Frank Elson
Talking Frankly
Ihave been buying vehicles for over 40 years now and over that time, I have always followed one rule – not to spend all of my available cash on the purchase and the insurance.
My mantra has been to keep something back for problems, particularly when buying second-hand. That’s in addition to the cash I know I will need for the usual checks, such as fluid changes. Suffice to say I am glad I did that with my latest Range Rover L322.
We dropped off the M66 motorway on the way home after almost an hour at speeds on or around the legal limit (cough) with, on that route, around a ten-mile run over the Fells to home.
En route, there was a ping noise and on the dashboard display I read the words “Transmission Fault Overheating” and she went into limp-home mode.
As soon as it was safe to do so I pulled off the road and turned everything off. I waited 15 minutes then powered her up and the old girl decided that it was cool enough to drive the rest of the way home. As I was already aware that the gearbox is something of a weak link on the L322 if it isn’t maintained properly (and who knows what the previous owner considered properly?) I had, just after I bought the motor, investigated all the local automatic gearbox transmission specialists. Just in case.
So the next morning I called Automatic Transmissions Preston Ltd and, the day after that, we dropped her off.
“Overheated, you are not kidding”, was the gist of the next phone call. “Some of the plastic components inside the box were actually starting to melt,” confirmed the technician who inspected her.
They rebuilt the gearbox and added a new cooler and now all is well again. And why didn’t I have a new gearbox fitted at a Land Rover specialist? Because the cost was around half of a new gearbox, and I have shaken the hand and looked in the eyes of the man who actually rebuilt it (and does nothing but rebuild automatic gearboxes). I’ll leave that thought with you...
I am well aware that a great many of you reading this do not live in the USA or Canada, but The Essential Guide to Overland Travel In The United States and Canada: A Resource for Independent Travel and Camping, by Teriann Wakeman, is, in my opinion, slightly mistitled. What we have here is a guide to overland travel that anyone can read and gain a great deal of information from wherever they live.
I have known Teriann for well over ten years – not personally, you understand, but through her posts on the internet. Believe me, she’s been there and done that. She has travelled around the North American continent for the past 38 years – most of that time in her 1960 Land Rover Dormobile – and she’s picked up a few tips along the way.
Okay, so a lot of us have put in similar years, but not all of us. And not everyone can write about it in an interesting manner. Even when telling me things I have known for 30 years myself, Teriann has been able to pen it down in such a way that’s informative, intelligent and always entertaining.
Like so many of you I find reading about Land Rovers is a vicarious pleasure – if I can’t be out doing it, then reading about it is the next best thing. In this book I found myself nodding and smiling from beginning to end. She is, quite simply, correct in all of her advice. In fact, there was not one thing in the book that I disagreed with.
From preparing the vehicle and equipment beforehand, to actually putting it all into practise, Teriann is spot on every time. No dogma, no preaching or talking down, just plain and simple advice.
And if there are more than one ways of doing something, then she will discuss all methods and explain, honestly, why she decided one was better than the other.
If you know it all you will still enjoy this book, and I will go as far as to say you will nod as often as I did. If you know just a bit you will add to your knowledge. And if you know nothing at all then you will learn a great deal.
In my years as a newspaper reporter I reviewed many books, fiction and non-fiction. One of the cardinal rules was to hunt for at least one mistake, at least one item that you could criticise, just to show that your review was honest. Well, make of it what you will, but I couldn’t find anything in all of the 341 pages.
Teriann’s enthusiasm and love for her subject shines through on almost every page.
The Essential Guide to Overland Travel In The United States and Canada is available via Amazon and, on their UK site, I found it for £44.48. I highly recommend you hunt it out, wherever you live.