Andrew St.Pierre White
The overland expo, run near Flagstaff, Arizona, was an eye-opener for me. It is not an expo, in the traditional sense. It is an event. Aviation enthusiasts, especially private flyers and those who have dabbled in home-built aircraft, will know of Oshkosh. The EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) yearly gathering at Oshkosh. Wisconsin has been described by some of the world鈥檚 best-loved aviation writers as, The greatest event in all of aviation. It is where lovers of airplanes, builders of airplanes and flyers come and meet and greet like-minded people. Mostly, they come and see what everyone else is doing with their airplanes. Overland Expo is the overlander鈥檚 Oshkosh. I was struck by the huge range of vehicles and the diversity of accessories on display. It is mainly for the 4x4 enthusiast who鈥檚 primary aspiration is to go overland. Only a helicopter shot would be able to adequately provide an idea of the size of the event.
A few weeks ago, I had a strange and curious experience with a Range Rover. It started with a simple warning light, and the usual request. 鈥淐an you reset my check engine light so I can get a sticker? Why do so many people think these lights come on just so they can be reset? What possible purpose would that serve? I explained that we鈥檇 have see what fault codes were stored, at which time we could decide what to do about them. In most cases, when you see a check engine light, you need a repair, not a reset. Codes mean many different things. Sometimes, they point to specific repairs. For example, a 鈥渞eplace Thelman wire鈥?code is self-explanatory. You replace the Thelman wire. Other times, codes are more vague. 鈥淔uel mixture out of range鈥?can mean most anything, from air leaks to snoot problems. This particular car had a code for inoperative cam adjusters, which was strange, because Supercharged Sports don鈥檛 have cam adjusters at all. We cleared it, and it came back right away.
Roll-over cages are popular modifications fitted by many users, and were standard fitment to all North American Specification (NAS) and 50th Anniversary Defenders. The simple construction of the vehicles has another advantage, which is that given a basic set of spanners, an individual vehicle can be switched between many of the various bodystyles available. For example, it is not uncommon for enthusiasts to fit a "Soft Top" canvas hood during the summer months, switching to an aluminium panel "Hard Top" van-back during the winter. Only long-wheelbase Station Wagons cannot be changed to other body types because of their unique five-door arrangement, the lack of any lateral interior bulkheads and a differently-shaped chassis to accommodate the central row of seats. From 1985 Land Rover introduced a third wheelbase to its utility line-up, a 127-inch twin-axle vehicle designed to accommodate larger, heavier loads than the One Ten. Naturally called the Land Rover 127, it was designed specifically with use by utility and electrical companies in mind, as well as military usage.
Front wheel drive is standard although all-wheel drive is available. This model has safety feature that include front impact, front seat-mounted, side-impact and front/rear curtain airbags, four wheel anti-lock brakes, AdvanceTrac electronic stability control, and a tire-pressure monitoring system as standard. The 2009 Ford Edge has a fuel economy that is rated at 15 to 16 miles per gallon in the city, and 22 to 24 miles per gallon on the highway. As mentioned above, the Edge is available in both all-wheel drive and front-wheel drive and uses Ford's front end design with its distinctive three-bar chrome grille. Although the 2007 series was introduced with the three trim levels of SE, SEL, and SEL Plus, the 2009 series has dispensed with the SEL Plus version. The 2009 Ford Edge has standard features that include cruise control; air conditioning; driver's seat lumbar support; power windows, power mirrors and power door locks; tilt and telescoping steering wheel; P235/65R17 tires on alloy wheels; and remote keyless entry. Its safety features include standard airbags as well as side curtain and front side-impact airbags, traction control, anti-lock brakes, a tire-pressure monitoring system and an electronic stability control.
I鈥檒l start posting regular collections of random thoughts. This was another cool suggestion I hadn鈥檛 thought of before. Lots of people don鈥檛 do Twitter, and even if they do they鈥檙e not paying attention to all my Twitter posts. Maybe once every week or two I鈥檒l collect all my stand-alone thoughts that I put into tweets and other places and compile them in an article for anyone who鈥檚 interested. Those are the changes I鈥檓 definitely going to look to implement, and there are a few other potentials I鈥檓 toying with as well. These all look very feasible without being too taxing on my time and energy. Thank you all so much for your wonderful suggestions, and thank you for caring so much that you desired to offer them. I try not to get all gushy and meta too often, but I really do have the best audience in the world and I deeply appreciate you guys. I am very excited about where this is all going. The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish.
