Top Gear: Greatest Car of all Time

another SA car manufacturer sent to the wall hey Banjo...

Damned typical, they overlooked the Gogomobil dart as well. Now that's a collectors piece.
Incidently, I saw a Zeta wreck the other day. Just the body shell.
Could be a restoration project. Does anyone have a good second hand lawn mower motor for sale. Maybe a turbo'd 4 stroke donk would be the go.

Showin your age now ol chap,There would be a lot out there never heard of them, As an old South Aussie i remember them and the messerschmitt

zeta

mm do I recal seeing framed pics on the owners office wall?...bugga he's on holidays at the moment

You dont have to be that old they used to make them in the factory next door to where I went to school in the mid 80s

Davoe
Zeta's were not made in the 80s or the 70s it was the early 60s
zeta

Never said they were just that I went to school next door the the Lightburns factory in the mid 90s and they still had a few kicking about

always was and still is...

and always will be

G'day Baz,

did you get out Glen Davis way with the party last weekend? I heard there was a good varitey there, one brought irom SA too eh?

How'd you know about Glen Davis, i'm going this weekend i hope.

Baz.

Mr Rodick.

Glenn
I am surprised the yanks don't have Troopies in that Country

Not over pearl harbour yet .

No call for tough no nonsense tourers in seppo land I think its pretty much just bitumen and good gravel roads which is ideal for explorers and for the hardcore stuff you need to go to rock crawling parks

I don't think that the point was whether or not it could make it out of a bog (I've seen every brand of 4WD available here in Oz stuck in a bog at one time or other), but how good it's been in relation to its designed function for nearly six decades.

I remember that episode... funny as :)

Yeah I know, but don't they give the Ferrari crap when it is not up to the task etc - all positive on the LR though. That was a great episode particularly when he was making warm drinks and stew while the recovery crew were busy extracting the LR (particularly watching them run up).

Kind regards

I think that it was just a general vote Willie... and model-related rather than by specific year as such. The Land Rover (Series 1,2,3,110 and Defender) has been around since the latter 40's and is basically un-changed in general design since then - apart from coils rather than leaves. These days it's called the "Defender" because they had to separate it from the Range Rover, Discovery and Freelander models which are all relatively new.

Used to own a 2A so I also have a spot in my heart for these vehicles. It gave us lots of pleasure (and some tears). It took us to a lot of places and was as tough as. But not overly reliable and needed the fairy overdrive to get me past 80KPH. Still we had a ball in it.

Kind regards

I had a LWB , 6 cylinder four door LR for a year . It had great charisma but dreadful dust sealing , no guts and a bone rattling suspension .

I have heard they have fixed the suspension , but not so sure about the dust .

I am on my fourth Cruiser , but if they fixed a few things in the Landie , I would get another one - just for the romance - they have got that something "extra" that I cannot quite name .

Cheers ,

Willie .

The year Land Rover went with coils was 1983 in the 110.

Here's the entire history. Pretty cool.
____________________________
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~lloyd/4/LandRover/History/
____________________________

1884: Starley and Sutton start making the Rover safety cycle - the name stuck and `Rover' still means `bike' in e.g. Poland.
1947: First prototype Land Rovers built (based on the WWII Willys Overland Jeep) including the centre-steer prototype.
1948-1958: Series One (SI) Land Rover
The 80" SWB Land Rover with a 1.6L ioev engine world debut at the Amsterdam motor show 30 April 1948. It featured full-time 4WD with a front free-wheel mechanism which could be locked by a "ring-pull" control. The head-lights were mounted behind the radiator grille (which made them hard to clean). The side-lights were mounted on the fire-wall or bulkhead.
1949: 80" Station-wagon model.
1949: First Land-Rovers used on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme (SMHEA).
1949: Head-lights "through" the radiator grille.
1950: Selectable 2WD or 4WD - the free-wheel mechanism dropped.
1951: 2-litre engine. 80" station wagon discontinued.
1952: Exterior door-handles, new inverted-T radiator grill, side-lights on wings.
1953: 107" model introduced; SWB lengthened to 86".
1954: Station wagon reintroduced.
1955: 10-seater LWB station wagon introduced (the ultimate "Meccano" kit car?).
1956: Wheelbases increased by 2" (88" and 109"), except 107" SW.
1957: Optional 2-litre diesel engine. Fully-floating halfshafts on LWB.

