>
> While I respect you a lot as you bring a lot of experience to the list,
it pains me that your statements ring true. I know many leafers don't care
about coiler guys, and that permeates with your attitudes. It seeps into
the persona of off-road events, and generally makes for a difficult time
planning events between the two groups. Those of us who own coil-sprung
rovers and actually are enthusiasts tend to appreciate the series trucks and
learn what we can about the heritage of our marque.
Unfortunately for some of us leafers we don't meet many coilers that fall
into this description.
A couple of us Series guys on island have taken the time to stop and chat
with coilers and invite them to participate on our trips and get togethers.
Pretty much get treated like we are not good enough for them. I am not
talking about the station wagon soccer moms either. If it's a stock
looking, new, scratchless Rangie or Disco I don't bother any more. I am
talking about the guys/girls that have off road tires, bars, lights, racks
etc. Ask em to go off roading, they think you mean drive through the
pineapple fields or to Keana Pt. Tell em we mean Peacock Flats, the
Kahuku's, or the training areas of Schoffield. Tell them about the knee
deep mud, how Kevin and I have both flooded our engines, about the time I
had water up to my seat cushions and they get this look on their face like
we are talking about going to mars. These people have the pushbars so they
dont scratch their fenders in parking lots. They thought that those three
white round disks on the front just let people know they spent more $$$ on
their vehicle. Don't really use the lights, because that would mean getting
ut of the vehicle to remove the covers. The roof rack is to put the beach
chairs on so you don't get sand in the vehicle. The tires, well it's a
truck, ya have to have truck tires ona truck. The three Defender guys I
have met on Island bought the "image". They have money and want everyone to
know. Oh they also have a Benz and a BMW Z-3. You know, the people who
think Series means new Disco, or the "early Defender", or the vehicle used
by the Desert Rats in North Africa during WWII. Had one guy go into this
long explanation about how the Range Rover company designed the Land Rover
for a British oil company in the 50's for oil exploration and they were
never sold to the general public. Other oil companies, logging companies,
mines, etc were the only one that got them.
I have met some of the people from this list that own coilers and I know
that my above rant is not a blanket statement against all coilers, but it
does describe the majority of coil owners. It has been mentioned on this
list in the past that hopefully Ford realises that there exists a market for
a true utility type 4x4. I hope they do, but you know what, I think the
market is very, very, very small. Ford bought a Name. If the Defender line
continues, in less then 10 years it will be an aerodynamic, unibody design
vehicle with crumple zones, molded plastic bumpers, airbags, and all the
electric gadgets you can imagine. Some people believe that this elctrickery
makes the vehicle more reliable, recent dsicussion on the Mendo list about
this. People didn't believe me when I claimed to have had many vehicles
towed into our shop for sensor related failures, including one GM car that
had it's brakes lock up when the ABS system went out. If you are looking
for something that doesn't require much in the way of maintance, then buy a
brand new vehicle and swap it out every 3-4 years. But dont try and tell me
that a 10 yo EFI vehicle is more reliable then a Series vehicle would have
been when it was 10 years old. And if you believe that a coiler is more
reliable then a leafer how about a $for$ comparison. I will wager a months
pay that if two people both had the same budget, the one that puts all the
money into new parts for a Series rig will have a more relaible vehicle then
the person that buys a Disco II.
I am not saying that coil sprung vehicle are bad. I would love to get a
1975 2 door rangie. Maybe swap out the duel SU/Stromberg carbs for webers,
but I would be happy with the rest of the package. For my next project I
want to build a coil 109 with a dormie top. Diesel engine and auto tranny.
Hope Joe does build his Series so I can learn from his experiance. I can't
wait to get to the PacNorWest and meet some of the people up there and see
how they have built their rigs. From the photos I have seen and the people
I have talked to, hope I can talk Timm Cooper into letting me an apprentice
for a while. To me the Rover is a big lego set. I like the looks. I like
working on them. I enjoy the simplicity and the funny quirks. I love that
I had to remove the radiator in order to take off the steering relay, I
still laugh at that one. I like the small 4 cyl in the 88 and the low
gearing. Yes I drive in more mud then rock crawling and I "rednecked" the
88 by putting 33's on it, but they are working great for me. I do cringe at
times when I think about what I have done to my vehicle and know there are
people out there that probably think I have truely ruined the vehicle. But
I am happy with it. The only thing I have done that isn non-reversable is
to change the shape of the rear wheel wells. If I ever got rid of the
thing, someone could get a stock chassis and springs it it would be a stock
series again. Show of hands, who remembers the kid that wanted to put 33's
and a v-8 in a Series rig? he was run off pretty quick. Think some are
trying the same with Joe, and am sure that if I had started out discussing
my plans I would have been run off also. BTW I found this list sometime in
mid 97, but never posted until May 98 when I found out about the move to
Hawaii, and asked about Rovers for sale here. Other then asking questions,
I stayed pretty quiete for another year. I saw alot of how the
non-traditionalist were treated and didn't want any part of it.
Well that is enough for now I am sure,
Pete
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Jun 29 2001 - 16:21:44 EDT