OK, old member here. not been active for a few years

I am involved in doing biological research out in the deserts of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona etc.. I need a vehicle that can carry myself and a good deal of expensive equipment between my home - and the research sites - so about 600 miles on the road. Once I get there it has to spend a week going up 2 tracks rutted out washed out mine roads, sand arroyos etc.

I am thinking that the RR's legendary offroad ability and smooth riding make it a good choice. so what do I choose?

my idea is to spend 3K on the vehicle - and add on parts

so I really need dependability, and capability off road.

I am thinking a classic - LWB maybe - with the air system replaced with Bilsteins - adding a winch and a few other things. Is the Disco as able?

so dependability - what years / models do you suggest? 94 seems to be a good choice?

or with the legendary electrical snafus - should I sell out and go with a Toyota?

I am posting this in both the Disco forum and the RR classic - as each side may have valid points of view - different from each other!

Carl Johansson
Auberry Ca

 

Get a DI, 1996 was the first year for electronic ignition, which you want.
The RRC and DI run on the same chassis and driveline, so it all comes down to what you like the looks of better.
I think there are more accessories for the DI than the RRC.
I would imagine that at this age any RRC that you look at would have already been switched to coil springs.
https://landroverforums.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=21328

How do I get a job like yours?
Thats sounds like tons of fun.

 

Hey Spike,
I am a lucky guy. I work as a biology professor - teach 3 days a week fall and spring - then have all summer to myself. So I do field research in my spare time. Right now I go down abandoned mines and do bat surveys. Pretty specialized - very dangerous if you do not have the training. we wear about 3K in protective equipment and have about 20 years of experience. so far we have surveyed over 17,000 mines. We make recommendations to close the mine and make it safe,in ways that will not harm the bat populations.

I also travel the world looking at microscopic water bears. And do large scale ecology in Brazil - catching Jaguars, Maned wolves, giant anteaters, several monkeys etc.

I love what I do.
How did I end up here? I recognized the importance of education - and recognized opportunities when they presented themselves - them work my butt off to stay current and complete my research projects!

What a blast!

thanks for the input!

Carl Johansson

 

Classic's are great vehicles, but getting old, parts are slowly becoming harder to find and unless you need one for the extra interior storage, I would point you to a 97 or 98 D1. 96 was not the best year for them although they did make some improvements.

 

You sound like the guy that was on NPR Sat. telling a story about tracking Jags in South America.

 

Classics are getting very hard to come by, especially in decent condition. The D1 is a lot more widely available, shares many of the strong points of the Classic and are smaller than the Classics so are easier to maneuver down tight trails.