BRAND
OXFORD DIECAST
CAR
LAND ROVER
TYPE
DEFENDER
COLOUR
WHITE
LIVERY
LAND ROVER LOGO
RAC LOGO
RESCUE SERVICE
D102 NOL
MADE IN
CHINA
SIZE
LENGTH 59mm
WIDTH 21mm
HEIGHT 25mm
CONDITION
NEW
BOXED AND SECURE
VERY GOOD CONDITION
KNOWLEDGE / HISTORY / INFORMATION
The biggest change to the Land Rover came in late 1990, when it became the Land Rover Defender, instead of the Land Rover 90 or 110. This was because in 1989 the company had introduced the Discovery model, requiring the original Land Rover to acquire a name. The Discovery also had a new turbodiesel engine, the 200TDi. This was also loosely based on the existing 2.5-litre turbo unit, and was built on the same production line, but had a modern alloy cylinder head, improved turbocharging, intercooling and direct injection. It retained the block, crankshaft, main bearings, cambelt system, and other ancillaries as the Diesel Turbo. The breather system included an oil separator filter to remove oil from the air in the system, thus finally solving the Diesel Turbo's main weakness of re-breathing its own sump oil. The 200Tdi, produced 107 hp (80 kW) and 195 lb⋅ft (264 N⋅m) of torque, which was nearly a 25% improvement on the engine it replaced (although as installed in the Defender the engine was de-tuned slightly from its original Discovery 111 hp (83 kW) specification due to changes associated with the turbo position and exhaust routing).
This engine finally allowed the Defender to cruise comfortably at high speeds, as well as tow heavy loads speedily on hills while still being economical. In theory it only replaced the older Diesel Turbo engine in the range, with the other four-cylinder engines (and the V8 petrol engine) still being available. However, the Tdi's combination of performance and economy meant that it took the vast majority of sales. Exceptions were the British Army and some commercial operators, who continued to buy vehicles with the 2.5-litre naturally aspirated diesel engine (in the army's case, this was because the Tdi was unable to be fitted with a 24 volt generator). Small numbers of V8-engined Defenders were sold to users in countries with low fuel costs or who required as much power as possible (such as in Defenders used as fire engines and ambulances).
Along with the 200Tdi engine, the 127's name was changed to the "Land Rover Defender 130". The wheelbase remained the same; the new figure was simply a rounding up. More importantly, 130s were no longer built from "cut-and-shut" 110s, but had dedicated chassis built from scratch. The chassis retained the same basic structure as the 90 and 110 models, but with a longer wheelbase.
1994 saw another development of the Tdi engine, the 300Tdi. Although the 200Tdi had been a big step forward, it had been essentially a reworking of the old turbocharged diesel to accept a direct injection system. In contrast the 300Tdi was virtually new, despite the same capacity, and both the Defender and the Discovery had engines in the same state of tune, 111 bhp (83 kW), 195 lbf⋅ft (264 N⋅m).
Throughout the 1990s the vehicle attempted to climb more and more upmarket, while remaining true to its working roots. This trend was epitomised by limited-edition vehicles, such as the SV90 in 1992 with roll-over protection cage, alloy wheels and metallic paint and the 50th anniversary 90 in 1998, equipped with automatic transmission, air conditioning and Range Rover 4.0-litre V8 engine.
A new variant was the Defender 110 double cab, featuring a 4x4-style seating area, with an open pick up back. Although prototypes had been built in the Series days, it was not until the late 1990s that this vehicle finally reached production.
RAC Limited (The RAC) is a British automotive services company headquartered in Walsall, West Midlands. Its principal services are roadside assistance and general insurance, and its subsidiaries include RAC Motoring Services Ltd, RAC Financial Services Ltd and RAC Insurance Limited.
The RAC
main competitors are The AA and Green Flag.
The Royal Automobile Club was formed in 1897 by Frederick Richard Simms, which set up an "associate section" to provide members roadside assistance and motoring services. The club incorporated the associate section as R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in 1978. In 1987, the organisation introduced an "Advanced Computer Aided Rescue System".
In 1991, it established the RAC Foundation as its research arm. The RAC Foundation was later turned into a charity, and received a legacy from Royal Automobile Club members when R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. was later sold. British School of Motoring (BSM) was purchased by R.A.C. Motoring Services Ltd. in December 1998.
In September 1999, R.A.C. Motoring Services was sold by the members of the Royal Automobile Club to Lex Service for £437m in 1999, resulting in a £34,000 windfall for each of the 12,000 members, as well as a £1000 payment to each of the 4000 RAC Motoring Services staff.
Lex Service renamed themselves RAC plc in 2002. In October 2000, RAC purchased I/CAD from Intergraph to provide advanced graphical command and control capabilities.
The National Customer Service Awards' recognized the system with the 'Best Use of Technology in Customer Service' award in October 2004.
Aviva acquired RAC plc for around £1.1 billion in March 2005. They went on to raise around £500m from selling some parts of the business, such as RAC Auto Windscreens in December 2008, and BSM to a German company in January 2009. BSM has since been sold to Acromas Holdings which owns The Automobile Association.
Aviva ceased providing loans under the RAC brand name in January 2008, and dissolved its partnership with The Co-operative Bank.
Aviva sold the RAC to The Carlyle Group in June 2011. Although Carlyle had planned a stock market flotation for the RAC, in September 2014, Carlyle agreed to sell almost half its stake to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC Private Limited. In December 2015, Carlyle agreed to sell its remaining stake to CVC Capital Partners, in an transaction valuing the RAC at £1.4 billion.
The RAC has around 2,000 patrols that attend 2.8 million breakdowns each year, this includes overseas breakdowns with RAC Europe. The RAC covers eight million roadside assistance customers, with 2.2 million individual members and 4.5 million corporate customers. Their breakdown assistance centres operate 24/7, and deal with approximately four millions calls a year.
They have introduced, for trial, two hybrid vehicles, to cut fuel consumption and carbon emissions. In May 2009, a survey by J.D. Power ranked the RAC highest in "satisfying roadside assistance customers" for the fourth consecutive year. RAC Europe is breakdown cover for customers from the United Kingdom that travel to Europe.
RAC Europe covers forty seven European countries, and provides English speaking Incident Managers, available twenty four hours a day to assist. The office is based near Lyon, in Villeurbanne, France.