I thought I'd write a fun post talking about a few of the adventures me and my rooomate have had with our D2 since we bought it together in August 2012. It's an '03 S, Epsom Green with the tan vinyl interior.

The original idea was to use it as a ski truck between SF and Tahoe. It served that duty admirably all last season, and shamed more than a few Jeeps on slippery slopes.

Then, hauling needs hit. We used it to tow a camper. Then, we headed down to LA to pick up a 1980 Rover 3500 SD1 that we are transforming into a track car (and, if you haven't seen an SD1 next to a D2, the SD1's 110" wheelbase makes it positively dwarf the Disco. Evidence attached). In both cases, it hauled without a fuss.

Perhaps the crowning achievement was when we went to Rally Cross school last month. Our instructor let us enter the Disco in a TSD rally for our class. Out of 15 cars entered, we placed 2nd overall, and 8th in the speed trial portion. In the speed portion, we were ahead of three WRX's and a Mitsubishi Evo VIII. While driving ability was part of the equation, our stock Disco proved itself to be adept as a rally vehicle as well (I've added another pic of it nice and muddied up post race).

All in all, our 15 months and 14K miles have been lots of fun, if not completely trouble free. Regardless, I'm glad we decided to get this beast, and I'm looking forward to another year of adventures.

Adam
'03 Disco S
'80 Rover 3500 SD1
'70 Triumph Spitfire Mk 3

 

Sweet. Super sweet.

 

It sounds fun and I'm impressed with your uses and lack of troubles!

 

Finally a post that shows that you can have fun with this vehicle!

 

Back when I was in high school, my girlfriend's dad had one of those. It was So cool back then. I've never seen another, till now...

He lived in Sausalito on a small sailing yacht. I was 17 years old, and he used to let me take her, his daughter, to Angle Island on the boat. Back then, 1984, his boat cost $250k. Needless to say, I was pimpin'.

 

I like driving mine to work and back.
Nice and high up.
And I am proud of the good looks of the truck.

 

I'd love to say it's been trouble-free, but it hasn't. Then again, part of the fun has also been fixing it, as it is relatively straight-forward (granted, we did the spark plugs and plug wires yesterday, and reaching the wire leads at the coils was a bear!).

As far as repairs and maintenance go, we've done: complete cooling system overhaul (including water pump and radiator), trans fluid flush, diff oil replacement, both front window regulators and motors, driver's door lock actuator, rod bearings, plugs/wires, GlowShift oil pressure gauge install, front brakes, new tires. We've done all the work ourselves except for the water pump and tires. Over 14K miles, that's a decent amount of work, but it has been relatively inexpensive to source parts, and the labor has usually been free.

 

Will you be racing the Rover in the future? I'm in Placerville, and would love to see it if you get a chance to get on the track. Thanks for the initial post. I've always wondered if the car I remembered (Rover) was only in my head since I've never seen another.

 

SuperSport - our plan is to have the SD1 prepped and ready for the track by June 2014. I'll keep you posted on when it'll be ready.

As of now, it's a basket case, and pretty much needs going over from end to end to renew every system. If it wasn't in such poor shape, and if parts were readily available, I would've restored it for the street. Alas, it's too far gone for that, so racing it is.

 

Sounds like a good plan.

Also, just for my knowledge. Is there any relation to Land Rover in that car? I always assumed that was the case, but never really looked into it. I remember it being labeled a 3500.