The importance of Kata

[JR 137]

Ah the Mini was really cool ( it's the Mini of my youth too lol) Defenders are usually very reliable, the military use them here, we've never had any problem with ours, perhaps it had been badly used before.
Rover was a different company from Landrover, Rover cars were pretty lousy so it's not surprising it went out of business. E type Jags according to Enzo Ferrari were the perfect sports car, the new F type is pretty amazing though. Jaguar F-Type

Maybe, getting back on thread topic, it would take a lot of children's classes to pay for one though.

A little Wikipedia search confirms what I thought - the Defender was heavily modified for the North American market. The problems I remember from them (my father had several customers with Defenders) weren't the engine/transmission/chassis stuff; it was everything else - heater core, AC, lots of electrical problems, etc. They'd keep running, but dash warning lights would always be on and something outside the drivetrain and chassis always needed to be fixed. And I never understood why the North American Defenders had AC; they were all soft top here until the final year. I guess people in Arizona and Texas need AC though.

 

[Tez3]

A little Wikipedia search confirms what I thought - the Defender was heavily modified for the North American market. The problems I remember from them (my father had several customers with Defenders) weren't the engine/transmission/chassis stuff; it was everything else - heater core, AC, lots of electrical problems, etc. They'd keep running, but dash warning lights would always be on and something outside the drivetrain and chassis always needed to be fixed. And I never understood why the North American Defenders had AC; they were all soft top here until the final year. I guess people in Arizona and Texas need AC though.

That's a great shame, they were quite simple to keep running here. I think I'm right in saying they all run on diesel not petrol, I know ours does as do most 4x4 here, petrol ones use up too much fuel and aren't as efficient. I don't know what you use in the US, I know you call it gas which I assume is petrol but I don't know if you use diesel? The big trucks do I imagine?
We had a choice of soft or hard top, short or long wheel base as well as options like ambulance, fire engine, crane, campers etc! None had a/c, cars have only had them here relatively recently anyway. Web Rover

 

[Steve]

I had an 82 mini when I was in Germany, which was awesome. I like the new BMW owned MINIs, too, though they are a much different breed of cat. Still, they are peppy and don't need to slow down for many turns, which is what made the originals so fun to drive.