Chapter 19: Sleepless Nights!

After Raymond’s previous heroics I couldn’t have been happier with him, but that was all going to change. Nothing had gone wrong so far this week, however as we know by now, a problem free week is rare, and luck was not on my side. The time was 2:23am when I was awakened by this issue and there was no ignoring it. Raymond was blaring his alarm to the whole neighbourhood. I grabbed the keys and headed out and attempted many times to turn the alarm off. I tried unlocking and locking the car, but nothing happened. I tried turning on the ignition, but Raymond didn’t want to turn over. 10 minutes later, half asleep and now with a headache from the alarm, I decided enough was enough and went to grab a socket set, opened the bonnet, and got to work on disconnecting the battery… Finally, some quiet.

The next day I decided to charge the battery, thinking maybe it was an issue of it being flat again. As I reconnected the battery the familiar sound of a screaming alarm began ringing out. I quickly jumped in the car and started the car, this time successfully, and the alarm noise ceased. I took Raymond for a quick drive, and all seemed fine once again. But of course, that isn’t the end of the story. Fast forward to 3.40am the next day and another repeat performance from Raymond and his annoying alarm, resulting in the same ending, the battery being disconnected.

To save my neighbours and myself from another sleepless night, I thought it best to leave the battery disconnected over the next night. Whenever possible the workshop technicians will need to do some investigating to find out what is the cause of this irritating issue. For now though, it looks as if I want sleep, I’ll need to disconnect the battery every evening.

Chapter 18: Raymond Saves The Day!

The longer that we have owned Raymond the less drastic the problems have been. Thinking back to all the major issues we’ve had to complete, a lot of it was in the early days. The last major issue we had was the air suspension, since then they have all been slight inconveniences that haven’t been too problematic. Not bad for a car that is 20 years old.

That being said the small annoying problems are frequent and are a part of being an L322 owner. This week as I was driving along, I heard a slight clicking noise coming from the back of the car. I pulled over and found the noise to be coming from the rear window. It appeared as if the window was trying to shut itself, despite it already being shut. I pressed the button to lower it and once I let go the window went up on its own. Tested it again to make sure it wasn’t random, and it did the same thing.

After some investigating the cause was a faulty window switch, meaning this would need to be replaced. The workshop has been quite busy at the moment so for now we have found a clever workaround to stop the noise. Putting the child lock on seems to override the fault and stop the noise.

On a positive note, Raymond was used to transport some plasterboard this week and he fit the sheets in with ease and with room to spare making the whole transportation much smoother. Had Raymond not been around to save the day, we would have had to mess around with open boots held shut with rope and other dangerous methods like that.

Welcome back to the Famous Four Blog. We at Famous Four are independent Land Rover Specialists, supplying parts, advice, and servicing. But we also love to share our knowledge of Land Rovers with others. So today, we are going to share with you 7 interesting facts you may not know about Land Rover.

Now, we could tell you that the steering wheel was first placed in the centre of the car or that the first Land Rover was built years before Land Rover was even a company, but those are the facts that most Land Rover fans already know, so let’s try some more interesting ones…

#1 – A Revolutionary Monster

Land Rover built the first ever Monster Truck in the 1950’s. The British Forestry Commission demanded that Land Rover make a vehicle that could manage deep puddles, so what they did was attach 4 tractor tires to a Land Rover creating what is considered the first example of a monster truck, somewhat 30 years before they became popular.

#2 – Going Strong In 2139

The first Land Rover was built in 1947 and Land Rover will still be going strong in 2139. That is according to the 1995 film Judge Dredd. And the car they will be making is the 2139 City Cab. The only way to get around Mega City One, formerly New York, this futuristic spin on the New York taxicab was based on a Land Rover 101 Forward Control but constructed to be a fortress on wheels. These cars were actually made for the film and occasionally pop up for sale now and then.

#3 – Jet Engine Roots

The Range Rover was built by the nephew of Maurice and Spencer Wilks, who ran the company. Charles Spencer King, of whom the CSK model would be named after, would first work for Rolls Royce after WWII helping to build jet engines. What put him on the map though and got people noticing him, was his work on the Rover JET1, which in 1952 set the land speed record for a gas turbine vehicle with 152mph.

#4 – An Earlier Range Rover??

You may think that you know what year it was first made, 1970 right? Wrong, the first ever Range Rover was actually called the Road Rover and was made nearly 20 years prior in 1952. Okay, so perhaps it wasn’t the Range Rover, but it was the same project. Land Rover wanted to create a bigger more luxurious version of the Series in the early 1950’s and they came up with the Road Rover. This project would however be shelved and then picked up in the mid 60’s where King and Gordon Bashford would create the prototype of the first Range Rover Classic.

#5 – “Would You Like The Tank Version?”

This one, you might know about, but it’s too cool not to mention. The Series II Cuthbertson! Originally designed by a Scotsman to manoeuvre around the Scottish Highlands, without sinking into the ground, this was a Series II, equipped with not wheels, but rather rubber tracks. This was later offered as a factory option, you know, just in case you wanted a half car, half tank to roam around your town.

#6 – Mona Lisa and the Range

Another cool, but potentially well-known fact, is that the Range Rover is considered to be a work of art, and that is not an opinion. A ¾ scale model of the 1970 Range Rover was actually a featured exhibit in the Louvre. It was described as an “exemplary work of industrial design”. Since then, many other cars have been displayed, but know that it all started with our beloved British car the Range Rover.

#7 – The Pink Panther

Finally, did you know that there is only one military vehicle which is pink? Well,   there is, and it’s a Land Rover. A modified Series IIA was given the nickname “Pink Panther” and was used by the Special Air Service (SAS)in the Persian Gulf area. The hue of the car was thought to have been just right to blend in with the sand in the area at certain times of the day. Pretty cool, right?

So, did we teach you anything? Or are you just too much of a Land Rover whizz? Let us know in the comments which ones you knew and which you didn’t and also what is your favourite Land Rover fact?

Chapter 17: One Step Forward… Two Steps Back.

Raymond has been running brilliantly so it’s treat time. Raymond has an LCD fault on the dash display, a common L322 fault. A bit of internet research revealed a repair that was available in the form of a new LCD ribbon. A few pounds spent and a couple of days wait, and we had the part in front of us.

We booked Raymond in the Workshop and waited. The day finally arrived, the instrument cluster was removed, and the stripping began in earnest, for about 5 minutes. Apparently, Raymond decided to melt the coils that controlled the Rev Counter and Temperature gauge. We could not remove the needles and therefore could not proceed any further with the repair. To top it all off neither the Rev Counter nor the Temperature Gauge work anymore. Things were not going to plan.

We have ordered some more new parts to complete the repair so watch this space.

To top it all off, Raymond started to make a loud ticking noise which mysteriously disappeared 5 minutes from homeand has not reappeared. We assume Raymond was not happy and wanted to share his feelings.

In summary unlike the title suggests it was more three steps back than one step
forward and two steps back.