~1987–1995

I was a senior in college when I bought the 88. I think I still had the Isuzu Trooper at that point. The Auto Trader had it for $1,400. No roof, no back seat, paint in poor condition, and the 3rd gear syncro was broken so you couldn’t shift into 3rd or 4th. The guy selling it was a surfer who’d only driven it a mile to the beach and back.

Someone dropped me off. I made my way home across LA on surface streets — PCH to Santa Monica Boulevard, then out to Claremont. I knew my way from there; I used to bike it. Best topless driving I’ve ever done. Somewhere around Highland Park the carb vapor locked and it stopped. I pulled into a gas station, pulled the top of the carb apart, had no idea what I was doing — but after it cooled down and got dark it started again. Made it about ten miles at a time the rest of the way, limping up Arrow Highway through Covina.

First and second gear are slow, but adequate if you stay in the right lane.

Then I rebuilt the transmission on the dorm floor. You can remove the gearbox from an old Land Rover without a lift — just an engine hoist between the seats. I pulled it out, spread it across the floor, bought a torque wrench, took the broken bits to British Pacific and bought everything they told me I needed — which turned out to be a lot more than one syncro. About twenty test drive miles later, something grenaded. Shoulda bought a rebuilt unit the first time, but it was educational.

The name was RHINOTF — from the “Rhino Tough” ad campaign. There was supposedly an apocryphal story about rhinos being nearsighted and trying to mate with Land Rovers. I think they’re more likely trying to scare them off.

A few years later came the restoration saga. I never intended to restore it, but sometimes you start a project and suddenly you’re disassembled and you might as well repaint. We sent the aluminum body panels to an airplane shop for walnut blasting — Birmabright is similar enough to aircraft aluminum that they knew what to do with it. We also got their prioritization scheme: planes come first, Land Rovers wait. Two years later I called to check status and they’d changed ownership. The panels were done, they had no idea who they belonged to, and they were planning to recycle them. Recovered everything. Did not relax about it.

The result was an old Land Rover that was too pretty to drive offroad, which is what they’re meant for. I sold it to a consignment place for around $10,000 — less than restoration costs — and I was relieved to be done with it.