feck!

[goodoldboy]

i've just landed a four month contract to manage a forestry team for my local authority here in Spain.The job comes with a company car & as we are a six man team i was expecting a nissan pathfinder like the other crews have.Picture the scene - monday morning 09.00 arrive at the base in my land cruiser,meet my new boss (who has arrived in his pathfinder) who tells me my new wheels( brand new) will be here shortly - can you see whats comming? its a fecking LAND ROVER!! BUGGER!

 

[silvercruiser]

I hope you have a toolkit
well done on the 4 month contract though

Joe.

 

[Crispin]

Like Sweet n Sour sauce -

Congrats on contract thoug.

 

[Chris]

Ha ha ha ha, Ha ha ha ha, Ha ha ha ha, Ha ha ha ha, Ha ha ha ha, Ha ha ha ha, Ha ha ha ha, Ha ha ha ha, Ha ha ha ha, Ha ha ha ha.

Oh, sorry about that. I don't know what came over me. Please accept my condolences oops sorry, apologies. But you genuinely caught me out with the double six there. I thought you were going to say brand new Land Cruiser.


I won't do it again promise.

Ha....

Chris

 

[Andrew Prince]

Are we opening a book on whether the LR lasts for the length of the contract?

 

[J66P]

a 4x4 with a van engine and metro wheel bearings

 

[Chris]

Blimey! They come with wheel bearings now? Maybe I have misjudged them. Time for a rethink maybe.

C

 

[J66P]

well in theory they do but in practice well thats another story

 

[TonyP]

Congrats on the contract!

 

[Cptsideways]

a 4x4 with a van engine and metro wheel bearings

No they are Maestro wheel bearings, these are much stronger!!!

 

[goodoldboy]

Had the spanners out Monday afternoon - 600 KMs on the clock , O/S rear door doesn't shut properly,N/S one doesn't open properly! a combination of badly fitted seals & striker plates, Diesel weeping from the joint between the filler pipe & the tank ,crap heater ,horrible driving position, wind noise, no central locking etc...... all this for the bargin price of nearly €30000!The real problem is that people that don't know anything about 4x4s think that a defender is the mutts nuts & "will go places that no other 4x4 will" "not on those tyres it won't " i reply " ah but its got a diff lock!" etc add to this that most of the other team leaders are jealous!

 

[J66P]

get used to it

 

[Andrew Prince]

most of the other team leaders are jealous!

Unless you're going to be doing some reasonably rough trails where the LR's articulation will be a plus, can you not swap with one of the jealous Nissan drivers? They're quite under-rated trucks and will be much more comfortable, more reliable, more economical and more pleasant to live with than the LR. And you get to watch the realisation dawn on the guy that you swap with that he's made a terrible mistake

 

[24Seven]

To be fair, we have a couple of 10 year old Defender TD5's at work which lead a hard life and I have to say they have been reliable, yes they leak, the driving position is not very nice and the heater is poor, or at least it takes an age to warm up but they don't let us down.

I also get to play in a five year old Nissan Navara now and again and I really like it, good ride over the rough stuff and very quick (at least for me). That has also been very reliable.

 

[Gav Peter]

Whilst we were out at the weekend, we passed lots of LR owners & a team of 5 LR's out laning.

Every single one looked as miserable as sin, without exception...

The dude leading the pack of LR's laning looked hunched cramped & uncomfortable as he passed (although his truck did sound lovely...)

As they passed us (we had pulled over for them...) I considered whether to turn my heated seats down a notch or not...

Hey, each to their own - the cruisers are my only experience of 4x4's... I'm not in a hurry to change...

 

[J66P]

you certainly wouldnt want to go that way, I have been there done that and never again.

 

[goodoldboy]

After a month living with the defender my opinion hasn't changed much.After a 1 hour drive I fell like iv'e been in a punishment cell at guantanamo.The heater takes at least 10 minuites driving before any hot air comes out ect.About the only good thing is the engine - at 1800 rpm in 6th it will go up almost any hill on the "A" roads here - the gearbox has nicely spaced ratios but but its allmost impossible to change up from 4th -5th -6th without a bang/thump as the clutch engages - double decluching seems to work.http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5244/5243772470_70801c1767_m.jpg here you can just about see one of the crew checking to see if we have a an engine...
on the plus side this appeared in the base the other day - i'm trying to get a go in it http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5205/5243175435_a0e4b613f7_m.jpg

 

[Ecky Thump]

That Merc looks awesome. I'd much sooner play in that than a Landy.

 

[goodoldboy]

hey Les, ive just noticed the HMS coventry sheild -ive been a coventry city fan (for my sins) for the best part of 35 years but i still dont know why we have an elephant in our sheild?any ideas?

 

[Ecky Thump]

I never did find out about the Efelump or the castle on it's back for that matter.

Time for a Google search

There you go, from a Coventry site;

I have been asked many times why there is an elephant in the seal for the City of Coventry. Here is what I discovered.

Medieval thinking relating to animals seems strange to us today. It was in those times of the 'Bestiary' stories that the elephant first appeared on the seal of the City. It is thought that the elephant was seen to be not only strong; being able to carry the, now long gone, Coventry Castle on it's back, but also could relate to the fall of Adam of Eve and even to the redemption of the human race by Christ. In addition the enemy of the elephant in medieval times was the dragon who devoured newly born elephants. (the defence of it's young by the elephant was much admired in medieval times).
So we have strength, redemption, protection and the ability to slay dragons. Also it is said that the fabled St George of dragon slaying fame was born hereabouts in Coventry- discussed elsewhere.. Though I have not seen such a seal it is said that early seals would have the elephant and the castle on one side with the Archangel Michael and a dragon on the other.