorstep [asviewed on securitycamera]. I hopethis is not indicativeof many RangeRover drivers.Deborah DuncanSan Gabriel, CA[We don’t know whether to laugh or cry .Depending on fuel prices and the amount oflead in your foot, some Range Rover driversmight feel as though they never leave the gaspump behind -ed.]________ P ________Dear Rovers North,Terribly good show of you to forward youngRobert Wollschlager one of your mugs for lastissue’s Sightings. I have been out with him andhis dad in our Rovers on several occasions andeverything his mother Carol said about him istrue!Barry GreenhalghPawcatuck, CT[Unfortunately, everything my mother saidabout me was true, also, just not as compli -mentary -ed].Dear Rovers North,________ P ________Thank you for the catalogue. It’s nice to knowthat I can still get quality parts for my new (old)Rover. I received the News that I found fantastic.How can I get this monthly? I’m a first timeRover owner, as you can see by the picture ofnew prospect. It’s a ‘67 109” SW with 46,000original miles, and it also happens to be one ofthe 811 built for the NADA [North AmericanDealer Area -ed]. Can you believe that I found itsitting behind a horse stable? I’ll get around togetting it on the road this Spring. Lastly, Ireceived a lot of assistance thanks to your website links.Angel DominguezEnid, OK[The 109” SW with the NADA 6-cylinder motoris a gem of a vehicle. We can’t wait to seephotos of it when you return it from behindthe barn -ed.]© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

Ignition Key , continuedburst into High Power Mode. The fuse blockcrackled and the wires sang as recently lazyelectrons got more than just a little shot in thearm, and The Hellas parted the night likeMoses parted the Red Sea. Hey, wasthat a tomcat? Tell Darth that I got hisDeath Star right here, baby! We got some starwars action for him, yeah...We found Mark and his cronies a fewwinding miles down the dirt track, half anhour after crossing the weathered concretedam, and set up the tent in the driving rain.We then gathered under Mark’s enormouspara-wing canopy where, as seems to be thenorm on all-male outings, the talk migratedfrom ale to various defensive weapons we hadeach brought along. Forrest’s armory was themost impressive. His seemingly minusculedaypack contained a pachyderm-sized assortmentsof blankets with which to provide backupand fortification for the 21 flashlights stillinside. Forrest wasn’t concerned about bears,wolves or yetis, and the guys nodded sagely.They knew from experience that nothing stopsmonsters better than a flashlight fired fromunder or behind a great mound of blankets. Ifit’s a question of whether they’ll be safer inSAC’s Cheyenne Mountain or under a blanket,the smart toddler will always select GenuineFlannel over mere granite. Forrest’s primarydefense for this evening would be the latesttechnology from Fisher Price: the new timercontrolled,triple-barrel, white red and greenselectable beam flashlight, security bunkeredunder a Winnie the Pooh comforter. His battledress: a set of Little Tykes goggles, a yellowhard hat and a high volume (my idea) HuggiesPullup Nighttime. The monsters must havesensed the enormous latent power hidden inthe tent during their recon, or perhaps theymerely espied the empty 100-round Duracellbox in the Land Rover, because we sleptsoundly that night.The morning dawned picturesque, like ascene from A River Runs Through It, andremained that way as the dawn blossomed intoday. Light breezes partnered with early autumnleaves over the river in a dance that seemed toexist only to dodge the occasional rain shower.Sadly, there was a limit to the time that we hadto absorb nature’s beauty, and following somefine fishing and hiking, Forrest and I said ourfarewells. We packed our gear back into theLand Rover, secured the canvas flaps, and lumberedout of the canyon and across the damfor the return trip to Boise.The Land Rover was in fine form, its enginepurring like a sewing machine, which shouldhave been a strong indication that catastrophicfailure of something was imminent. No traffi con the 30-mile desert descent into MountainHome meant that we could disengage the overdriveand just mosey along, something wecouldn’t do on the ascent. 0-60 mph however,is doable at a staggering 29.1 seconds on theflats with no breeze. Those little engines reallyhave to spin.Ten miles out of Mountain Home, with 30miles across the blazing desert to go, the LandRover bucked twice, solidly, and ceased running.Wondering about that miss the nightbefore, I drifted off the side of the road andcame to a silent stop in the desert. I’ve brokemy truck before, but come ON!Knowing that my problem wasn’t fuel, Ipulled the cap off the distributor to reveal asoft patina of metal delicately coating theinside of the distributor in much the same wayas Jack Frost artfully coats windshield withanother compound that sucks. Well, heck(actually I said mother-heck); at least JosephLucas leaves clues. At least this clue wasn’tWales To Westford, c o n t i n u e dblackened with carbon and smouldering.When I inspected the inside of the cap, the originof the metal dust became apparent: thecontacts had been ground nearly