Just be cool, folks
Iam gobsmacked at what is going on in the ‘old’ Land Rover market. A 1992 Camel Trophy Discovery, which was the team USA works truck, has just sold for $90,000 at an auction. Jack Dobson reports that Series Land Rovers and real Defender prices are sky rocketing in Australia. According to Jacques Smit, the top South African restorer, the same is happening there. All my UK contacts concur.
Where are those who said that once the new Defender comes out, old Defender prices will drop? The opposite has happened. Anything pre-d3 with a Land Rover badge on is now a highly sought-after classic and so it demands a premium. Highly accessorised and customised old Defenders are being sold for way more than a commercial new Defender hard top 90 with its starting price of £35,820 (ex VAT).
Hang on a minute, is this really the case? Are Land Rovers being priced out of the market for the average enthusiast like you and I? I don’t think so. Thankfully Land Rover made lots of them and the people who buy the new ones only drive them for a year or two before getting themselves the newest edition. So for the guy who is willing to keep an eye on the LRM Classifieds section or drive to the Outer Hebrides to buy one, they will most definitely still be able to get something fairly decent without having to sell a kidney. I think it’s great that someone like David Beckham or Guy Ritchie own old Defenders or Series Land Rovers like you and I. Ritchie may have gone a little over the top by putting Range Rover seats into his Defender but at least he has not purchased a bling new Defender from Afzal Kahn.
We should be happy that more and more people would like to buy and experience the kind of Land Rovers we love. Being a Land Rover enthusiast is cool; they are becoming fashion accessories and must-haves. Luckily we old school enthusiasts were ahead of the current trend. I doubt Beckham has a Series III Haynes manual or knows how to service his. I’m cool with that as he can do things to footballs that I can’t. What connects us is that we are both passionate about old Land Rovers. Don’t forget to be cool folks.