A SERIES 1 ON THE MATARIKI SAFARI
Last year the Plimmer family from Hamilton took their 1956 Land Rover Series 1 on the Matariki Forestry Charity fund-raising Safari hosted by the Whangamata 4WD Club – and this year they invited me and my own 1955 Series 1 along. How could I refuse?
I bought my Series 1 back in 1984 – back when they were as cheap as you could get a 4WD and set it up as a ‘Club Truck’ complete with a roll-over bar, side rails and a sturdy bull-bar as well as under belly protection – other than that, the vehicle is pretty well standard, but the bottom line is, the vehicle was specifically set up for the tough clay conditions found on the Coromandel peninsula – as will be revealed later…
Assembly point for the trip was the Whangamata RSA at 08:30am Saturday morning Oct 17. Do you remember your first day at the Gym? No? Actually, neither do I – but imagine if you can, the skinny white guy in the oversized Boxer Shorts and singlet walking down the row of ‘Fitness Machines’ being snarled at by the testosterone-fuelled ‘Gym-grunters.’
That’s how my Series 1 felt pulling into the
