Classic Range Rover Vogue V8

[MrMoonyMan]

Good Evening Guys and Girls,

Well, today has been a pretty exciting day for me. One I've hoped for for a while.

I've finally added a 4x4 and a V8 to my fleet, ticking off two boxes at once!



Pretty sure what I've actually managed to do is open the door to rack and ruin but hey-ho, it'll be fun!

I've done 140 miles in her since collection and it's driving better with each mile.



The pictures flatter but it's all there and does drive well. I'm a bit of a perfectionist but have set myself a budget to get to a decent usable standard.

Bring on the snow!

Edited by MrMoonyMan on Saturday 11th October 21:11

[MrMoonyMan]

kamilb1998 said:

I really likes these! Yours looks like a good example.

Thanks! It's okay, lots to be improved on though..

phib said:

Looks great !! They are a bit addictive !!
Good luck
Great value
phib

And thank you for your invaluable advice. Certainly addictive - managed to think of several reasons to go out last night!

0a said:

What a beautiful car - the best of luck to you!
Give us a review of how she drives, please

Well, it's a different experience to my other cars that are all a lot lower, more stiffly sprung and a fair bit quicker. It seems to get a little un-settled at the moment by any bumps if you go over at an angle, I am going to a specialist soon to get a better idea of how to improve this.
However, as an overall driving experience it really is a lovely place to be. I've only done 140 miles so far as I used a different car today but yesterday with a few more miles under my belt I was beginning to appreciate how you sort of waft around corners rather than attack them.
The big V8 is a lovely thing and she feels fairly sprightly too if you really really push the long travel accelerator right into the floor. But.. that's not really what these are about!

DKL said:

Well done that man, doesn't look bad at all.
You can park that anywhere and fit in!

I know what you mean - there will no doubt be a visit into London soon to park near the Royal courts of Justice which had a very lovely DB4 amongst other pretty things last time I was there. May grab a quick picture if appropriate.

Markgenesis said:

That look's lovely, keep us updated
More pics.

Thank you - I shall. And more pictures soon.. all we have from today are 3 whole Dyson's full of hair and muck!

skyrover said:

Hopefully it will work out fine for you.
Have you had a good inspection for corrosion?
Check the sills, arches, foot-wells and rear floor... anything you find, get it dealt with ASAP to save trouble later.

I hope so too! I've had as good a look as I can without a ramp.
The footwells and boot floor all look new, I suspect they have been replaced at some point.
Plan is to have her checked mechanically then crack on with the bodywork.

P I Staker said:

I want one of these or a V8 Disco 1 at some point.
Looks great and good ones still drive fantastically.

Get a V8! Life is too short not to.
And yes, they do drive well. More to come from this one yet on that front.

[MrMoonyMan]

ClaphamGT3 said:

Looks fantastic - welcome to the club!!

Thank you kindly Sir. Would love to see a few pictures or a thread of yours if you have time.

[MrMoonyMan]

It is indeed

A 9000 Aero with just under 300bhp and a freshly restored/updated 900 T16s that is about to be put away for winter to protect its new paint.

The Range Rover and 9000 will be my winter fleet, there was some very loose man maths involving winter tyres..

Edit; In fact here is a picture of a rather novel way of getting two cars home..

Edited by MrMoonyMan on Sunday 12th October 20:24

[MrMoonyMan]

DKL said:

With winter tyres they are pretty much unstoppable...
Out of interest where did it come from?

Yes! I am very much looking forward to all this snow we've got coming this year - there's even been one report that it may be here in the next fortnight.. not so sure.

Picked it up from Bromsgrove.

ClaphamGT3 said:

Here you go..

Thanks! That is lovely. Not usually a fan of Silver cars but it really works there, smart car.

[MrMoonyMan]

Breadvan72 said:

If you are interested I have a Land Rover Workshop Manual and Haynes Restoration Guide for classic Range Rovers.

Yes please! That would be very kind of you - least you could do after forcing me to buy this after having so much fun with your red one! ;-)
Seriously though, please feel free to drop me a PM with your payment details and how much you need for them. Thanks.

SimesJH said:

That looks lovely!
Seems like you've done plenty of research on these wonderful old ladies. You'll never want another everyday car.

Thanks! I've done a fair bit of research but you only really learn about these things from getting your hands on and learning as you go.

0llie said:

Congratulations, and welcome to the club! ...
I do like the 3.5 engine next to the 3.9, far more responsive And as mentioned above, you won't find a better daily driver, I can't prise myself away from mine!

Cheers, First day driving it to work tomorrow, I'll be going to bed early I'm that excited still!

RicksAlfas said:

Congrats!!
Mine's having it's MOT today. Needs a patch welding and some track rod ends. Hopefully that's it for another year.

Ha! Welding.. does seem to be a regular subject on them.. This one is MOT'd till May next year but I have no doubt there will be some sort of welding then.

[MrMoonyMan]

Harleyboy said:

Looks a nice one OP! Good colour too. Mine just MOT'd for £150 with small amount of welding. I love it and others seem to as well. No SUV hate at all. They look good anywhere. Sitting on BFG AT's which haven't been in snow yet but am hoping will be good.
Enjoy the wafting!

I am enjoying the wafting! Although I must admit I had my first "oh no that petrol gauge moves quickly" moment tonight - something I'd promised myself I wouldn't do.

Yours and 0llies look very smart. Glad that you've managed such a cheap MOT pass, gives me hope for next year.

I had my first Land Rover moment on the way home tonight. Spotted a Series Landy blocking the road I pulled up behind him to see if I could assist. Turns out he'd run out of electricity on the way back from an MOT. So I ran the chap to his house and back, but sadly even with the jump leads the older Landy was not playing ball.
Frustrating when a good deed doesn't go as planned but hopefully he's home and dry by now.

