1982 Nissan Patrol 2.8D

Now this motor was in a class of its own :-) I bought it for £400 from a guy who had it parked on the side of the road in Uxbridge when I was at university.

The head gasket was blown and it looked as scruffy as hell, but the chassis and transmission were both sound and it was just BRILLIANT! It made it from Uxbridge to Cornwall and back with the knackered petrol lump, but that trip just about finished it off. Luckily, I had a Nissan LD28 inline-6 diesel sitting around at home and so in the space of a weekend I pulled the old engine, dropped the diesel lump in, flushed the fuel system and I now had an absolutely monumental 4x4 :-)

That Nissan Diesel was one of the most torquey, grunt-filled naturally aspirated diesels I've ever driven (it easily outran my Dad's Discovery 2.5TDi at the time!) and also returned very good economy considering it was in a vehicle that had all the aerodynamic qualities of a house brick.

Bigger, wider General Grabber ST tyres replaced the knackered, cross-plys mounted on split rims and that transformed the handling and ride quality, not to mention the fact it could now stop rather than simply locking all four wheels and sliding down the road at approximately the same speed as before the brakes were applied.

It was 16 feet long from bull-bar to tow-bar, had seven seats and hence was great for carting around mates from Uni as well as large quantites of camera gear.

Probably had the most fun times with that vehicle - absolutely brilliant :-)

• Initially a 2.8 straight-six, carburetted petrol
• Subsequently swapped out for a Nissan LD28 - 2.8-litre, naturally aspirated stright-six diesel.
• 4-speed manual transmission with two-speed, prop-driven transfer box
• Two-wheel (rear) drive with four wheel drive engaged with transfer lever and free-wheeling hubs
• Seven seats, all forward facing
• Remote central locking
• General Grabber ST road-bias tyres
• Cart springs all round :-)
• Solid discs front and rear
• Nigh on unbreakable!