In the early days of competitive winching, Lee Bond was renowned for his use of Mercedes G-wagen axles to create manoeuvrable and super-strong vehicles. And unlike some builders, each of his creations was unique.
There was a time, and what a happy, innocent time it was, when building hybrid Land Rovers was all the rage. People who couldn’t afford a 90, which was more or less all of them, would take a Range Rover chassis (because back then you could afford that), cut it down to whatever wheelbase they wanted (normally 88” or, for trialling, 80”), replace the rear overhang with a Series crossmember and cobble together a body out of whatever panels they could get their hands on.
Those were the halcyon days before the SVA test came along to turn hybrid building into yet another Thing You’re Not Allowed To Do In Britain Any More. Mainly, though, the hybrid era came to its own natural end simply because 90s and 110s came down in price to the point where building your own was no longer necessary.
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