Other Donor Vehicles

If I had a Landrover Defender (instead of my old Range Rover), but still wanted better off-road performance, or to enter winching events, I could build (or buy) a Foers Ibex. Click on the picture for more details and photographs.

Whereas the Foers Ibex ideally uses new components which are cheaper if you buy the whole Landrover, I could use an older, second hand Landrover Defender 90 or 110 to build an off road vehicle. Click on the picture for more details and photographs.

I could always use a Landrover Discovery as a donor vehicle. A Disco is only a ‘cheap’ Range Rover based on the same mechanicals etc, but with lower trim levels. It also has a 100 inch wheelbase, the same as a Range Rover.

As a first project to practice my skills, I could buy a small Daihatsu or Suzuki jeep that has failed its MoT. It would be very cheaper. I could then play in the mud until the jeep finally dies. I could go even further and do up a Suzuki in decent condition to make it perform better off road, or even make a Suzuki based buggy. I could even build a Suzuki based kit car like the Blitz.

Jankel Armouring Ltd took a Toyota 79 chassis (a.k.a. a Toyota Land Cruiser pickup) to produce an Al-Thalab (Fox) Lang Range Patrol Vehicle for Jordon.

The ABS Freestyle made by Westholme Aviation Limited uses two minis as the donor vehicles.

Volkswagen Beetles have been used for many years to make beach buggies and sand rails.

Instead of using my dead 2 door Range Rover as a donor vehicle, I could just buy a decent, newer, 4 door Range Rover Classic. This idea is becoming more common as 2 door Range Rovers become rarer and 4 door Range Rovers become older, and more knackered.

A standard P38 Range Rover can be used off road, or like most other 4x4s a P38 Range Rover can be converted to make it a better off-roader.

Maybe I am keeping the wrong bit of my donor vehicle. I could keep the body and build a new chassis with massive wheels and create a monster truck.

Instead of using the chassis from the donor vehicle, I could use a custom made chassis. This gives more flexibility with the size of the resulting vehicle. It takes a lot of skill and experience to design your own chassis, but I could buy one developed by somebody else. The ABS Freestyle, Foers Ibex, the VW based sandrail and off road buggy and the monster trucks all use parts from the donor vehicle other than the chassis.