I might as well step in, having once driven a Land Rover several
miles. Several years ago, I learned that a friend was moving to CA and
selling her 73 LR 88. She had had it from new, and it was low mileage
(driven only in winter, when her other oddball car was laid up). If I
wanted it, I could grab her vanity plate, DAWG (she had always wanted a
Rover named Dog, but DOG was already taken).
My daughter and I took it for a test ride. I have been in noisy, harsh
riding vehicles before, but this was a new high. At the first dip in the
road, my daughter claimed whiplash. Anything over 50 mph was something of
an adventure, given harsh springs, short wheelbase, and narrow track.
Splashing through puddles gave much the same sound as one might imagine
going over Niagra Falls in an unpadded barrel. I wanted it, if only
because it would look *magnificent* in the driveway. Elizabeth hated it,
and since she was to share whatever I bought, I conceded.
I still think the Rover is nifty, and I'd like to have one, but older ones
sure aren't suited for long drives on the interstate. For a while,
Rover's North near here sold ex NATO Military LRs which they claimed were
much tougher than the wimpy civilian versions. The mind boggles.
Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
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