The Disco has gone.

Not to be replaced.

After struggling for a couple of years, chucking more money at it than any reasonable person should have, it finally bit the dust.

It went to that great insurance-write-off-heaven in the sky – and finally did something useful for my wallet, instead of sucking it dry.

OK, all jokes aside, I’m a little sad to see it go. And I’ll concede that Disco 2’s are not a bad motor. It was just this Disco 2.

But I wont be replacing it.

Not now, not ever.

I’ve a Land Rover far more deserving of my attention that any other…

…Dorothy.

Her 50th birthday came and went this year, without fanfare, and she’s still little closer to being back OTR (‘on the road’).

But now I don’t have a distraction (in the form a red Disco 2) I’m all in on getting her done.

This week saw the bulkhead stripped down a little further, so we can see what demons she’s been hiding. And…

…oh shit she’s been hiding a lot.

Now any sane person would can this rust worm bulkhead and get a new one. Or, a second hand one that’s more or less OK.

But, since when has classic Land Rover ownership about being sane?

See, I’ve got a bit of a thing about ‘restored’ Land Rovers and the people that own them (warning: rant ahead).

You see the ‘restored’ Landys for sale, and you see these guys driving around in their shiny restored Landys and you know that two things are true:

1. They’re bought not built. I very much doubt there’s hardly any classic Landys driving around where the driver’s built it rather than forked out their hard-earned middle class credit and bought it.

“Nice Landy!”

“Thanks, I bought it last year”.

2. Restored classic Landys aren’t actually restored. They’ve simply had a ton of new bits chucked at ’em, with the end result being a brand new Land Rover constructed out of new parts.

Old Landys Rule! is about REAL ownership of a classic Landy – scuffed knuckles ‘an all. Not where ownership means: stick it a garage to have the windscreen washer fluid filled up ‘cos you’re too precious to do it yourself. Middle-class wanker. Go buy a new Defender.

Real ownership is about fixing shit yourself. It’s about getting your hands dirty. Your face covered in oil smears. And watching YouTube videos, reading all manner of forum posts, and poring over the workshop manuals then ‘avin’ a go yourself…

If that’s you… bravo, I salute you.

So, rather than buying a new bulkhead, or buying a used bulkhead of Shitbay then repairing it, I’m going all in on repairing this one AND doing a good job.

I’m doing it for two reasons:

1. I don’t have a grand and a half to fork out for a new bulkhead anyway

and, MORE IMPORTANTLY…

2. I want to be able to look at Dorothy, when she’s back on the road, knowing I saved as much of her 50 year old carcass as I could and that EVERYTHING I see is down to me. Everything.

THAT’s what REAL classic Landy ownership’s about. Anything less is just pretending.

Rant over, here’s more of what I’m up against:

I will add, as a minor caveat, that there are those who can’t get down and dirty with their Landys. Maybe they’re physically not able. That wasn’t a rant about you. It was a rant about those who would rather chuck money at it than get dirt under their fingernails, or “don’t know how to do it”. If you don’t know how to do it, go learn for yourself. It’s not rocket science and EVERYTHING you need to know is out there on t’interweb.

Fixing and maintaining your old Landy is part of the fun of classic Land Rover ownership. Anything else is just pretending.

Old Landys Rule!

Phil.