My Land Rover Saga…

This whole saga actually started because of my Z3.

The suspension was damaged thanks to the  God-awful UK roads, and I suddenly needed a cheap daily driver on a very tight budget.

Enter Landy No.1 - Freddy. 

A four-door Mk1 Freelander which, at the time, was simply meant to be practical transport. I wasn’t hunting for a particular spec, planning a build or thinking it would lead to anything bigger.

But somewhere along the way, I completely fell for the Mk1 Freelander. Especially when I discovered this year and model had a holy BMW engine. 

It lasted a year, but when MOT time came around Landy No.1 failed catastrophically, and the amount of money it needed spending - to keep it on the road was more than it had cost me to buy in the first place.

So at that point, throwing more money at it didn’t really make sense.

But rather than give up on Freelanders altogether, I did the opposite. I decided to up the stakes.

If I was going to replace Freddy, I wanted the really cool, rare version: the two-door TD4 with the removable hardtop. Something that felt like something I could actually turn into a proper HELS project.

I found a good two-door for less than Landy No.1 would have cost me to repair.

In comes Landy 2 - Vincent.

A two-door Freelander Adventurer TD4 in black (because I’m a goth chav honestly) with removable hardtop; which definitely felt like more than just a replacement daily. This one was going to be a proper project.

I bought Landy 2, 7 months ago and over this time I added a fresh set of General Grabber AT3 tyres, started restoring the faded exterior plastics and had a new clutch fitted. I also added limo tints and HELS graphics at B:Spoke, spotlights and a bump bar. Bonnie was starting to look like a mean 4x4! 

Next on the list I was planning black wheels, painted callipers and paint correction as well as a few other bits to make Landy 2 really look like the wee-beastie 4x4 I had in my head.

But, the universe had other plans and while Vinnie was having an oil leak sorted, there was a fire at the garage and my Landy was badly damaged in that fire.

And I was absolutely gutted.

Yes, it was an old Freelander with 160,000 miles on the clock. But that really wasn’t the point. Car people know you don’t get attached to a car because of what it says on a valuation sheet. You get attached to the plans you’ve made for it, the changes you’ve already started making, the places you imagine taking it and the version of the car you can already see in your head before you’ve even finished building it.

Vinnie was supposed to become a proper HELS project. And suddenly that project had been taken away before I’d really even had the chance to begin.

Unfortunately, that was when the insurance saga began as well. What followed was weeks of uncertainty, emails, phone calls, delays, missed and cancelled collections and constantly trying to find out what was actually happening to my own car.

The best way to describe this month long fight was STRESSFUL. I did everything right but they did not. So I got Tim Kelly involved from MotorClaims Guru and thanks to his knowledge and expertise I did eventually get answers; Landy 2 was written off and I received a settlement offer from the insurance company. After haggling, going back and forth etc, their final settlement offer was nowhere near enough to replace Landy 2 with an equivalent three-door TD4. Because in 7 months - the prices had gone up - even for the shit boxes.

Introducing Landy 3 - Lenny.

I didn’t just want another Land Rover Freelander, not after the coolness of Vinnie. I wanted another three-door Mk1 TD4 with the removable hardtop. Preferably pre-facelift and with the all important BMW engine. Luckily a friend found an advert for a Land Rover Sport TD4, 2 door, with removable hard top, immaculate soft top, new tyres, new brakes, refurbished wheels, prop shaft intact, new MOT, fresh service with Landy parts, only 2 owners and 53k genuine miles - in black. A unicorn. 

Of course Landy 3 was much more expensive than the insurance payed out 🙄 but it was obvious that this was the best example I was ever going to find. AND it had a softtop - which is incredibly hard to come across. It was however hundreds of miles away in Cumbria, but I just saw that as part of the challenge.

So I paid a deposit to take the advert down and Lewis from the RAC (arranged by Sean), went to inspect the Freelander for me. Just to make sure it was in fact the unicorn I thought it was. There were a few minor age related issues (I mean it is 21 years old) - but nothing to worry about (I definitely recommend a pre-purchase inspection for peace of mind). So, I hustled hard and scrapped together the funds, then planned to collect Lenny from 300 miles away in Cumbria. 

Yesterday I travelled from near Cambridge to Cumbria on various unreliable trains, which took 8 hours - to collect Land Rover Freelander no 3. Lenny.

I double checked the car - it was absolutely bang on, so I paid for it and drove 5.5 hours back home! The unicorn is mine 🙌🏼🖤

I’m so glad to have four wheels again, I’m proper chuffed to be driving a Landy again and I’m even more excited that it’s such a fantastic example. 

I couldn’t have done this without the help of Tim, Sean, Lewis and my friends and family who kept me propped up while this situation was stressing me out to the max. 

This is 3rd time lucky and I’m looking forward to turning this baby into a HELS hoon wagon with tons of attitude. Watch this space petrol/diesel heads!..