The story of the Africar is worthy of a Hollywood film, it involves millions of dollars, a Cambridge-educated engineering genius, a film crew, a global adventure, a wildly unusual automobile, and ultimately, a controversial prison sentence. Tony Howarth, and A Dream of a Car for Africa The Africar was the vision of Englishman Tony…
The Kaiser Jeep M715 is the military variant of the civilian Jeep Gladiator. By the mid-1960s it became clear that the current US Military 4×4 truck, the Dodge M37, needed to be replaced – rather than put out a tender to manufacturers for a new vehicle design, the military went looking for a current production…
First There Was the “Blitz Buggy” and a War to Win The beginning of the Jeep CJ dates back to the origin of the “Jeep” itself, a story that began on 11th July 1940 when the US Department of War sent out an urgent request for a manufacturer to design and build a prototype quarter…
This Land Rover Defender SOV (also known as the RSOV) was originally built as a prototype for the American Special Forces, specifically the US Army Rangers. The vehicle was one of three prototypes built and saw extensive military service, it’s also been demonstrated in the Middle East and at arms exhibitions, and it’s been featured…
The DUKW 6×6 Amphibious Utility Vehicle is typically just referred to as the “Duck” after its official name “DUKW” – a US Military code for its design: “D” means designed in 1942, “U” means utility, “K” means all-wheel drive, and “W” means dual-tandem rear axles. The DUKW 6×6 Amphibious Utility Vehicle The DUKW would become…
The Unimog 404 was the second major iteration of the legendary German off-roader named by taking the letters from three words – UNIversal MOtor Gerät, or “universal power unit” in German. In the years shortly after WWII many engineers at automakers around the world were seeking to build a vehicle that could function as both…
The Steyr-Daimler-Puch Pinzgauer is renowned as one of the toughest and most capable off-road vehicles of its time, particularly among the military service members who used them extensively on deployment. The Steyr-Daimler-Puch Pinzgauer Engineers at Steyr-Daimler-Puch developed the Pinzgauer in the late 1960s as the off-road military transport solution for the future. They left almost no…
When the Land Rover Series 2A was first released in 1961 the engineers behind it would have had no idea that almost 60 years later one of their hardy 4x4s would be fitted with a Chevrolet Corvette V8 engine producing over 430 bhp and 400 ft lbs of torque. The original engine in the Series…
This was His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama’s personal daily transportation for 10 years between 1966 and 1976 in Dharamsala, India. Although the Dalai Lama never personally drove the car, he did spend a lot of time in the passenger seat. By the time the Land Rover Series IIA was restored in 2006/2006 it had…
This Land Rover Series 2A LWB (long wheelbase) has been through a comprehensive nut-and-bolt restoration by the talented team at Cool n’ Vintage for a world famous client – Deus Ex Machina. Impressively this is the 86th Land Rover rebuilt by Cool n’ Vintage over the past few years, the Portuguese company has become…
Edit: This article has been updated since the new Land Rover Defender was released, to answer the original question, yes this was a leak of the new Defender design. This is the new Lego Technic 42110 Land Rover Defender, it’s a 2,573-piece kit that’s caused quite a stir online as it appears to be a…
This is a comprehensively rebuilt Range Rover Classic two-door by the team at Legacy Overland, it’s described as a “street dog” 4×4 as it’s a bit of a mongrel, having been built from the parts of three Range Rovers. The chassis come from a Suffix B model from 1973, the body is from a 1983…
