Tory's Dakar 4x4 Build.
Completed 13^th October 2007.

When we took over the manufacture and sales of the Dakar 4x4 Kit, it was always on the understanding that we'd build Tory the dream Dakar she had always wanted, to her own specifications... Read on for how we turned this dream to reality.

Tory's dream specifications included, air conditioning in a late model 300 Series Discovery donor with an automatic gearbox, but then she told us the dream featured a Pink Dakar, with Pink roll cage & pretty much pink everything....

With Tory supervising (no time for tea and biscuits on this build), we got the donor vehicle stripped to the waist....

and then stripped to the floor.

The chassis on this 1995 donor vehicle is in fine shape.

It's fully stripped back to bare metal and cut down to the Dakar's' dimensions!

Etch primed and seam sealed as with all our builds, not just on this one because we are being monitored.

Black chassis looks as good as new - ready for all those lovely pink bits when they return from the powder coaters.

Told you it was going to be pink! Pink cage with integral side steps is mounted on the 300Tdi Discos refurbished rolling chassis - if you look carefully you can see the bulkhead modifications required for the front A-Post roll cage supporting bar.

The Disco's plastic door sill trims are retained (after being slightly trimmed) in order to secure the carpet and sound proofing to the Dakar's floor. The batteries new location under the drivers seat will keep it protected and dry!

Seam sealer is used to bond our side panels into place - here you can see we have applied it quite generously - it will spread when the side panel is clamped into position, with any excess easily wiped off with a wet cloth.

And then we leave it overnight to dry! Powder coated frames and bonded fibreglass panels all help make for a watertight and rust free vehicle - that is very straightforward to assemble, we hope you'll agree.

Did you guess it was going to have a black body shell?

Our air-con front grille is now fitted to provide plenty of space to accommodate the fans on the front of the condensor. We have also welded on our chassis extensions in order to both lift and space the front nudge bar away from the extended air con front section.

Finished item, rather nicely filled in with gold mesh and of course, the Discovery bonnet tape badge. The bonnet release catches are the flush variety and internally attach to our bonnet support strut brace.

Nearly finished, the rather bright pink that was so shocking is now very much more subdued and contrasts nicely with the gloss black body.

Although the unglazed doors provide plenty of air flow, they will be glazed, we are just waiting on the windscreen man to come and do his window fitting magic.

Wheel arch extensions and side steps are now fixed to bring Tory's new vehicle fully up to specification.

After a final test fit of the brand new prototype windscreen wiper mechanism we have had built, Tory's Dakar has had the windscreen fitted and given a thorough test. The first production versions of the wiper mechanisms are expected to be with us shortly.

Finished! This automatic 300Tdi Discovery has now joined our fleet and is already being used by Tory as her dream machine.