This Range Rover started its life 1979 in England, hence it is a RHD. (Right Hand Drive). It has the original 3,5 liter V8 with 2 SU carburetors. At some point it moved over the channel to a Belgian owner in Brussels. And at another point it moved back to Exeter, near London. There some modifications were made and it started its life as a offroad purpose only vehicle.
I picked it up on Ebay and bought it for next to nothing. I called the owned and discussed the condition of the vehicle and the original papers and VIN number on the chassis. After receiving pictures of all of it, I booked a flight and went to pick it up. It sat on 31inch Simex Mud Terrains and drove it back to its new home near Amsterdam. This all went flawless, except for the fact that we had no wipers, but did have rain. After removing the bonnet and the parafan we could directly wire the wiper motor from the battery with 2 loose wires inside. The codriver’s job was to connect these every time he felt the window needed wiping!
The Range Rover is no longer stock.
The rear overhang was trimmed back with about 30 cm. This improves the departure angle dramatically. Stock Rangies tend to hang on their tow hook at every step they drive down. This one no more. This operation is referred upon as bobtailing a Range Rover, hence we refer to it as the Range Rover Bobtail. With this process there is no room anymore for the tank that is originally situated between the chassis against the rear crossmember. I insist upon having a tank between the chassis under the loading floor for safety and for space reservation. However the stainless steel handmade tank is now only holding 40 liters against the original 90 liters before.
Further the bobtail received old emu shocks with 2inch extra travel along with 2 inch longer springs. The body was also raised 2 inch from the chassis.
A sturdy offroad front and rear number was fitted. And a 9,5 High Speed Warn winch, a good strong and fast winch. It is placed before the radiator, behind the grill, with the cable entering above the bumper. The reason is that sit much closer to the front axle, giving much less dead weight. And it is 95cm off the ground keeping it usually above water levels. This keeps the winch in better condition, but also usually you can see what happens when you operate it. You can’t see this when it is under water under the mud under your bumper…

Tires have been replaced by 34inch Jungle Trekkers 2.
The roll cage was custom made at X-treme 4×4 company. (www.X-treme4x4.com) It has all the right curves and shapes to fit a Range Rover. Where a Defender only had straight lines and 90 degree angles, the Range Rover has no straight tube in its cage. Also a custom made X-con snorkel was integrated in the cage. This is a professional cage with 2/3 external and 1/3 internal and it is super strong with the import and tubes being 4 mm think. Also the tree/rock sliders were added to protect the nice curvy side. And they are welded to the outrigger and the chassis. Etienne, the owner of X-treme 4×4, did a fantastic custom design and used his 30 years as a racer, offroad instructor and constructer of competition cars. He build cars for Dakar teams and was involved in development of the first Land Rover Desert Warriors.
The electrics were done by the expedition specialist: Landreiziger. (www.landreiziger.nl) Martin, the owner of Landreiziger knows all about car electrics and how to make them work in the extreme, 30 years from now. And he is a right gadget nut that has never used a product on a customers car without thoroughly testing it first. This goes to the point that Hella Marine is developing their products using the experience of Martin and even improving existing products to Martins insights. (Yes, the marine department of Hella use better quality lights than the automative department. You have not seen a fishing boat with flood lights just to look good, have you?) Martin installed the double battery system and split charger and the winch electrics with operating controls inside and outside. All water and mud proof, all to competition standarts.
Wanna know more mods? Come and have a look at the car in real!!