[MrMoonyMan]

More rescuing successfully completed today!

On the way home from work I came across a stranded Transit van with a knackered trailer.

The van was blocking one of the roundabouts on the A5 as its clutch had given up and the poor guys driving it were pretty stuck. There was traffic chaos every where as people tried to get round them.

Fortunately not being in a hurry I turned back and offered to hitch them up to tow them to a safer spot: It was at this point I realised that I don't have rear towing eye. So I turned round, hitched the Transit to the front and reversed the 800m up the road to a safer spot for them to break down.

The Range Rover was excellent and didn't even seem to be trying!

It is such a brilliant car. I'm still surprising myself with how much I am enjoying something that isn't fast and doesn't corner like its on rails. There is just 'something' really lovely about it...

[MrMoonyMan]

Nothing major to report - which is all good really!

She has had two services and an MOT in my ownership which have both been fairly painless. Small amount of welding needed but that's par for the course with these.

Turned out to be a fantastic vehicle for Glastonbury, especially with a site pass.

Here she is washing off the Glastonbury mud;



I love this car!

[MrMoonyMan]

Doing its thing;

[MrMoonyMan]

Usget said:

Looks like a brochure shot from 1994!

Cheers! That's along the lines of what I thought after I'd taken it..


ClaphamGT3, looking lovely as ever! I'd assumed yours didn't get dirty as its so mint.

Rangeroverover said:

I don't suppose our dogs are related

mine travels in a 1991 3.9 Range Rover in westminster grey

Lovely lovely looking dogs there. And it's a great way for them to travel.

My Collie is just over 6 months in the picture and growing fast!

[MrMoonyMan]

I've just got her back from a week apart and realised how much I missed her even though I had a nice Impreza to play with so thought I'd add a quick post here.

Apart from getting away unscathed from a pretty serious car fire - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-370... - there has been little to report on the Range Rover front.. She continues to produce a lovely v8 warble whilst being faultlessly reliable.

Properly great cars these.

[MrMoonyMan]

Sorry I'd missed these replies gents..

AVV EM said:

Lovely RR mate, lucky you didn't get caught up in that fire.
O/T I hate boom town with a passion. I live close to where its held and it fks the traffic right up with so many cars, the god awful separation of the lanes and the right turns from the 2nd lane of the dual carriageways. People trying to catch lifts from me. Someone always dies every year there.

Thanks for that AVV, it was worse than that actually - my mate had borrowed it while I had his Impreza. I had no contact with him while he was there so didn't even know if it was okay! Was pretty scary.

Harleyboy said:

Lovely RR! I'm away at the moment and while the family is missing the dog and the horse, I'm missing the Range! Sad? Maybe but they get under your skin, don't they?

Mine too very reliable and although far from mint, is a lovely old thing!

Gratuitous photo

Yep. I miss mine too when I'm away from it! Nothing wrong with that.

And yours is a lovely colour. That was the only other colour I was looking for when I got mine. Really suits them.

[MrMoonyMan]

Was out in Hampstead last night near to where I grew up in the Eighties.

Reminded me that that was where I had first fallen in love with these cars and their shape.



And one of my favourite views of London:

[MrMoonyMan]

Been a little while since I last posted on this thread but the Range Rover is still going strong. The worst thing that's happened so far was a sunroof switch packing up and (yesterday) the drivers window fell half way down.

It has taken us on holiday around Devon and Cornwall and many other great trips.




It has been the only one of the cars the be kept taxed throughout the whole year and it's definitely the dogs favourite of the cars too.



And tonight she is being used to over see a pretty big firework display

[MrMoonyMan]

Purso said:

great pictures mate and looks an awesome machine!

Thanks! She is a lovely old thing

[MrMoonyMan]

Haven't used this for a few years now. It has run faultlessly but needs welding in the usual places.

I have collected all the required bits of metal from YRM who have a good reputation in the Land Rover World.

Along with a brand new old-stock petrol tank to go in it.

At the moment I'm not sure whether to crack on with it or sell it as is. I don't know if I've got another restoration in me currently. Problem is that when I started her up after sitting for so long I immediately remembered one of the reasons I love this car - such a good noise!

Even after sitting for so long she ran and drove perfectly. I gave her a good clean up and took some pictures so that I can do an advert - just need to convince myself that's the right thing to do now.

[MrMoonyMan]

After I posted the other day a bit of good luck happened. Possibly even fate.

Having explained to the missus that I was feeling sad about the prospect of selling her she happened to mention that an old friend of hers had recently decided to start out on his own as an automotive welder. She put me in contact with him and he popped over two days later.

We had a good chat and I explained that if I was going to commit to this it needed to be done properly with all the bad bits completely removed and replaced with fresh metal. In total it works out to a week and a bit’s worth of work. He gave me a figure I was happy with and will be collecting it this week.

He’ll also be pulling the interior out so that I can swap the motors in the seats over to the new interior I have waiting to go in.

Crazy really how this things sometimes happen. Two years of it sitting waiting for something and the week I decide to sell it all starts moving quite quickly!

[MrMoonyMan]

Okay, we are under way. Inside is partly stripped, here are some *slightly* rusty pictures.

[MrMoonyMan]

My apologies for taking four years to reply. I had not been back to this thread for a long time!

si_xsi said:

Love these, I saw 2 in the space of 10 mins over the firework weekend, the GL / Cotswold set still like an old Range Rover. Is the photo of yours by the water in Charmouth by any chance?

Great spot with Charmouth. lovely bit of the World.

ilovequo said:

Any shots of your T16?

Here is one from a tour around Scotland. Had some good fun up there.