You Can Own A Land Rover Discovery That Actually Survived The Camel Trophy
Rather than create a tribute to a vehicle that participated in a renowned event, here's your chance to actually own one. This 1992 Land Rover Discovery for sale on Cars & Bids isn't a lookalike; it actually survived the punishing Camel Trophy.
According to Automobile Magazine, the Camel Trophy was known as the Olympics of 4x4. The event started in 1980 by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the maker of Camel cigarettes. Teams of German competitors tried to drive Ford U50s (a license-built Jeep CJ5) 1,000 miles through the treacherous Trans-Amazonian Highway that stretched through Brazil.
The Fords didn't survive the trip, and Land Rover offered its off-roaders for the next trek. For nearly 20 years, participants from around the world took various Land Rover models through impossibly tough terrain, including this 1992 Land Rover Discovery.
The Camel Trophy crossed regions so harsh and so inhospitable that simply making it to the finish line was a triumph enough, and this Discovery was in the thick of it, from Cars & Bids:
This Discovery was commissioned by Land Rover Special Vehicles to compete in the 1992 edition of the Camel Trophy held in Guyana. It was piloted 1,600 kilometers (roughly 1,000 miles) from Manaus, Brazil, to Georgetown, Guyana, by Team USA and captured the Team Spirit Award that year.
It sounds like this Discovery will pretty much get you to the ends of the Earth. As you'd expect, this is far from stock. Aside from the glorious Sandglow Yellow paint, it's equipped with off-road recovery points, a roll cage, a winch, a snorkel, a deleted air-conditioner and more. Land Rover Special Vehicles clearly built these to survive, not to be comfortable.
Under the hood is a 2.5-liter inline four-cylinder turbodiesel engine making 111 horsepower and 195 lb-ft torque. That morsel of power is transmitted through a manual transmission connected to a part-time 4x4 system.
The Discovery has some battle scars from its epic Camel Trophy past. It's scratched up and rusty inside and out. The auction notes that the tires are severely dry-rotted and the whole vehicle went underwater during its Camel Trophy days. The Discovery has been stored for most of its life after the Camel Trophy, so don't expect a perfect vehicle. In this case, I'd say that the imperfections give the Discovery extra character.
The auction ad says that the Discovery was imported not long after the 1992 Camel Trophy. It's titled and legal to drive in the States. The odometer currently shows about 18,500 miles, so it hasn't been driven a whole lot, either.
The buyer gets a bunch of goodies with the sale, like the vehicle's UK license plate, clothing worn by Team USA and promotional materials. The seller has provided 224 photos of the thing. I apologize for wasting the rest of your day because you're going to end up staring and drooling over the thing.
This piece of off-roading history is currently bid to $22,500 on Cars & Bids, with four days to go. Tribute vehicles are all over the place, but how many times will you get the chance to buy one of the vehicles that the tribute vehicles imitate?
If you want to know more about Land Rover in the Camel Trophy, check out this sweet documentary!