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So another week passes and this elusive cable seems to be ground into the mud by Russian tanks.
You are not wrong. As the great people of Ukraine fight like absolute f*cking lions, Putin is turning his sights on Finland and Sweden. Last night he directly threatened them with "military consequences" if they join NATO.
Is Ukraine enough for him for a while or is this the start of a more aggressive Russia? Yet again, the global auto industry seems increasingly exposed.
I just want my cable. I have had all the combat time and a big target on my back for years to completely satisfy me. Off to visit with the sick Defender this morning.
The big deal on most of the resources is if nobody wants to put up with the mess you create when you process them. I had scads of folk from Ukraine work for me while in Africa. Well educated good natured folk, women are stunning. Back to resources. I suppose I need to dust off that report on that Palladium mine in Mexico I did a couple of years back. It had some pesky impurities made one more step in processing. Neon, ,most noble gasses are a by-product of natural gas production. We made most of the worlds helium from a handful of wells in Texas. It just gets down to if you want to put that step of refinement in the stream or not. Interesting little research project for you. Look into the French Action Service. They where quite active in Germany's and Britons's anti-nuke power programs, providing a lot of funding and well trained leaders. Electricity is now one of France's profitable exports to most of Europe. Strange, it comes from nuke plants. Anyhow, agitators and protest groups have been funded for nearly a half century by outside interests to hamstring production of many commodities. Do you think Russia and Saudi where super happy about fracking, something we have been doing routinely since the 40's. Suddenly it is causing the earth to spin into the sun. One of the largest rare earth mine is right off I-15 to Vegas. Sadly it is just over the border in California, and shut down. If it was just a few miles to the east it would be in Nevada and running. For decades, all the world's color red in TV's (Europium) came from that mine. Katanga province of the DRC, it has been pretty much run by the mining companies since the 60's, constantly fighting off outsiders trying to shut it down. They produce nickel. Much of the rebel activity in Rhodesia was funded by you know who, to get their chromium production off line, still is. Titanium, largest mineable source is Australia, they just don't process it for metals, dirty. It is used for paint pigment instead (white). So splash a bit of money here, a bit of agitation there, hack a few things and pretty soon your stuff is the only game in town.
So, look silly enough?
Not kidding, I have had all the amusement I can stand in conflicts:
I actually laid hands on it. Not that it will go anywhere without the cable. Nobody anywhere in the Land Rover JLR system has any idea where the cable is . So now the next interesting period is whether the cable gets here before I depart for Africa. I had to tell the sales rep. After I leave I will not be back until early mid-may. So it will be here a while. This should be comical beyond expectations if I get back and there it is, Dash all apart waiting still for the "cable." Now I hope this isn't a prediction of how well this car will be as it enters normal car life. It will be slightly disappointing if it must have regular visits to the dealer to wait for yet some other intergaltically ordered part. So used to the old ones, just smack it with a hammer and it started working again, for a while. Heck the electrical system was more of a decoration than a functional system, it started all the Lucas jokes. Really, four weeks is starting to get a bit ridicules. Heck I could have rung out the cable and figured out the bad pin or path and redone it by now, something like 20 time over. Then, send me the new one if you eventually get it. The really embarrassing thing is they have absolutely no idea when I can get one or where the replacement is. It has vanished to almost 5 days from its supposed to be arrival in UK day.
Really sad part my wife pointed out is, I can't even walk away from it, what else would I get that would not entail some kind of similar comedy road path? At least it exists, albeit more of a display unit. Kind of like the non-roadworthy one I looked at two years ago when they only had one of the test mule prototypes to look over. It probably wouldn't be so frustrating if I didn't have to travel a couple of hours to go get it either and some kind of "fire drill" to return. Sigh. I may end up with the airplane back in service, with prop and engine overhauled, before I get it.
OK, I was just joking about the cable being stuck in Ukraine. So just read this from the "Morning Shift." May turn out to be half jest, whole truth:
Volkswagen has been forced to idle two of its German plants after failing to obtain parts from Ukraine, in the clearest sign yet that Russia’s invasion of its neighbour is disrupting the European car industry’s supply chains.
