Originally Posted by gilghana1

I fully agree, the romance factor is undeniable. I did not want to start a landrover vs landcruiser debate but was only interested in your reasons... Pretty much what I suspected, and I still think the 110/Defender/Series landrovers will never be replaced in terms of emotive 4x4s. If there is no time pressure and you know the vehicle there is something really satisfying about an old landy onto less travelled areas. I never regretted buying my ex-Ghana secret police Defender, and then spending many hours kitting it out. Living in Ghana all my mods had to be planned months in advance, and I learnt masses from rebuilding the vehicle with a really good local mechanic. The vehicle broke down numerous times, but then which 250,000km car won't? Unlike other LRvLC experiences I ended up leaving an 80 series in Mali and making it home in the 'rover - but the 80 was to be fair a totally under prepared company hack! I ended up buying a new 78 (last of the "old shape") 'cause I was in the fortunate position to get one at a super price and due to work pressures I needed a vehicle for short camping trips and occasional longer ones within Ghana/BF/Mali where I could be fairly confident of being back for work in time... If it wasn't for that I would never have changed! Having said that the troopy is also turning into a labour of love and could do everything I want "out of the tin", but that hasn't stopped me modifying! So I say go for the landy - you already know why you want it and the V8 looks great if you can handle the fuel bills and not expect earth moving power!
Gil