Ottawa Valley Land Rovers newsletter, May, 1995

by Robin Craig

Well, for those of you who have beenliving a dream, here is some bad news for you. Land Rover has no plan to introduce a budget version of any of their products here in Canada or in the US. Ever, period. Please don't whine about it, your wasting everyone's time, including Land Rover's.

Recently two senior members of Land Rover's staff from the UK were in Canada on an offical visit. So I made arrangments to meet with them during their time here in Ottawa and have a chat about the product that we all love.

The lifestyle image that the company is so aggressively pursuing to their of many a Series owner is theway the winning formula for the product line. Current factory production for 1995 has just about been assuredly sold on the basis of current demand world wide. Solihull is running at capacity and they just love it! Don't forget that the production lines are running 24 hours a day, in most cases.

The lower priced utility equipped versions of the three products are just not worth the effort at pitching for the North American market, they can not get the price down low enough to compete with the already present cheapies in the market place today. I draw an interesting conclusion from this.

That is that the future "Little Land Rover", which is definitatly in existence and is slated for release in the near future, will not on this logic be released here as it is an econo product aimed at tackling the mini four by's in the UK and European market place. Well that's my opinion anyway.

As far as the rest of ourconversations, well, they are best left at the dinner table!

Mind you I can tell you one thing, the chauffeur who drove us home from the restaurant damn near got us killed when his interest in the ladies of the night that lined our route momentarily distracted him and he tried to drive through a red light! His name will stay a secret for the minute.

The constant confusion by the uneducated as to the Land Rover name cropped up again the other day. I recently acquired an interesting little book on the Gulf War exploits of the Canadian Navy called the Persian Excursion. Towards the end there were references to a trip ashore in the Gulf in a vehicle described as a Toyota land rover! Have no fear, I am putting together a spotters recognition guide for the authors!

I was at the National Headquarters of the Candian Red Cross recently. While browsing through the Swiss magazines on hand. I found that there is a Book out called " a handbook for practioners" on what they should be doing in wartime, and times of civil war. Right on the front cover is a British Army 110 softop painted white with the UN logo on the side and a red cross on the door.

The week end of Victoria Day weekend in Ottawa will be crammed with military vehicles as this is the Victory Spring event run by the War Museum. At Lansdown there will be a militaria show and historic military vehciles from WW II and onwards. I mention this because I know that a number of you like working vehicles.

Also because there is a good possibility that a number of ex military Land Rovers will be taking part in the parade on the Monday (22nd) in the downtown area. As far as I know it will go from Land down up to Parliament hill. There is a chance that David Lowe and tribe might make the run up in his 101 Forward Control plus trailer. David and I spoke last month and hopefully he will make it. If you want to know if he is coming up the give me a shout in the days leading up to the event and I'll have more info. From what I gather his vehicle is pretty straight and tidy and has no aftermarket mods. So for any of you who have heard about a 101 and its legendary looks this is the chance to come out and see one, that is if he comes!

It seems that quite a number of suppliers to Land Rover are using their association with the company to promote their products these days. I have seen an advert for Hellla lights showing a Discovery from the La Ruta Maya expedition in the mud and the other one that caught my eye has been one for Superwinch. It shows a 110 in full Camael Trophy spec ploughing through the mud. Underneath it says " Our testing ground!".

Hella also had a 90 fitted with their lights that was being used as a demo vehicle for a while in the US. Unfortunatly all you can see is two big beams of light and no vehicle!

A chap by the name of Jimmy Patrick is putting together a calendar with soem quality pictures of Land Rovers at play in it. He has asked for submissions. I have promised to send some action shots of club events down, so don't be surprised to see your Land Rover the pin up for the month of August or March! By the way, before any of you get all up tight, this is a not for profit deal here. he is going to charge what it cost him to produce it. I'm not getting a red cent here.

When the calendar is near to being ready we'll let you know how much from where and when. You can the get your own to find if your machine was good enough for the pages!!

Until next month folks, I'm outa here ............ Robin

Reprinted from the Ottawa Valley Land Rovers newsletter, May, 1995