completelyoff. That’s when I saw the aluminum fragmentson the engine block, and pieced together (punintended) what had happened.The electrode on the rotor hadloosened, grinding the contents offthe distributor cap. Foiled before itcould complete its mischievoustask, it came loose from the rotorentirely and dove down below thebreaker plate. It delivered a onetwocombination to the centrifugaladvance mechanism, breaking offboth posts and releasing the tensionon the springs, but the Sumowrestler-sized advance had the lastlaugh. Mortally wounded, it man -aged to revenge itself by waddingthe soft brass electrode into a littleball and shooting it like a bullet through thealuminum distributor housing and onto theengine block.A few tests later I determined that, byinstalling my spare cap and rotor, there wouldbe enough functionality left in the distributorto get Forrest and I home. Fortunately for usbecause no one passing on the freeway evenslowed down, let alone stop to render assistance.However, when I walked to the rear ofthe truck to get my spare cap and rotor fromthe toolbox, my heart turned to lead and sankto my stomach. It might as well have been agiant cyanide pill; it was, in fact, the realizationthat I didn’t have my toolbox. No spare, notools, and a two-year old with a chocolate milkmustache who equated the way that daddy waswalking and vigorously muttering with greathumor, rather than the Weight of Despair thatwas really the culprit.In the next 90 minutes I tried everything tofix that truck. I kicked it and hit it with rocks,too but let’s discuss that at another time. Itried ty-wraps, bits of tape, spit and really goodcuss words. And in the next 90 minutes, not asoul stopped to help. As I set down in failureon the side of the road to contemplate carryingmy little boy for 30 miles, I looked up and sawsalvation. My Leatherman Super Tool wastucked behind the Terratrip Rally Computer onthe dashboard. Suddenly, the barren side ofthe freeway in the Idaho desert became therich Land of Opportunity.Necessity is the mother of invention. Baby,what a mother! I’d been using my thumbnail toscrape adhesive from some Velcro to attachthe key from the lock on my high-lift jack tothe rotor as a makeshift contact until I brokethe key, and sat down in desperation. I cameacross the spare key to the high lift while rummagingthrough the truck registration pouch.Recovering it, I used the file implement on theLeatherman to extend and shape the depres -sion on the top of the rotor to fit the key. Thesmall screwdriver implement then came intouse (abuse) to create a slot in the rotor thatwould accommodate the width and depth ofthe key, at about 45 degrees from the top.Guessing the distance that the rotor contacthad extended from the end of the rotor, I mea -sured the key off, then used the pliers, I forcedthe key into the slot, then cut a piece of nylonty-wrap and forced it in there as well, creatinga powerful compression fit.Thirty minutes from having noticed myLeatherman and thirty minutes from facingdefeat at the side of the road, I fitted the rotorand locked the ruined cap back in place. Imoved into the driver’s position and, with myhead on the wheel, gently turned the key. Imust admit that the sound of that engine wasnever as welcome as it was right then. Forrestsaid, “Fix Daddy?”“Yeah, boy, fixed!” How sweet it is!The vehicle being parked with the words “GodleyHouse Bus” on arrival in Pakistan, 1962.traveled often in myLand Rover as part ofmy crusade against theabuses of “quangos”[unelected regulatorybodies for regionalissues such as economicdevelopment -ed].In my case, the WelshDevelopment Agencytook by compulsorypurchase [eminentdomain in the US -ed.] part of our common,where I feed my sheep. Their part of thebargain called for the Board to erect stockproof fence, an agreement on which theyreneged. So my Land Rover will transport me,maybe Lynne, Meg the dog, and certainly someprotest banners to The Royal Welsh AgriculturalShow and the Earls Court Show in London. Withits new crossmember andfirst-ever hitch, it will towan ex-Moscow State Circuscaravan to these events toalert attendees to the abusesof these 5,500 quangos.There are probably agencymembers who wish that aLand Rover weren’t so toughand reliable a vehicle!It’s not easy to go anywherethese days, given thepossibility of spreading footand mouth disease. With anelection coming up, we’renot hearing about it lately. I don’t know whatthe outcome will be. For the past couple ofmonths, we’ve hardly left the farm. For largefarmers, losing animals just means some finan -cial hardship and partial reimbursement. As asmall farmer attached to my animals, I don’twant to take the risk. The farm shows that weused to love to visit have been canceled, as havemany Land Rover events this spring. There maybe some in the Summer and Autumn.I do like my “Godley House Bus,” too. Itshistory enabled it to win the Welsh competitionin the “Source For a Legend” contest, but forme, it’s another embodiment of the rural, farminglife that is so important to me. There’s nocar like it.[James Powell invites Land Rover enthusiastsinterested in traveling to Wales to stay at theLlwyncelyn Farm. Write him at LlwyncelynFarm, Crickhowell, Powys, South Wales, UKNP81LL, or telephone him at 011-441-874-730327. He promises “many friends withLand Rovers and lots fine off roading,” andover the telephone, Lynne sounded like awonderful cook and companion- ed.]© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

