It was only recently that I first thought of actually buying one. There was little chance that such a vehicle could be actually purchased from anyone in the Czech Republic (even though I later found out that there actually were several examples imported even during the Communist period). My friend brought me on the right track when he pointed out that his friend had purchased a very cheap Land Rover Defender in Germany.
I began looking and found out that even though Defenders can really be bought for good prices nearly anywhere in Europe, Series II vehicles are hard to find, much less good Series II vehicles for good prices.
Then, I ran across a website where nearly all Land Rover Series ads were posted by a single person - a private owner from Switzerland. I came to find out a lot about this guy as I practised my German by communicating with him for some two months, before we finally got to agree on the right vehicle for the right price.
The first option was the diesel vehicle shown at the top of this article, his favourite "Diesler". It was a reluctant sale and in the end he actually did not have to sell it - I finally bought another one from his "stock", a Land Rover Series II 88" Regular, an ex-Swiss Army vehicle manufactured in 1960. The price details need to be buried and are never to be disclosed to my family members (I need to point out that there were also vehicles in a comparable state that would cost three or four times as much). I owe my thanks to my girlfriend, who is the only other person aware of the full details of the whole business including the price and was always very supportive, and to my brother, who did not want to know the price, but helped a lot as well! It is the photo on the right at the top which shows this vehicle (I received larger and colour copies, of course) and which I received by email during our German correspondence. It was a vehicle owned since retirement by an ex-Army driver, who also drove it while in service (the partly surviving records were made available to me upon purchase).
After painful days and nights of thinking and re-thinking the idea of buying a car nearly 50 years old, I decided for the purchase. The remaining problems were obvious. I was in Prague, Czech Republic, while the Land Rover I wanted was in Switzerland, off Bern, the capital, some 850 kilometres away.
There were some ideas, however, nearly all of them looked so very distant... Bringing the car on a trailer would be the most comfortable option, however, it would also be the most expensive one. The expected cost would be some 10% of the price, which was a bit too much. The other option was obvious - bring it over by actually driving it. The fuel cost would be high but in comparison to the trailer option it would only be small change... But driving such an oldtimer for over eight hundred kilometers seemed ridiculous!
It was here that the adventure began. I decided to take the chance and went for the second option. My girlfriend, a friend of ours equally crazy about the vehicle, and our pet dog became the only four members of the "Land Rover Expedition 2007 - Back To The Past", as our friend aptly called it.
For those who would like to read more, I prepared a short summary of the long and perilous |
