Adrian's Tomcat 100"

I already have a 2 door 1979 Range Rover but it needs some work. I drove it for a year before the MoT ran out. The main faults were;

The gearbox got stuck in reverse when driving home from the garage I bought it from. To gain access to the box the heater had to be removed. This lead to a cold winter.

The overdrive lever snapped off in my hand during my first motorway journey.

Then I think I blew the diaphragm in one (or both) of the carbs. I will need to strip them down to check, then decide whether I will rebuild them, rebuild the other pair of cars I have, or fit some SUs.

There is lots of rust all over the Range Rover with the worst being found on the upper and lower tailgate (no surprises there). I don't like doing smart bodywork and painting, but I do like the Rover V8 engine and elevated driving position of the Range Rover so I am going to build a Tomcat 100".

Click on the picture for some pictures of other peoples Tomcats, which will have to do until I build my own.

I decided to have a look (and photograph) some of the other things I could do with my 2 door Range Rover instead of building a Tomcat 100". Click on the picture for more details and photographs.

I believe the tomcat was designed by Drew Bowler for competing in events such as Competitive Safaris (Comp Safaris) and Hill Rallies. There are of course other off-road vehicles built to race in these events. I can get some ideas from these off road racers for when I build my Tomcat even though mine off-roader won't be used for racing. Drew also went on to design the Wildcat.

I am starting from the fact that I have an old two door Range Rover as a donor vehicle. However I may be able to get some ideas from buggies and off-roaders that are made using other donor vehicles.

Most of the off road vehicles on this site were built for fun or competition. However some people use there off roaders for work, and their lives can depend on the vehicles performance. As the military spend a lot of money on their vehicles, I should be able to take advantage of some of their research.

I have started to strip the Range Rover down. I have to do some building work first such as removing my raised patio which is falling down, and making some more storage space.

However I do have a 12' by 21' army surplus tent to act as a temporary garage.

I am now collecting the bits that are not available from Tomcat Motorsport.

I have been getting more bits including heater windscreen washer jets and a choice of heaters to demist the windscreen. This may sound a bit soft, but my Tomcat will be used mainly on the road and not raced off-road, so some safety features will be important (in addition to the strength of the original Range Rover chassis).

The building work to make space for a shed (for more storage for old Range Rover or new Tomcat parts) is progressing. When digging out the old raised patio (to be replaced with decking), I removed a lot of rubble and rubbish (the pile including the corrugated iron).

I also discovered the old coal hole which may make a good garage for my mig welder after I have added a secure door.

I have decided that before making the big buggy, I am going to make a small buggy. Now to find a scrapped motorbike and some quad bike wheels.

As a first project to practice my skills, I will probably forget about building a small buggy with no suspension and a small engine. I could buy a small Daihatsu or Suzuki jeep that has failed its MoT. It would be cheaper and have suspension. It would however still only have a small engine!

I now have a tow vehicle! It is a 1983 Landrover 110 (not Defender) with a 3.5l V8 engine. For more details, click on the picture.