This post was originally written back in 2013, when I was working for a classic car insurance company and was asked to attend a Land Rover show against my will, whilst very, very hungover.
Land Rover lovers from around the country descended on Eastnor this weekend so they could all get stuck in the same field, tug each other off and then drive home.
The show, which was attended by around 300 wellies has been running for over 40 years. The two day event offers plenty to see, including Land Rover displays, Land Rover parts for sale, Land Rover demonstrations, Land Rover clothing and other Land Rover related things.
Rain hammered down throughout Saturday but this only served to excite the Land Rover community who proudly paraded around in wellies and Land Rover branded clothing, happy as pigs in shit, saying things like ‘a bit of mud never hurt anyone’ and ‘we love a bit of rain, that’s why we drive Land Rovers’.
Also on sale were the famous Land Rover ‘One Live. Live It’ stickers, which can be seen on most of the vehicles that had driven to the muddy field and not moved for 2 days whilst the owners got drunk and talked about Land Rovers.
Over 4 people gathered to watch the Winching Demonstrations in the main arena, where Lord Mauricethwaite of Thistlehampton talked about rope, different ways to use rope, different types of rope, how to tie your rope to your Land Rover and how to tie your Land Rover to your rope without accidentally killing yourself.
On Sunday the awards ceremony caused quite a stir when the Best in Show award was controversially won by a Land Rover.
After 2 days of rain the Land Rover fans were ecstatic to find that the field was muddy enough to warrant tugging each other off, and the roar of V8 engines could be heard around the field as Land Rover owners realised that thick, claggy mud often meant that the maxim of ‘You can go fast, I can go anywhere’ doesn’t always apply.
The event that pulled the biggest crowd was watching a Range Rover attached to a Defender attempting to pull one of the traders vans out of it’s muddy patch, which in Land Rover circles is the same as watching a threesome with two buff men and a fat girl.
All in all the event was a positive experience, and leaving the show there were smiles all round, particularly from my car, as we effortlessly cruised down the perfectly smooth tarmac of the motorway past a convoy of noisy, muddy, slow moving Land Rovers.
The classic Land Rover was stolen and the new Land Rover is back at the dealer being fixed for the fiftieth time.
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