How about my car?
Another excuse for me to drone on about how I circumnavigated Africa in nothing more than a Land Rover.

But not just any Land Rover – the Camel is a real Camel Trophy Disco from the Mongolian expedition of 1997



When we first met I was curious about why the back windows were electric while the front ones were old fashioned windies – and a pain to have to crank up and down. There were also a few other differences from the standard Land Rover – lots of the fancy electronics had been ripped out and replaced by components from older models. I couldn’t see why they did this.

Until.

About a third of the way down. By this time it had become clear that the constant vibration, heat and dust was slowly killing everything electronic that I hadn’t put away in a box. The electric windows started playing up in Mali, and died completely by Chad. The lovely hi Tech MP3 CD player did a little better – getting all the way to Sudan before packing up. My inverter blew up in Burkina Faso – the locals there can fix anything, but they shook their head over this one. In fact the only thing that didn’t crap out was my laptop (which I kept put away in a box) which despite taking an unscheduled flight when I rolled – er – the first land Rover, made it all the way around – they don’t make Toshiba’s like that any more. No really, they don’t.

What I find ironic is that my vehicle was kitted out by the Land Rover Special Works team – they must have known that despite the vehicles being sold as the ultimate off road vehicle, all that modern electronic shit just wasn’t going to last on a real expedition. So they ripped it out and gave me windey windows that would work.

I still have the Camel, and my other half has a nice new WV Polo. I rub my hands in anticipation every time she drives it for I know that with all it's electronics it’s designed to fail. It’s just a matter of time.

Length? 18 months and 70,000km
(strongp, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 18:30, 5 replies)

All the toys are necessary
for the sort of people who buy the vehicle for the image in the UK, Euro and USA areas.
All crap as you've found and a right royal PITA for the later owners who have to repair that shit (My daily driver is one of the early 300Tdi Disco 1's )

At least in African climates you didn't need to repair all the frikkin' rust thats developed in mine

Length? 8 hours a side for the inner front wings and about 4 hours for the rear seatbelt mounting on the drivers side, The sills had already been done when I got it
(Sir Tainley Barking Ezekiel 23:20, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 19:06, closed)

I maintain that you could have done this in a Micra and also succeeded.
10,000 miles to Mongolia and the only thing to go wrong was the back bumper falling off.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 21:28, closed)

driving across the Eurasian Steppe is a completely different challenge to crossing Africa
if your Micra had seen dust and sand like that Land Rover did, it would have killed the engine in about three seconds flat
( Grrrmachine the indifference engine, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 8:32, closed)

Possibly
but as me and MrsScars drove a Mk 1 Micra round Germany with no oil in it for a fortnight, they might last longer than you think.
(all my scars face forward possesses 2.5% of a hyperalloy combat chassis, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 10:46, closed)

Are you related to Uncle Albert?

(oneinthepink is at your cervix m'lady, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 9:19, closed)