Boxes in a box
Victoria has several secret spots
where one can hide his belongings
Even if the SIIA Land Rover is not as bad as a military
Jeep or a Series One Land Rover, the least you can say
is that Land Rover engineers did not very much care
about customers personal belongings. If you lack space
in your short wheelbase Landi, you can certainly think
of a longer platform, like the 109". But a LWB does not
offer any more integrated storage than a SWB, since the
cabin of the vehicle is strictly identical on both
variants.
In all cases, you may want to rethink your current
space organization.
Good news: there are several ways to find unsuspected
storage room you may be ignorant of !
You full !
This is your situation
The box located under the left front seat is the only
real safe place in a Landi. About 20 liters of dry
storage and easy to access with a standard seat base.
The boxy space is quickly packed with the minimum gear
that any automobile Land Rover needs:
a jack, a disposable tow ball, its related gear, like a
pair of gloves and some towing belts, the usual fluids
for regular top-ups.
Add to that the bulb and fuses set along with some
essential spare parts and, on top of all that, the
safety triangle: here you go, it is FULL.
Well then: let's try to relocate some of the bulkiest
and rarely used items out of this too handy location !
Behind the seats and under the seat
The obvious and the less obvious
The space behind the back seats, likewise the front
ones, can be used for long tools but are left visible.
You might even still have the 8-shaped hooks made to
clip in place the original engine's crank handle and
jack handle. Here you can fit the safety triangle and
secure it with quick-release straps, along with the jack
handle and engine crank handle, if you have one. Always
secure heavy items to the car: in case of an accident,
they can turn themselves into lethal flying weapons.
The optional original tool tray, located under the front middle seat, is a must. It is a slide-in-place element, installed in less than a minute, without using any tool. You can throw in there small or fragile items. Always at hand, just remember that the heat can go high into that tiny compartment, as it is located just centimeters above the gearboxes. It can be purchased, not cheap though, from Ebay. As only a few persons even know its existence, it is also a nice place to hide semi-precious things. If the car still has its original seats' retainers, you can then secure the lid in place using a tiny lock. I use combination locks, to avoid having to carry (and lose) a dozen of keys... Adding a lock will unfortunately also make the compartment’s presence more visible.
It is a glove-box: it just doesn't know it is yet
Isn't a box something that can
close itself ?
Santana actually equipped their licensed-built Series 2 with such clever doors, but today they are hard, if not impossible, to find. Some reproductions can be purchased from one Spanish seller, at a high price and they are made out of fiber glass, not aluminum.
Easier to self-build something proper, then !
This box needs a rim job
It only fits if you believe it
does
Another place you can claim some free storage is inside the bonnet spare wheel.
Again, rarely seen on Land Rovers but using a simple, or more elaborated, closing cover, you can use the upside-down steel rim 10 liters space. Smart and easy, it is exposed to the elements though: its content will have to be water compliant.
As any storage outside the car, great care must be taken to ensure that the stored items can't claim their freedom while driving on the open road.
That is a smoking bumper
The steel box shaped
bumper has hidden potential
Another nice hidden place is the inside of the front
bumper: as it is made of box-shaped galvanized steel,
its rear-facing length is offering a lengthy 130cm
roomy space.
Using pins, or galvanized panels, it is easy to
design a discreet closed space in order to safely
store ropes, safety triangle, big long tools (towing
bar for example) and other equipment that can handle
being stored in the wet.
They will be easily accessed when needed !
A bang in the bonnet
That nice and warm space in
front of the car ?
Under the bonnet, like in may classic cars, it looks quite empty compared to today’s packed engine bays ! Depending on your engine configuration, a lot of free space can be found.
Galvanized steel panels can be made to arrange some (usually) dry and (very) warm storage: brake fluid cans, coolant and even engine oil feel very much at home under there.
Of course, great care must be taken that anything stored under the bonnet is tightly secured, to avoid things to interfere with moving parts (engine belts and fan). Prevent having any flammable material in there, too !
Finally, as seen on many classic expeditions cars, all kind of removable cabinets and jerrycans can be attached to the front bumper. The drawbacks are to add extra-weight overhanging the front axle, to partially hide front lights or turning signals and to reduce the air flow cooling the engine. Having a winch or capstan would anyway prevent anything to be stored in front of the engine.
I personally see a fuel canister bracketed in front of a Land Rover as a courageous call, seeing it as a potential exploding bomb in case of a frontal collision.
