From the front it's a Range Rover, from the back it's a Discovery (right). The hardest part of the conversion is matching the rear three quarter panel with the side swage line of the Range Rover (bottom left). Seating is for seven (far right) with a mix of Range Rover and Discovery interior. Most popular engine to date has been the Mazda 3.5 litre intercooled turbo diesel. Discovery or Range Rover? Nick Dimbleby samples a hybrid with a difference and is very impressed AS THE Range Rover became old enough to chop up at home, a completely new Land Rover was born. Called the 'hybrid', it had the chassis and running gear from the Range Rover, mated to the body and interior of a Land Rover. Hybrids of this ilk are immensely popular amongst the off-road fraternity, as they are extremely capable off- road, as well as being a lot cheaper to buy than the equivalent V8 90. However, although most Range Rover- based hybrids are designed primarily for off- road use, Les Thomson of the Scottish Range Rover and Discovery centre has come up with one that is designed almost exculsively for using on-road. Coupling the looks of the Range Rover with the passenger-carrying capacity of the Discovery, Les calls it the Strange Rover, and to date has made nine. The idea for the vehicle came about as Les was rebuilding accident damaged Discoverys and Range Rovers for clients. He wanted a vehicle for himself that could combine the comfort of a Vouge SE with enough space for seven passengers when necessary. As Les had a fair amount of Range Rover and Discovery panels in stock, he set himself the task of merging two vehicles into one. After a couple of months work, the first prototype was wheeled into the yard. As both vehicles share the same chassis, mating a Discovery with the Range Rover wasn't actually that hard. The only major problem was ensuring that the rear three quarter panel matched the Range Rover's side 'swage line'. The interior of the Strange Rover is predominantly Range Rover, with the front seats, dashboard, rear seat and carpets all originating from Solihull's finest. The rear loadspace (complete with folding seats) and headlining comes from the Discovery, which meant that the first Strange Rovers produced has mismatched rear loadspace trim, as you cannot buy Discoverys with Brouge-style grey interiors. Later, Nationwide Trim were

Neither one, nor the other

called in to retrim the loadspace, and now everything matches perfectly. The Strange Rover can be based on a Range Rover of any age. After everything has been stripped off and the chassis has been certified as sound, the complete unit is fully galvanised, while the front and rear axles are powder coated to resist corrosion. The old suspension is replaced with new springs and shocks, and the finishing touch is the fitting of a Genuine Parts anti-roll bar kit. To power the vehicle, the client can order either a 3.9 litre V8 or an approved diesel powerplant. So far all Strange Rovers have been built with the Mazda 3.5 litre intercooled turbodiesel engine, and the vehicle I drove performed extremely well and was very quieteven at typical motorway crusing speeds. The diesel had been mated to the four speed ZF box, which is very smooth and is, understandably, the most popular gearbox amongst Les' clients. At the moment, Les has three special Strange Rover projects on the go: a 108 inch LSE, a six-wheeler and an 118 inch stretched wheelbase version, which will be powered by a 320 bhp Porsche 5.0 litre 32 valve V8. The LSE will use a brand new chassis and bodyshell and will be fitted with a Janspeed Turbo 3.9 litre V8, while the six wheeler will feature six wheel drive, ABS and a Mazda diesel. LRO will, of course, be bringing you photographs of these vehicles when they are completed and, I must say, I'm looking forward to road testing the Porsche-engined version. In the mean time however, Les hopes that the 'standard' Strange Rover will be a sucess. Certainly from my brief drive, there can no doubt that none of the Range Rover's inimitable style has been lost - there's just that little bit more space available for people with large families. All Strange Rovers produced have a one- year bodywork warranty, and a ten year warranty on the galvanised chassis. The usual warranty for the Mazda engine also applies. For further details contact Les Thomson at: The Scottish Range Rover and Discovery Centre, 10 Shaw Road, Larkhall, Scotland, ML9 2TR. Tel: 0698 886628.

This page is a HTML transcript of pages 90 and 91 of December 1993 Land Rover Owner International Magazine. Article written by Nick Dimbleby. The layout looks correct in Netscape 3.