1958-1961: Series Two (SII) Land Rover
1958: (April) S2 introduced - 2.25L petrol engine. Some early cars had the old 2-litre petrol engine fitted.
1959: 109" 10 seater station wagon introduced.
1959: November, 250,000th Land-Rover produced.
1961: 2.25L diesel introduced.

1961-1971: Series Two A (SIIA) Land Rover
2.25L petrol or 2.25L diesel engine.
1962: 12-seater LWB station wagon; This could be seen as a tax avoidance measure as 12 seats made it a bus and buses did not carry sales-tax!
1962: Forward Control Land Rover introduced.
1965: (approx') prototypes of the Military Lightweight.
1966: Optional 2.6L 6cyl petrol engine on LWB and FC. Improved FC (series 2B).
500,000th Land-Rover produced.
1967: New dashboard, single concealed wiper motor.
1968: Headlamps move to wings on export models.
1968: Military Lightweight 88" air-transportable.
1969: Stronger Salisbury rear axle on LWB models.
1970: Headlights move to wings (see 1968 above).

1970: Range Rover released (see below)

1971-1983: Series three (SIII) Land Rover
1971: (Oct) Series 3 introduced. New all synchromesh gearbox. 750,000th Land-Rover produced.
1972: Stronger Salisbury rear axle standard on LWB.
1972: SIII version of the Military Lightweight introduced.
1972: Military 101" Forward Control introduced - 3.5L V8, LT95 4-speed full-time 4WD.
1974: End of Land Rover imports into USA (RR imports started 1987).
1976 June: 1,000,000th Land-Rover produced.

1979-1985: Land Rover SI I Stage-1,
leaf-sprung LWB (109"), 3.5L V8, LT95 4-speed full-time 4WD; also an Australian version powered by the Isuzu 3.9L 4BD1 4-cyl diesel.
1981: Camel Trophy switches to Land Rover products - Range Rover in this instance.

1983: Land Rover 110, coil sprung, LWB (110")

1984: Land Rover 90, coil sprung, SWB (actually 92.9").

1988: British Aerospace take over Rover Group.

1989: Land Rover Discovery released (see below).
1989 Dec: Rover announces that the hyphen in Land-Rover was being dropped - Sandy Grice 1/'97.
1990: Camel Trophy adopts the Land Rover Discovery.

1990: Land Rover Defender 90, 110, 130, including crew cab, ... (new marketing name for 90 / 110 / 127 and gradual improvements).

1994: Rover Group sold to BMW.

1994 Sept: New Range Rover released (see below)
original Range Rover continues as the Classic
1996: UK Ministry of Defence orders 8000 Land Rover XD110 and XD90 (XD - eXtra Duty) 4WDs to be delivered 1996-2000, and 800 XD130 ambulances, ending months of speculation.

1996 Feb: Last Range Rover Classic built.

1997: Modern, small Land Rover, code name CB40, finally revealed and christened Freelander. On sale in UK late 1997. Also used in the 1998 Camel Trophy!

1999 Sept: The `Rover Group' name to disappear except for legal and accounting purposes; with all major decision making taking place at BMW, and no local Rover corporate structure, it is just another `marque' owned by BMW.

2000 March: BMW decides to sell Landrover to Ford for about US$2.7bn, and later Rover cars to a management group `Phoenix'. What does this mean for the next Range Rover?

2000, July 1: Ford takes control of Land Rover.

Chris ,
Are "XD" versions available in Australia ?( see 1996 )
Willie .

I'm not sure that I've heard of them over here Willie. We have our own version built for our ground defense forces called the "Perentie".

