Garry Stuart – freelance photographer
It seemed a good idea at the time. We were due to go down to our house in South West France for a few weeks in July when I learned of a new Land Rover event near Clermont Ferrand, deep in the Massif Central. We needed to be down there on a Friday, but only found out about it the day before, so the Terrano had to be fettled and loaded in a hurry so that we could drive down to Dover overnight and sleep for a few hours at the ferry port before boarding an LD Lines ferry to Boulogne at 05.00hrs.
If I was concerned last time that my finances were becoming stretched by my coy little motor after a couple of big garage bills, I was set to see even more moths fluttering from my rapidly emptying purse this month. I’d forgotten for a moment that my insurance was due.
While buying a new 4×4 is fun, it is also undoubtedly frustrating and, at times, stressful. Why do some traders insist on writing ‘immaculate’ in their advertisements when even the most cursory inspection shows the vehicle to have been used and seriously abused? Why, after phoning up to check, do you find out when you arrive to view a vehicle that, ‘there’s a small problem with the air flow sensor so you can’t go for a drive, I’m afraid. The mechanic should have changed it this morning but he’s a DJ and last night he had all his gear nicked so he’s not come in…’ Would you buy a 4×4 from some absentminded DJ who can’t even be bothered to come to work? No, neither would we.
Never again will I allow a lunatic at the wheel of the Hotchkiss…well, maybe ‘lunatic’ is a bit strong, it’s just that it’s a while since Ivor had done any off-roading and he’d never before driven anything as much fun – and as open – as Eugene. Now Eugene may be close on 50 years old but the old dog can still move; the 2.2-litre Willys engine may only be puffing out around 55 of its original 60 horses but with its stroke of nearly 4.5 inches it’s still got surprisingly muscular lowdown torque, so when Ivor saw a gap in the undergrowth and went for it, his enthusiastic flooring of the accelerator saw Eugene leaping into the bushes like a startled rabbit, leaving me hardly any time to hang on, let alone blink.
The sun has been beating down in North Wales and so there has been little excuse not to get on with sorting the TM for its MoT. I started well and the lower cab panels have been removed, revealing even more rust, I have exposed even more daylight through the cab floor.
It was only a couple of months ago that I was telling you about the spate of Defender thefts in the West Yorkshire area which had reached such epidemic proportions that it had prompted the local Police to implement a stop and check policy on any Defender, night and day. I reported that although this hadn’t seemed to deter whoever was responsible, thankfully my 90 had managed to escape the attention of the local ‘TWOC’ers’. That’ll teach me…
After enjoying some excellent offroading in the lee of the rolling hills of Herefordshire, our Rodeo Denver Max LE pick-up truck has been put to more everyday use. Over the years the longterm pick-ups on the magazine fleet have been extensively used for hauling stuff around – and on many occasions shifting various bits of furniture.
You can imagine my dismay when, flicking through what passes for my vehicle paperwork, I found that my warranty had run out. I’d just given the Suzuki main dealer over £350 to service my vehicle and their cheerfulness was annoying. Yes, it would have been covered under my warranty but don’t worry, they chirped, it’s not an expensive repair and we’ll be kind over the man hours it will take as you’re a regular’. I groaned inwardly; Barclaycard’s well-spoken, if slightly stilted, automaton would be on the phone again just checking that yet another three-figure purchase on my account was really mine.
Over the past month or so the Terrano has served as transport to several assignments in Cornwall and Dover plus single trips to Anglesey and Northumberland, racking up the mileage in the process. Touch wood, there has been very little to report as the truck itself has been running as smoothly and reliably as ever. The heater matrix has not yet been repaired, but the water levels have remained constant, not even needing a top-up after covering thousands of kilometres. Strange, it must have repaired itself. Maybe some debris got lodged in the hole?
Shock horror, the 90 has encountered its first real problem in 12 months of ownership. The metallic creaking sound I heard through the open window as I pulled away from my local filling station didn’t bode well at all. Luckily for me, I was less than five minutes from our workshop, where with the 90 wheels jacked up we assumed that a failing CV joint was the likely diagnosis. Stripping the hub to get at the CV would, instead, reveal a bone-dry front wheelbearing.
Prev