The last 5-speed imported to the US?

ankeneering

Active member
Apr 21, 2017
41
3
wyoming
Ive owned two manual transmission discos, the 96 I'd owned since it was 3 years old. I Bought it off a used lot in Denver, it had cop spot lights installed in the a-pillars. Curious, I called the previous owner after I found his name in the materials and he told me the story of buying land down in Guatemala and he was going to use it to drive down there, but he became disheartened with the thing when wasn't as rock-solid-honda-y as he was expecting. It actually was a great truck for me conversely, and the more I abused it the better it seemed to get, I just treated it like shit and it seemed to like it almost like a borderline personality woman. Never ditched me, never didn't run. Back then the manuals were rare, but not horribly rare, they just required a little more looking in specific places like Colorado or California. It actually still had the tail end of a warranty left and the Dealer I took it to in Little Rock for TSB stuff had never actually seen one in person. I Loved that truck and drove it into the ground and then sold it to a local Land Rover tech who resold the transmission. Fast forward well, well over a decade and I find another manual truck on EBAY, this time a 97 with the slightly more unusual grey interior also not having the crap which ages horribly on these; Electric leather and sunroofs. I bought it and began wondering about its rarity. Even almost 20 years ago idiots on message boards were repeating impossibly low numbers for 97 manual trucks. A number that pops up repeatedly is 100 with some special orders. I ran into a guy online who lives in the pacific northwest claiming to have the LAST manual truck imported to the US. I asked him for his build date, and the build date on mine is newer than that. Contacted Rovers North and they pointed me to a dude who is apparently the north american land rover records honcho, with the question of numbers, or ballpark numbers but that dude never responded to emails. Considering these trucks have been thought of as disposable for so long, and that there weren't 97 manual Defenders, someone out there has the LAST three pedaled Land Rover ever brought to the united states, and THAT actually has some very low rent historical value. I doubt anyone actually knows numbers, but the collective knowledge on this board surely has some opinions. I'm betting people like Tillery who've seen so many of them can call bullshit or back up that approximate 100 1997 5-speed number.


As an aside, I assumed the reason LR stopped importing them was that Americans found three pedals a pain in Starbucks drive-thrus, and no one here actually wanted them, they wanted luxury. They wanted their neighbors to see the truck and not know the difference between "land" and "range". But, someone mentioned (possibly here on this board) that they actually stopped bringing them over because there wasn't a cutoff preventing you from starting the truck in gear; leaping forward and killing bystanders. It was actually a safety thing, not a fat American thing.
 

ankeneering

Active member
Apr 21, 2017
41
3
wyoming
on that 5-speed RR Classic auction link;

...."Costs to replicate this vehicle today would run well into six figures."

uhhhh, I don't think so.
 

robertf

Well-known member
Jan 22, 2006
4,781
358
-
on that 5-speed RR Classic auction link;

...."Costs to replicate this vehicle today would run well into six figures."

uhhhh, I don't think so.

I liked "The 300TDI offered superior power and fuel economy to the gas powered V8"
 
I liked "The 300TDI offered superior power and fuel economy to the gas powered V8"

I can get behind the fuel economy claim. When I delivered the one I built, I told the owner to expect 22-25 MPG.

His first tank of fuel, he texted me that he got 28 MPG and was still learning how to drive it. He texted me a week or two later to tell me he'd gotten 30 MPG.

I just don't see the RV8 returning that kinda economy