By Jeffrey B. AronsonThis is a somber day; as I complete thiscolumn on April 18, snow continues to fall.Between the cold, snow and mud, it has been atough spring in rural New England. However,this is nothing compared to the spring of 2001in rural England. Thousands of British farmerswill lose over 1 million animals to the battleover foot and mouth disease. WhereasAmerican farmers might have tilled the familysoil for a few generations, English farming familieshave often worked the same land for 200 -300 years. In a Boston Globe interview, WillCockbain, a sheep farmer in Cumbria, said “ifthings go wrong, it’s like you’re letting downyour ancestors. I’m tough, but I’ve been intears a couple of times over this. It isn’t justabout my family. It’s about a way of life. Thefarming life in Cumbria is getting wiped out.”The average farmer in England makesabout $10,000 per year, yet little of that comesfrom actually raising or growing a product.Prices in England have dropped so much thatproduction costs outstrip sales. Farmers inEngland, as in the United States, rely on subsidies;in England, they’re recognized for theirenvironmental maintenance - repairing stonewalls, fixing dikes, burning off heather - thatpreserves the stunning English countryside.The rural tourist industry earns about $15 billionannually in England alone.The virulence of foot-and-mouth disease,which does not threaten humans, does threatenfarming and the rural tourist industry. Majorstretches of walking trails have become off-lim -its, and off road organizations in Great Britainare canceling events. With the major LandRover shows usually held in May and June,Land Rover enthusiasts face a bleak summer.We should be thankful that the severe restrictionson foot and 4 x 4 travel have not beennecessary yet in the United States, and hopefulfor the fate of our rural cousins in GreatBritain.I thought of their plight as my ‘66 Series II-A SW renewed its annual acquaintance withfirewood. I hauled several cord of wood from athin forest area of the island to my rentedhouse. When fully loaded, low range gearingprevented me from tearing up the thin, muddyforest surface and permitted me to leave anWales Tounobtrusive footprint.Fortunately,most of the woodwas old, dryspruce, whichburns likeChernobyl butdoesn’t weigh verymuch. I folded upthe rear jump seats,removed the partsand tool boxesfrom the car, thenstacked the woodin the Rover. It tookseveral trips totransport it to itsnew home, where Icut it to size withthe chain saw, splitit and stacked it forthe season. Thefinal stackingrequired backingup onto a slickrock face to reachthe flat spot on which to stack the wood; as themud at the foot of the hillock was quite soft, itrequired a deft touch not to dig up the surface.A hallmark of the Series Land Rover wasalways its utility. The same vehicle that couldhaul farm supplies and firewood could alsotransport 7 people; 12 if you bought a 109”.Without question, the Land Rover demanded aspirit of compromise from its owner. No onewould ride in great comfort. It helped if allpassengers were on good speaking terms witheach other. Still, few other contemporary carscould accomplish so much and last so longunder hard use.One day I received a call from an islandbuddy. His Gen-X daughter had set her heart ona car and he wanted me to look it over. Thedaughter had fired up the interest of heryounger stepsister and four teenage friends.Could I accompany them and look over the carwith her? Let me get this straight - did I want torelive high school fantasies and be the only guywith 6 lovely girls? Yes, actually! I quickly sweptout the rear of the car, checked the duct tapeon the seats, hosed down the floor mats, andremoved evidence of previous agricultural andmarine work from therear.Remember themovie Bedazzled?Remember howBehind TheSteering WheelBrendan Frazer’sW e s t f odreamrlives dfailed him- despite havingElizabeth Hurley ashis personal devil?Just as in the movie,this dream life dissolvedin front of me.The car that had captivatedthe Gen-X purchaser,and herfriends, was a late‘90’s Geo Tracker,white with a robin’segg blue soft top andmatching blue paintedwheels. And Californiastrips along the side,in matching violethues. Istared, revolted,but as I lookedinto this youngwoman’s babyblue eyes, I sawthat the Geohad alreadystolen herheart, that onlya cad wouldeven think ofdissing this car.From my perspective,GeoTrackers beginas junk and godownhill fromthere; what ifthe car turnedout to be worsethan I thought?The daydawned gloomyand rainy. Westopped for some breakfast and the 6 girlspoured out of the Rover - right in front of alocal policeman who graciously chose not tocount seat belts. A hard rain forced the backwindow to stay strapped in place during the 30minute drive to the Geo. Ms. Gen-X could barelycontain her excitement. As I drove on, I realizedthat I had now reached a point in life atwhich not one parent thought it dangerous -even inappropriate - that their stunning daugh -ters, 6 of them, should accompany me, withouta chaperone, on a trip to the mainland. I hadmorphed from “young buck” to “Uncle Buck.”Whatever the initial lure of the Land Rover,it evaporated completely when the girls spiedthe Geo Tracker. After all, here was a colorcoordinatedcar with a radio/CD player. I puton a monkey suit and began the inspection. Istared at a clean, but not steam-cleaned,engine bay. The oil looked clear and all thefluid levels seemed appropriate. The brakes,clutch and transmission worked smoothly andwithout bite. The tiny chassis resembled that ofan electric train but it had no serious rust. Thestarter groaned a bit, but the motor soundedfine. Devastated, I was forced to pronounce itfit. The girls leapt in for a test drive just as therain stopped; with the top down and the radioblasting, the Geo proved irresistible and Ms.Gen-X paid the sum of a perfectly serviceableLand Rover for the car. She made arrange -ments to pick it up in a couple of days and Idrove them back to the island in the LandRover.________ P _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _Land Rover once ran a print advertisementin the UK showing a new Land Rover ownerwaving good bye to a weepy salesman. The gistof the ad was that you should be profuse inyour mutual salutations as, given the life ofLand Rovers, you might not see that salesmanfor another 10 years. It pointed to the dilemmafor Land Rover; under proper care the carscan last so long that repeat sales might notoccur for many years. With traditional car dealersemploying stereotypical car salesmanengaging in stereotypical sales practices, adecade-long absence seems quite desirable.However, if a car dealer exists to sell cars, well,the problem is obvious.A good example occurred once when LandRover North America placed a thumbnail-sizedphotograph of a Series I in the front of thatyear’s sales brochure, featuring the Discovery,Defender and Range Rover. A customer oncecalled a dealership and requested “a car justlike the one on Page 2.” When the sales guideturned to that page, he found the photo of theSeries I. It was several years before Series vehiclesappeared in Land Rover publicationsagain.Indeed, for a while it seemed as thoughLand Rover sought to emulate the Kremlin ofthe Soviet Union and rewrite the history of thefirm. All references to off-road prowess left thecompany’s advertisements; instead, youwatched a Land Rover tackle a beach parkinglot and transport a wet dog from the middle ofa road. Zowie! Suddenly, the world turned andthe challenges of the Land Rover Trek competitionsare the center of attention. Staytuned..Land Rover may be heading in the rightdirection after all.________ P _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _At RoverFest 2000 and at the BritishInvasion, the 4 x 4 Center of Williston, VT,organized popular trials courses. With manyfamilies in attendance, lots of cars stuffed withfamilies wended their way up and down theslalom courses. If you’re a kid, that stinks -only the adults could drive. If you can con yourfolks, have them send you to Scotland’sGleneagles resort. The $80, 45-minute JuniorOff-Roading course in Perthshire lets kids drivemini Land Rovers on garden paths and a circuitof obstacles. Instructors carry remote con -trols to prevent accidents. Sounds like heavento me!________ P _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _The Wall Street Journal reminded us thatformer Prime Minister John Major once pro -claimed that Britain would remain a land ofdog lovers, “invincible green suburbs” andwarm beer. Sadly, warm beer seems to befalling victim to American trends. The Journalreported that Worthington Ale now admonishesimbibers to “Drink ice cold” right on the bottle.T&R Theakston Ltd., renowned for suchtraditional tipples as Old Peculier, is rolling outan ale called Cool Cask, served at 50 degrees,compared with a typical 54 to 56 degrees fortraditional British ales. Far bolder, GuinnessLtd. promotes an alternative version of its stoutcalled Guinness Extra Cold, poured from thetap at a tongue-numbing 39 degrees — aboutthe same as U.S.-style lagers. Mick Lewis, thechairman of the North London branch of theCampaign for Real Ale, huffed that “You mightas well just serve water.” Jackson considers“those horrible frosted glasses” favored byAmerican bartenders as an abomination. “Insome of the more backward parts of America,”Mr. Jackson reports, “it’s damn near frozen.”After my travails with the girls in my QE I, Imight have to visit a bar and test his observations.© 2001 Rovers North Inc • 1319 VT Route 128, Westford, Vermont 05494-9601, USA • 802.879.0032 • e-mail rovers@together.net • www. r o v e r s n o r t h . c o m

Land RoverS n a p sThe Rovers North Newsletter is a publication of Rovers North, Inc. • Publisher: Mark Letorney • Editor - Jeffrey B. Aronson • Art Director - Thompson SmithScott Herring’ s109” Marshallbodiedambulancewas brought toMaine from St.John, NewBrunswick.Dean Letorney’s immaculateDiscovery Series IThe Best Bird Perch x FarA specialgreetings fromthe VintageRovers AcrossAfrica crew!Rovers North now accepts American Express,Discover Card, Visa and MasterCard.