For those of you who have been following our Landrover journeys on HIVE, it might come as no suprise to you that we both threw our hands up in frustration and vowed to buy a brand new car AND reneged on this idea in the space of a week, deciding to keep the 130 Defender AND the Series 3 and the Series 2A. What were we thinking? We're Landrover people!
And here's my man, posing for the camera (and HIVE) with a double thumbs up when he drove Wally out of the garage for the first time in over a year.
Whilst we really, really would have loved the Ineos, the problem was we wanted the Ineos on TOP of the other cars, and that just wasn't feasible.
Part of the reason we're really into Landrovers is the puzzle they present. Everyone needs a creative project, and with the Ineos, Jamie wouldn't have any mechanics to do! Plus, we would have spent 100 K on a cool car but still need to spend more on doing the camping set up. In the end, we can spend 20 K on the Defender and have the perfect overland vehicle. Besides, it's fun to do!
YOu can follow our progress on Instagram here. Please do - we're trying to get our followers to 5k!
We'll be doing a slide out kitchen like this one from Gaias Trek, an account we follow on Insta. Instagram is such a source of inspiration if you're a project person!
You can read about Gaia's Trek Defender build here.
The box on the back - well, we've thought long and hard and researched every single company in Australia and haven't found one that we think is perfect for us. The lead time on the ones we like can be up to a year, and many are overseas so you can't realistically order one anyway. This is the kind of thing we really like:
A Globe Camper is pretty much the shape we like for our box. Image Source
Its the angled back and the reasonable size of it we like - some are huge and must make the weight distribution odd, let alone what they look like!
Anyway, that's a way off - we have to order the parts from STyromax that does the composite panels in Australia. We give them the dimensions, they give us the panels and all the other things we need to put it together, and it comes in a flat pack. There's a six month lead time to even get those.
Given that, we're concentrating on getting it back on the road for now. This means putting the old steel frame back on, because it's expensive to get an aluminium one and ultimately we wont need it as we'll build our own base for the camper. It's been painted black and positioned in place, and Jamie has bought some form ply we'll use to put on the tray, and he's done all the lights, fuel system and so on.
Now it's a matter of ordering the switch panel where the radio, dials and switches go. That took some thought, as we had to make sure what we wanted to put in in the way of switches, CB radio and so on. That'll be special order from the UK. The door parts also need ordering as they aren't on yet.
However, things are looking good for it to be on the road by after Easter at the latest - we hope! So we applied for the refund for the reservation of the INEOS, and diverted all our energies to the original dream.
For the record, if you've missed it, this is what our 130 looked like when we first got it! Bit different, right?
So whilst it might not be an Ineos Grenadier, it's still going to be a wicked car, and all the better because we have done a nut and bolt restoration on it! I mean the royal we, of course, but I'm there to make financial decisions, tidy up the garage between jobs and do little things like clean and paint the mudguards with tire black like I did the other day...
Anyway, what do you think? Do you think we've made the right decision?
With Love,
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