Am I the last person in the world to own one?

[Alaska Mike]

I'm all giggly today. After 6 months of backordered limbo, my Camel Trophy, the Land Rover Years DVD showed up today. It replaces (somewhat) the 3rd-generation copies that Scott made for me of a few of the early-mid '90s Camel Trophy tapes that he borrowed from the Boise Land Rover dealership (nice guys).

I'm amazed at some of the stuff they did in the early days, like jumping out of moving cars and sitting on the roof racks at speed over uneven terrain. That said, it completely renews my admiration for what they did with basically stock rigs. The mechanics must have earned their pay several times over, because a lot of those drivers weren't exactly elegant drivers. Helps when it isn't your daily driver.

If you don't have it, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.

 

[repete]

Do you want to sell your old copies?
where did you order your DVD?

 

[Alaska Mike]

Nahhh- I can't sell the old copies. The DVD is more of a highlight reel that glosses over some cool stuff, and Scott spent hours copying them for me. Plus the DVD doesn't have the Sabah Malaysia, '93 song. That's the theme song for me and Scott. I have a video of Scott singing it in the background on his first visit to Alaska when we did Boulder Creek.

Still a great DVD (just finished it). I got mine from Amazon.com.

Am I dreaming or did they fail to mention that they had to turn around in '94? That was one of the key points of that year. The last couple years were a snooze for me, and I can see why Land Rover bailed. Still, I have a ton of respect for all of the competitors and the logistics required to pull it off.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Is this the video, it's about 2 hours long? Like a highlight reel?

I, um, acquired the video from the internet. It's basically the same thing as somebody uploaded on Youtube, one segment at a time. Only this is a much higher quality picture.

I'd love to get a more detailed coverage though, like 1 hour per year.

 

[Alaska Mike]

Is this the video, it's about 2 hours long? Like a highlight reel?

I, um, acquired the video from the internet. It's basically the same thing as somebody uploaded on Youtube, one segment at a time. Only this is a much higher quality picture.

I'd love to get a more detailed coverage though, like 1 hour per year.

It's 100 minutes long, so I'm betting you downloaded the same thing.

I can't remember for sure, but I don't think that the original videos were even an hour long. I'll have to dig out my old videos to check. Plus, I need to hear the Malaysia theme song again. Not the same without it. I should upload Scott's version to YouTube as well...

 

[Alaska Mike]

For those interested, here's a pretty cool video from '93 on YouTube. The theme song isn't there, but it's a pretty good video anyway...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSFYqXge6dU

 

[James86004]

If you ever get a chance, get Bill Burke to show you his slide show of his experience in the CT in Tanzania. It is way better than any of the videos I have seen.vvThey beat the Discovery's up pretty bad, but they didn't have any mechanical or electrical problems. Just bodywork issues.

 

[pangaea]

If you ever get a chance, get Bill Burke to show you his slide show of his experience in the CT in Tanzania. It is way better than any of the videos I have seen.vvThey beat the Discovery's up pretty bad, but they didn't have any mechanical or electrical problems. Just bodywork issues.

And tires too. I seem to remember Bill mentioning having a puncture or two going through the thorny underbrush. ;-)

But yes, it is impressive how capable basically stock vehicles are.

 

[Alaska Mike]

They beat the Discovery's up pretty bad, but they didn't have any mechanical or electrical problems. Just bodywork issues.

That was the beauty of those diesel Discos- there wasn't much on them to fail. There was the year that transmissions gave up the ghost in record numbers thanks to mud insulation, but overall that was one robust package.

I wish they had've had footage of the '83 Trophy and the Series III Rovers. I wonder what kind of film crews they had back then along for the ride.

I was kinda late in the game ('93 or '94) watching the videos. Scott and his infectious enthusiasm kinda drew me in. We'd drive up to the Boise Land Rover dealership and Scott would smooth-talk the manager into lending us whatever videos they had so we could copy them. Then we would grab bags of Smartfood and liter bottles of Coke and watch them until we passed out. Good times.

 

[overlander]

I think if Land Rover had included TDI's in the North America market mix from the get go, then LRNA would have a different brand image of reliability in this country.

 

[madizell]

Then we would grab bags of Smartfood and liter bottles of Coke...

Now that's the guy I remember. Smartfood must be one of the major food groups.

 

[James86004]

I was kinda late in the game ('93 or '94) watching the videos. Scott and his infectious enthusiasm kinda drew me in. We'd drive up to the Boise Land Rover dealership and Scott would smooth-talk the manager into lending us whatever videos they had so we could copy them. Then we would grab bags of Smartfood and liter bottles of Coke and watch them until we passed out. Good times.

Were you two college roommates or something?

I used to be able to stay up late with my friends like that. Now I am lucky to make it to midnight on New Year's Eve.

 

[Rallyroo]

I think if Land Rover had included TDI's in the North America market mix from the get go, then LRNA would have a different brand image of reliability in this country.

If we had TDI and TD5 equipped Land Rovers in the States, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.

 

[blippie]

If you don't have it, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.

Hi everyone

There's no need to wait six months - The Camel Trophy Owners Club have a stock of the event videos and the two DVDs including "The Land Rover Years". The website is www.cameltrophy.co.uk and the videos are at http://www.cameltrophyshop.co.uk/video.htm.

It's probably best to assume the formats are probably PAL/Zone 2 but the one I got from here is multizoned so any DVD player should play it. Mind you, most modern DVD players can handle any world zone format now.

Cheers

Blippie

 

[Dmarchand]

I have a couple of the individual events on VHS with no VHS player in my house. If anyone wants them, I'll dig them out to give you what years and pictures. They are mint.