‘I see myself as a guardian of the vehicle rather
than an owner,’ he says. ‘I think it’s the same
philosophy that runs throughout the club I’m in
(the Ex-Military Land Rover Association). It’s our
job to preserve them and their history.’
If you look at the history of this particular
;olf, you’ll find it was used by the Military
Training Wing on the Sovereign Base Area,
situated in the North East of Cyprus. ‘It will have
been used around the training grounds, much
like you get on Salisbury Plain,’ says Wayne. ‘It’s a
place where the Army can provide a broad range
of military training and it will have given troops
a hot environment in which to acclimatise for
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
‘Lots of guys would stop off there before and
after, with the latter being something they call
“decompression” – allowing soldiers back from
operations the chance to wind down before
returning to a civilian environment by taking
advantage of the local sports and adventure
training amenities.’
When you consider what some of these
Land Rovers have been through, and what they
have enabled our fellow countrymen and women
to do, it seems the least they deserve is to be
well looked after. Used properly, for sure, but
cared for too.
And Wayne is exactly the type of guardian
this Wolf deserves, because it’s his only vehicle- which means he has no choice but to look
after it. ‘If I need to go to the shops, I take this.
If I need to do a bit of gardening work and load
up a vehicle, it’s this. I’m careful where I park, of
course, as any Defender owner is these days. But
I really use it.
‘In my earlier career I used more HGVs. But
as I moved up through the ranks, I was given my
own Defender to run about in. I used regular
Defenders for training and the Wolfs during
operations.
³I finished serZice
in 2010 and bought
the vehicle in 2012.
I’ve always liked
Land Rovers; the
functionality of them.
But the military
versions go that step
further. I’d say I’m
big into them now,
and more so now
I’m out the military.
Walking around the
base, you’d pass one
and wouldn’t think
anything of it. Now I’m in the club, I’m more
aware of their history.’
There was a time when this 90 would almost
certainly haZe been heaZily modified by some
off-roader or other the moment it left the Army.
But in Wayne’s hands, it has remained true to its
time in Cyprus.
‘There are no other plans for the vehicle.
Everything I wanted to do, like the respray, was
done in the first couple of years of ownership.
Other than that, I just want to keep driving it –
and looking after it.’