Strange though it may seem to some who know me, sometimes I hit upon a good idea that works well in practice. Mind you.....some of them come at a price......and not just financial...

1. Overdrive: I had this fitted when I bought Dutchess, and although grateful for the modest fuel savings it brought, and the increase in gearing, the whine from the unit when driving at speeds in excess of 50mph has to be experienced to be believed. Better yet, just take my word for it. Below 50 and the drop in engine note is appreciable. Having the extra torque of the 6 cylinder engine allows a sedate acceleration from as low as 30mph with the overdrive engaged. Well worth the cost but best used as a fifth gear as opposed to a third range, although it NEEDS soundproofing.

2: Free Wheeling Hubs: Like the overdrive, I had these fitted when I bought Dutchess. Although useful for saving wear and reducing rolling resistance in the front axle, they can be a pain the first time you need to remove them to service the front hubs. Details later in the lessons learned section. Good rugged units, easy to remove ( when you know what you're doing ) but need to be engaged for at least 30 miles every 500 to ensure proper lubrication of the axle assembly..

3. Heated Front Screens: I've taken a ton of ridicule for these over the years, although between you and me, I put it down to jealousy. The " I GOTTA get me some of them" came about the first week I owned her. It was a freezing January morning, breath freezing on the inside of the screen quickly turned it opaque. With nothing readily to hand to clear the screen, and the blowers still cold, I used my gear change hand to wipe the area immediately in front of me. My hand froze within a second to the screen. I was stuck! Now picture yourself like this...trying to drive through a city centre during morning rush hour trying to change gear with the wrong hand. It took 15 minutes for the blowers to warm enough to free my hand; the longest 15 minutes of my life. These were ordered before the end of that week. Never looked back.

4.Cloth Upholstery: The front seats that were fitted when I bought the truck were a beat up mix of three different styles. They were replaced by a set of hi back seats upholstered in Neptune cloth. No more freezing bum on cold days, no more burned bum on hot days. A bit tougher than standard upholstery to maintain but worth the effort.. The down side of them is that they still have the lousy original posture. God knows who Landrover had in mind when they designed that seat, but it sure as hell wasn't me, as my back will testify.

5. After enduring ever increasing bills for chassis welding after each MoT inspection, I finally bit the bullet and decided that the only way forward was with a replacement chassis, galvanised and modified to my own specs. I had recovery points incorporated into the design utilising genuine part towing eyes for the front and a rotating jaw for the rear. All drilled holes were sleeved for added strength and the rear crossmember made from thicker plate. Mounts for a full external roll cage were added, the fuel pump bracket moved to just behind the bulkhead outrigger to permit fitting an auxiliary fuel tank under the front seats, and the gearbox crossmember is bolt in, making gear box removal a lot easier.

6. Locating the spare wheel is always something of a compromise with Landrovers. Neither of the three standard locations really struck me as being ideal. The original mount was inboard the hard top, behind the drivers seat. I always resented loosing the storage space for something as basic as the spare. The one time I NEEDED the spare was one of the few times that the loadbed was fully laden, and having to drag most of the load out to get at it, well, you can imagine what I felt. Standard options remaining were either the bonnet, or the rear door. Previous experience with both ruled them out. To check and service the engine, the bonnet needs to be raised fully, i.e. lifted up to the windscreen to see what I'm doing with the distributor, and to access the plugs for # 5 and 6 cylinders. That, and the permanent reduction in forward visibility ruled it out. As for the rear door option, I still got the scars from a previous encounter. I decided to opt for a Pivlock carrier. The weight is taken directly by the chassis outrigger removing any strain on the rear door hinges, and the wheel position doesn't impair rearward visibility too much. The position also permits proper straight back lifting, much appreciated by my lower back. The only down sides I've noticed to date are that the latch cant be interlocked to the rear door handle which can be a pain when carrying passengers in the rear, as well as a safety concern, and that, unless the lock is properly spaced off the rear door, it can drum against the door skin monotonously.

7. Anyone who's ever suffered the frustration of having a screw head crumble while trying to extract it, or worse, had one sheer, can relate to my loathing of mild steel. Why manufacturers can't use stainless steel for all non load bearing fixings is beyond me. No self corrosion, no bi metallic corrosion , cheap and readily available. Then there's the failure to grease all the load bearing bolts, so that, even if you manage to persuade locknuts free from the threads, you still have to persuade the shaft that it really would be preferable if it would free itself, rather than fuse to the parts that it's holding together..