WHERE NEXT FOR MODDERS?

“Which other model can we do whatever we want to without worrying about its classic status?”

Areader’s question– you’ll pick up on it in the Classic Q&A, got me thinking about how our hobby has evolved. When the only Land Rovers in existence were Series Is, it was fair game to modify them into whatever you wanted using the materials which came to hand. In later years, as they retired from service, many were converted to off road triallers, others were customised, and many were run into the ground until they were dead. Even without the recent and massive increase in values, treating even the worst Series I in that way was akin to butchery.

The Series II, IIA and III then took over the role. As their service life as workhorses, expeditioners and assorted commercial trucks ended, the modifiers moved in with weird paint jobs, hanging every conceivable extra on them, or turned them into aggressive off-roaders with only a passing nod to the original concept. Now, we all strive to keep them original. Early Range Rovers took over the extreme off-roader mantle, with bob-tails, raised suspension and huge mud tyres – many looking more like a dumper truck with a raised air intake than a luxury off-roader. That would be sacrilege now. The same is now happening to Discovery 1 and 2. And although a well-modified and up-grunted Defender is well respected, they’re no longer being thrashed around off-road circuits with quite the same abandon.

So what’s happening to our tradition of modifying Land Rovers? Which other model can we do whatever we want to without worrying about its classic status and value? Discovery 3 and 4 and post-2002 Range Rovers and Sports are out of the question. Discovery Sport and Freelander 2 don’t really carry that enthusiast image. That leaves Evoque.

Forget the Gerry Mcgovern jibes and the Victoria Beckam influence – we’ve heard all that. Instead, concentrate on that racy and chunky bodyshell, the outrageous wheel arches, the cosseting cockpit and, yes, the affordability of running something that can reach 40mpg and still give its driver a toothy grin on the road and off it. There are plenty out there just waiting to be beefed up, re-wheeled, re-tyred, snorkelled, electronically tuned.

Should we buy Evoques and ‘man them up’? We’d be back in business with a modifiable cult Land Rover, even if it is a Range Rover...