??? No Shivvy junk in my Toyota... While it is certainly a somewhat common "american" mod it's hardly what has made and maintained Toyota's reputation but you tell yourself whatever you need to to make you belive they're all hype
I'd be willing to bet that, while they seem common place in some parts of the states, Shivvy swapped Toyotas make up les then 1% of the Toyotas out there being the best there is...
So Terriann by your reasoning you drive a "fake" Rover then??? Funny, you decry putting Toyota parts in a Rover but it's perfectly "real" to run a domestic V8 and slushbox... I know you're a comitted "Roverphile" and that's great. You're a great wealth of knowledge when it comes to Rovers, and the board is better for it, but me thinks that you're a little full of "the koolaid" when it comes to realisticly admitting the major downfalls of Rovers.
Toyota didn't get it's reputation by simply having a bunch of armchair quarterbacks making stuff up on the internet. Knowing Toyotas are tougher, more reliable trucks for the most part then Rovers does NOT preclude me from ALSO really liking Rovers (hell I think I can safely say that OilWorkers's "Defender on Portals" is easily one of my top 5 or so favorite trucks ever regardless of the company who makes them... I think that if pressed I'd have a hard time sticking with my tried and true beliefs that the 70-series Cruiser is THE truck for me... I'd drive his rig in a HEARTBEAT and as you can tell I'm a pretty die-ahrd Toyota beliver- for many many reasons). They're neat old trucks with personality that shows in their boxy body's and their intended purpose of getting the job done and not carring how they look doing it. Hell in that respect Rovers and Toyotas are pretty dam simillar. I guess I'm just confused at where your bitterness towards Toyotas come from. Landcruisers/Mini trucks are every bit as utilitarian, every bit as "classic" and historicaly important as Rovers, possibly more so in alot of places. there are more folks then just me who think this. Some VERY knowledgable Rover guys (several of whom are members on this board too) have done exactly what I'm talking about and speak of it as if it should be considered a foregone conclusion. There's a guy with a Series truck on a Mini-truck DT here in the NW who has said over and over again that, after years of running stock Rover parts and fixing and replacing stock parts so many times, he finnaly just said forget it and swapped in a full 22RE Mini-truck D/T... He now has a truck with more power (scarry that a bone stock 22RE could ever be considered a "power upgrade" but) and that's far more capable of handling larger tires and tough trails. I fail to see how, in ANY way, swapping in tougher parts from ANY make, not just Toyota, can be a bad thing. Ever since the 4wd was invented I'd be willing to giess that people have been tossing out the week and replacing it with the strong. It's a simple formula that has nothing to do with brand loyalty. Rovers and Toyota just happen to be a match made in heaven. It's almost as if Rover intended to eventualy have their diffs/axles swapped for Toy parts seeing as it's so easy aye 9i relizer that it's an oversimplification but compared to simillar swaps with other makes/models it sure seems to be alot less work to put say 80-3rd members in a Disco housing). There is simply NO downside to it. Stronger diffs, factory Lockers are available and there's no weight penalty. Seems like a no brainer to me. Stock parts might be perfectly fine for a stock truck, but when you put those things to the test out in the bush I like to have a margin of "overbuilt" (whatever that means) saftey under my truck aye. Again, aside from being a 'snobby purist' i see no reason not to if you;re looking to gain strength and aftermarket options
Anyway, NOT the point of this thread so I'll get back OT.
That Tickford is SO COOL looking (the 1st Gen Rangie is still better looking and more of a "complete" vehicle versus the Tickford that, to me, looks like a mish mash of various different trucks/vehicles... don't get me wrong, I think the Tickford looks REALLY neat but I prefer the 1st Gen Rangie) , I've seen those around the UK/Scotland/Whales but I've never gotten to creep around one and look it over. Is it just a series truck with a custom coachwork body???
I love that Carawagon Rangie aye. That is something that I've always applauded Rover adn the Rover aftermarket for is all the neat purpose built "expo minded" models and conversions (like your dormobile - that is after market right, not a factory Rover configuration???)
And Terriann, despite my compete head slapping disbelief in your theory's above, I do appreciate you explaning the Hi-Cap thing to me. I wasn't sure about this that's why I posed the question. So when you refer to "the one ton version..." was that a Series truck??? A military version??? And what years would these have been available. Also were they only available in a P/U configuration, or could they be had in a wagon body as well??? I thought I had read somewhere that the "lightweights" were also 1-ton rated vehicles??? Maybe I'm just remembering wrong 9not the first second or last time THAT'S happened... hell it's not even teh first time TODAY it's happened
)
And yeah, that Series "camper" looks downright SCARRY... Seems like the guy who designed that went to a completely different school of thought then I did. I always thought a Vehicle, for stability sake, should be wider at the base then it is at the top. That thing is the complete oposite aye. Not to mention the fact that the Rover is ALREADY a very narrow truck so adding more weight up top and a body that is considerably wider then the actual truck coachwork is just plain scarry.
I'm trying to find the one picture I was thinking of. It's a relatively new picture of a member here in his Series Rover with no top or cage going through a nice little deep crevase (to use the term loosely) and the look on his face is a combination of child-like elation over simple pleasures and a very sin ister sneer like he's getting away with something... I love that truck if anyone knows the one I'm talking about... I think it's in a state of primer in terms of it's "color"...
Cheers
Dave
