By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

Oh, boy. If I was going to buy an SUV… If that SUV was actually available in the States… I would get a Defender. I spied this particular Land Rover Defender in the parking lot at work, kitted out for zombies, deep water, sand, and whatever else you can come up with. The Defender is one step down from a UniMog in functionality, and it’s definitely one of the truly classic functional vehicles. The dreary day seems to underscore the timelessness of it. I recently discovered that you can order a Defender as a pickup – I’d always figured that the ones in the movies were hacked up. Hmmmm, if it weren’t for the taxes, I’d be pretty tempted to enjoy one of these bad-to-the-bone toys while I’m over here.

Continue reading "Zombie Apocalypse Defender" »

By Fireball Tim

Movie Car Design Master

Adios 2009! Welcome 2010! We don’t have flying cars. We don’t teleport our asses around the globe. And we don’t eat square Star Trek food. BUT, we do have G3 phones. We DO have bluetooth contraptions hangin’ on our noggens and WE DO…

…have bitchin’ rides. Bring it, Fireball.

1. THE AUDI AVATAR

No, not designed by James Cameron. Although, he coulda had it in the movie. Audi is poised to create future car badness with this and the ETRON. Although, I think they’re going to too many movies. Their next car is their wind-powered SUV called the RAMBLOW.

Continue reading "Fireball’s Cool Designs for the New Year" »

By Alex Vickers

Katakuna

When my friend’s Land Rover Discovery’s “Service Engine Soon” light dinged on, she brought it over and I checked it out.  I popped the hood and searched for the culprit, and I found a “THUMP” every thirty seconds from one of the pullies. She said that’d been making that noise since it was new. I saw what looked like a shredded throttle cable, it turned out to be one of those fancy ones that uses two cables instead of one.

I even drove it a couple miles (I’ve got to give her credit, that thing is a chore to drive) and heard a few new grinds and bangs when going over bumps that seemed to work themselves out after the first mile or so. The power steering pump was a little noisy, but that’s supposed to be normal.

We took it back to her place and her mother took it around the block, only to find out the damn gas cap was loose! It took her twenty minutes to find the culprit. Can you believe it? The one thing I didn’t think to check. I felt so stupid…

Good thing I don’t intend to be a Land Rover technician, because I suck at diagnosing their little issues. They’re the one brand of vehicles that put me through my paces. Land Rover technicians themselves can’t even remember to put on the center caps–it was missing two when she had the front-right wheel changed out.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Even though I don’t think I’ll ever own an SUV, I have to say I love Land Rovers. And if I ever wound up with one of those British beefcakes in my garage, I’d make sure that it got plenty of time to play in the mud. Now, I know there’s no mud in this clip, but I still found the way this baby was able to navigate such a steep incline pretty impressive, and can’t stop thinking about what it must have looked like inside the vehicle during the accent. I guess the driver would have to screw up pretty bad to tumble off the scaffolding, but still, it seems pretty hairy.

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Hey, it’s a Land Rover. Gotta keep it classy! Via Jalopnik

Continue reading "Heat Register Fender Vents!" »

You’ve gotta feel for these Turkish reporters, who seem to be trying to back out of a checkpoint when someone opens fire on their Land Rover. It’s a truly harrowing video, especially when the driver is jamming it in reverse while trying to keep his head down as the bullets fly. The sunroof explodes and people get shot, and even though everyone seems to have gotten out alive, things don’t look good for them in the end. I sure would like to have gotten a look at the front of that Land Rover after the ordeal. It must’ve been riddled. Anyone know what’s being said in this clip, besides “press”?

Source: Jalopnik.

This sculpture was commissioned to celebrate Land Rover’s 60th anniversary, and it was on display at Goodwood. Now, most of the time, I think automotive art is kind of stupid—especially when it involves destroying otherwise serviceable vehicles. But you have to admit, those Rovers look pretty awesome scaling the girders. Three more pics after the jump.

Via Next ConceptCars

Continue reading "Sick Land Rover Sculpture at Goodwood" »

How’s this for a crossover? A German company will be building made-to-order convertible Land Rover 109′s that are meant to evoke the feel of vintage British roadsters while providing burly four-wheeling capacity. It’s a little hard to tell from the elliptically-written Bell Aurens website, but it appears that the Longnose will go into "production" with a handful of vehicles per year, each one built to customer specifications. Among available options are the 4.6L or 5.0L Rover V8, or if you really wanna pull out all the stops, a 27-liter V12 Rolls Royce Merlin aircraft motor with an output of of 1500 horsepower. Now that should make for some extreme off-roading! More concept pics below the jump, and check out Bell Auren’s gallery for a cool series on the build of the prototype Longnose.

Via The Land Rover Chronicles.

Continue reading "Bell Aurens Longnose, A Land Rover Based "Off-Roadster"" »

Right now, I’m trying to get everything buttoned up so I can fly to Detroit for the kickoff of the 2008 DUB tour. Too bad KISS isn’t playing. Here’s the news:

• With all the news about how the economy is doing—"Where am I going? And why am I in this hand basket?"—it’s no wonder consumers don’t feel inclined to spend money on a new car right now. I’d really like to hear some good news about America’s financial situation. But I’m not going to hold my breath. Auto Observer
• Tata’s shares have already taken a hit due to the company’s acquisition of Jaguar and Land Rover. Wow. That didn’t take long. Automotive News
• After last year’s F1 cheating scandal, Ferrari arch-rival McLaren was fined $100 million bucks. And now its board—including former star driver Michael Schumacher—gets to deciding how that money will be spent. First purchase? A big banner reading: "Suck it McLaren!" World Car Fans
• It doesn’t look like either side is ready to budge in the American Axle strike. Now head honcho Dick Dauch—who just received a million dollar raise—is talking about moving jobs outside the US. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Freep
• Most of the time, you’re lucky if you can get the people at the parts store to find you the right alternator. But it looks like the woman who gave birth in an Advance Auto Parts in Coco, FL totally lucked out. Winding Road 

Well, it’s official. Finally. Tata is now the new owner of Jaguar and Land Rover. Now, some of my friends—who obviously don’t read the blog—thought I’d be despondent about the ownership change, but I actually think this is great for Jag. Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata has even expressed interest in making the F-Type Concept. So basically, he had me at hello. Best of luck Tata! Here’s the news:

• If Social Security is the so-called "third rail" of American politics, what should we say officials are touching if they advocate for a higher gas tax? On second thought, maybe we should just call that situation "political suicide." Auto Observer
• The Mayor of Detroit was just indicted on eight felony charges, and GM is not commenting. When I talked to some folks from the Motor City last week, the overwhelming sentiment I heard was that this whole mess is just a shame. Apparently, before he got caught up in this sex scandal, he was a great Mayor. The lesson here? Keep it in your pants. And if you can’t, don’t lie. Automotive News
• Holden just announced that its Commodore will be available with the new Corvette 6.2L V8. That’s great news for gearheads in the Land of Oz. Not so good news for nemesis Ford. Auto Week
• Alfa Romeo is coming back to the US, and the company might look to partner with BMW for domestic production. Again, the bad news is that companies aren’t coming here because they think our dollar is going to get better. Automotive News via Winding Road