Hello Sally,Did you ever drive a D3 offroad? And on-road? As a LRDE instructor I drove the one below a few times. I love it.
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=TQZoHr0fJsI&feature=related
This is not an original, it's a TDV6.
I work now most off the time in Southern Germany or Austria and I drive there with my Camel. It's only about 10 hours drive that's not a problem I rather take my 11 year old Camel than my wives 2 your old Volvo V50. It is reliable enough and if it brakes down I am sure I can fix it (most of the time) even if the Adac (german AA) gives up. I just kept on driving with the clutch being unable to disengage.
The Camel is good offroad surely with the Detroit locker and the truetrac. My Camel has airco and central locking. So why will it be replaced? Good question. It did 100.000 miles engine is good, I am on my third gear box so that one should still be good for another few years. We drove to Croatia this summer without any problems and also back. But don't forget my Camel has never been a show car, (not close as nice as yours, but won a price at Billing) We use it were it is made for and that takes it's toll over the years. It is in need of some TLC and it's hard for me to give it enough time. I do all the neccesary maintenance and repairs but don't have the time to do some refurbishing.
So How did it happen? One off the Rig workers bought a Porsche for his birthday from the States. That made me look at D3's over there. They are cheap. For about $20.000 you can get a low mileage HSE. So I started looking into that. But the cost of importing and paying all the Dutch duties made me rethink everything a little. Then by accident I found a G4D3 on the german autoscout. (really expensive). But thought if he sells them there must be more around. And found one with Nene Overland and for me the price was reasoable. My wife liked the G4 a lot more than the normal D3. So yes I/we bought it.
But what to do with the Camel. I like to keep it, but you complain about road tax in the UK start paying road tax in Holland. Half a year road tax for the D3 is less than 1 month for my Camel. So keeping it on the road is not really an option. I cannot convince my wife to drive the Camel. Maybe I can convice here to drive the G4? So If I cannot keep it on the road I could buy a trailer and use it off-road only or sell it. Currently the plan is to sell it and maybe after a while buy an old 90 and make a camel out of that. Because the early 90's are almost tax free now. I have a minimum amount in my mind (I don't disclose that yet) what I want for the Camel otherwise I won't sell it and it will become a trailler baby or will be temporary a part of Mark's Museum if he still has space.
So I still have the Camel but if somebody offers the right amount or more it will have to go. It hurts but yes I will sell it.
I hope that Bill Gates did a better job on my G4 than on Vista so I will be able to drive it and Yes I will love the G4 too, we as the whole family will never forget "Ons Kameeltje"
Roel