Jeffrey AronsonI live on the small island of Vinalhaven in the village area on a side road that leads to our Town Hall, and thus, my three Land Rovers and I are visible to most everyone conducting town business.
This winter in Maine has seen warmer temperatures with multiple snowfalls and snow melts. When the temperatures rose, the weather turned to rain; when the temperatures dropped below freezing, we had a new cover of snow. With each snow melt, I vowed that this time I would complete the winter maintenance, including a needed oil change on all three Land Rovers.
Finally, despite the snow cover, the day before an off-island trip, I could no longer delay an oil change; the rest would have to wait. Out came the cardboard, the tarp and the “maintenance wardrobe.” With temperatures in the mid-20s, I crawled underneath Gilroy, my ’97 Discovery I SE7. The snowpack elevated me a few inches, thus reducing the ground clearance and forcing me to squeeze underneath. I reminded myself that the engine sump drain plug requires a 11/8 inch 12-point socket to turn it, but the stock undercarriage components prevent you from using a half-inch ratchet. I don’t own an open wrench that big. Lying on my back and twisting to one side, I could not apply enough force on a crescent wrench without threatening to round the drain plug head.
A fisherman friend and his wife stopped by, curious as to my contorted position. He offered to see if he owned an open-end wrench of that size and promised to return with one within a half-hour. Meanwhile, while searching through my tool collection, I found a small pipe (Stillson) wrench whose serrated jaws would grip tightly and whose handle had enough length to provide the necessary leverage to loosen the over-tightened drain bolt. The oil shamed me. Black may be very stylish in clothing or exterior paint, but it’s not a good color for motor oil. The refill of the cold, 15-40W oil took some time, but eventually, the 6+ quarts sat in the sump.
I returned into my house to warm up, but unbeknownst to me, the fisherman had returned with a large crescent wrench. He came in through my back door (no one really knocks before entering here) to let me know that he had loosened the drain plug for me. Feeling quite pleased that he could assist me, he led me outside so he could show me his handiwork.
Approaching the Discovery, I expected to see an oil spill all over the snow – I could barely stifle my squeals of relief when I did not see any oil. I also reminded myself that if I could barely slide under the car, how could this much larger fisherman have slid underneath and loosened the sump drain bolt? He showed me where he had found the drain plug he could reach – on the back of the transmission. I thanked him for his help and, after he drove off, tightened the transmission drain plug and called it a day. The remaining oil changes would just have to wait for warmer weather.
Ask any enthusiast a question about their Land Rover and you don’t get an answer, you get a pageant. Ask 21 enthusiasts about their Land Rovers, and you’d better have several hours and be willing to listen to a Broadway production.
An October meet-up of the 757 Rovers group in Norfolk, VA, provided the opportunity for both fulsome stories – some true – and plenty of food and drink. (No, I was not behind a steering wheel that night). My return to Norfolk, the first in three decades, came about when the Land Rover Experience, Asheville, NC, and Checkered Flag Land Rover, Virginia Beach, invited me to attend their Outer Banks off-road event that same weekend [See story on p. 38 -ed].
When David Chase, Norfolk, VA, heard that I would descend on the city, he invited me to join the 757 Rovers at their monthly meeting. The group’s reach covers the Tidewater region, and its membership has an encyclopedic knowledge of local every brewery. The highly entertaining social group has no formal structure, but David has fallen into the responsibility of herding enthusiasts to one of the area’s 100+ breweries.
After much online debate, the Veil Brewery in Norfolk had the dubious honor of hosting us, and poor David had the equally dubious honor of meeting me at the Norfolk Airport, transporting me to my hotel and providing me with a guided tour of his hometown. He did so in his ’98 Defender 90 300 Tdi SW. Since it had come over from the UK and had RHD, gawkers initially assumed that the person in the left-hand seat – me – must own the very handsome Heritage Green Defender. With my left hand aloft in a Royal Wave, I mimicked turning a steering wheel with my right hand to enhance that impression. I doubt I fooled anyone; the Defender looked too good to be mine.
The very convivial group had clearly shared many stories and good times together. I delighted in renewing contact with Sandy Grice, Marlon Bevans, Daryl Beasley, Mike Samuels, and Bobby and Rebekah Sanderlin, whose stories have graced Rovers Magazine. No enthusiast visiting the Southeast has not met up with Robert Davis. I had the delight of meeting enthusiasts Damon Samuels, Peter Schenke, Matt Willett, Brian Patrick, Virl Ritchie, Allen Dawson, Neal Daboul, Bill Jones, David Hancock, Dave Devenney and Clay Richardson. Their vehicles made an impressive array in the parking lot outside the brewery.
