Tuesday, 23 September 2008

UK’s motor vanity fair (6) [Bâlciul deşertăciunilor cu motor din UK]

I wish I saw many other cars like these on the British roads, apart from the two illustrating this post, as I guess I’ve always been somekind of fan of this type of vehicules. Unfortunaly, they seemed to be as rare as ARO IMS cars have become on Romanian roads. Is it because the Brits are ashamed that their ‘national icon’ was bought buy the Indians from Tata Motors?

Anyway, owning a Land Rover and driving it through the Scottish Highlands, in the Australian outback, throughout the plains of East Africa or the Namibian desert wouldn’t have been a proof of vainly investing in a car. I guess that, at the time, it was one of the wisest and most useful investments one could make.

Maybe it’s just the end of an era, and they simply don’t make cars like these. Buying petrol or diesel for these monsters is just too expensive, yet they were incredibly reliable. It is estimated that 75% of all Land Rovers ever produced are still in use today. I wonder how many of the first 914 original ARO IMS vehicles, hancrafted from 1957 to 1959 are still functioning?

Sadly, the fact that I saw so few cars like thise on Brit soil doesn’t leave for me any better comment than saying sic transit gloria mundi...

[For all the episodes of this series, and all the posts on this blog go to/Pentru toate episoadele din această serie şi toate postările de pe acest blog mergi la: Contents/Cuprins]

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