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 Members of the Land Rover Owners Club (Vic) are hard pressed to identify this particular model that was at the Field Day. |
Sunday 22 February 1998: A nice sunny day, a light breeze and the car and four wheel drive parking area at the 4WD Field Day, Wandin, Victoria has never been so full. This Field Day was something of a departure for the organising Land Rover Owners Club of Victoria in that they had shifted the date from November to February. In addition, 1998 is the 50th Anniversary of the release of the original Series One Land Rover at the Amsterdam Motor Show (Easter 1948). It was therefore very fitting that the latest Landy, the Freelander, was on the Land Rover dealer's stand.
The Field Day is a general 4WD show so you could also see
Nissan's new
Patrol GU,
GM's Suburban 4x4,
Hummers and any number of Wranglers (one
Teraflex-ed),
Range Rovers, Discoveries, Terrano's, Hilux's etc.
Once you had bought a vehicle you could add MacNamara, Maxidrive or ARB diff'
locks,
fit raised suspension systems, new wheels and tyres, bull bars, winches
and roof racks, and
hitch up an offroad camper trailer to set off around Australia.
Marks 4WD Adaptors can even modify the 4x4 with different
engine and transmission combinations.
Most vendors have good Field Day special deals,
some becoming extra good towards the end of the day.
 This one deserves [more study] however |
ARB had an interesting new bull-bar mounting system for air-bag equipped four wheel drives. Basically this incorporates crush-cans into the bull-bar's own attachment brackets. Apparently it takes 4 tons each to crush these particular cans so they are not going to change shape in any minor car-park touch, or even under inertial recovery (snatching). The RTA is said to be satisfied that a bull-bar with these mounts will not adversely affect the performance of the airbags.
The large club area allowed four wheel drive clubs and associations to display their vehicles and describe their activities. For example, the Australian National 4WD Radio Network had a stand explaining its ever increasing coverage of outback Australia.
Members of LROC, and some commercial exhibitors, put on shows of 4WD skills and of new 4WD equipment - fitting wheel-chains, changing tyres, demonstrating the various kinds of winch.
Many 4WD enthusiasts had brought "special" 4WD's along. Roger Smith and Mike Smith's Range Rovers which placed 2nd and 4th respectively in the 1997 International Rainforest Challenge of Malaysia (was Transpen) turned up. Apparently a video of the Challenge will soon be available for sale and may be shown on Australian [TV] shortly. Camper conversions are always interesting for the different ways of maximising internal room, head-room and storage. The Army had its Unimogs and Perenties, the CFA various Fire trucks - which also kept the dust down by watering the access road.
As always the test-circuit was popular; volunteers from the LROC drive members of the public around this challenging track with its steep climbs and water crossing. Inevitably there are impromptu demonstrations of vehicle recovery.
- 4wd.sofcom.com/4WD.html - 22/2/1998
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ENTRANCE FEE: $8 per adult, children under 16 freeFree entry to a competition on the day upon presentation of the official brochure
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For more information contact Neil Jones: xx-xxxx-xxxx(AH) Land Rover Owners' Club of Victoria Inc. P.O. Box 962, Mt. Waverley 3149 | ||
1998 is the 50th anniversary of the release of the Land Rover, at the Amsterdam Motor Show of 1948. The 50th Land Rover gathering will be held at Cooma NSW (Friday 10 April - Monday 13 April 1998) because of the town's geographical location and strong historical links with Land Rover through the construction of the famous Snowy Mountains Scheme.
Contact:
Martin Randall, tel:(xx)-xxxx-xxxx(BH), fax:(xx)xxxx-xxxx, or
Land Rover Owners Club (Vic), PO Box 962, Mount Waverley, Victoria 3149
See the 4WD Field Day cross-reference page
