Dear reader,
A number of our customers are Land Rover enthusiasts that have found our company on the Web, and then booked a tour with us primarily because we feature Land Rover (Defenders).
This is how the Land Rover importers and dealers of Belgium and Luxemburg became our customers two years ago, and also the three brothers and owners of the interesting paint company De Olifant in Antwerp.
The Rutgeers brothers Johan, Raf and Nick had their second tour in our ISAKs in Iceland late last February, together with their best customers from Belgium and the Netherlands.
All three brothers got their share of the "Land Rover genes" through their father, but Johan is the one that's been hit the hardest. His first Land Rover was a Series III with an 88-inch wheel base, that he bought over 10 years ago. And while Raf restored his father's white Series III 109 from 1979, Johan bought and restored a blue 109 inch Series II from 1964.
Johan has increasingly turned to older heritage models, and has become a Land Rover historian with a big affection of the Land Rover Series I, which was in production from the very beginning of the company, in 1948, until 1958. During the first 5 years, the Land Rover had an 80 inch wheelbase.
Johan acquired his first one of this kind when he got his hands over a vehicle from Britain with the serial Nr. 2490, built in 1949. Soon thereafter he stumbled over his most precious vehicle: the first Land Rover imported to Belgium!
After a lot of research in the Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon, Britain, he found out that there were only 3 vehicles exported to Belgium in 1948, and this was the first one of those three the 59th vehicle of Land Rovers production overall, showing the serial Number L860059.
Johan owns yet another one, an 80 inch from the year 1950, which he bought from Australia in completely original condition. To use his own words: "I suddenly realized I bought a vehicle at the other end of the world... To impulsive? But it turned out to be a beauty!"
The second Iceland tour the De Olifant company made with our ISAKs also turned out to be a beauty, despite getting a sudden thaw period at the end of February. Then it was pouring with rain up here on the 64 ° latitude, but in the three days we had together, we got it all!
Everything from a snow storm on Europes second biggest glacier "Langjökull", to such a rainy day that no snow was to be found anywhere to drive in anymore. We simply had to improvise, making a (quick) sand survival drive down at a black basalt sand beach, and then on to crossing heavy rivers, which the snow melt in the mountains had produced all of a sudden.
All this adventure then had a very happy ending, with some bottles of bubbly at the new HQ of Isafold Travel and ISAK 4x4 Rental!
One more remarkable and memorable tour thanks to the "slightly" modified Land Rover Defenders of ISAK 4x4 Rental!
Yours,
Jon Baldur
To be continued...
