This 2020 Sprinter-based, off-road van concept from German manufacturer Hymer looks capable outside and like a stylish apartment inside. It features an indoor kitchen and fridge, a folding desk/workspace, stairs to leading to an insulated, pop-up sleeping loft, a very cool convertible bathroom/shower area, and a rear tailgate deck with a slide-out grill/outdoor kitchen. It’s amazing how far RVs have come. I could go for something like this.
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Archives for posts with tag: 4-wheel-drive
Check out the video of this amazing remote controlled 1/10 scale, 80-series Toyota Land Cruiser off-roading and crossing streams!
You might like the Matt’s Off-Road Recovery channel on YouTube. They do vehicle recovery in Southern Utah near Zion National Park and they just seem like a great bunch of guys. It’s also a great place to watch real-life off-road / overland recoveries in action and learn a thing or two.
If you’re at home, and you have some time on your hands, check out this 1986 documentary about the Paris-Dakar Rally. You may remember that that was the year Porsche got their rally program dialed and pulled off a 1-2 finish with their newly-developed 959. There’s some great footage of the 959s in action across Africa.
Land Rover just released the new 2020 Defender. It has some amazing features, like a display setting that shows the vehicle’s front wheels driving over the actual terrain outside while rendering the vehicle itself invisible. That’s seems like a truly handy feature for picking your way through difficult terrain. It also has some odd features like a body-colored square in the middle of the rear window of the new Defender 90 that seems to have no other purpose than creating a huge blind spot.
The previous generation of the Defender went 33 years without a major redesign. I’m not smitten by the look of the new generation but have a look for yourself in these twin videos that appear to be taken at them same press event. Even the walk-ons by the hosts, one, Richard Hammond for Drive Tribe, the other, Henry Catchpole for Carfection, are basically the same. Funny.
The second video appears after the jump. Hat tip to my good friend Greg McDonald for calling this one in! Read the rest of this entry »
All photos: Gregory McDonald
Greg on his way to Overland Expo 2015
Dear Readers!
I apologize for the radio silence the past few months. I’d like to get the WCXC ball rolling again with series of posts about last spring’s Overland Expo 2015. I had initially invited my good friend Greg from gadmachine to go with me. When a scheduling conflict came up, Greg, always up for adventure, accepted our press pass (kindly provided by Overland Expo) and headed to Arizona solo. He had a great time, met some great people, and took the fantastic photos you see here.
I’ll cover the Expo in four posts: Trucks, Products, Camp Vibes, and the Obstacle Course.
Next year’s Overland Expo will be held May 20–22, 2016 in Flagstaff, Arizona. The event offers a chance to work on your overland driving skills, attend workshops and classes, watch films and demos, and offers a tangible air of camaraderie. They’re already taking reservations. If you’re interested, click here.
On to the trucks! The Expo is a great place to see adventure vehicles. Here’s what Greg spotted. Read the rest of this entry »
A couple of weeks ago I dropped by Thorson’s Off-Road in Santa Rosa for a quote on a new skid plate. We got to talking and I was given a quick tour of the shop. They were prepping an insane looking Jeep for the King of Hammers, a 165-mile desert race in which teams must blast through open terrain at 100+ mph and also negotiate difficult, slow rocky sections.
The week-long event takes place in Southern California near Twentynine Palms, features motorcycles and buggies, and starts on Friday, January 30th. The main event takes place on Friday, February 6th.
See the rest of the post for links and photos of Thorson’s crazy Jeep.
There’s a great post on the Expedition Portal Forums about a guy and some friends that do some overlanding through Idaho’s Bitterroot Mountains and the Morrison Jeep Trail in Northwestern Wyoming. Early on they suffer the consequences of some deferred maintenance (in dramatic fashion) but get truck home, fix it, and get back out on the trails.
The photos are amazing.
Link:
The SOS Report on Expedition Portal