Cobar is a Land Rover Defender 110 Station Wagon.

He was manufactured in 2000 and takes his name from a town in Australia (it also happens to be the factory name for his paint colour).

The town of Cobar sits at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and the Barrier Highway in central western New South Wales. To me crossroads always suggest alternate possibilities and the fact that it is in New South Wales and we live in (old) South Wales suggested a link. Distant possibilities with a link to home –  I liked it.

 

Modifications:

Cobar is not quite the same as when he left the factory. Some of the mods were carried out by the previous owner and some were done by us. Here is a list:

• Hydraulic Winch (not strictly neccesary for Africa but It was aleady fitted)
• Safety Devices ‘Camel Trophy’ Roll Cage
• Bonnet Treadplate (worksurface, place to put your coffee/beer and it allows you to stand on the bonnet when needed)
• ‘Swing Away’ spare wheel carrier (reduces strain on rear cargo door)
• Tree Sliders (useful in Paris traffic)
• National Luna Fridge/Freezer (essential to maintain beer standards in Equatorial sunshine)
• Steel Lockable centre Cubby Box (keep valuables safe)
• Garmin GPS
• ‘Silblade’ Silicon wiper blades (dont harden in sun and cope better with dry dust)
• ‘Double-Twin’ washer jets (as well as washing the windscreen better this means we have ‘in-use spares’ in case drivers side gets clogged.
• LED light conversions all round (bulb filaments dont like washboard roads, plus headlights are now ‘White‘ instead of ‘glowworm‘
• Internal roof cargo-nets
• Rear cargo side window replaced with Gull-Wng door (this gives us an easier unload at camp and provides a kitchen area
• Windows grills and plates (for security)
• Steering Guard & Differential bash plates (underbody pretection)
• Onboard pumped, filtered drinking water (survival – 3 days supply)
• Long Range fuel tank
• 1000W mains power inverter (can run mains accessories eg Angle Grinder)
• Additional internal LED lights (so we can find things at night)
• External LED camp lighting (so things can find us at night. These can run either white for brilliance, yellow to discourage insects or strobe for rescue and they switch themselves off before your battery goes flat)
• Fold out Roof Tent (somewhere to sleep) with additional lower tent (somewhere to stand upright in private)
• Uprated steering damper
• Koni Raid shock absorbers (these contain twice as much oil as standard -and some ‘heavy duty’ – shocks. That keeps them cooler when abused on washboard roads)
• Heavy duty rear springs with inner ‘helper’springs (these are needed to carry everything else above)