BLAST FROM THE 4X4 PAST

RP: “I have been off-roading since I bought my first Land Rover Discovery in 1992. The same year I went off-road for the first time in the French Alps. More precisely the village of Val d’Isere, driving parts of the Hannibal Trail. I was immediately hooked and never looked back.

Over the past 30 years I had a lot of 4×4’s with their own purposes. The majority were Land Rovers (my first love) but after the years went by, I bought a Toyota Land Cruiser 100 V8 petrol. This must have been the best car I ever had. I sold it after 10 years in 2017 when we bought the Sprinter 4×4. Amy is still hooked on her Tonka , a Toyota FJ Cruiser that she bought in 2013. Tonka is still with us.

After years of off-roading holidays, daily events from the Land Rover Club Holland and other playdays, I became a part time instructor with the Dutch Land Rover Driving Experience. I also did some instruction for the 4WD Magazine. In 2011 I became a Canadian PAWGI Certified Wilderness Guide with Survival and Off-Roading Specializations.

In 2004 I bought a Land Rover Defender 90, with the sole purpose of transferring it into a Challenge Competition car. Heavenly modified with no less than three winches (front, back and middle – topwinch), I started competing in Challenges like the Dutch National Challenge Championship – 1 event per month – and several foreign competitions like: Croatia Trophy (Croatia), Muddy Truckers Trophy (Scotland), Channel Hopping Winch Challenge (France), Istra Challenge (Croatia), Transylvania Adventure Trophy (Romania), The Breslau (Germany – Poland), Argyll Forest Challenge (Scotland) and so on.

In 2005 I bought a Steyr 1291 4×4 truck and converted it into a expedition camper. I sold it in 2011 as I did not use it enough anymore, now in 2022 we will have a expedition camper again!

Below you will find random 4×4 travel and race footage from the old shoe box!