You won’t find it until your foot goes through something or something falls off. I had a 1990 defender 90 which was 8 years old and the bulkhead was invisibly rotten in various places. That got very expensive very quickly. A friend has a more modern 110 that’s only 6 years old and has the same problem.

This is not an issue in some areas and dry climates as a rule but in the UK it sucks owning one.

I don’t own one now. I drive a little French go cart then I use my legs for off road. They last longer, don’t go rusty and run on dried fruit and sandwiches.

This is why I laugh when I see 90's era defenders selling for $80k in the states.

Are you Remi Gaillard?

I disclaim all responsibility for chucking bananas out of my French go cart

Aren't most parts of land rover bodies aluminum?

https://www.thrillist.com/cars/9-things-you-didn-t-know-abou...

Yeah. They chassis and bulkhead is made of steel though. This tends to rust very quickly when bonded to aluminium parts.

> This tends to rust very quickly when bonded to aluminium parts

Isn’t it the other way around? Aluminium has a lower reduction potential than iron, so the aluminium should be the first to go. Even lower than zinc, which uses the same mechanism in sacrificial anodes and galvanisation.

I once had the idea of attaching “sacrificing cathodes” made of iron to aluminium beverage cans to make them go away faster when discarded in the environment, but that just causes more problems than it solves, so it’s better stick with container deposit schemes.

That's a super interesting thought, the sacrificial anode thing to break down cans faster. If only there was a mechanism like that we could harness to accelerate the breakdown on plastics.

If memory serves - I have never put it to the test - my HZJ78 Land Cruiser owner's manual says wading depth is 700mm (doors closed), 875mm (doors open) - presumably the added depth with doors open is down to the reduced buoyancy.

Part of me really wants to try it out once, though.

I think the new Defender is 900mm doors closed, which is pretty deep!