The carmaker’s Zwickau plant in east Germany will be idle for four days from next week, and the nearby Dresden plant will be closed for three days, a spokesman confirmed, adding it was impossible to say how long the shutdowns would last.
VW has been unable to secure electrical wires from manufacturers in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter, and realised late on Thursday that it would have to cut back production. VW declined to name the supplier.
I recieved my 2022 Defender 90 P300 a few weeks ago and have enjoyed it so much.
I ordered it over a year ago as a 2021.
It was changed to MY2022 shortly after and technically not ordered until April, I think due to allotment and the MY change.
My original delivery was August, in July it was moved to October, then I was notified that I would recieve the analog guage cluster instead of digital and then it was delayed until November.
Into October I was notified that the 90s had stopped production and there was no longer an slotted build for me.
In January with no update I had pretty much lost all hope and was expecting them to cancel my order.
I asked for an update and they responded a few days later saying they had an update and my build was scheduled for Jan.14.
On Jan.17 they confirmed the build was finished and a week later it was on a ship.
It arrived in Halifax at the end of February and I finally got it in March.
They were not absolutely sure what it would come equiped with but they told me there were no notifications that my options were removed.
I did get my HUD, which I like a lot, it is a bit faded with my sunglasses on (polarized) but I can still see it.
I also got a full digital guage cluster, which was a suprise.
Pano sunroof, which I have cycled several times without issue.
The rear gate comes with soft close and swing damper, to mitigate the back glass breaking I believe.
I requested 10" screen because I like how it looks fitted within the rails compared to 11", so that was not an issue.
I had issues with the rear sight fuzziness during my test drive, probably due to my glasses, so didn't get that either, but you can drive with rear camera on if there are obstruction issues.
I have put 650km on it since then without any issues.
My only problem is that every time I get home, I want to go out driving again.
I recieved my 2022 Defender 90 P300 a few weeks ago and have enjoyed it so much.
I ordered it over a year ago as a 2021.
It was changed to MY2022 shortly after and technically not ordered until April, I think due to allotment and the MY change.
My original delivery was August, in July it was moved to October, then I was notified that I would recieve the analog guage cluster instead of digital and then it was delayed until November.
Into October I was notified that the 90s had stopped production and there was no longer an slotted build for me.
In January with no update I had pretty much lost all hope and was expecting them to cancel my order.
I asked for an update and they responded a few days later saying they had an update and my build was scheduled for Jan.14.
On Jan.17 they confirmed the build was finished and a week later it was on a ship.
It arrived in Halifax at the end of February and I finally got it in March.
They were not absolutely sure what it would come equiped with but they told me there were no notifications that my options were removed.
I did get my HUD, which I like a lot, it is a bit faded with my sunglasses on (polarized) but I can still see it.
I also got a full digital guage cluster, which was a suprise.
Pano sunroof, which I have cycled several times without issue.
The rear gate comes with soft close and swing damper, to mitigate the back glass breaking I believe.
I requested 10" screen because I like how it looks fitted within the rails compared to 11", so that was not an issue.
I had issues with the rear sight fuzziness during my test drive, probably due to my glasses, so didn't get that either, but you can drive with rear camera on if there are obstruction issues.
I have put 650km on it since then without any issues.
My only problem is that every time I get home, I want to go out driving again.
Perfection. I wish I could have had the steelies on mine. White wheels + white roof on the Tasmans is a thing of beauty. Congrats.
Good luck. LA and Norcal will mostly all charge markup. The dealers that don't charge markup have a *huge* wait list (in these specific areas)
After physically seeing with my own eyes the amount of Defenders coming in by dealer order for this year, it appears this issue is going to last easily through this year.
Kind of late to the game, but would you happen to know which SoCal dealers, if any, won't charge a markup if you custom-build?
02-26-2022, 06:33 AM
