I had lots of money I mean a lot of money I would buy what I would buy this
car in this color and do nothing with it in pocket
this gets me right here and not a lot of vehicles that get me here in fact there
are only two vehicles they get me here Range Rover classic pre-1978 and a troop
carrier new one
yes but what about g-wagen you know for six one you earned a few of them were
right daddy getting forgetful in your old air Jay I'm Andrew st. Pierre White join
me as I share my passion for building four-wheel drive trucks and traveling to
the remotest parts of the world you know the true carrier isn't it's a bit like the ugly
duckling I mean look at it it's just a little bit of a blob but like the ugly
duckling or its siblings kind of kicks and in its face
meanwhile in its DNA this that's the DNA that's inside here
you just can't see it it's my job to bring it out so gram in California
congratulations here is your new troop carrier you know tonight's driving a
brand new smelly car out of a showroom this is almost as exciting as the one
that I did two and a half years ago for myself every client is different and
Graham lives in the United States California
and wants to export he's done a lot of trips in the u.s. in an 80 series Land
Cruiser and wants to now extend explore in different countries and wants a
platform to do touring in Australia and touring in
Africa and turning Asia so troop carrier was his choice because he saw mine but
for those of you who don't really understand what the troop carriers and
why it's such a great platform that for this kind of thing is that well I can't
think of another vehicle in the world that is a van and has the kind of
four-wheel drive and suspension that this vehicle has stock so and some of
the criticisms from people that don't understand the 70 series Land Cruisers
oh you've got to do so much of it before you that's not the case at all you don't
have to do a thing okay so for example standard equipment
differential locks front and back all right
manual transmission no auto option the suspension is as strong as it can be
they're designed to be abused they're actually designed for less developed
countries that's what they're designed for so they're designed for very
heavy-duty applications heavy load long life bachelor pieces by drivers of
companies mining companies farmers NGOs that have
very very little mechanical sympathy these vehicles are built to be abused
and I'm not saying that because it sounds like a whole of advertising hype
it's just the way they're made and it's why they're still being made and that's
why they're still so popular they're not popular because they're comfortable
because they're not comfortable the suspension is deliberately made actually
quite hard this might sound a bit strange but it's actually the truth
these vehicles were built with with basic suspension to keep to maintain
safety are they particularly harness safety no not particularly but safe
enough comfortable enough but the trouble is if you make them too
comfortable then these same drivers that have such the lacking in mechanical
sympathy drive them as fast as they possibly can without thought for the
vehicle and it's the reason why the Land Rover Defender lost favor around the
world during the period of the mid 80s when the defender came out wasn't called
the defender then it was called another 110 in the 90 but they changed the hard
very uncomfortable extremely robust but basic leaf spring suspension which this
vehicle still has at the back they changed it to a coil spring suspension
which was marvelous suddenly you could drive this thing over a really rough
terrain and he would just handle it it was it was I had I mean I drove both and
I I know what an improvement it was they lost huge sales because of it because
what the NGOs and the mining companies and the farmers were doing they were the
vehicles were being crashed and rolled by these same drivers with no mechanical
sympathy who will just go as fast as they possibly can because they don't
actually have a great deal between their ears
they just try they've got the a be dead that's getting dried and come back and
they're done they're not they're not interested in the vehicle it's not part
of who they are and it doesn't belong to them so why should they look after it
the reason why these 70 series is still being made today is because it's made a
little bit uncomfortable intentionally if you like because then now it's so
flippin uncomfortable with over really rough terrain you get thrown around like
you cannot believe in this thing it's terrible
so they slow down and don't crash it's a great recipe but for us it's a great
recipe too because it's built to take this punishment and all we have to do
now is to tweak it and once we've tweaked it we've given it a better ride
with putting better shock absorbers we've got higher quality shutters
springing we up the the payload a little bit because we want to carry more low
because you want to go on trips this can already do 1,200 kilometers range easily
as it is without making any changes at all so we won't be changing when you
build this for ground we won't be changing the fuel system not touching it
1,000 kilometers I always regard as minimum this is exceeds that by quite a
nice measure enough if you want to carry extra fuel there will be placed inside
the vehicle that I've set aside in the design say could carry an extra 40
litres if he really needed to which having own two troop carriers know that
that's not very often effective only needed at once so what else are we gonna
do what we gonna turn it into a camper comfortable camper and the secret is
this imagine you're driving and you're
camping and you're in the wilderness and you are looking at the time and the
sun's going down and you are you know of a campsite and you're concerned with or
we've got to get there before a certain time because we need to set up camp
because we need to set up camp how long is that window how long do you need you
have to ask to us ask yourself how long do you need to set up your camp and you
would like to do it before it gets dark if possible for one of more reasons is
that 10 minutes 20 minutes I was once I came to chat to me once and he had a
Land Rover 90 beautifully equipped with a little camper trailer and I said to
him he was doing some tires things and I was also doing changing tires or
something I remember saying to him did you do you um you got you got camping a
nice setup yeah go camping and I said how long do you mind me ask me how when
you arrive at a campsite how long does it take you to set up he can't get ready
it was Afrikaans guy I was in South Africa's overcast guys it's not leave my
wife Elsa and I we've got a date date we've got a stake we are way faster oh
we like we both got our jobs to do not sit yeah yeah yeah yeah goodness it's
great how long did it take you now we've got it sussed down to off yeah that's as
quick and I see yeah how long oh oh Ackman 45 minutes tops a 45 minutes but
for me that's really long that means for somebody like him he has
to kind of think ahead oh I'm driving along oh I kind of need to get there
before dark I need to get there 45 minutes before dark if I you know
ideally I could sir so there's a little ways a little bit of pressure with this
it's not 45 minutes it's 45 seconds and I'm not exaggerating my tent is up at 8
seconds my chairs and tables are out the back in another 6
my kettles boiling I've got a little boiler it boils water boils two cups of
water in one minute I can have a cup of hot tea in my hand within two minutes of
arriving and turning off the engine cup of tea
table chair tent made so now suddenly what that means I mean I know it sounds
very fancy in all but what does that that actually means that I graham is no
longer to have to think I have to get there because I need time to set up camp
you don't need time to set up camp that is now vanished now there might be other
issues to get there in time but the I need time to set up camp has gone so if
you driving all day and you're really hungry and you just want a quick snack
or something and it's and it's late and I you've done a long day stretch and
it's a middle of the night you don't need lighting you okay you
know the basic lighting inside the vehicle is sufficient and make yourself
a quick meal and you go to bed zero effort that is
the development process that was involved when I designed and built that
troop carrier that's my second one I will be doing exactly the same for
Graham but he has asked for a few other things that are particular to him and
that's what makes building every one of these so exciting because while they're
similar none of them are the same
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