By Jeff Glucker
Australians are our favorite brand of insane people. By that, we means they’re a cheerful bunch up for a go at anything. As long as there’s potential for a good time on the other end, our Aussie friends are thumbs up and smiles. Case in point; the video clip below.
That’s a Defender. It’s staring down what appears to be a near vertical wall. At the bottom is mud and water. This would be an ideal place to turn around and find an alternate route. Not for the driver of this particular rig though, as they inch forward into what must feel like a beckoning void. They know what they’re doing here and they have a good grasp on what the machine can handle.
It can handle this, that’s for damn sure.
I didn’t intend on the two Last Call posts in a row to feature a Defender. I’m not upset about that though, and I nearly posted a different old Land Rover (Series truck with a V8 swap, for sale on eBay)
Last Call indicates the end of Hooniverse’s broadcast day. It’s meant to be an open forum for anyone and anything. Thread jacking is not only accepted, it’s encouraged.
My new favorite Australians have a YouTube channel called “Cross Training Enduro Skills”. As a guy that bought his first dirt bike at age 45, I can really get behind statements like, “A bunch of us, in our 50s, thought we would try to learn as much of this shit as possible before dementia and arthritis slow us down.” The vids are top notch, full of humor, humility, disdain, and foul language delivered in a Ben Stein paced deadpan*.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oevikOHM1I
*The reason for the deadpan delivery is explained, after some troll makes fun of it, as being right and proper because they recognise that not all their viewers speak English as their first language. You dumb fuck**.
**Sentiment implied. Re: Trolls
“Church of Extreme Endurology”. The style is right!
these videos are great
A college friend posted on Facebook that her husband’s daily driver is a brown Jetta diesel wagon with a stick.
So what I’m saying is that I’ve found the grail. It’s in Cincinnati.
Needs to be rwd surely?
Good point. Without RWD it’s not exactly a unicorn, but definitely a keeper. I looked seriously at getting a new 4th-gen Jetta diesel wagon back in the late 90s, but ended up with a Contour SVT instead. I traded the Contour when we had our first kid, mainly because the child seat was a tight fit and I needed more space for all the junk that you carry when you become a parent. Had I bought the Jetta instead, I’m guessing I might still have it today.
When my wife bought her Q5, I was admiring a white 2019 Golf Sportwagen 4Motion that sat unsold in the showroom because it had a manual transmission. The salesman with whom I spoke said there were only 18(?) manuals for sale in the country at the time. Apparently, the thing that most attracts me to the model is a dealbreaker for most buyers. Shame.
Looks like Gunshot Creek crossing, on the Old Telegraph Track heading to Cape York, the northern tip of Australia. There is a bypass track – probably necessary when heading in the other direction! as well as a ‘proper’ road that is only (!) rough, corrugated dirt – although it is slowly being sealed.
I… did not expect that to happen
Damn! My butt cheeks were clenched during that entire video. Such a feat requires either more balls than brains, or a very thorough understanding of your rig’s capabilities. Even with confidence, though, I’m not sure I would have risked it. The existing tracks suggest that the angle might not be quite as steep as it appears, but regardless, that’s ballsy.
Did you see the bull bar full of mud, even after every other vehicle has dug out the bottom? Plus the gouges from tow bars. Most people use one of the easier routes.
I’m just not a “hold my beer” kind of person. I would have taken the easier route rather than risking rolling the truck or getting stuck.
Bet he got water on the dashboard though. So, by the standards of the last article: Fail?
Further proof that the UK, just occasionally, gets something right.
Only those willing to commit a crime in order to be summarily moved from Old Blightey to Down Under got it right.
Oh, you meant the vehicle, not the driver 😉
I’d still love to see the NEW Defender try this….