The picture was taken in 2006, not long after I purchased my brand-new-to-me 1994 NAS Defender 90 (No. 916). It cost me $29,900, which is $100 less than it did 12 years earlier when it was brand new. However, it was my childhood dream car. No... Not the Testarossa. I wanted the 2-door truck produced by the English.
I was chatting with the NJLR (New Jersey Land Rover) Club because they were the closest club that enjoyed off-roading, exploring, and camping. A weekend outing to Paragon, Pennsylvania, was being organized by them and I decided to go out and make some friends.
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Ryan Muller, Jarek Maras and Eric Choy organized the trip to Paragon. Later did we know we are all still very close friends to this day. I did some quick research and Paragon looked like a fun place to test out my new Defender.
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She was as stock as could be. factory 265/75R16 BFGoodrich T/A All-Terrain tires. That brush-guard and side step feel so NAS. I do love the Safety Devices roll bar. That was a really nice feature on the NAS Defenders. My only upgrade was fitting a steering protector and differential guards. I was now off-road ready!
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I was a little apprehensive on my first trip. I have been off-road before in my friend's Jeep Wrangler back in high school, but this was my car, and it still had payments.
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The NJLR crew had nicely set up Land Rover Discoveries. 31 - 33" tires, Eric and Ryan had lockers and winches, their equipment made their trucks look so good. I felt like I was in good hands. I was the only one with a Defender so I felt like I couldn't back out now anyways.
The first thing I noticed was how much better a BFGoodrich KM Mud-Terrian tire performed in the nasty stuff than a BFGoodrich KO All-Terrian. It had almost twice the grip off-road, which was impressive. They looked aggressive, but they were also very nice on the road. As KM rubber compound is softer than KO, it will wear slightly more, but I feel it does not produce much road noise. My next modification would be to swap in some BFGoodrich KM tires.
Ironically, Land Rover fitted BFGoodrich KM Mud-Terrian tires on its early models in the U.S. back in 1994. After clients complained about road noise, they switched to the KO All-Terrian. In other words, it was Land Rover's tire of choice right from the start.
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Compared to these Discoveries, I had better approach and departure angles. However, they all had better ground clearance as they were all mounted on 31 - 33" tires or above.
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It amazed me how well my Defender performed off-road throughout the day. Despite being on moderate to difficult trails, the car didn't exert more effort than it would in a parking lot. With no throttle response from the driver, the car would crawl up and down hills in low range. I felt that the car was well-posed and did not feel off balance at all.
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I really enjoyed the day. The sense of freedom I got from my car was something I always wanted. To be able to know I can go anywhere if I wanted. This was the car for me. I drove back home to New York that night, some 4 hours away. The car again drove perfectly on the highway. It had the speed to keep up with everyone else on I-78. These cars didn't need much from the start, they were really good stock. Over the next 17 years you will see me transform this car to fit my needs. I will admit, I went a little overboard right away at first. But I think that was needed to understand the cars limitations so that I could settle on what would be 17 years of knowledge and wisdom from driving these cars everyday.