My ultimate Landy? - the Strange Rover
It's not actually made at Solihull, and never will be, but it's built with parts from two of Land Rover's most profitable models - the classic Range Rover, and original Discovery. This conversion has appeared in LRO magazine twice, as a Strange Rover (Dec 1993) and ReDiscovery (May 1998). To me the lines and proportions look just right, adding to what is already an attractive vehicle.

The Land Rover Owner Show, Billing - July 2000
This was my first Billing, which I attended with Bryan (who I've been building a robot with...). Bryan runs a diesel SIII SWB Station wagon (one of the last Series 3's built), which when I welded a replacement rear crossmember on back in May, sort of became known as "swiss" (...as in the cheese? You can probably guess why. Officially it was known as Mack, look at the registration). We had overheating problems on the way there (traced to a faulty temperature sender), the front propshaft dust boot let fly, and we noticed why Bryan had been having starting problems (a VERY loose earth lead sent a shower of sparks across the ground when he started up)... But we got there. There were lots of interesting sights, lots of stalls to walk round, but the highlight was the offroad course - Bryan even let me have a go, and I didn't get stuck once, even on the big mud run (that Bryan never got to have a go at). We may have got wet feet whilst wading, but we didn't stop, which is more than can be said for most of the V8's...

The above wading pictures were taken by Picture Management, professional photographers specialising in event coverage.

Robot Testing - July 2000
So we finished Tornado, our robot. It needed testing, to see what it would do. So we tried towing swiss - and Tornado pulled swiss like it wasn't there!

Robot Transport - August 2000
We took Tornado to war for the first time - to the Series 4 filming in fact. Swiss provided the transport, and we did better than expected, although Tornado returned looking a little tatty...

Postscript - November 2000
Shortly after Billing, Bryan decided he wanted a 101. So I accompanied him round the dealerships, looking at and climbing all over 101 ambulances. Bryan is now the proud owner of a wonderful 101 ambulance, which seems to be very solid mechanically, but with slightly squaddie-bashed electrics... It's got so many different layers of paint that we're confused - green, green/black, desert, white (nato) and blue (RAF???) - but that's not the point of this little story. What happened to "swiss" (as pictured above)? Well, Bryan had organised a nice little trade in, but about a week before he was due to collect the 101, something went bang in the SIII's gearbox - result, no drive. Maybe it was the power steering fluid that went into the leaking overdrive (good old motorway services, no gearbox oil) or maybe the gearbox was completely worn out and Bryan was just unlucky. Whatever, "swiss" (as it sort of became known) is dead, long live the 101!

Robot Testing - November 2000
We had to try. Tornado coped with the 2 tonnes or so of swiss, but would it manage over 3 tonnes and pull the 101? With the ground wet, with only 80kg of robot, not really. It only coped when I stood on top...

Whaddon Off-Road - December 2000
Bryan and I went along with the Peterborough 4x4 Club to see how the 101 would perform off the beaten track. The site was a few fields set aside by an enterprising farmer; it was very wet, very muddy, and hilly. Not the best combination; there were a few hairy moments where side slopes made us feel rather uneasy (Ambulances are a bit top heavy!). The mud made traction up anything less than a slight hill rather difficult, and is what got us stuck the three times that we did. Bryan got us stuck at the bottom of a hill at the back of the site... Thanks to the friendly Series 3 for pulling us out!

Roboteers Meet, Oundle - February 2001
So the 101 now became robot transport, and we also took it along to the Oundle Meet. It made an ideal base for running all our various radio controlled things from!

Robot Weapons Testing - June 2001
As we prepared for the first part of the Extreme 1 filming, the 101 came in very useful for some late night weapons testing by candlelight... well, the 101's lights are that good! We used the 101 to transport everything down to Earls Court as well.

The Land Rover Enthusiast Show, Billing - July 2001
My second Billing, and the first with the (Bryan's) 101. We were booked on the offroad course, and went round a few times. Bryan even very kindly let me have a go again!

The four pictures directly below were taken by Picture Management, professional photographers specialising in event coverage.

The Land Rover Owner Show, Stoneleigh - September 2001
This was the first LRO show not held at Billing, but at the National Agricultural Showground. Bryan had finally decided upon a name for the 101 - Lady Jane, as now shown on the doors!

BMIHT Museum, Gaydon - September 2001
...and go to Gaydon, as we had never been before and we were in the vicinity anyway! Below: Pre production Range Rover, and Darien Gap Range Rover.

Land Rover Enthusiast magazine - October 2001
After the help we received at Billing from the 101FCC&R, I wrote an email to LRE. Whaddya know? It got published!

Thanks, 101 Club Congratulations on an excellent show at Billing. We had great fun round the off-road course in Bryan's 101 Ambulance; it was a bit tight through some of the trees, but we made it through with no damage and without getting stuck once! However, I want to say "thank you" to a few people, without whom this year's Billing would not have been so much fun. On the way back to the camp site after our second off-road session, the steering on the 101 let out a few loud bangs, and then gave up completely. A broken steering box was diagnosed. Bryan bought the ambulance from Craddock last year, so we went and saw David from Craddock's, who, completely by chance, had put a RHD steering box on the auction truck! Many thanks to David for finding it and selling it to us. The next question was how to fit it - we had a few tools but nothing that would remove the drop arm. A quick chat later and it transpired that the guys from the 101 club had brought their drop arm puller with them, completely by chance! Many, many thanks to Steve and Darren from the 101 club for fitting the new box for us and getting the 101 going again. The least we could do was to display the ambulance on the club stand for the rest of the show...We'll be back next year! Andrew Marchant and Bryan Moss (101 FC Ambulance) * That's the spirit of the show all right!

Image above scanned from the October 2001 issue of Land Rover Enthusiast magazine.

All Saints School, March - May 2002
We took Tornado along to the All Saints school in March, where our workmate Joel's children attend. We tried to pull Lady Jane - and this time we suceeded, and convincingly so! Tornado is now 100kg, and with dry ground (and carefully stopping the 101 without using the brakes) towing Lady Jane proved not to be much of a problem.

Newark Kit Car Show - June 2002
At the Newark Kit Car show, the roboteers challenged the car clubs to a tug of war contest. What could we use that was heavy enough to give everyone a challenge? Lady Jane of course! The robots set the first time, using several in tandem (pictured are Humphrey, Storm and Tornado). We had to have a go on our own with Tornado as well of course... Who won in the end? The roboteers! After all, we are all used to carrying 100kg robots around...

Land Rover Enthusiast Show, Billing - July 2002
I went along to Billing this year with Ed from the Storm team. I won't say what we went along in, but it wasn't 4WD, and the closest its been to Solihull is when we had a robot event at Gaydon... We met up with the Barberous team (another robot team who are also Land Rover enthusiasts), and spent the day looking round the stalls and watching the offroad course.

Land Rover Owner Show, Peterborough - September 2002
Bryan and I took Lady Jane along to the show, although with it being so local there was no point camping, and so we left it in the car park. Good thing too, as the 101 club stand was no bigger than a postage stamp, while it was surrounded by empty space on 2 sides... The show wasn't that special (although much better than Stoneleigh last year), and we were glad we weren't there for more than a day - the best thing we found was a stall selling cheap cutting tools, so we stocked up on taps for the robot.

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