We quaffed drinks and stuffed down food, but mostly we talked – life stories about our Land Rovers, claims and counterclaims about our driving and technical prowess, present challenges and future plans. The range of enthusiasts’ professional and personal backgrounds never fails to astound me.
At the end of the evening, David drove me to my hotel in Virginia Beach. Watching me exit the Defender instead of David, the doorman’s face showed his disappointment. He clearly expected to greet someone with more class, like David.
I had the good fortune to attend the 2023 Destination Defender event last November. JLR loaned me a Defender 130 Outbound for the 90-minute drive from Austin to the Iron Horse Ranch in Somerville, TX. As the roads become narrower and more desolate, my faith
in the navigation system diminished – especially when it insisted that I go through the grounds of another ranch to reach my destination. If your drive has you believing that you’re about to be ambushed as a cattle rustler, a Defender 130 Outbound would be the perfect get-away vehicle.
Texas enthusiasts filled the campsites despite the generally drizzly, cloudy and damp weekend; a scan of license plates demonstrated that enthusiasts from Virginia, Nebraska and Utah were in attendance as well. The word had gone out through Texas Land Rover dealers, so it was no surprise to see quite a turnout of L663 Defenders on hand. The sight of a few Series Land Rovers and L316 Defenders brought big smiles to my face.
JLR brought in their driving team to create an off-road demonstration course to show off the vehicle’s capabilities. You could also learn and/or practice your skeet shooting. The event boasted several panel presentations, led by Mike Bishop of Land Rover Classic [UK], and Land Rover author/photographer Nick Dimbleby. An all-female panel explored the lives and legacies of women in the Land Rover community, such as the Texas Rovers’ Laura Shacklette and Sarah Caldwell [Barbara Toy Run], Liza Beres and Jenna Fribley [Rebelle Rally], and Daphne Greene [Camel Trophy].
Panelist Lorin Wolfe told the story of her prototype ’97 NAS Defender 90 SW, on display at the event. About 20 years ago while at university, Lorin had searched for internship possibilities; as a self-proclaimed “car girl” very interested in manufacturing, she applied to Land Rover. While working at Solihull, she discovered a prototype NAS Defender 90 SW just sitting there. “It looked like a brand-new one,” she said. When she inquired about buying it, Land Rover noted they had never registered it, which made the purchase process quite “onerous.” Before it became a “legal” vehicle, Lorin noted that “Tony Monk and his engineering team did a great job of preparing it.” That involved replacing some corroded parts and replacing the transfer case; otherwise, it was complete with the Safety Devices “safari cage” and wing-protecting checker plate.
After the purchase, Lorin had it shipped to Baltimore, and then to her home in Connecticut. She used it as a daily driver and then decided it had too much historical value to drive regularly. “Along with my family,” she said, “I’ve been curating it for the past couple of decades.” Appropriately, the Defender sat on a display pedestal for the event weekend.
Her son, Wesley, seemed proud of the family Defender and “shows signs of mechanical aptitude.” I came away more impressed with his future as a forger and counterfeiter. He proudly displayed his hand-crafted Connecticut driver’s license, which I proudly would have used as a fake ID in my college days.
I enjoy living vicariously through the adventures of others, so the arrival of the newly published Three Men in a Land Rover enticed me to sit in front of the wood stove instead of behind the steering wheel.
In 1969, Waxy Wainwright, Mike Palmer and Chris Wall (an apprentice gardener, recent Oxford graduate and advertising agency artist, respectively) purchased a ’64 Land Rover 109” 3-door affectionately named “TEN,” and traveled 40,000 miles in ten months across 40 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. Their diary entries and period photographs hail from a time when international travel required mounds of paperwork, and their route took them through nations and cultures transformed by contemporary movements. Refreshingly written as if the authors were sitting in a pub with you, and brilliantly designed by Land Rover enthusiast Martin Port, their tale challenges our assumptions about what we can do with our Land Rovers.
In 1969, while the three adventurers were exploring the world, I was working on a refuse truck on Cape Cod – and I thought of that as an adventure. Hmm.