How the yellow convoy began.
Camel Trophy started in Brazil in 1980, using locally built Jeep-type vehicles. Land Rover became involved the following year, when Range Rovers tackled Sumatra. The event grew into a mixture of expedition travel, driving challenges and hard physical work: recovering vehicles, repairing tracks and finding a way through together.
The yellow paint became part of its identity, but the equipment explains just as much of the look. Roof racks, recovery gear and protection were there because the convoy had to keep moving far from a workshop. The photographs made that combination of travel and machinery famous.
The wider Camel Trophy story · 4×4 Afrika
1983: 88-inch crews, 109-inch support.
Seven international crews set off across Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on a route from Kinshasa to Kisangani. The Series IIIs used 2.25-litre diesel engines, with additional cooling equipment for the heat. Roof racks, winches, bridging ladders, steering guards and extra lights completed the expedition preparation.
One episode says a lot about the job. When a fuel truck became stranded, three team vehicles spent the night bringing diesel barrels back to camp. Keeping the whole expedition supplied was as important as getting an individual car through a patch of mud.
The 1983 expedition · Camel Trophy Club
The connection to my 109.
Mine is a 1976 petrol Station Wagon, built before Camel Trophy began. The family resemblance is in the long Series body, the roof rack, the winch and the extra lighting. Its own outings are hunting trips, backroads and the forest, with four Hella Rallye 1000 lamps bought for the next addition.
The following year's event in Brazil used the newer Land Rover One Ten. That makes the 1983 footage a particularly good place to look for the Series III doing the work.
The move to the One Ten · 1984