Willie,

Took ours through the under body car wash at Tewantin what a show there was as much water in the car as there was out but worse of all the spark plug recesses sit vertically on top of the motor so it didn't take long for water to settle there and stall the motor. Also cracked one of the plugs so had to drive home on 5 cylinders (not so well edumecated then). A mean feat with 8 on board.

Kind regards

95% of Landrovers made are still on the road....the other 5% made it back home.

Willie
>I am on my fourth Cruiser , but if they fixed a few things in the >Landie , I would get another one - just for the romance - they have >got that something "extra" that I cannot quite name

A land Rover has a heart, a soul and above all it has charisma like no other 4x4.

Er Ray, it's metal, plastic, glass and rubber. That's all. Just like x million others of varying pedigrees. Sorry, I cannot attribute charisma to a machine :))))

Ever owned or driven an early MX5 or Alfa Duetto Spider, Al? If that metal, plastic, glass and rubber is put together in the correct proportions and with the appropriate objective they can definitely have charisma.

Aaaahh Wombat! Cars just don't do it for me mate. Now, other things, in the correct proportions, that's another story but not for this forum :))))))

"gee and to think we thought they had intelligence as well"

Sound like something a pom would say? Bloody hell never entered my mind.

Kind regards

The magazine/TV show didn't cast the votes.... the people did.

Jeez... you make it sound as though you're offended. Give credit where credit is due. Nissans may suit you and me, but a GQ is never going to make it into the spot for the world's most appreciated vehicle.

Poms being "the people" :)))

You said it Gramps.

Like expecting yanks to Vote for a Honda over a Chev... It just wouldnt happen.

Let it go fellas :(

At least it was a FOUR WHEEL DRIVE.

Jeez... Truckster - no one gives a crap about your precious bloody Nissans.

I never mentioned Nissan in the comp.

have you ever read a UK 4wd magazine? have a laugh one day, you will see what Im on about.

Even if it WAS primarily the British motoring public that voted - the fact that a four wheel drive made it to the top (even with a plethora of proper European performance and luxury machinery to choose from) is tantamount to a miracle. 4WD's in that country suffer the same perception problems we face here - only worse. Greenlaning is becoming extinct. I think it's a VICTORY for our recreation - not a Land Rover/Jeep vs. the Jap crowd for offroad supremacy competition which belongs in the school yard.

Omaroo,

Hahahaha come on. You posted knowing full well we'd start taking the pi$$.

Now if the winner was a VW, Lada Niva or the mighty Hilux, we'd know you were being serious. LOLOL

Yeah Gramps.... I guess I did.

Just trying to remember how many 60 year old HiLuxes I've seen still on the road... can't be many....

;)

Wouldn’t you be hard pushed to see many 6 year old luxes on the road, especially when you consider the “ Unbreakable “ hilux is now proving to be so Unreliable.

Lets face it, how many new off road vehicles come with a warranty that preclude using the vehicle off road.

Toyotas do hmmmmmmm.

Quick question to all those L/R people. Can anyone remember what year and what model it was that did the "First Overland" UK to Singapore? I think there were 2 or 3 in the group.
Andy

And don't cheat by Googleing it

95% of Landrovers made are still on the road....the other 5% made it back home.

Even the Brits would most probably vote for the Mike Hailwood Ducati...

Nice bike and wouldn't mind that myself. Have a nice tone about them. Way too cosmopolitan for the poms and they would have some issues with it being Italian, possibly even object to the cafe racer format being impractical.

1972 Norton Commando Roadster 750 with dunstal pipes.

1968 Triumph Bonneville oooohhhh aaaahhh

I'd be queuing up with Baz. Second prize to the Kawasaki 440 LTD.

You hoping that you'll be noticed?

;)

lol no, just different recipients of my unique form of wit and elucidation, and I stutter too

Yep, gotta love the early Jeeps.

After all it started the whole thing rolling.

Ummmm,yes they do George!

WOW!.......and it didn't win!!!!!!!!!? rigged.........rigged