Featured: Trading Up To A Range Rover Classic

Trading Up To A Range Rover Classic

By Petrolicious
March 11, 2015

Photographer: Chris Cumming

I have loved cars since I was young. I grew up in the ’80s and a member of the Countach poster club, though a Porsche 911 Turbo by Ruf was a close second. My family got a Range Rover in the late ’80s and went through five or six as I grew up.

I have always felt that the RR classic is one of the most beautiful trucks ever made, and as it turns out, a strange story led me to the one I drive now.

I found this Land Rover Range Rover by accident. About 3 years ago, my wife and I had a leased 2010 VW GTI and a candidate for the worst car ever made, a 2001 VW Jetta Wagon. I was driving the GTI and my wife was driving the Jetta, however, with my commute the miles were adding up on the GTI. My wife insisted that I start driving the Jetta so we didn’t go over our lease miles. Not only was that Jetta terrible to drive, it was trashed—my wife and I have very different ideas of how to take care of a car.

I was miserable, and driving a trashed 2001 VW Jetta was very, very far from my childhood dreams of a Countach. My pleas for change fell on deaf ears, so I made a calculated decision that I would resort to complaining about that Jetta everyday and wear her down. It worked, with one big catch: I was not allowed to spend any money—I could get rid of the Jetta and the only money I could spend would be what I sold the Jetta for.

There was however this suspiciously good looking Range Rover Classic in this great red, with a price within what I thought I could sell the Jetta for. It only had 112,000 miles on it, and the interior was in great shape. The exterior was a little rough: it had the classic Range Rover ‘sag’ in the rear, tinted windows, and chrome plated wheels.

It looked like an unsuccessful drug dealer’s ride from 1998, however, it was clean…you just needed some vision of what it could be.

I made an appointment to go see it and my 3 year old son and I went to look at it. The guy who owned it was the second owner, and he had purchased it from a guy that kept it in storage for a number of years, explaining the low miles. We took it for a drive, and despite the rear end feeling like it was floating separately from the rest of the car, the engine was strong and most of the electrical stuff worked! I was hooked.

It may be old, return terrible mileage and it would probably strand me once a week, but at least it was beautiful, had style, and reminded me of my childhood. I said I’d take it.

This is where the story gets funny and a little weird.

I asked the gentleman why he was selling. He said that his family had recently purchased some property in the country, and driving the Range Rover back and forth was killing him mileage-wise. He loved the space, but needed something more fuel efficient. I said “You wouldn’t be interested in a Jetta Wagon would you?” He thought about it for a second and said, “Sure…why not?”

I will never forget the look on my wife’s face when we pulled up and explained what had happened. She said that I must be the only person on the planet who could figure out how to trade one car for another!

Now, my Range Rover is definitely different from the one I purchased. I have switched out the entire suspension with a Super Gaz kit and a 1.5″ lift. I’ve put in a new exhaust system, new ECU, and have completed required maintenance work. Cosmetically, I removed the tint, added driving lights and yellow fog lights, found new wheels, added larger tires, and most recently I had the headliner replaced.

Even though it’s no longer my daily driver, it has only stranded me once and has been more reliable than I ever dreamed.

I feel that these are the most beautiful trucks ever made—in my opinion, the rear end alone is one of the greatest design elements ever seen on a vehicle. I also love that I’ve been able to turn it into what I thought it could first be when I saw it on Autotrader. It still reminds me of being a kid, and sitting in the back seat on snowy drives to Vermont to go skiing with my family.

I also imagine that this is a car that I will have for many more years, and maybe one that my son will get to drive—he is certainly generating some of the same backseat memories that I did as a kid.

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Ken Goal
Ken Goal
2 years ago

Play now: fnaf. The simple game design made the game easily accessible and playable on almost any device. You will have a filled area above you mixed with different color bubbles you must remove them all form the game to win the level.

Addison Bennett
Addison Bennett
7 years ago

I recently acquired a 1990 RR classic. It needs quite a bit of work, but I’ve been chipping away at the to-do list in my free time, and am excited to get it the way I want. This article reminds me a bit of my situation.

Jack Gabus
Jack Gabus
8 years ago

Rovers are very Strange animal. I had two Discos and but blocks cracked on me. Why do I still want a Rover back in my life? Or how can I retrofit one with a Ford ecoboost engine?

Will Grant
Will Grant
9 years ago

Good looking truck. Almost as good looking as the FJ80 Landcruiser, but not nearly as reliable.

pjrebordao
pjrebordao
9 years ago

It’s a real Classic (doubly !). I have a Tdi one (I’m in Europe) and after parking I frequently look back because it’s still such an arresting shape.
I bought min 3yrs ago with almost 300.000 Km, and despite being my daily driver, it never left me stranded. Much more reliable that I expected.

Ae Neuman
Ae Neuman
9 years ago

love these boxy classic rangies.
is it a 3.5 or 3.9 ?

Chris Cumming
Chris Cumming
9 years ago
Reply to  Ae Neuman

Ae – thanks its the 3.5.

Emanuel Costa
Emanuel Costa
9 years ago

Great car. The kind that makes you feel above the other drivers on the road, capable of something more. But on the other side you don’t get all the angry stares one can get by driving a big pick-up truck or a ‘shiny’ ‘blingy’ white/black SUV with 22” wheels

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