My 4WD history started in the Army, Regular force RNZEME 70 to 74 TF 74 to 81. I did my apprenticeship there and was seconded to the 1inf Workshops Recovery Team in Papakura pretty much soon as I arrived. Our first wagon was a Scammell Pioneer. Pig of a thing, some people like 'em... unless they had to work in the bloody things day after day, Slow as hell, armstrong steering, hot , uncomfortable and on and on although I will admit it had much traction for a 6x4. Down to the fact that a single diff drove out to gear trains inside an oscillating axle setup (Like a grader, though most Graders use chains rather than gears) and it had a transverse leaf spring on the front which gave it the ability to get through some weird places and still keep all it's feet on the ground.
No2 was the RLW in my avatar. 4x4 naturally, built to British army spec. We were told that it was about 8 tonne, but I reckon that was BS, it was hard work on the road that thing 300 cubic inch (4.9 litre in new money) petrol engine with a single zenith carb, pushing out 100 struggling horses. The Wrecker always went at the back of a convoy for obvious reasons, but it was a good thing because with all her ropes and chains and anchors and dunnage blocks and all the other tricky dicky stuff you accumulate to make recoveries fast and easy, she would do about 40 mph flat out, downhill with a tail wind. If that thing weighed a kilo under 10 tonne I would eat me jocks. However when it came to doing it's job it was great. It was well geared out with everything you would ever need in one of the 500 odd lockers. Unfortunately in terms of straight pull the winch on it wasn't that great so a lot of block and tackle work was necessary if you had a dead weight pull of more than 5 tonnes (Slightly bogged RL with no drive, not uncommon). Problem was that the RLs and the LRs didn't really need us unless there was a prang cos they went everywhere in convoys and they worked things out for themselves. We usually got called when nothing else worked or nobody else wanted to! Picture storm pissing rain, mud up to armpits ... that sort of thing.
Heh, it was a good thing cos we all fuckin loved it, the harder the deeper the better. The bigger the storm, the higher the bank, the bigger the fight to do the job. All the recovery teams were bolshy bastards always in the shit with some tosser or other usually an officer, but in eleven years and Recovery in some serious places (Crane upside down in the swamps in Gwavas forest) and some bloody big pulls (Cat D8H out of swamp in Waiouru a calculated 120 tonnes of steady pull at the D8's ripper frame) there was never an injury accident that involved gear or rigging failure. A good thing because in late 73 we got US Army issue M816s, we thought all our christmases had come at once. They were great. Came with a snatch block installed and the winch rope attached to the back of the truck. 75000 lbs pull at the Snatch block. Woohoo.
After I got out, naturally I eventually bought a Landrover... A 109" Series IIA. Not for play, purely for work and that's the way it's always been, just for work... with just the occasional bit of play had it for years eventually upgraded from the old 2 and a quarter to a 202 Holden. I was sorry to sell that because unlike it seems the rest of the world, my Rover never broke, not so much as an axle, a diff or anything, it just went... sucking down petrol like it had it's own personall oil well.
There's alway been a thing in the back of my mind .... Na actually at the front, that I'd eventually get something to play in. Last weekend in Ngaroma brought it all to the boil. Now, in the best possible world this plaything would be a G-Wagen, can't afford that right now and my son bought the only handy one! Bugger. Might have to settle for a Disco or a hard core Rangy or maybe a zook... a Mitsi, always liked Toyotas... Hmmm.
Shit this is long.
So I know it well.... Mum was the AA rep, so if you ever had a call to go rescue some stupid bugger trying to drive the desert rd in snow, it was probably her!! (She used to tell them "You cant go down the desert rd today, there's 3 foot of snow", they never listened... 
Then a call to you boys to go drag them out......)
