Finally, photographic proof …

… that older Land Rovers aren't completely useless. Thanks to Spencer Whitney who found this somewhere on the web and sent it on and, yes, there's an element of tongue-in-cheek here as I had one for 12 years, although mine lacked the useful flower pot holder.

4 legs 1, 4 wheels 0

"There's only room for one of us on this here farm, pardner, and it ain't you." Horse to Hummer H3, following news that the property on which Auckland's Extreme 4WD Park was located had been sold and the new owner planned to turn it into a facility for horses. I'm actually making up the bit about the horse and Hummer confrontation being after the sale, but this picture taken at Extreme a couple of years ago somehow seemed appropriate. The park will be missed.

Triton tows the line

Despite its grunt, strong chassis and so on, the Triton's braked towing capacity was something Mitsubishi would perhaps rather not talk about, so we won't.* But now, the company can hold its head high, with a new 3000kg rating, which is about as good as it gets in Uteland, unless you have a Land Rover Defender rated at 500g more. A strengthened chassis on the latest version helped win the new rating.
Meanwhile, the mid-range 4WD GLX double cab gets the GLS Sport suspension package and a wider alloy wheel set with 245/70 R16 tyres, so it's "yee-ha" all round as the diamond brand polishes its workhorse.


* Well, 2700kg if you must know, but that's better than Hilux's 2500kg.

10-4 Good Buddy

I'm looking at dragging myself into the 21st century, replacing my old AM CB radio with a modern 40 channel UHF PRS (Personal Radio Service) unit, a type of two-way communication increasingly favoured by 4WD clubs, safari-trip leaders and off-roaders in general. Not knowing nearly as much as I should, I sought advice from Brett Whyte, a Land Rover enthusiast who has amassed a good general knowledge of such things. Here's what he had to say:

"• Nothing beats the power of a 5watt dash mounted unit, the maximum power allowed by law.

"• What makes the difference is the aerial. Dash mounted PRS units cost between $450 and $550 so why would you compromise its power by trying to save $30 or so on a cheaper aerial? Unless you are prepared to drill a hole in the dead centre of your roof to create a ground plane, you need to spend the extra on a 'ground plane independent' aerial. These have about 20cm of 'solid' shiny rod at the base of the simple wire aerial and can be mounted away from flat surfaces. Most of us mount them on the bullbar where we can see if they are under attack from trees, etc. Mine has been mounted on the bar, just inside of my left headlight where it doesn't distract my forward vision. It's been there for at least five years and hasn't been broken. My old AM CB unit regularly suffered damage to its fibreglass-based aerials.

"• No hand-held transceiver can deliver the same distance efficiency as a dash-mounted unit with a good aerial. This is despite being available at the same maximum wattage. It's a simple matter of the tiny aerial they have not having the same performance potential. I know club drivers who wished they had not bought a 5watt hand-held as it is clumsier to use in a cab than a microphone on a cord. Conversely I know another driver who is delighted with his 3watt hand-held and I found its three-day+ battery life extraordinary.

"• My advice is to spend money on a dash mounted unit so you have the best capacity in your vehicle. Then I would pick up a bargain hand-held of one or more watts so that my passenger can run up to the front of the stoppage and tell me what's going on. Absolute minimum in a hand-held is one watt, 2watt is much better. Anything below that is enormously frustrating to other drivers in a convoy."

Thanks for that. I'll communicate more about the search for perfect communications in future posts.

!0-4 Good Buddy, again

So what the heck's 10-4 – and is there a 10-1, 10-2 or even 10-99 [yes, there is]? Ten-codes were developed by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO) in the US to represent common phrases used in radio communications, such as Citizens' Band (CB) radio. Click here for a complete list of 10 codes.

Be our first knowledge nerd

So you think you know your 4WDs? What is this vehicle, where and when was it taken and what was it doing? First correct answer wins you the inaugural 4WDNewz Nerd title! Hint 1: it was somewhere in New Zealand. Hint 2: Elvis Presley.

Update: We have a winner. 

If Crumpy had been a Pom ...

I just love this old Land Rover advertisement (Click to get it going). So much better than today's 4WD ads on TV that show things like happy families driving on a beach or making their neighbours envious.